Progress 09/01/10 to 08/31/15
Outputs
Target Audience:Reference: 2010-38821-21630 Tittle: Portable Distance Learning Utility and International Veterinary Outreach United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture Recipient: Tuskegee University Principal Investigator: Cesar D. Fermin, PhD Executive Summary: The purpose of this USDA/NIFA award was to evaluate the potential of a fully portable collaborative suite deployable from hot spots or any other net services to collaborate between domestic US institutions, and between US institutions and partner abroad. The utility, part of several modules developed by NexSys (formally Solar Digital, Inc.), was built on the robustness of Apple Macintosh 64 bit multitasking operating systems (iOS) using core Apple OS components such as QuickTime, for fast deployment, and efficient pocket transport across the internet. Unity and its server's engine were compiled into less than 15MB for unhindered distribution and accessibility to registered users. Results indicate that Unity provides a superb alternative to more expensive collaborative suites, offering features not available on those costly systems such as bilateral control, instant rendering (no delay), and sharing more than just ASCII characters through regimented-unilateral control of resources under display. Tuskegee University increased its capacity to collaborate between domestic and international partners and validated the useful and robustness of this "portable" utility. The next generation upgrades communicated to Tuskegee Faculty by its developer S. Pasko at workshops on campus promise seamless integration of "real time" storage and archival capabilities within a simple (less than 3MB fully compile server/utility) for which the PI will seek further evaluation and potential implementation to Tuskegee University online delivery mode. Note: This report lacks images due to restrictions imposed by the portal. Images were submitted separately to program officer. Changes/Problems:Two major changes due unpredictable circumstances emerged after the "Unity" project was funded: a) Changes in the status of faculty appointment and relocation of faculty from participating institutions about Tuskegee University, and b) Major changes to Apple Operating System (OS) core components upon which the initial "Unity" platform was built. The main Apple Macintosh Core utility impacting "Unity" is QuickTime upon which audiovisual functions of "Unity" were developed. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Potential Future Use of Next Generation Collaborative Tools: While not funded by the initial grant, newer features added to the module companion to Unity were lauded by attending faculty, in particular those who already used Unity. Some of the newer tools were developed for a program Mr. Pasko is developing with University of Florida as part of the Unified NEXSYS Utility. The PI and key personnel plus users added after the initial application was funded will seek additional funding to request adopting some of the newer tools for class instruction at Tuskegee University. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Inline with objectives to increase Tuskegee University capacity, impacts made by the project were described in annual progress reports submitted already. Those interim annual reports also described several unexpected occurrences forcing the PI and key personnel to modify original aims in order to adapt to emerging "unavoidable" issues. Members of the team from various national and institutions abroad participated in collaborative sessions. Moreover, workshops were given to faculty in various academic units. Description of working session with several features in Unity to a group of new users by Dr. Aji, whom coordinated the and managed Unity Developer (Mr. Pasko) visit and workshop on the campus of Tuskegee University with the intent to exchange user's feedback and expand on newer capabilities of the utility orkshop Feedback On Beneficial Features: Results from the workshop and from surveys to participants indicated that a majority of users would adopt Unity for their classic, hybrid, or purely online class content delivery. A distillation of the comments by participants and respondents encouraged the PI and key personnel to increase Unity presence and functionality on campus. Participants asked that in future updates of Unity the following technical issues be carefully examined and/or implemented if possible What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The purpose of this USDA/NIFA award was to evaluate the potential of a fully portable collaborative suite deployable from hot spots or any other net services to collaborate between domestic US institutions, and between US institutions and partner abroad. The utility, part of several modules developed by NexSys (formally Solar Digital, Inc.), was built on the robustness of Apple Macintosh 64 bit multitasking operating systems (iOS) using core Apple OS components such as QuickTime, for fast deployment, and efficient pocket transport across the internet. Unity and its server's engine were compiled into less than 15MB for unhindered distribution and accessibility to registered users. Results indicate that Unity provides a superb alternative to more expensive collaborative suites, offering features not available on those costly systems such as bilateral control, instant rendering (no delay), and sharing more than just ASCII characters through regimented-unilateral control of resources under display. Tuskegee University increased its capacity to collaborate between domestic and international partners and validated the useful and robustness of this "portable" utility. The next generation upgrades communicated to Tuskegee Faculty by its developer S. Pasko at workshops on campus promise seamless integration of "real time" storage and archival capabilities within a simple (less than 3MB fully compile server/utility) for which the PI will seek further evaluation and potential implementation to Tuskegee University online delivery mode.