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Cognos is the system Purdue uses for official reporting on Purdue student data. If you’d like to learn about how to request Cognos access, please visit the Business Intelligence Competency Center Website.
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Psychedelic colors.
Chimeric bird-snake creatures.
Tamales sold from roadside carts.
When artificial intelligence DALL-E was asked to portray the Mission, these are some of the motifs that were conjured from its digital depths.
Tech company OpenAI, which created DALL-E, is based in the Mission, at Folsom and 18th streets. Last weekend, it opened up access to its AI to the general public, allowing anyone and everyone to try out the model. Businesses that use the service extensively are charged, but nosy journalists or members of the public can poke around for free.
It works like this: Users enter a text prompt; for example, “The Day of the Dead procession in San Francisco’s Mission District, in the style of Vincent Van Gogh,” and after a few seconds of computation, DALL-E spits out an image to match your description. In this case:
DALL-E creates its pictures using a process a bit like a super-powerful visual autocorrect. Working backward from a random assortment of pixels, it tries to build up a picture that is likely to match your text prompt. It can understand how text and images are related, because it has ingested a vast number of image and caption pairs from across the internet. Apparently, the math behind its operation is laid out here, although to my non-engineer brain it may as well be witchcraft.
The technology is not without its ethical quandaries. Because it is based on publicly available data, the images it produces can replicate biases seen in the wider world (for example, its pictures may represent men more often than women). AI art has also been criticized for displacing human artists, as when AI-generated art won first prize at the Colorado State Fair.
Nonetheless, its interpretations of the Mission, its home turf, are striking. Without further ado, here is a glimpse of our neighborhood through the eyes of an artificial intelligence.
Mission murals
Day of the Dead
Mission from the sky
Selling tamales on Mission Street
Dolores Park
Users consuming data from enterprise resources use Cognos as their main reporting tool for operational data. These videos are designed as both training tools, report training, and reference guides for individuals in the reporting environment. The videos listed below are based on user roles and licensing.
Using MotioCI within Cognos
Recover an Older Version of a Report
This video demonstrates how to revert to an older version of a Cognos report. MotioCI relieves you from needing to save multiple versions. Cognos users can now revert back to a previous version.
Restoring a Deleted Report
This video demonstrates how to restore a deleted Cognos report or folder. Cognos users can now recover deleted reports and folders.
Demonstration on creating a Cognos schedule, including creating a report view and setting prompt selections.
Cognos Analytics Authoring
Completion of COG 101 is required. Cognos Analytics Authoring offers report authoring capabilities including advanced formatting and filtering, prompt generation, and paging controls. This tool allows for a robust experience in data handling and report construction.
Videos (to be watched sequentially - total run time is under 2 hours)
The following Cognos system reports (login required) are recommended by Accounting Services for Research and Sponsored Programs (ASRSP) for administrators to use when monitoring their unit's sponsored projects.
GM044 - Sponsored Project Portfolio
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This report displays balances for active projects including totals for direct and indirect expenditures as well as encumbrances by department and/or principal investigator
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It can run for negative balances only to monitor deficit spending
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Drill through available by project to the GM045 - Sponsored Project Budget Statement
GM086 - Projects Balances Report
- Similar to Sponsored Project Portfolio, but with added data fields including ASRSP Grant and Contract Financial Administrator (GCFA) Name, Award ID/Sponsor ID, Start and End dates
- No drill through capability
- Recommended by ASRSP: run for current period, all Contract Statuses, Active Projects, and specify either a particular PI for Manager/Reviewer field or select particular department for a detailed view of the current financial status of your constituency. View in Excel 2007 Data file type.
GM045 - Sponsored Project Budget Statement
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Displays direct and indirect expenditure totals by project against the total budget amount along with project demographic data
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Dollars are broken out and shown by Current Accounting Period, Fiscal Year to Date, and Inception to Date
GM047 - Milestone (Deliverable) Report
- Used by department administrators and PIs in tracking upcoming deliverable due dates to assist in meeting sponsor and institutional requirements
GM091 - Sponsor Payments Received
- Presents details of payments received by contract, with a breakout by project
- Payment activity includes all forms of payments as well as a subset of write-offs and other maintenance items
- Note: For converted non-clinical awards, payment data prior to December 2008 is not available
GM092 - Subcontract Monitoring Report
- Displays a complete list of fully-executed subcontracts
- Current status for funding and disbursement
- Includes the burn rates (percent disbursed)
GM093 - Cost Share Commitment Status
- Presents revenue and expense data from NUFinancials Commitment Control for sponsored projects with cost sharing
- Grants users a multi-year view of budget, revenue and expense on cost share funds
- Provides a comprehensive view of all departments committing cost share funds to a given sponsored project
GM096 - Grants Transaction History Queries
- Displays expense and budget transactions on sponsored (grant) chart strings. This report, when downloaded to Excel, can be used in conjunction with ASRSP’s Expense Review Workbook template. The report contains two sections, “Expense Transaction Query” and “Budget Query”. When exported to Excel, the data will appear on separate tabs.
