Best Applications of Measurement and Automation Paper Contest

Transcription

1 Best Applications of Measurement and Automation Paper Contest Thank you for your interest in National Instruments 2002 Best Applications of Measurement and Automation Paper Contest. This author packet explains (1) how to submit your abstract and paper, and (2) describes what our judges look for in a winning paper. This packet also includes a Right to Publish form and an Author Biography form that you must complete, sign, and then mail with your manuscript and electronic files. Please read all documents and specifications carefully and use the paper template included in this packet. Deadlines: Abstracts are due April 15, 2002; papers are due May 10, National Instruments reserves the right to reject any papers that do not meet these deadlines. Judging: An anonymous panel of judges consisting of trade journal editors and NI staff evaluate Paper Contest entries. All papers are judged with the following criteria: 1. Is the application technically challenging? 2. Are the benefits and solution clearly articulated? 3. Is the solution innovative, timesaving, and cost-effective? 4. Is the solution an excellent example of computer or network-based measurement and automation? Paper Contest Registration and Acceptance: To register for the Paper Contest, visit and complete the online registration form. When you register, be sure to (1) submit your 50 to 100-word abstract and (2) select a preferred category. Registration and abstracts are accepted no earlier than Feb. 25, 2002 and no later than April 15, You will receive automatic notification of your successful registration and abstract submission. After you receive this notification, send the electronic copy of your paper to paper.contest@ni.com and mail your Right to Publish form, your Author Biography form, and your printed paper, complete with images, to National Instruments, c/o Julie Tomczyszyn, NIWeek Paper Contest Captain, N Mopac Expwy, Austin, TX no later than May 10, To view a sample paper, visit ni.com/info and enter EXIMDR. Categories: You must assign your paper to ONE preferred category. Winners and semifinalists: We choose one winner and two semifinalists for each of the 10 categories. Winners are reimbursed the entire amount they paid to register for NIWeek The first author listed for each accepted paper receives a $100 reimbursement off the NIWeek Conference Pass. Limit one reimbursement per conference attendee. Winners and semifinalists present their papers during the conference sessions. In addition, all accepted papers received by May 10 are published in the Conference Proceedings CD.

2 Registering for NIWeek: NIWeek 2002 takes place August 14 through 16, 2002, at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas. To obtain more information about NIWeek 2002 and registration, visit ni.com/niweek or send an to Questions: If you have any questions about the Paper Contest, contact Julie Tomczyszyn, NIWeek Paper Contest Captain, at (800) or

3 Paper Specifications Your paper, if accepted and received by the deadline of May 10, 2002, is included on the NIWeek 2002 Proceedings CD and may also be used in other formats. We ask that you conform to the general NI Customer Solution style to ensure consistency amongst papers. Your paper must be in English. For more information regarding the Spanish language paper contest, please This packet includes a template with formatting guidelines; please use this template to create your paper. The paper must be no less than 800 words and no greater than 1,000 words. We reserve the right to reject any paper that does not conform to this word limit or the Customer Solution style. Visit ni.com/info and enter EXIMDR to view a sample paper. Graphics instructions: Please reference all graphics, photos, and figures in the text. Place all figures within the body of the paper shortly after the first reference to them in the text. Provide short captions for each figure, graphic, or scanned photo. Use a high-resolution scanner to scan photos. Be sure to submit the original photos; place the electronic image in the electronic file of your paper. If you use one of our software products, please include screen captures in your paper; the minimum resolution we can accept for screen captures is 72 dpi at 100 percent. All other graphics must have a minimum resolution of 300 dpi. We reserve the right to reject any paper with graphics that do not conform to these resolutions. Mailing Instructions: Please mail the following materials to National Instruments, c/o Julie Tomczyszyn, NIWeek Paper Contest Captain, National Instruments, N Mopac Expwy, Austin, TX : (1) A high resolution printed (hard) copy not stapled of your paper with embedded graphics (in color, if you have color graphics) (2) An electronic (soft) copy of your paper with embedded graphics in PC format compatible with Microsoft Word (label disks or CDs with your name and paper title and send in a protected, static-proof envelope). (3) Additional, separate electronic files for each graphic (please name the files with the proper extension names; we can accept only.tif,.bmp,.gif, and.eps files). We prefer to receive your files on a CD or a Zip or JAZZ disk, but we also accept 3.5 inch floppies. NOTE: Please keep printed and electronic copies of all your work in case we receive corrupted files. You must submit the printed and electronic and copies of your work with the completed and signed Right to Publish form and the Author Biography form included in this author packet. Your paper will be disqualified if not accompanied by these two items.

