Allow download option

The COSMOS Virtual Data Center (http // www.cosmos-eq.org/VDC/index.html) is a web portal to access strong ground motion records. It distributes records from the United States and 14 contributing countries for use by the engineering and scientific communities. It contains flexible search methods, including map-based, parameter-entry, and earthquake- and station-based searches. Display and download options allow users to view data in multiple contexts, extract and download data parameters, and download data files in convenient formats. 

While the protocol described above has proven very useful in its own right, it often serves as the first step in designing custom protocols for a team. Once a user is satisfied with the results returned by the ad hoc query, the next step is often to hardwire these queries into a protocol that provides one-button access to all the pertinent data for a project. Figure 5 shows such a protocol used to retrieve data for several assays in a Neuroscience project. This protocol highlights an additional filtering option that we make use of in many of our protocols. The text box ( selected cmpds from list ) (7) supports the input of a list of identification numbers (in our case either jnjnumber or batchid ). This allows data to be retrieved on select compounds as opposed to all those tested in the assays. This feature is very popular and involves the use of Perl within the Pipeline Pilot protocol. All this work is done on the server and the results are written to a SD file that can be downloaded to the desktop. At this stage either DIVA or Accord for Excel is typically used to view the files. 

Entrez searches can be performed using one of two Internet-based interfaces. The first is a client-server implementation known as NetEntrez. This makes a direct connection to an NCBI computer. Because the client software resides on the user s machine, it is up to the user to obtain, install and maintain the software, downloading periodic updates as new features are introduced. The second implementation is over the World Wide Web and is known as WWW Entrez or WebEntrez (simply referred to as Entrez). This option makes use of available Web browsers (e.g., Netscape or Explorer) to deliver search results to the desktop. The Web allows the user to navigate by clicking on selected words in an entry. Furthermore, the Web implementation allows for the ability to link to external data sources. While the Web version is formatted as sequential pages, the Network version uses a series of windows with faster speed. The NCBI databases are, by far the most often accessed by biochemists and some of their searchable fields include plain text, author name, journal title, accession number, identity name (e.g., gene name, protein name, chemical substance name), EC number, sequence database keyword and medical subject heading. 

Web Interface. DFTCalc can be used by downloading a stand-alone version, and via a web interface. Both are accessible at http //fmt.cs.utwente.nl/ tools/dftcalc/. DFTCalc is open source, but requires a license for CADP, which is free for academic institutions. The web interface extends the downloadable version with a GUI as well as the plot function and is shown in Fig. 3. It allows the user to (1) input DFT models via a text screen, the topmost box in Fig. 3 (2) select the dependability metrics. This can be (a) the reliability for one or more mission times x, or (b) the probability on a system failure during an interval [T1,T2], or (c) the mean time to failure (3) set various options which model checker to use the error bound, the level of verbosity, and whether to color output. The results can be given either by numbers, via the button show... 

The email list was relined to eliminate multiple names from the same organization. The person with the most relevant job title was picked and the others were removed. In this process, 249 names were removed from the email list. An invitation to participate in the survey, which explained the purpose of study, the instructions for completing the questionnaire, and measures to securely handle the data collected, were sent via email to 4,751 potential respondents. For the convenience of the respondents, three options were provided to complete and submit the questionnaire (1) On-line Click on the link that would take the respondents to the survey website to complete the survey (2) Fax Click on the link that would allow the respondents to download a copy of the questionnaire and send it by fax (3) Regular mail Email back to request a hard copy to be sent through regular mail and return it through either fax or regular mail. 

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