re. Free online booking systems
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Richard Harris-6 |
re. Free online booking systems
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These systems all seem to be schedulers (online or otherwise). To generate accurate billing info the user needs to log in and out of the local system (microscope workstation) and be able to compare login time with scheduled time. I don’t see that any of the systems recommended so far do this. Rick, The Biotron - Center for Experimental Climate Change Research University of Western Ontario, London Ontario, CANADA.
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OCF has a component on the workstation that communicates with
the scheduler software on a server (located elsewhere). It tracks the Windows login/logoff
information. OCF and Windows user names must be identical for this to work. That
said, I still keep a paper log for the occasional times when this doesn’t work… Doug ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Douglas W. Cromey, M.S. - Assistant Scientific Investigator Dept. of Cell Biology & Anatomy, University of Arizona 1501 N. Campbell Ave, Tucson, AZ 85724-5044 USA office: AHSC 4212 email: [hidden email] voice: 520-626-2824 fax: 520-626-2097 http://swehsc.pharmacy.arizona.edu/exppath/ Home of: "Microscopy and Imaging Resources on the WWW" From: Confocal Microscopy
List [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Richard
Harris These systems all seem to
be schedulers (online or otherwise). To generate accurate billing info
the user needs to log in and out of the local
system (microscope
workstation) and be
able to compare login time with scheduled time. I don’t see that
any of the systems
recommended so far do this. Rick, The
Biotron - Center for Experimental Climate Change Research University
of Western Ontario, London
Ontario, CANADA. |
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Glen MacDonald-2 |
Re: re. Free online booking systems
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In reply to this post by Richard Harris-6
True, but these are adequate for many needs. Logging to the nearest minute is not always necessary. Most of our core's systems are not billed to the user, and only need scheduling to maintain the peace. On our billable systems, if someone cancels they get charged for portion of their reserved time not taken by someone else. If they are spending a portion of their reserved time prepping their sample, they are still billed regardless of whether they logged into the confocal.
I did get a call 5 min. ago from some company offering logging and billing software. I'm curious to look at their demo. Regards, Glen On Mar 10, 2010, at 11:00 AM, Richard Harris wrote: > These systems all seem to be schedulers (online or otherwise). To generate accurate billing info the user needs to log in and out of the local system (microscope workstation) and be able to compare login time with scheduled time. I don’t see that any of the systems recommended so far do this. > > Rick, > > Richard Harris, Manager - Integrated Microscopy @ Biotron > > The Biotron - Center for Experimental Climate Change Research > > University of Western Ontario, > > London Ontario, CANADA. > N6A 5B7 > Ph. 519-661-2111 ext. 86780 > Fax 519-661-3935 > e-mail [hidden email] > web: www.thebiotron.ca > > |
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Mathieu Marchand-2 |
Re: re. Free online booking systems
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In reply to this post by Richard Harris-6
Rick,
With the PPMS software you can optionally install a small script that will monitoring windows/unix login times. Billing will then automatically include both the time booked and the time used. Of course the usernames will need to be the same for this to work, and we have some synchronisation interfaces for Samba or Active Directory to make sure of that. See our web site http://ppms.info for more details. Mat On Wed, Mar 10, 2010 at 2:00 PM, Richard Harris <[hidden email]> wrote: > These systems all seem to be schedulers (online or otherwise). To generate > accurate billing info the user needs to log in and out of the local system > (microscope workstation) and be able to compare login time with scheduled > time. I don’t see that any of the systems recommended so far do this. > > Rick, > > Richard Harris, Manager - Integrated Microscopy @ Biotron > > The Biotron - Center for Experimental Climate Change Research > > University of Western Ontario, > > London Ontario, CANADA. > N6A 5B7 > Ph. 519-661-2111 ext. 86780 > Fax 519-661-3935 > e-mail [hidden email] > web: www.thebiotron.ca |
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Boswell, Carl A - (cboswell) |
Re: re. Free online booking systems
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In reply to this post by Glen MacDonald-2
Hi Glen,
If it is what I think, I just did an online demo and, while the program seemed useful, it was a bit pricey for what one got. Ask them first what the cost is, then see what you think. c P.S. Two of the mentioned programs will do billing. Carl A. Boswell, Ph.D. Molecular and Cellular Biology University of Arizona 520-954-7053 FAX 520-621-3709 ----- Original Message ----- From: "Glen MacDonald" <[hidden email]> To: <[hidden email]> Sent: Wednesday, March 10, 2010 1:07 PM Subject: Re: re. Free online booking systems True, but these are adequate for many needs. Logging to the nearest minute is not always necessary. Most of our core's systems are not billed to the user, and only need scheduling to maintain the peace. On our billable systems, if someone cancels they get charged for portion of their reserved time not taken by someone else. If they are spending a portion of their reserved time prepping their sample, they are still billed regardless of whether they logged into the confocal. I did get a call 5 min. ago from some company offering logging and billing software. I'm curious to look at their demo. Regards, Glen On Mar 10, 2010, at 11:00 AM, Richard Harris wrote: > These systems all seem to be schedulers (online or otherwise). To > generate accurate billing info the user needs to log in and out of the > local system (microscope workstation) and be able to compare login time > with scheduled time. I don’t see that any of the systems recommended so > far do this. > > Rick, > > Richard Harris, Manager - Integrated Microscopy @ Biotron > > The Biotron - Center for Experimental Climate Change Research > > University of Western Ontario, > > London Ontario, CANADA. > N6A 5B7 > Ph. 519-661-2111 ext. 86780 > Fax 519-661-3935 > e-mail [hidden email] > web: www.thebiotron.ca > > |
