Visual Programming of Stochastic Weather Generator and Future Applications on Agroecological Study

Based on former studies on weather simulator modules in IPMist laboratory, study on visual programming of stochastic weather generator(VS-WGEN)was continued. In this study, Markov Chain, Monte Carlo, Fourier Series, and weak stationary process were used to generate the daily weather data in software Matlab 6. 0, with the data input from 40 years' weather data recorded by Beijing Weather Station. The generated data includes daily maximum temperature, minimum temperature, precipitation and solar radiation. It has been verified that the weather data generated by the VS-WGEN were more accurate than that by the old WGEN, when twenty new model parameters were included. VS-WGEN has wide software applications, such as pest risk analysis, pest forecast and management. It can be implemented in hardware development as well, such as weather control in weather chamber and greenhouse for researches on ecological adaptation of crop varieties to a given location over time and space. Overall, VS-WGEN is a very useful tool for studies on theoretical and applied ecology.

aflak:Visual programming environment enabling end-to-end provenance management for the analysis of astronomical datasets

This paper describes an extendable graphical framework,aflak,which provides a visualization and provenance management environment for the analysis of multi-spectral astronomical datasets.Via its node editor interface,aflak allows the astronomer to compose transforms on input datasets queryable from public astronomical data repositories,then to export the results of the analysis as Flexible Image Transport System(FITS)files,in a manner such that the full provenance of the output data be preserved and reviewable,and that the exported file be usable by other common astronomical analysis software.FITS is the standard of data interchange in astronomy.By embedding aflak’s provenance data into FITS files,we both achieve interoperability with existing software and full reproducibility of the process by which astronomers make discoveries.

Asyncflow: A visual programming tool for game artificial intelligence

Visual programming tools are widely applied in the game industry to assist game designers in developing game artificial intelligence(game AI)and gameplay.However,testing multiple game engines is a time-consuming operation,which degrades development efficiency.To provide an asynchronous platform for game designers,this paper introduces Asyncflow,an open-source visual programming solution.It consists of a flowchart maker for game logic explanation and a runtime framework integrating an asynchronous mechanism based on an event-driven architecture.Asyncflow supports multiple programming languages and can be easily embedded in various game engines to run flowcharts created by game designers.©2021 The Authors.

Design and Implementation of a Programming Learning Support System Using the Concepts of Physical Visualization and Serious Gaming

The purpose of this research is the design and implementation of a support system for learning programming. To archive this purpose, in this article, we propose a Puzzle Programming System that uses jigsaw puzzles as an example of the application of physical visualization, which visualizes logical constraints to physical ones. This Puzzle Programming System aims to teach basic programming concepts by presenting the invisible constraints of programming language syntax using the visual constraints of jigsaw puzzle pieces. This system runs on an Apple iPad and was developed using the Unity game engine. We used YAML as a data format for serializing structured data for data management. By inviting high school students to try out a prototype, we could confirm the usefulness of the Puzzle Programming System. The experimental evaluation results also shed light on aspects of the game that need to be redesigned and parts where the visual programming model needs to be modified and expanded.

Image segmentation of small defects in precision weldments with complex structure

In this paper, the X-ray nondestructive test method of small defects in precision weldments with complex structure was presented. To resolve the difficulty of defect segmentation in variable grey image, the image processing based on Visual Basic programming method was adopted. The methods of automatic contrast and partial grey stretch were used to enhance the X-ray detection image which has relatively low contrast, then automatic threshold method was carried out to segment the two high intensity zones, and weld zones which contain the small defects was extracted. Smoothing and sharpen processing were proceeded on the extracted weld zones, and small defects in X-ray detection image of weldments with complex structure were segmented by using the method of background subtraction in the end. The effects of raster were eliminated, and because of that the image processing was only proceeded on the extracted weld zones, the calculated speed using the above provided algorithm was improved.

BEAP： An End-User Agile Programming Paradigm for Business Applications

Business applications are subject to changes with technology trends or market demands. However, quick response to these changes is still a challenging issue. Most of the existing architectures （e.g., CORBA, Web Services） still expose the developers to excessive low-level details and force a tight coupling between program modules. For end users, developing, customizing, and reengineering applications remain difficult and time-consuming tasks. A high-level programming model is presented, together with a descriptive programming paradigm called BEAP, to facilitate end-user programming. In this approach, applications could be visually composed from well-defined software components called ＂funnels＂ in an event-driven fashion. Application examples have shown that, by raising the level of abstraction as well as simplifying the programming model, BEAP could empower end users to build business applications on demand with improved productivity.

A Prototypical 3D Graphical Visualizer for Object-Oriented Systems

This paper describes a framework for visualizing object-oriented systems within a 3D interactive environment. The 3D visualizer represents the structure of a program as Cylinder Net that simultaneously specifies two relationships between objects within 3D virtual space. Additionally it represents additional relationships on demand when objects are moved into local focus. The 3D visualizer is implemented using a 3D graphics toolkit, TOAST, that implements 3D widgets and 3D graphics to ease the programming task for 3D visualization.

An Immersive Virtual Reality System for Rodents in Behavioral and Neural Research

Context cognition involves abstractly deriving meaning from situational information in the world and is an important psychological function of higher cognition. However, due to the complexity of contextual information processing, along with the lack of relevant technical tools, little remains known about the neural mechanisms and behavioral regulation of context cognition. At present, behavioral training with rodents using virtual reality techniques is considered a potential key for uncovering the neurobiological mechanisms of context cognition. Although virtual reality technology has been preliminarily applied in the study of context cognition in recent years, there remains a lack of virtual scenario integration of multi-sensory information, along with a need for convenient experimental design platforms for researchers who have little programming experience. Therefore, in order to solve problems related to the authenticity, immersion, interaction, and flexibility of rodent virtual reality systems, an immersive virtual reality system based on visual programming was constructed in this study. The system had the ability to flexibly modulate rodent interactive 3 D dynamic experimental environments. The system included a central control unit, virtual perception unit, virtual motion unit, virtual vision unit, and video recording unit. The neural circuit mechanisms in various environments could be effectively studied by combining two-photon imaging and other neural activity recording methods. In addition, to verify the proposed system′s performance, licking experiments were conducted with experimental mice. The results demonstrated that the system could provide a new method and tool for analyzing the neural circuits of the higher cognitive functions in rodents.