4 Screen Capture Guidelines To achieve the highest degree of quality for printing, please follow these guidelines before sending us screen captures. All appropriate data must be displayed on the screen before capture. Make arrangements for shipping or electronic transmission of your file with your National Instruments marketing contact. If you mail or ship your screen capture on disk via FedEx, address it specifically to your Marketing contact person. For Macintosh 1. To ensure image quality, set video mode to 256 colors or higher using the Monitors control panel. 2. Send high-resolution (300 dpi) files in PICT, EPS, or TIFF format. If unable to obtain a high-resolution image, a low-resolution image is acceptable in a minimum dimension of 12 x10 or 864x720 pixels. 3. For Mac OS 7.x, 8.x, and 9.x, simply press COMMAND-SHIFT-3. You will hear a shutter click; after a brief pause, a file called picture 1 appears at the root level of your startup drive. By default, this is a Macintosh PICT format file. 4. You can edit your screen using a color paint program; then save it as a pict or tiff. Do NOT import the screen into any secondary application, such as Microsoft Word or PowerPoint. 5. If you need to compress a file, use DiskDoubler, Compact Pro, or Stuff-It. Self-extracting archives are acceptable. If you send a Macintosh file electronically, you should compress it and then prepare it for transmission with BinHex 4.0, or use the latest version of Stuff-It Deluxe with built-in BinHex capability. For Windows/DOS Windows 98/95 users 1. To ensure image quality, set video mode to the highest number of colors possible. To do this, right click on the desktop, choose properties from the menu, then choose settings from the Display Properties window. We prefer TrueColor (24-bits), but High Color (16-bits) or 256 colors are acceptable. 2. Run your application. Press the prnt scrn key to capture the screen. This copies the screen to the clipboard. Open Paint from the Windows Accessories group. Press CTRL-V to paste the clipboard into Paint. If a dialog box appears, choose OK to scale the canvas to the size of the image. Save the image. Paint should default to the same bit depth you chose for your monitor. In low memory situations, you might not be able to paste from the clipboard. In this case, capture the screen as before, close your application, then open the Paint program and paste the image. 3. You can use a different paint program instead of the Microsoft Paint program if you prefer. Do NOT import the screen into any secondary application, such as MSWord or PowerPoint. The file should be saved with a color bit depth of 24-bits if possible, but 16-bits, or 8-bits are also acceptable. We can work with.pcx,.bmp,.tif, or.gif file formats. Avoid the JPEG format. If you need to compress a file, use PKZip. Self-extracting archives are acceptable. Windows 3.1 or DOS Users We prefer HiJaak Pro from Quarterdeck Select Corp. for capturing screens under DOS and Windows 3.1. Windows users can try the method described above for Windows 95 users but this can be problematic and is not recommended. If you attempt this method, be sure to close and then re-open the file to verify that the color palette of the screen is not corrupt. 640 by 480 resolution is the best setting for this method under Windows 3.1. Windows/DOS screen captures should be zipped prior to electronic transmission.

5 - TEMPLATE - Paper Title by Author Job Title Company Name Country Category: (Please choose a preferred category from the following list; delete the others) Academic Aerospace/Defense Automotive Biomedical Communications Design Validation Manufacturing Manufacturing Functional Test R&D/Lab Automation Semiconductor Products Used: List all NI products, including versions for software, here on separate lines The Challenge: {Write your word challenge statement here.} The Solution: {Write your word summary of your solution here.} Abstract {Type your word abstract or introduction here; including your abstract in your paper is optional.} {Single-spaced body text word limit 800 to 1,000 words. Start the body of your paper here in this 10 pt Times New Roman font. Use block paragraphs, two carriage returns between paragraphs, one carriage return between subheading and paragraph. Use one space after periods.} Subhead {Continue your body text.} {Type your photo or graphic caption underneath each graphic using this 9 pt Times New Roman font. Embed all graphics. Remember you must provide individual electronic files for each graphic you include in your paper. Include captions for all graphics material. Place photos in text after first reference you must include a reference to all graphics in the text. Include screen captures if you use National Instruments software products. Screen captures must have a minimum resolution of 72 dpi at 100 percent. All other graphics must have a minimum resolution of 300 dpi.} NOTE: to review a complete sample paper, visit ni.com/info and enter EXIMDR.

