Debugging experiment machinery through time-course event sequence analysis

Abstract

This application note describes an open-source web application software package for viewing and analysing time-course event sequences in the form of log files containing timestamps. Web pages allow the visualisation of time-course event sequences as time curves and the comparison of sequences against each other to visualise deviations between the timings of the sequences. A feature allows the analysis of the sequences by parsing selected sections with a support vector machine model that heuristically calculates a value for the likelihood of an error occurring based on the textual output in the log files. This allows quick analysis for errors in files with large numbers of log events. The software is written in ASP.NET with Visual Basic code-behind to allow it to be hosted on servers and integrated into web application frameworks.

Keywords

• public domain software
• data visualisation
• program debugging
• visual basic
• experiment machinery debugging
• time-course event sequence analysis
• open-source web application software package
• time-course event sequences
• log files
• timestamps
• web pages
• time curves
• log events
• asp.net
• visual basic code