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Adrian Smith-6 |
Re: re. Free online booking systems
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In reply to this post by Mathieu Marchand-2
Hi all,
I'm interested in how the PPMS script mentioned below and the OCF compenent that tracks Windows logins deal with reconciling booked time and logged-in time? Do they just take the longest of the two or is more sophisticated compilation possible? eg what happens when the previous user is runs late or the instrument malfunctions or there are other acceptable reasons why a booking is not used etc? Regards, Adrian Smith Centenary Institute, Sydney, Australia On 11/03/2010, at 8:05 AM, Mathieu Marchand wrote: > Rick, > With the PPMS software you can optionally install a small script that > will monitoring windows/unix login times. Billing will then > automatically include both the time booked and the time used. > Of course the usernames will need to be the same for this to work, and > we have some synchronisation interfaces for Samba or Active Directory > to make sure of that. See our web site http://ppms.info for more > details. > > Mat > > > On Wed, Mar 10, 2010 at 2:00 PM, Richard Harris <[hidden email]> wrote: >> These systems all seem to be schedulers (online or otherwise). To generate >> accurate billing info the user needs to log in and out of the local system >> (microscope workstation) and be able to compare login time with scheduled >> time. I don’t see that any of the systems recommended so far do this. >> >> Rick, >> >> Richard Harris, Manager - Integrated Microscopy @ Biotron >> >> The Biotron - Center for Experimental Climate Change Research >> >> University of Western Ontario, >> >> London Ontario, CANADA. >> N6A 5B7 >> Ph. 519-661-2111 ext. 86780 >> Fax 519-661-3935 >> e-mail [hidden email] >> web: www.thebiotron.ca |
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Boswell, Carl A - (cboswell) |
Re: re. Free online booking systems
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Hi Adrian,
The OCF scheduler has an interesting quirk, in that if the user signs in after the specified start time, the log in counts as a new reservation. Come time for billing there are two entries, one which shows no activity and one with the real duration of the session. As long as one is aware of this, it is a simple matter of deleting the "empty" reservation. If they sign in early, it simply tabulates total time logged in. The software time tracking is not restricted by the formal reserved block of time. It very simply counts the number of minutes a valid user is logged into the system. This can be displayed with any sort of additional info (acct number, PI, actual start time, and so on) and it is dumped out as a .csv file that easily ports into Excel. I always have a physical signin sheet (name, time in, time out, etc) next to each system that I use to reconcile any differences or odd circumstances that might be reported. As for "acceptable reasons why a booking is not used ", a user can cancel a resevation before the start time. After that, the calendar administrator must do so. That requires a conversation between the user and the manager which invariably results in the reservation being deleted. If there is no conversation, the time is billed at full value. I have to periodically send out reminders that folks are wasting money by not showing up for their reservations, which perks up the slackers, but for the most part, it is not an issue. Hope this is clear. If you have any other questions, feel free to contact me off the listserv. C Carl A. Boswell, Ph.D. Molecular and Cellular Biology University of Arizona 520-954-7053 FAX 520-621-3709 ----- Original Message ----- From: "Adrian Smith" <[hidden email]> To: <[hidden email]> Sent: Wednesday, March 10, 2010 6:02 PM Subject: Re: re. Free online booking systems Hi all, I'm interested in how the PPMS script mentioned below and the OCF compenent that tracks Windows logins deal with reconciling booked time and logged-in time? Do they just take the longest of the two or is more sophisticated compilation possible? eg what happens when the previous user is runs late or the instrument malfunctions or there are other acceptable reasons why a booking is not used etc? Regards, Adrian Smith Centenary Institute, Sydney, Australia On 11/03/2010, at 8:05 AM, Mathieu Marchand wrote: > Rick, > With the PPMS software you can optionally install a small script that > will monitoring windows/unix login times. Billing will then > automatically include both the time booked and the time used. > Of course the usernames will need to be the same for this to work, and > we have some synchronisation interfaces for Samba or Active Directory > to make sure of that. See our web site http://ppms.info for more > details. > > Mat > > > On Wed, Mar 10, 2010 at 2:00 PM, Richard Harris <[hidden email]> wrote: >> These systems all seem to be schedulers (online or otherwise). To >> generate >> accurate billing info the user needs to log in and out of the local >> system >> (microscope workstation) and be able to compare login time with >> scheduled >> time. I don’t see that any of the systems recommended so far do this. >> >> Rick, >> >> Richard Harris, Manager - Integrated Microscopy @ Biotron >> >> The Biotron - Center for Experimental Climate Change Research >> >> University of Western Ontario, >> >> London Ontario, CANADA. >> N6A 5B7 >> Ph. 519-661-2111 ext. 86780 >> Fax 519-661-3935 >> e-mail [hidden email] >> web: www.thebiotron.ca |
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Shigeo Watanabe |
illumination system for ChR2 etc.