- This report is used by Principal Investigators, Department Administrators, and ASRSP to review detailed transaction history by contract or project id. It can reduce compliance risk by providing departments with easier access to and greater detail regarding expenses posted to grants.
GM097- Sponsored Project Actuals Balance Report
- GM097 Guide to Understanding
- GM097 ASRSP Formatting Recommendations
- The GM097 displays a comprehensive view of a research departments' entire research project portfolio, including non-clinical sponsored projects, cost-shared projects, and clinical trials.
- Non-clinical project balances are displayed Total Budget less Direct and F&A Expenditures and Encumbrances.
- Clinical project balances are displayed Cash Received less Direct and F&A Expenditures and Encumbrances, with Protocol numbers.
GL008 - Revenue and Expense Activity Report
SC016 - Open Encumbrances Report
GL069 - Financial Summary
Welcome to Mission Moves! This originally reported roundup reports on newsy Mission moves and happenings. Send tips and curious questions to annika.hom@missionlocal.com.
Hi, friends,
I’ve been out sick, but lately there’s been a lot to talk about! Like, literally … a parking lot. And the 16th St. Mission BART Station site. And the Muni bus yard. Together, these proposed plans could bring more than 1,100 units of housing, and much for seniors and families. But I know — you were hooked at “parking lot,” right? Who wouldn’t be? So, let’s get this show on the road!
More waiting for the Marvel in the Mission
Years following the *official* slaying of the so-called Monster in the Mission, a separate and familiar beast emerges: A slow development process.
Last November, the city officially acquired the site at 1979 Mission St. from developer Crescent Heights. In case you forgot, locals dubbed the site the Monster in the Mission after the former developer, Maximus Real Estate Partners, wanted to erect a 330-unit project with only 50 affordable units. The city’s 2021 acquisition, in large part thanks to community advocacy and sunken Maximus plans, inspired hopes of a 100-percent affordable housing project in its place, called the Marvel in the Mission. Maybe it was the gaudy gravestones bemoaning 469 Stevenson St., or J.K. Dineen’s recent reference to the Monster in a Related deal, but I started thinking about the Marvel. I wanted an update.
The city will start the process of choosing a developer for the Marvel next spring, Anne Stanley, the Mayor’s Office of Community Development wrote in an emailed statement to Mission Local. From there, a developer could be chosen by next summer, Stanley added.
While 1979 Mission St. was praised by supes last year for its conversion from market-rate to 331 units of 100-percent affordable housing, one has to wonder when low-income folks will be able to move in. So far, the site has gone unused for nine years, and the city’s reputation for slow construction could put it off longer. Still, local developers have been eyeing it ever since the city acquisition. Until construction, however, it remains a whole lot of nothing.
And what about that Muni Yard development?
On the plus side, the bus yard is wheeling along. The Muni Potrero Bus Yard project that promises 575 affordable units at Bryant and Mariposa streets is still a long way from its final destination.
In 2017, the city picked Potrero Yard to be the first of a group of Muni sites that would be renovated to the tune of $2.3 billion. Still, this November, the city has just tapped its developer, signaling that construction is a long way away, according to a San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency document. “Substantial completion” is expected by 2027.
The housing project is divided into four aspects. Three of the buildings are earmarked for those earning 80 percent of the area median income or less, which equals $77,600 for an individual, and $110,850 for a family of four. Facing Bryant Street will be a 96-unit project for seniors, and towering above the yard are two housing projects consisting of 90 to 100 units that will be go to families.
Capping the project is affordable housing slated for moderate-income earners between 81 and 120 percent of the area median income; a welcome boost, considering that the city lacks most in moderate housing development. Plans for 280 moderate-income units are in the works, an amount practically equal to the previous three buildings’ lower-income unit count. An individual and a family of four who make 120 percent area median income earn $116,400, and $166,250, respectively.
Simultaneously, the plan dictates the aged, three-story Muni facilities get rehabbed.
The affordable housing developers attached to the project are familiar ones: Young Community Developers, and the neighborhood’s own Mission Economic Development Agency (MEDA). The rest of the team includes Presidio Development Partners, LLC and Tabernacle Community Development Corp. Plenary Americas U.S. holdings will provide equity, the document said.
From Sears to seniors
What of the elders who prefer to live on the edge? The edge of the Mission, I mean.
Nonprofit Sequoia Living bought the former Sears Roebuck parking lot at 3435 Cesar Chavez St. near Valencia Street to develop senior housing, according to a press release. The project straddles Mission and Bernal Heights, and what’ll go up there? Drum roll, please.
