Shikher-Today

I began my day by resuming the realignment of population-density ASCII file which was 20% done on Monday. It took me approx. 3-3.5 hours to realign approx 80% of the file. The some error occurred, application closed suddenly and I lost all that data.

So, moral of the story that I spent approx 5 hours in that file and finally nothing in hand.

Then instead of restarting the process, I tried to find the solution through shell scripting to convert comma delimited file to space delimited. Fortunately I found one and then I converted that file into realigned ASCII file in 5 minutes (:D) through Unix Command.

Now, we have all the aligned data-set for approx 230 m cell size. On one computer I am creating the final dataset for GARP and its still under process. It may take more 30-40 minutes but I wont be here by then so I have left instruction to save that data, once processed by Desktop Garp Manager, on Sid's computer (as I won't be here tomorrow).

I also started the GARP model with 6 files (of 230 m cell size) approx. 40 minutes ago and its still running. It has not given even a single result out of 5 results. It creates a doubt. I am not sure what will happen when I will run the model with 23 files and how much time its going to take.

Shikher-Today

I began my day with data processing and then discussed about video with the team. After that I wasted 1-2 hours because of the abnormal behavior of ArcGis. Finally, I started using James' computer and it was working fine there. I think I shall have to use some other computer from now onwards, because we were facing the same problem in the last term. I don't know why it happens sometimes with Arc on my computer.

I have started re-sampling of data to approx 230 m resolution. Desktop GARP takes approx 3 minutes per re-sampled ASCII file to convert into RAW file, so its not that bad. Arc takes 15-20 minutes to give resampled ASCII file.

If would be good if we can clip some more area. I will talk about this on Friday. I have created tool in ArcGis to perform re-sampling and conversion to ASCII in single step.

I am running test-case with two re-sampled layers in GARP. It took approx. 10 minutes to produce one probability map with 2 input layers, still 4 more to go. So I think it won't be bad with 10-20 probability maps and 23 input layers.

Shikher-Today

I did following tasks today:

• Rectified the misalignment problem with the population desity ASCII file.
• Resampled the land cover data according to other parameters.
• Ran the GARP model with minimum option to test. It was successful.
• Now, I am running the GARP model with standard options for one species. Its still running. It took 3 hours to finish 33% of simulation.
• Worked on Tech Paper.

We are currently runnig a model for approximately 1 Km resolution data. I resampled land cover data to 1 Km resolution to meet GARP input requirements. Now I am thinking of making inputs with finer resolution like 200 m, 300 m, etc to get more accurate result. I will discuss with other team members about this on Friday and then I will start preparing new dataset with finer resolution.

Good news is that now everything looks fine and I don't think there is any problem with the functioning of Desktop GARP. Now, we can experiment as much as we want with the dataset like:

• Trying different resolution dataset.
• Trying different variables.
• Trying different study area.
• Trying different species.
• Trying various option given in Desktop GRAP.

Hi Team, Hi Walt! ----- I don't know if Joe's PSRD edits ever came back, but we did some minor editing on the deliverable today.  I plan to go ahead and upload that one to the exchange before COB tomorrow just to make the deadline; however, Walt mentioned replacing it Friday with a more revised version.  Also, from SSC tomorrow I plan to get started drafting the weekly quad chart (Walt this is mostly for you, but I did get a picture of James working diligently on coordinates today!!)  Thank you James for all your hard work on that - and Sid for all your work on the deliverable - and Shikher thank you for all your work on data processing.  See you all next week. :-)

Shikher - Today

I finished processing of all input parameters except land cover. I was learning land cover classification implementation and now I am all set to begin downloading and processing landsat imagery for creating land cover raster for out study area.
I shall come on Friday instead of tomorrow if Walt agrees because I shall frequently need guidance and advise of Walt during the process of land cover raster creation.