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Hi all, I am looking for the information about the illumination system for Channelrhodpsin. If people want to illuminate ChR2 with arbitrary figurative pattern, it is common to use laser scanning microscope now. However, scanning based setup is one of the most expensive appratus in this reseach world. Does anybody know any cheaper apparatus to illuminate sample with any arbitrary patterns to activate light-sensitive channels? Shigeo Watanabe Hamamatsu Photonics KK |
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Pablo González-Melendi de León |
Re: illumination system for ChR2 etc.
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PLEASE, REMOVE ME FROM THE LIST
Con fecha 11/3/2010, "Shigeo Watanabe" <[hidden email]> escribió: >Hi all, > >I am looking for the information about the illumination system for >Channelrhodpsin. > >If people want to illuminate ChR2 with arbitrary figurative pattern, it is >common to use laser scanning microscope now. > >However, scanning based setup is one of the most expensive appratus in >this reseach world. > >Does anybody know any cheaper apparatus to illuminate sample with any >arbitrary patterns to activate light-sensitive channels? > > >Shigeo Watanabe >Hamamatsu Photonics KK > > > |
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In reply to this post by Shigeo Watanabe
Well, I suppose you could cut a paper mask and put it in the
plane of the field diaphragm of your fluorescence illuminator. That’s
about as cheap as it gets. But once you want to achieve any degree of
precision, and do a range of patterns, I think you will find that a confocal is
not such a bad option. I don’t know what the lowest cost confocal
with an AOTF is (someone on this list will surely tell us) but I wouldn’t
think it would rate as ‘one of the most expensive apparatus in the
research world’. One other thought is that Perkin-Elmer have a
laser pattern illumination system for FRAP work with their spinning disk
confocal. Maybe they would sell you that system without the
confocal part?
Guy From: Confocal Microscopy List
[mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Shigeo Watanabe
No virus
found in this incoming message. |
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Sean Speese |
Re: illumination system for ChR2 etc.
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In reply to this post by Shigeo Watanabe
Hi Shigeo,
Photonic Instruments make a digital illumination system called the Mosaic, which is based around a DMD (Digital Mirror Display), that allows you to target light to multiple hand drawn regions within your illumination field. This system can be combined with a laser light source or a mercury lamp, depending on your application. For activation of channelrhodopsin, you should be able to use a mercury light source. The mosaic system has an interchangeable cube to allow different wavelengths of excitation when using a mercury light source. My recollection is that this system is around 50K with a mercury light source, so not cheap, but cheaper than getting a confocal. There is also another less expensive device this company makes that is called the micro-point galvo system which uses a dye-cell laser and galvo driven mirror to allow targeted illumination of arbitrary patterns, however this system is not real fast when you try to target larger areas. Here is the website if you are interested: http://www.photonic-instruments.com/MicroPoint_Mosaic.aspx. Hope this helps No Commercial Interest Sean Speese, Ph.D. UMASS Medical School ________________________________________ From: Confocal Microscopy List [[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Shigeo Watanabe [[hidden email]] Sent: Thursday, March 11, 2010 4:23 AM To: [hidden email] Subject: illumination system for ChR2 etc. Hi all, I am looking for the information about the illumination system for Channelrhodpsin. If people want to illuminate ChR2 with arbitrary figurative pattern, it is common to use laser scanning microscope now. However, scanning based setup is one of the most expensive appratus in this reseach world. Does anybody know any cheaper apparatus to illuminate sample with any arbitrary patterns to activate light-sensitive channels? Shigeo Watanabe Hamamatsu Photonics KK |
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Mathieu Marchand-2 |
Re: re. Free online booking systems
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In reply to this post by Adrian Smith-6
Dear Adrian,
To answer your question, yes PPMS does have a more sophisticated method of handeling booked time vs real usage time when it is used in combination with real-time usage reporting. The key concepts are outlined below: - First, in PPMS, sessions booked are always charged for their full length unless they are: cancelled before the notice period, cancelled after the notice period and rebooked by another user, or another user is logged in and is using the system. I will not go into details here about how PPMS handles cancelation, but we have per-instrument options to allow some flexibility. Additionally, any charge can be cancelled by an administrator at their discretion (as in the case of equipment malfunction). - When somebody is logged in during his own booked session, PPMS records the time really used, but will not modify the amount charged. This means the user is billed for the time booked. Administrators can modify a booked session manually to charge only for the time used. - When somebody is logged in on an instrument without having booked it, he will be charged (by the minute) for a separate session. This includes any time before or after a booked session. If somebody else was booked for that time, the amount charged for that booked time will be reduced. We never charge twice for the same time. This is automatic, and people who over-run their booking do not create unfair charges for the people waiting for the instrument. Also, when somebody is late for their booking the previous user will often be happy to continue working until the next user shows up, and everybody will benefit from the concept.