On the north side of the site, we have 130 senior units, developed by storied senior nonprofit developer Sequoia Living. Andddd, as first reported by the Associated Press, on the south side of the parcel, we have the 145 units slated for families, created by well-known affordable housing developer Mercy Housing.
Dave Latina, Sequoia Living’s Chief Business Development Officer, called the site an “ideal” place to develop in the release. “Besides being convenient to public transportation, it is within walking distance to a hospital, shops, markets and parks,” Latina said.
Indeed, the location is close to the Sutter Health California Medical Pacific Center Mission and Bernal campus. Now you just need a restaurant with an early-bird special, and you’re all set.
An irreparable software glitch has put an end to Geotail, a JAXA-NASA joint mission. The satellite observed Earth’s magnetosphere for more than 30 years within an extremely elliptical orbit, but the mission has officially been terminated, according to JAXA’s Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS).
Geotail launched on July 24, 1992, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida as a joint mission of NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The satellite had been sailing through the magnetic envelope that surrounds Earth—the protective layer known as the magnetosphere.
But on June 28, Geotail’s last remaining data recorder malfunctioned, leaving the probe with no means to collect its science data. Geotail was originally equipped with two data recorders, but one data recorder stopped working in 2012 after collecting 20 years worth of data. The remaining recorder outlasted its deceased companion by 10 years before malfunctioning itself.
JAXA’s mission engineers discovered the data recorder anomaly and the two space agencies had been trying to decide the fate of Geotail ever since. On November 28, it was decided that the mission could not continue; the probe’s operations are now officially over, including its radio wave transmissions. The full results of the mission will be summarized by the end of March 2023, according to ISAS.
Geotail had far outlived its original mission timeline of four years, observing the elongated tail of Earth’s magnetosphere and sending back valuable data on auroras and the type of material being emitted by the Sun, among other scientific observations pertaining to Earth’s atmosphere.
Earth’s magnetosphere is a giant magnetic field that surrounds our planet, protecting us from solar wind, radiation from the Sun, and cosmic rays from deep space. The magnetosphere is shaped by Earth’s north and south poles, as well as a steady stream of particles emitted by the Sun.
The satellite was placed into an extremely elliptical orbit around Earth, observing the far region of the magnetotail at first. Over time, however, the spacecraft’s lower orbit allowed it to get closer and study the substorms that took place near Earth, in addition to passing just inside the magnetosphere’s boundary plane on the dayside, according to NASA.
The time has come for us to bid farewell to Geotail, but the small satellite certainly fed scientists with enough information to warrant its legacy for years to come.
Battlefield 2042's fourth multiplayer season will add its 14th and final Specialist, developer DICE has announced, as the game pivots to a class-based system.
In a blog post announcing what new content players can expect in the coming months, DICE revealed that a new Specialist--coming as part of Season 4 in early 2023--will be the last new playable character coming to the game's roster.
"With the return of Classes and our roster of 14 in total, we are happy with the amount of specialists and variety of gameplay that they will allow you to experience," DICE stated. "So our focus will be continuing to listen to your feedback in order to expand the sandbox in other ways by bringing design and balance changes for your class-based combat, along with continuing to expand on skins and cosmetics to give you more ways to stand out on the battlefield."
Specialists proved to be a controversial part of Battlefield 2042 from the start, with player-feedback leading DICE to make changes. Early next year, an update will tweak the Specialist system to be more similar to the class-based systems of previous Battlefield games, with each Specialist being assigned a class and a set of gadgets and equipment exclusive to that particular class. The game's final Specialist will be part of the Recon class, DICE confirmed.
In addition to the new Specialist, new maps and additional map reworks are also coming down the pipe. A reworked version of Manifest that will feature "a tighter playspace, improved visibility, cover and sightlines" will arrive in late December, with an overhaul of Breakaway coming in early 2023. The new Breakaway will move the map's iconic oil rig much closer to the rest of the action to create a "more focused playspace." DICE additionally teased a brand-new map coming as part of Season 4 that will be "smaller, shorter, and linear designed for up close and personal, close-quarters combat that Battlefield is famous for."
Though it won't include a new Specialist, DICE confirmed Season 5 is in the works, and will include a new map, battle pass, and more. DICE additionally teased that Season 5 will see the team "lean into previous games and how they can show up in the world of 2042," with the new map possibly taking inspiration from Battlefield 4.
It's been a long road for Battlefield 2042, which launched in 2021 with numerous technical issues that caused DICE to delay the game's first multiplayer season until Summer 2022. Since then the team has steadily improved the game through bug fixes, additional content, and reworks for launch content. Battlefield 2042 was recently added to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate as a result of it coming to EA Play.
The products discussed here were independently chosen by our editors. GameSpot may get a share of the revenue if you buy anything featured on our site.