Shikher-Today

I started my day with literature review. Then Sid gave me a link to website for data download and fortunately I found all data (i.e. all 20 parameters except topographic index) in that website. I have downloaded the data.
Then, I was trying to figure out how to merge two raster in ArcGis. Finally I figured it out. Now, I am hoping to finish data processing by tomorrow using ArcGis. After that we only need Reservoir Distribution data to run the model.

Cha-Cha Chagas :-)

Hi team.  I just wanted to take a moment to say it was nice meeting most of you today.  Some of you not so much - because I had already met you before! haha.  Seems like you all have a lot of great ideas and have your scientific minds on a great path for this project.  I look forward to working more closely with you throughout the term.  :-) -amber

first off, apologies for everything running together last post-as i forgot you have to use html tags in blogger.


im posting to give everyone a heads up that i will need to address an aspect of the SLEUTH project for a portion of the afternoon on Monday. it's that consultant again, but on the upside, we are being cited in their technical report so congrats on having a direct impact!

tentative monday schedule:
800-935: lit review, continue where last week left off
935: i should be hitting the door. a huge welcome to amber, and Sid and Amber will be doing badging (finally). i also would like to do the quick MCHD walking tour. Shikher and James, you're welcome to join.
1015: project planning. i want to do this to realign ourselves for the week and get amber up to speed on the project. I'm expecting Shikher will have some things to say about GARP and i'm imagining we will be having the same 3ish big questions that we fleshed out last week
1100: software installations? other than that, a solid work period for the afternoon. need to get a running start on the project summary and start tackling our big questions. this will probably result in a partner meeting by the end of the week. i may have some paperwork to tidy up but i think karen has everything she needs from last week.
230: im going to set aside some time in the afternoon to do one thing: run the zonal histogram tool for some of the SLEUTH results. this was specifically asked for by the firm, i didnt get to it over the interim (or i did twice and neither time could i get the tool to work) and my deadline is up.

Develop is a blank check to do research with an impact. lets use our time wisely.

a monday kick start if you need (music):

Hey Everyone! Congrats again on being a part of the team and having what seems to be a pretty good first week. Hope everyone isn't too overwhelmed. Announcements: --Amber will be joining us next week to primarily help out with the project. I sent her the most recent proposal but she will probably need to check out some of our initial lit review. No worries-we'll be up to speed by Tuesday. --Our first science advisor telecon with Mr. Spruce will be sometime next week. Not sure when yet, but I'd suspect Friday. --All documentation from the orientation material, contracts, and first round of invoices is in to NPO. With direct deposit, that payment will be processed next weekend. You should have it for sure by Monday, the 23rd. --Until we get time clocks and badges worked out on Monday, I'm not going to bother balancing everyones time. --If you're interested in ordering the official line of DEVELOP apparel, see the develop_swag excel sheet in the student folder on the drive. --It is my intention to install Erdas this afternoon. Hopefully it will cooperate. After i take a look at how different Erdas 2013 is, we may be able to use some of my old tutorial material. Project: I've had some time to take a look at the initial lit review and looks like everyone is on track so far. Try to zero in on what environmental factors (that is, stuff we can observe) these insects are sensitive to. I know we're not sure what we're going to do about the different species, but this will be a question for Dr. Mujica early next week. Also, now is the time to start filling in project background for the project summary and tech paper. Keep an eye out for papers that cite sample data as we will need this data to train the model for Triatominae. Start making a contact list and I will help you all compose the emails to these people. Cheers everyone, have a most excellent weekend.

Shikher-Today

I feel the biggest challenge for this project  is the terminology used in Biology. During literature review, often I had to put "COMMENDABLE EFFORT" to pronounce certain words ... :D .... but I think its quite normal. Now , I am sure that I have been so sensible in my life that I never thought of being a doctor!! Well jokes apart .................
I worked on the theory and working of GARP. Implementation of GARP is easy but the selection of variables for the model need research. I also read paper on Chagas' disease but I need to dig deep into the it's basics. I downloaded ERDAS installation file and will install it tomorrow.