Please feel free to contact me if you have further questions. Mat On Wed, Mar 10, 2010 at 8:02 PM, Adrian Smith <[hidden email]> wrote: > Hi all, > > I'm interested in how the PPMS script mentioned below and the OCF compenent that tracks Windows logins deal with reconciling booked time and logged-in time? Do they just take the longest of the two or is more sophisticated compilation possible? > > eg what happens when the previous user is runs late or the instrument malfunctions or there are other acceptable reasons why a booking is not used etc? > > Regards, > > Adrian Smith > Centenary Institute, Sydney, Australia > > > > On 11/03/2010, at 8:05 AM, Mathieu Marchand wrote: > >> Rick, >> With the PPMS software you can optionally install a small script that >> will monitoring windows/unix login times. Billing will then >> automatically include both the time booked and the time used. >> Of course the usernames will need to be the same for this to work, and >> we have some synchronisation interfaces for Samba or Active Directory >> to make sure of that. See our web site http://ppms.info for more >> details. >> >> Mat >> >> >> On Wed, Mar 10, 2010 at 2:00 PM, Richard Harris <[hidden email]> wrote: >>> These systems all seem to be schedulers (online or otherwise). To generate >>> accurate billing info the user needs to log in and out of the local system >>> (microscope workstation) and be able to compare login time with scheduled >>> time. I don’t see that any of the systems recommended so far do this. >>> >>> Rick, >>> >>> Richard Harris, Manager - Integrated Microscopy @ Biotron >>> >>> The Biotron - Center for Experimental Climate Change Research >>> >>> University of Western Ontario, >>> >>> London Ontario, CANADA. >>> N6A 5B7 >>> Ph. 519-661-2111 ext. 86780 >>> Fax 519-661-3935 >>> e-mail [hidden email] >>> web: www.thebiotron.ca > |
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lechristophe |
Re: illumination system for ChR2 etc.
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In reply to this post by Sean Speese
Dear Shigeo,
You should look for widefield FRAP systems, with the right lasers they can photoactivate or exite ChR2. Zeiss has a widefield FRAP system based on masks: http://www.zeiss.de/c12567be0045acf1/Contents-Frame/b9bd0d2c39f8ead2c125762b004866fa There seems to be a Programmable Array Microscope from Cairn research based on a DMD (was it actually ever sold ?) http://www.cairnweb.com/newsletter/pam.html MAGBio is selling a laser/galvo based FRAP module, although it seems to be discontinued: http://www.spectraservices.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=FRAP3D&Category_Code=CONF The last two systems, similar to the Photonic Instruments MOSAIC system, work with digital mirror devices (DMD) by removing light from parts of the field, so the excitation intensity is lost (if you illuminate 1% of the field, you loose 99% of the incident light). What would be more interesting is to use spatial light modulators to modulate the phase, and focus all the incident light in a defined pattern, so that you concentrate the incident energy where you want to illuminate your sample. To my knowledge there is no commercial system using such a light modulation strategy. Christophe On Thu, Mar 11, 2010 at 14:11, Speese, Sean <[hidden email]> wrote: Hi Shigeo, |
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lechristophe |
Re: illumination system for ChR2 etc.
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Just a correction, only the PAM and MOSAIC systems use DMDs, the MAGBIO system uses lasers+galvo, similar to FRAP with a confocal and seems identical to the ILAS system:
http://www.photometrics.de/frap.html On Thu, Mar 11, 2010 at 14:57, Christophe Leterrier <[hidden email]> wrote: Dear Shigeo, |
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