The beloved strategy game Front Mission is getting a remake for Nintendo Switch, and Nintendo has shown off some new footage in a gameplay trailer. Front Mission 1st: Remake, which comes out later this month, is a remake of the Square's classic mech turn-based strategy game.
The trailer shows off the improved graphics and smooth animations of the remake. While it's not the most visually-impressive game, it's definitely a big improvement over the 1995 original. We heard at a Nintendo Direct earlier this year that this is only the first of many Front Mission remakes to come. The Front Mission 2 remake will come sometime in 2023, with a version of 3 coming at an unannounced later date.
While the original Front Mission came out worldwide, Front Mission 2 was released as a Japan exclusive back in 1997. As such, this remake will be the first time that it's available to a global audience. The last proper Front Mission game was 5: Scars of the War, which came out only in Japan in 2005--an English fan patch exists, however. The spin-off stealth game Left Alive emerged in 2019 to largely negative reviews.
The products discussed here were independently chosen by our editors. GameSpot may get a share of the revenue if you buy anything featured on our site.
The LightSail 2 spacecraft will ride on sunshine no more.
The Planetary Society's crowdfunded solar sailing craft re-entered Earth's atmosphere on Thursday morning (Nov.17) after nearly 3.5 years in orbit — more than three times longer than its designed mission life.
The LightSail 2 team has received no communications from the spacecraft since that date, leading them to conclude that the shoebox-sized craft had finally given up the ghost after completing 18,000 orbits and traveling about 5 million miles (8 million kilometers) around our planet.
"LightSail 2 is gone after more than three glorious years in the sky, blazing a trail of lift with light, and proving that we could defy gravity by tacking a sail in space," science communicator Bill Nye, CEO of The Planetary Society, said in a statement (opens in new tab). "The mission was funded by tens of thousands of Planetary Society members, who want to advance space technology."
Related: LightSail 2 captures stunning photos of Earth from space
LightSail 2 was the first small spacecraft to demonstrate controlled solar sailing, harnessing photons from the sun to adjust its orbit. (LightSail 2 wasn't the first craft of any type to solar sail in space, however; Japan's Ikaros probe did so in 2010.)
While light lacks mass, its individual particles — photons — carry momentum that can be transferred to a reflective surface to give it a tiny amount of push.
LightSail 2 has shown that solar sailing is an effective and viable propulsion method for small spacecraft, including tiny satellites known as cubesats, team members said.
LightSail Program Manager and Chief Scientist Bruce Betts wrote in a Planetary Society statement (opens in new tab) that deorbiting was always going to be LightSail 2's fate, though the fiery end to the mission took longer to manifest than predicted.
LightSail 2 launched in June 2019 aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, tasked with a one-year mission to demonstrated controlled solar sailing in orbit. It began its operations at an altitude of about 450 miles (720 kilometers) above Earth — slightly higher than the orbit of the International Space Station (ISS).
At this altitude, Earth's atmosphere is still dense enough to exert a slight drag on a spacecraft, and it is this effect that eventually sealed the fate of LightSail 2.
Because of the large surface area of the craft's solar sail, which measured 244 square feet (32 square meters) — about the size of a boxing ring — it experienced a larger drag effect than other spacecraft of its mass.
"Imagine throwing a rock compared to throwing a piece of paper. Atmospheric drag will stop the paper much faster than the rock. In our case, LightSail 2 is the paper," Betts wrote. "A spacecraft like the ISS is huge but also massive, more like the rock. But even the ISS has to be boosted higher every few weeks using rockets to compensate for drag."
During its third year of operations, in which it demonstrated its most efficient solar sailing, LightSail 2 experienced increased atmospheric drag due to a boost in solar activity. This activity from the sun heated the atmosphere, making the area LightSail 2 passed through denser.
"That marked the beginning of the end," Betts wrote. "As solar activity increased even more, solar sailing was unable to compete with the increased drag due to atmospheric density increase."
Over the last several weeks, LightSail 2 had been dropping deeper and deeper into Earth's atmosphere, experiencing more and more drag, which, in turn, dramatically increased the rate of its drop.
"The spacecraft was caught in an ever-increasing snowball effect: as the spacecraft got lower, the density increased, which caused the spacecraft to get lower even more quickly," Betts wrote.
While LightSail 2's mission may be over, there is still scientific work to be conducted. The team behind the mission is continuing to analyze data collected by the craft, which remained operational until its final moments.
This data will also be shared with future space missions that also make use of solar sails, such as NASA's NEA Scout, which launched on the agency's Artemis 1 mission on Nov. 16 and will hitch a ride on sunlight to travel to the moon and then on to a near-Earth asteroid.
"Despite the sadness at seeing it go, all those who worked on this project and the 50,000 individual donors who completely funded the LightSail program should reflect on this as a moment of pride," Betts wrote.
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