Rich Internet Application | EPFL Graph Search

A Rich Internet Application (also known as a rich web application, RIA or installable Internet application) is a web application that has many of the characteristics of desktop application software. The concept is closely related to a single-page application, and may allow the user interactive features such as drag and drop, background menu, WYSIWYG editing, etc. The concept was first introduced in 2002 by Macromedia to describe Macromedia Flash MX product (which later became Adobe Flash). Throughout the 2000-s, the term was generalized to describe browser-based applications developed with other competing browser plugin technologies including Java applets, Microsoft Silverlight. With the deprecation of browser plugin interfaces and transition to standard HTML5 technologies, Rich Internet Applications were replaced with JavaScript web applications, including single-page applications and progressive web applications. The terms "Rich Internet Application" and "rich client" were introduced in a white paper of March 2002 by Macromedia (now Adobe), though the concept had existed for a number of years earlier under names including: "Remote Scripting" by Microsoft in April 1999 and the "X Internet" by Forrester Research in October 2000. In November 2011, there were a number of announcements that demonstrated a decline in demand for Rich Internet Application architectures based on browser plug-ins in order to favor HTML5 alternatives. Adobe announced that Flash would no longer be produced for mobile or TV (refocusing its efforts on Adobe AIR). Pundits questioned its continued relevance even on the desktop and described it as "the beginning of the end". Research In Motion (RIM) announced that it would continue to develop Flash for the PlayBook, a decision questioned by some commentators. Rumors stated that Microsoft was to abandon Silverlight after the upcoming release of version 5 -- this would later turn out to be the case. The combination of these announcements had some proclaiming it "the end of the line for browser plug-ins".

Contact.engineering-Create, analyze and publish digital surface twins from topography measurements across many scales

Till Junge, Abhijeet Gujrati

The optimization of surface finish to improve performance, such as adhesion, friction, wear, fatigue life, or interfacial transport, occurs largely through trial and error, despite significant advancements in the relevant science. There are three central challenges that account for this disconnect: (1) the challenge of integration of many different types of measurement for the same surface to capture the multi-scale nature of roughness; (2) the technical complexity of implementing spectral analysis methods, and of applying mechanical or numerical models to describe surface performance; (3) a lack of consistency between researchers and industries in how surfaces are measured, quantified, and communicated. Here we present a freely-available internet-based application (available at https://contact.engineering) which attempts to overcome all three challenges. First, the application enables the user to upload many different topography measurements taken from a single surface, including using different techniques, and then integrates all of them together to create a digital surface twin. Second, the application calculates many of the commonly used topography metrics, such as rootmean-square parameters, power spectral density (PSD), and autocorrelation function (ACF), as well as implementing analytical and numerical calculations, such as boundary element modeling (BEM) for elastic and plastic deformation. Third, the application serves as a repository for users to securely store surfaces, and if they choose, to share these with collaborators or even publish them (with a digital object identifier) for all to access. The primary goal of this application is to enable researchers and manufacturers to quickly and easily apply cutting-edge tools for the characterization and properties-modeling of real-world surfaces. An additional goal is to advance the use of open-science principles in surface engineering by providing a FAIR database where researchers can choose to publish surface measurements for all to use.

IOP Publishing Ltd2022

Contact.engineering-Create, analyze and publish digital surface twins from topography measurements across many scales

Till Junge, Abhijeet Gujrati

IOP Publishing Ltd2022