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Two major changes due unpredictable circumstances emerged after the "Unity" project was funded: a) Changes in the status of faculty appointment and relocation of faculty from participating institutions about Tuskegee University, and b) Major changes to Apple Operating System (OS) core components upon which the initial "Unity" platform was built. The main Apple Macintosh Core utility impacting "Unity" is QuickTime upon which audiovisual functions of "Unity" were developed. Despite bandwidth shortcoming abroad, UNITY performance for the intended purposed is lauded for: a) Sharing of media (middle panel), while broadcasting audio/video and allowing screen shot plus recording of the session, b) doing so in a fully portable and mobile system. Dr. Chadia Aji, a professor in the department of Mathematics introduces Unity developer Scott Pasko to the workshop participants. Images in pdf report here Working collaboratively with Professor Javed Khan (Head of Aerospace Engineering) Dr. Aji enhanced online curricular content with collaborative features built in Unity. Images in pdf report here Moreover, Dr. Aji convened an ad hoc committee to summarize technical capabilities of Unity that could be enhanced and adapted to Tuskegee Enterprise utilities. This screen shot illustrates successful collaborative session between Fermin on his desk at Tuskegee University and Veterinary students at a surgical rotation in Nicaragua. Note media in the middle panel and quality of the screen shot (RT) and actual image in realtime while the student conversed with Dr. Fermin. Frame per second was dropped abroad to facilitate instruction during collaboration Images in pdf report here Dr. Fermin on top panel connecting from his home using DSL. Despite limitation of the home service, sharing of media across continent was possible while Dr. Ismalia from Suez Canal and Tuskegee University student demonstrate bilateral didactic utilization of tools to label neurons that Dr. Fermin displayed at Tuskegee. Unity ability to record participant gestures is critical for evaluation purposes. Note student gesture as she introduces the dean of the academic unit in Egypt. Each participant is automatically assigned a color collaborated successfully with Dr. Fermin at TU, and like from Egypt I was able to portably move around demonstrating the laboratory layout, building's surrounding, surgical procedures, and isolation wards of the facility. Participating students from other nations were amazed at Unity potential and so was I (Ms. J. Ventour)." In conclusion, collaborative sessions were negatively impacted by inability to control bandwidth quality and/or stability abroad. Images in pdf report here Dr. Fermin on top panel connecting from his home using DSL. Despite limitation of the home service, sharing of media across continent was possible while Dr. Ismalia from Suez Canal and Tuskegee University student demonstrate bilateral didactic utilization of tools to label neurons that Dr. Fermin displayed at Tuskegee. Unity ability to record participant gestures is critical for evaluation purposes. Note student gesture as she introduces the dean of the academic unit in Egypt. Each participant is automatically assigned a color This screen shot shows media in Dr. Fermin library. Each user builds a library for instruction. Because the library can be share at the server level, media sharing is instant over voice without the delay that characterizes other systems. Mover, every session is recorded and replayed as often as needed by collaborators with ownership to the session. By default, the initiator has ownership unless otherwise set in options. Images in pdf report here
Publications
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Progress 09/01/12 to 08/31/13
Outputs
Target Audience: TU veterinarian students traveled to Egypt with appropriate hardware and updated software and was able to collaborate several times with Dr. Fermin at Tuskegee University (TU) and here are excerpts: a) “July 1st 2013 about 4PM Eastern European Time, Dr. Fermin and I were participating in a conference call using Unity. I was at Suez Canal University Ismalia, Egypt and Dr. Fermin at TU. After I connected the call with Dr. Fermin, I started to record the session during a lecture by Dr. Salem who participated. I walked around and illustrated the lab layout. I was able to continue collaboration through the DSL quality bandwidth connection outside the laboratory showing Dr. Fermin the exterior of the building and landscape. Photos of the session were snapped (screen grab) capability of Unity. b) A few months later as a part of my international experience rotation my classmates, and instructors in Nicaragua collaborated successfully with Dr. Fermin at TU, and like from Egypt I was able to portably move around demonstrating the laboratory layout, building’s surrounding, surgical procedures, and