6 Author Biography Form Name Company/Affiliation Job Title Company Address Tel Fax Education Summary of Professional Experience (positions held, areas of expertise, etc.) NI Alliance Program Member Personal Interests, Hobbies no yes If yes, year joined:

7 Best Applications of Measurement and Automation Contest Author Name(s): Paper Title: Category: Judged by: Judges please review each paper according to the criteria described below and assign a point value in the spaces provided. Please fax back only this form. Thank you for your time in reviewing these papers. Points Awarded Total score: Selection Criteria/ Points Possible Is the application an excellent example of computer or network-based measurement and automation? 30 points possible How technically challenging is the application? 20 points possible How timesaving and costeffective is the solution? 25 points possible Are the benefits and solution clearly articulated? 25 points possible 100 points possible Comments (optional): Criteria Explanation and Suggested Point Values! Does the author clearly explain how she or he used the PC? 10 points! Did the author successfully integrate the National Instruments products in his or her solution? Is the National Instruments-based system successful? 10 points! Does the solution rely on both National Instruments hardware and software? 10 points! Did the author develop a good solution to his or her problem/need? 10 points! Did the author make a technically challenging problem easier by adopting a computer or network-based measurement and automation system? 10 points! Did the author take the most cost-effective approach available (consider man-hours, machine hours, and product costs)? 15 points! Does this solution save time developing, integrating, operating, or debugging? 10 points! Does the author clearly explain how he or she used National Instruments products? 10 points! Does the author clearly explain the technical details of the new system? 10 points! Does the author compare the current solution to the previous one to detail the benefits of the National Instruments-based system (percentage of time saved, money saved, etc.)? 5 points

8 Author s Quick Guide for NIWeek 2002 Paper Contest Acronyms Spell out the acronym first, then place the acronym in parentheses following the spelled out words. For instance, image acquisition (IMAQ). Captions Provide captions for all graphics that appear in your paper. En-dash Use the en-dash to indicate a long pause in the text do not confuse it with the regular short hyphen that is used to hyphenate a word. Place a space around either side of the en-dash to set it off. Headings/Titles In headings, titles, and figures and table captions, capitalize the first and last words and all other words except prepositions (regardless of length), conjunctions, and articles the, an, and a. Order of Text When writing your paper, have a specific message in mind. When conveying this message, be concise focus your ideas. To do this, try keeping your sentences short. Paragraphs Use block style no indents, two carriage returns between paragraphs, one carriage return between subheading and paragraph. Parallelism When using bullets in your text, make sure that you keep the sentences or phrases in parallel construction. For example: Parallel Works with LabVIEW Features parallel port Not Parallel Works with LabVIEW Parallel port Product Names Do not break NI product names with hyphens try to fit them on one line. Serial Comma Use a comma before and in a series. Space Between Sentences Use one space between sentences.

9 SPELL CHECK!!! Symbols In general, we keep a space between numbers and symbols. 8 C 8 MB Spell out % as percent. Trademarks Trademark National Instruments products only. Use a trademark symbol only the first time a National Instruments product name is listed. Web Capitalize the word Web.

10 Right to Publish To: From: National Instruments Corporation Author Author s title Company Address Tel Fax address Description of work(s), include all text and artwork: Manuscript Line art Photographs Screens Other Manuscript provisionally entitled Artwork provisionally entitled This document grants National Instruments Corporation the exclusive right to reproduce and disseminate, on a royalty-free basis and in accordance with the copyright laws, the above-described work(s) or any part thereof throughout the world, in any and all languages, in any and all formats (print and electronic), in perpetuity. Reproduction may include but is not limited to the following: NIWeek 2002 Conference Proceedings CD Publication in National Instruments electronic marketing materials, including but not limited to the National Instruments Web site, Instrupedia CD, Software Showcase CD, or individual software demonstration CDs Publication in Instrumentation Newsletter, NI News or Developer Insights Publication as a standalone Customer Solution article Publication in National Instruments marketing materials, including but not limited to brochures, catalogs, or direct mail items Publication of entire text or excerpts and art provided in a trade or industry journal publication I understand that each usage of the work(s) will credit the author named above and will include the following copyright notice: Copyright 2002 National Instruments Corporation. All rights reserved. Product and company names listed are trademarks or trade names of their respective companies. Authorized signature of author or author s representative Printed or typed name Date Telephone Title

