Journal Notes
Week 4
Day 16 – Sunday, July 13, 2003
After meeting with Zhenrong, I am a bit discouraged. We came across several problems, which I need to talk to Linda about in further detail Monday morning. Yesterday, I had sent Zhenrong a copy of her code that Linda had sent me. After taking a look at the code today and going over her thesis, Zhenrong realized that this an older version of her code, which did not work properly. She said that initially she had tried to use the K_means (the code that I have), but k_means did not work well. It could not handle the amount of data she used, and it was not able to find contours of the vessels that accurately. Therefore, she changed from k-means to using EM algorithm. Also, this program reads in .ppm images but she thinks that for the final program, she was actually working with jpegs. So, basically I do not have the right code. Zhenrong will see if she has the code on her home computer, but is not too sure about that. She also said that Sal might have a copy of it because he looked at some of EM code last year. Another issue is that she had used JBuilder version 2.00 to compile/run her program, but when she had come back last year, they had realized that the CD has been misplaced. She thought that this one guy had it, and he thought she had it, but neither actually has it. In addition, I had talked to her about finding the images that she had run the program on; She said that it is going to take a lot of manual work to get these images. Based on all of this information, I am beginning to doubt that I will be able to get this program running and make my own useful contribution to it within the next seven weeks. I am beginning to wonder if it would be better to switch to another project in which I will be able to make some type of contribution. I am hoping that some of these issues get resolved when I meet with Linda tomorrow.
Day 17 – Monday, July 14, 2003
Last night I received an email from Zhenrong, and she was able to find both the right version of the code and the set of images that she had run the program on! This will save a lot of time in the initial steps of getting her program to run. Therefore, I have decided to stay on this project! Towards early afternoon, Zhenrong had emailed me a zip file of the program and made the images available as well. I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to compile Zhenrong’s code. The major problem is that it is not recognizing different packages that are imported in the main file. I will contact a couple people who may be able to help me fix this problem tomorrow.
Take a look at the Make Images Panel!
Day 18 – Tuesday, July 15, 2003
I basically spent the day trying to compile Zhenrong’s code. A few people came in today to try to get the code to compile, but unfortunately were unable to help me. Towards, the end of the day, with the help of another research student, I realized that I needed to download a Java 3D extension in order for several of the errors to go away. In fact, after doing so, in combination with a few other changes I was able to get the code to compile! I was finally able to see what the program looked like. Tomorrow I will work on figuring out how to input the data (images) in order to actually make the program run!!
Day 19 – Wednesday, July 16, 2003
Today I found some errors that were preventing me from viewing one of the screens of this program called Make Images. Now that I have my first screen of the program working, I am able to see what functionality it has! I am getting some things to happen, but what the significance/purpose of it is I am not sure. I will continue to work on understanding the functionality, as well as trying to get other parts of the programs to run.
Day 20 – Thursday, July 17, 2003
I now fully understand the functionality of the Make Images Screen. I was able to make both the Vertical Resample screen and Make Vessels screen to appear. I tried to figure out the functionality, but am not able to. I am confident that I will be able to get the program running, however I need to meet with Zhenrong in order to understand it. The code is not commented well, so it is a bit confusing. Meanwhile, I will continue to get other parts of the program up and running.
Day 21 – Friday, July 18, 2003
I think that overall, I have been more productive in this one week, than I have overall. After meeting with Zhenrong and getting the correct data and code, I was able to get some of the program to run. My hopes are that I am able to get the entire program up and running this week, along with a complete understanding of it (can only be achieved if Zhenrong is able to meet with me, but these meetings have become nearly impossible to arrange). That way, for the remaining of the five weeks, I will be able to focus on adding something of my own to the program. I will also have to create a type of guide for future students who want to get this program up and running so that they can work on it.