isolation wards of the facility. Participating students from other nations were amazed at Unity potential and so was I (Ms. J. Ventour).” Changes/Problems: Frequent attempts by Dr. Fermin, Dr. Srivastava and Dr. Reddy to communicate with participants in Egypt and Kenya using Unity were hampered by: 1) Low and fragmented bandwidth at participating partners abroad, 2) “Shuttling” connection to customers abroad rotating bandwidth between users, and 3) Unity usage of an ephemeral port allocation that drops communication (packet transfer) as soon as any blip occurs (HIPPA Compliance). While Unity re-establishes previous session automatically mapped to a different port, the fidelity of communication between the US and partners abroad is constantly interrupted due to the fact that video and audio pocket transfer at frames/second higher than program such as Skype uses, hinders quality of transfer. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Interacting with colleagues abroad in realtime exchanging research, teaching, and field observations. Discussion, scientific assessment (consultation) while a problem is emerging, or addressed. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? PI conferences What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Institutionalize the project to move interaction to more managable regions which are not under civil unrest
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
2013 Progress Report: Frequent attempts by Dr. Fermin, Dr. Srivastava and Dr. Reddy to communicate with participants in Egypt and Kenya using Unity were hampered by: 1) Low and fragmented bandwidth at participating partners abroad, 2) “Shuttling” connection to customers abroad rotating bandwidth between users, and 3) Unity usage of an ephemeral port allocation that drops communication (packet transfer) as soon as any blip occurs (HIPPA Compliance). While Unity re-establishes previous session automatically mapped to a different port, the fidelity of communication between the US and partners abroad is constantly interrupted due to the fact that video and audio pocket transfer at frames/second higher than program such as Skype uses, hinders quality of transfer. Despite these shortcomings, a TU veterinarian students traveled to Egypt with appropriate hardware and updated software and was able to collaborate several times with Dr. Fermin at Tuskegee University (TU) and here are excerpts: a) “July 1st 2013 about 4PM Eastern European Time, Dr. Fermin and I were participating in a conference call using Unity. I was at Suez Canal University Ismalia, Egypt and Dr. Fermin at TU. After I connected the call with Dr. Fermin, I started to record the session during a lecture by Dr. Salem who participated. I walked around and illustrated the lab layout. I was able to continue collaboration through the DSL quality bandwidth connection outside the laboratory showing Dr. Fermin the exterior of the building and landscape. Photos of the session were snapped (screen grab) capability of Unity. b) A few months later as a part of my international experience rotation my classmates, and instructors in Nicaragua collaborated successfully with Dr. Fermin at TU, and like from Egypt I was able to portably move around demonstrating the laboratory layout, building’s surrounding, surgical procedures, and isolation wards of the facility. Participating students from other nations were amazed at Unity potential and so was I (Ms. J. Ventour).” In conclusion, collaborative sessions were negatively impacted by inability to control bandwidth quality and/or stability abroad.
Publications
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Progress 09/01/11 to 08/31/12
Outputs
Target Audience: A meeting of participants took place January 28, 213 in Room 44-321 of the John A. Kenney Hall across the PI office (44-320) and PI, Co-PI and several collaborators from the local USDA fish laboratory and Auburn University attended and the following was accomplished: a) Each user connected to the Unity server and used the collaborative suite, b) Each user signed certifying receipt of items delivered at the said meeting, c) Each user was shown how to re-connect from other locations to practice again how to use Unity for communicating with students from abroad, d) Several attempts were made between participating partners in Egypt and in Kenya (who were using Windows), e) Communication between participants in the US and Kenya was plagued by low bandwidth abroad and interruptions due to unrest brought on by the ongoing civil wars in both countries. f) Two US students who traveled with appropriate hardware and accessories collaborated successfully with Dr. Fermin from TU. Changes/Problems: Dr. Fermin met several times with Tuskegee University (TU) financial officers to resolve issues delaying procurement of funded units. Changes by the new administration delayed procurement of the items needed to start the project for almost one year. Units were ordered from Apple in May 2012 and shipped at the end of June 2012 with OS 10.7 (Lion) preloaded, requiring Apple store online download for future changes. In August 2012 Apple released OS 107.5 (Mountain Lion). Meanwhile, the Unity’s developer had to upgrade the OS to comply with a significant change in QuickTime. Hence, all MacBookPro needed upgrading to function with the changes that Apple put into the OS. Since the units were shipped to TU Purchasing and not to Fermin, it took two months to obtain the documentation needed to upgrade online from 10.7 to 10.75 (no media was shipped), a task that requires about 2 hours for each MacBookPro. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Key personnel and students were trained to use basic features of the Utility. Two students and several faculty successfully used the utility for intended purpose described in the original application How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Principal Investigator Conference in Huntsville in 2012 and will present in Washington DC in 2014. A fuller report with illustration was submitted to the officer in charge of the Project at USDA/NIFA What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Institutionalizing the project and shifting interest for collaborative functions from Kenya and Egyptian partners to those in the American Continent where more reliable bandwidth exists
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
2012 Progress Report: Dr. Fermin met several times with Tuskegee University (TU) financial officers to resolve issues delaying procurement of funded units. Changes by the new administration delayed procurement of the items needed to start the project for almost one year. Units were ordered from Apple in May 2012 and shipped at the end of June 2012 with OS 10.7 (Lion) preloaded, requiring Apple store online download for future changes. In August 2012 Apple released OS 107.5 (Mountain Lion). Meanwhile, the Unity’s developer had to upgrade the OS to comply with a significant change in QuickTime. Hence, all MacBookPro needed upgrading to function with the changes that Apple put into the OS. Since the units were shipped to TU Purchasing and not to Fermin, it took two months to obtain the documentation needed to upgrade online from 10.7 to 10.75 (no media was shipped), a task that requires about 2 hours for each MacBookPro. Following upgrading of each unit and reinstallation of Unity, a 4 pages instruction document was produced by Dr. Fermin to assist users understand changes to both Apple OS and Unity. A meeting of participants took place January 28, 213 in Room 44-321 of the John A. Kenney Hall across the PI office (44-320) and PI, Co-PI and several collaborators from the local USDA fish laboratory and Auburn University attended and the following was accomplished: a) Each user connected to the Unity server and used the collaborative suite, b) Each user signed certifying receipt of items delivered at the said meeting, c) Each user was shown how to re-connect from other locations to practice again how to use Unity for communicating with students from abroad, d) Several attempts were made between participating partners in Egypt and in Kenya (who were using Windows), e) Communication between participants in the US and Kenya was plagued by low bandwidth abroad and interruptions due to unrest brought on by the ongoing civil wars in both countries. f) Two US students who traveled with appropriate hardware and accessories collaborated successfully with Dr. Fermin from TU.
Publications
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Progress 09/01/10 to 08/31/11
Outputs
Target Audience: Faculty and students at Suez Canal University (Egypt), and Faculty and students in Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. The following is from the participant report: Frequent attempts by Dr. Fermin, Dr. Srivastava and Dr. Reddy to communicate with participants in Egypt and Kenya using Unity were hampered by: 1) Low and fragmented bandwidth at participating partners abroad, 2) “Shuttling” connection to customers abroad rotating bandwidth between users, and 3) Unity usage of an ephemeral port allocation that drops communication (packet transfer) as soon as any blip occurs (HIPPA Compliance). While Unity re-establishes previous session automatically mapped to a different port, the fidelity of communication between the US and partners abroad is constantly interrupted due to the fact that video and audio pocket transfer at frames/second higher than program such as Skype uses, hinders quality of transfer. Despite these shortcomings, a TU veterinarian students traveled to Egypt with appropriate hardware and updated software and was able to collaborate several times with Dr. Fermin at Tuskegee University (TU) and here are excerpts July 1st 2013 about 4PM Eastern European Time, Dr. Fermin and I were participating in a conference call using Unity. I was at Suez Canal University Ismalia, Egypt and Dr. Fermin at TU. After I connected the call with Dr. Fermin, I started to record the session during a lecture by Dr. Salem who participated. I walked around and illustrated the lab layout. I was able to continue collaboration through the DSL quality bandwidth connection outside the laboratory showing Dr. Fermin the exterior of the building and landscape. Photos of the session were snapped (screen grab) capability of Unity. b) A few months later as a part of my international experience rotation my classmates, and instructors in Nicaragua collaborated successfully with Dr. Fermin at TU, and like from Egypt I was able to portably move around demonstrating the laboratory layout, building’s surrounding, surgical procedures, and isolation wards of the facility. Participating students from other nations were amazed at Unity potential and so was I (Ms. J. Ventour).” Changes/Problems: The next step for UNITY implementation at Tuskegee University made possible by the USDA capacity building grant includes: 1) Purchase and install a Server at Tuskegee University that would allow full development of UNITY capabilities without the need to deal with restrictions imposed by institutional firewalls 2) Licensing fees for using the server and utility software 3) Travel support for UNITY developer to visit Tuskegee University to fully integrate the server 4) Deploy a pilot project activity to utilize UNITY for online courses. 