11 National Instruments Paper Contest Official Rules ELIGIBILITY: Authors must be 18 years of age or older at the time of entry. Authors must have made use of an NI product to produce a measurement and automation application and the abstract and technical paper describing such use must be original to the Author. This contest is void where prohibited or restricted by law. Employees of National Instruments Corporation ( NI ), advertising agencies, promotional partners, and the relatives and household members of the employees of each are not eligible to enter. This contest is subject to all U.S. federal, state, and local laws and regulations. HOW TO ENTER: To register for the Paper Contest, visit complete the online registration form, and submit your word abstract that summarizes your technical paper and describes an NI product used in a measurement and automation application. NI should receive all abstracts no earlier than midnight (Austin, Texas time) on February 25, 2002, and no later than midnight (Austin, Texas time) on April 15, Upon receiving an confirming your registration and abstract acceptance, the electronic copy of your paper to paper.contest@ni.com and mail your Right to Publish Form, your Author Biography Form, and your printed paper, complete with images, to National Instruments, c/o Julie Tomczyszyn, NIWeek Paper Contest Captain, N. Mopac Expwy, Austin, Texas NI must receive all papers no later than midnight (Austin, Texas time) on May 10, Entries will not be maintained in confidence. All entries (including abstracts and final papers) become the property of NI and will not be returned. NI is not responsible for late, damaged, incomplete, illegible, lost, delayed, or misdirected entries. JUDGING CRITERIA: A panel of judges selected by NI evaluate entries based on four main criteria. Judges select one (1) winner and two (2) semifinalists from each category from the applicable papers. The decisions of the judges are final.

12 WINNERS: Winners will be notified by NI at the applicable address listed in the entry. Each of the winners may be required to sign a declaration of eligibility, prize claim form, and release ( Declaration ). If the completed Declaration is not received by NI within ten (10) days of notification attempt, the applicable prize will be forfeited. PRIZES: Winners are reimbursed 100 percent of the NIWeek registration fees and receive a plaque presented at NIWeek. Winners and semifinalists present their solution to their peers at NIWeek. The first author listed on each accepted paper receives $100 (U.S.) off the NIWeek Conference Pass. All prizes are non-transferable and no substitutions or cash redemptions will be made. Any tax or duty on a prize is the sole responsibility of the applicable winner. GENERAL: Odds of winning a prize depend on the number and quality of eligible entries received. By entering or accepting a prize, authors consent to the use of their names (including corporation name), pictures, voices, evaluation data, biographical data and /or likeness in advertising and promotional materials by NI and its promotional partners, without additional compensation. Authors agree that NI (including its affiliates and advertising agencies) shall not be liable for injury, loss or damage of any kind resulting from participating in this contest or from the acceptance or use of any prize awarded. Authors warrant that their entry is original, that no false information is given, and that no other person owns or has any rights to any element of the entry including any copyrights in it. Contest rules may change from year to year.

13 Don t forget to: Check List # Format your 800 to 1,000-word paper using the template provided. # Run a spell check. # Complete and sign the Right to Publish form. # Complete the Author Biography form. # Print out two high-resolution copies of your paper with embedded graphics (color if applicable). Do not staple. # Copy an electronic.doc version of your paper with embedded graphics onto a 3.5 inch floppy, JAZZ or Zip disc. # Place each of your paper s graphics separately into a.tif,.bmp,.gif, or.eps file and copy each file onto the disc(s) containing the.doc version of your paper. Note: the minimum resolution for all graphics should be 300 dpi. The minimum resolution for screen captures should be 72 dpi at 100 percent. # Place the disc(s) in a protected, static-proof container. # Ensure arrival of all materials at National Instruments in Austin, TX by May 10, Mail all items in a protected envelope to: National Instruments, c/o Julie Tomczyszyn, NIWeek Paper Contest Captain, N Mopac Expwy, Austin, TX # Register for NIWeek 2002 at ni.com/niweek