About a month ago, I posted a blog on “Technical Deconstruction.” I described this as a technique to break down aggregate data to distinguish between its contributing parts: these parts might contain unique characteristics compared to the aggregate.  For instance, I suggested that it can be helpful to break down data by workday - that is to say, maintaining separate data for each day of the week.  I said that the data could be further deconstructed perhaps by time period and employee: the…

About a month ago in a blog, I introduced what I described as a “spectral attenuation monitor.”  At the time I only had an image from MS Works that…

In order to prevent my programs from freezing up while running long calculations, I generally run the calculations on separate threads.  In Java, this process can be accomplished by separating the GUI from processing.  In the code below, a thread for an instance of MyProcessing would be invoked using start(): e.g. “(new MyProcessing()).start();” would run indefinitely until T is made null.  T can be made null by calling stop() or by directly making T null.  Often when the GUI is closing, I…

I have been writing about the Crosswave Differential Algorithm for a number of years. I described in previous blogs how the algorithm emerged almost by accident while I was attempting to write an application intended to support quality control. In this blog I will be discussing the event model that powers the algorithm. Events are the details and circumstances…

 This blog contains some snippets of code that I tend to use in Java.  I acknowledge that somebody else writing this blog might include different code.  Except for a short course at Sun Educational Services, most of my Java programming skills are self-taught.  I’m unsure if people with formal backgrounds in computer science might have different styles and conventions.  Mine have been shaped primarily by my needs.

Creating a Graphical User Interface…

BERLIN stands for Behavioural Event Reconstruction Linguistic Interface for Narratives. I introduced BERLIN a few blogs ago - in my "final blog." Theoretically after one's final blog, no further blogs are forthcoming. However, I am now posting bonus blogs reflecting aspects of the same closing subject. Today, I will be elaborating on BERLIN's syntax and how its searches are facilitated. As a general rule, the objective of BERLIN is to convert human-friendly narrative into computer-friendly…

I find that different types of surveys represent a large source of data for many organizations: client questionnaires; recruitment interviews; incident debriefings; interrogations; borehole drilling surveys; quality control checks; marketing surveys; security and patrol logs; and inventory audits. I believe that for many people, the idea of collecting information using surveys makes sense; and they recognize the need for the data. Problems arise in relation to the transition from survey to…

I rarely get to use a walkie-talkie during a course in school. As the snapshot of my desktop shows on the image below, I had both a multi-line telephone and portable radio. Just before the exam, I participated in a simulation. Our tabletop exercise contained an emergency scenario: a train derailment involving the evacuation of residents. I served as the Social Services Director. Although I didn't choose this role for myself, I thought it made sense given my graduate degree in the area of…

In this post, I discuss the basic characteristics of code that I have personally used to extract online data - in a process these days often called data-mining.  I intend to cover some general features.  Those that wish to do so can also compile the coding samples.

Over the years, I have programmed in a number of computer programming languages including Visual Basic, Perl, Python, and LISP (AutoLISP).  The coding samples on this blog are written in Java, my language of…