5) Provide a platform to migrate outside email traffic images acquired from sessions without going outside to services such as Drop-box and/or Google Drive. As Tuskegee University moves its base operation toward “real-time” reporting of academic products, simplicity, speed, and instant reporting (interface, macros, formatting CSS, etc.) the USDA award to explore the functionality of UNITY has made possible exploring new avenues of operation, that will ease online implementation of real time processing. Below Dr. Fermin enclosed screen shots possible with the next generation of UNITY and related platform by a “diminutive 3MB” web app: a) The NexSys app (3MB) allows implementation to use more online inventory, to assess outcome in real-time, and to port values into ready to use reports as shown in the form query below. While many apps are able to accomplish similar tasks (externally owned serves), Dr. Fermin’s interest resides in TU capability to retain ownership and data privacy under consideration, with an intramural server. Using Google Drive or similar extramural devices such as DropBox, exposes privileged information to outside parties. b) As a basic researcher needing to keep track of experimental design variables, implementation, and outcome, plus an administrator requiring constant reporting of statistics for recruitment efforts, applicants demographics, retention, and degree completion outcome, the capability of the platform described are countless. c) TU through this USDA/NIFA/CBG award will test reliability and efficiency of a native database implemented by NexSys and available to UNITY users for a fee. Acquiring such a capability as the first institutionalization step will allow archiving/trafficking graduate faculty/students privileged information internally rather than in services such as Drop-Box and/or Google Driver. d) Illustrated in the last image are examples of a typical database structure for querying and collecting in real-time information from experiments, classroom participation, and satisfaction performance. We plan to use such a capability in order to keep track of activities without the need for additional apps or utility. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Following insitutionalization of the project, which now under way, there will be opportunity for: Controlling utility tools with in house server Online delivered of course content and training tools, and Real time demonstration of events in the field requiring accessment by professional mentors How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?
Nothing Reported
What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Continue developing the capabilities of the utility UNITY in order to demonstrate its effectiveness, portability, and flexebility for assessing field conditions that could otherwise be complete by the time complicate setups are ready for use in the field
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
2013 Progress Report: Frequent attempts by Dr. Fermin, Dr. Srivastava and Dr. Reddy to communicate with participants in Egypt and Kenya using Unity were hampered by: 1) Low and fragmented bandwidth at participating partners abroad, 2) “Shuttling” connection to customers abroad rotating bandwidth between users, and 3) Unity usage of an ephemeral port allocation that drops communication (packet transfer) as soon as any blip occurs (HIPPA Compliance). While Unity re-establishes previous session automatically mapped to a different port, the fidelity of communication between the US and partners abroad is constantly interrupted due to the fact that video and audio pocket transfer at frames/second higher than program such as Skype uses, hinders quality of transfer. Despite these shortcomings, a TU veterinarian students traveled to Egypt with appropriate hardware and updated software and was able to collaborate several times with Dr. Fermin at Tuskegee University (TU) and here are excerpts: a) “July 1st 2013 about 4PM Eastern European Time, Dr. Fermin and I were participating in a conference call using Unity. I was at Suez Canal University Ismalia, Egypt and Dr. Fermin at TU. After I connected the call with Dr. Fermin, I started to record the session during a lecture by Dr. Salem who participated. I walked around and illustrated the lab layout. I was able to continue collaboration through the DSL quality bandwidth connection outside the laboratory showing Dr. Fermin the exterior of the building and landscape. Photos of the session were snapped (screen grab) capability of Unity. b) A few months later as a part of my international experience rotation my classmates, and instructors in Nicaragua collaborated successfully with Dr. Fermin at TU, and like from Egypt I was able to portably move around demonstrating the laboratory layout, building’s surrounding, surgical procedures, and isolation wards of the facility. Participating students from other nations were amazed at Unity potential and so was I (Ms. J. Ventour).” In conclusion, collaborative sessions were negatively impacted by inability to control bandwidth quality and/or stability abroad.
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