NewSynthesis.Org

William S. Page

Part 1 Overview

WILLIAM S. PAGE

Senior Consultant

Mr. Page has extensive experience as a senior consultant to government, private, and international organizations.His areas of specialization include modelling and simulation of complex systems, design and development of information systems, very large databases with images, text and structured data, and advanced Web-based applications.His areas of expertise include computer databases, management information systems, financial information systems, multimedia databases, computer algebra systems, programming languages, secure telecommunications and computer networks.

Mr. Page spent 6 years as an Economist & Statistician in the Structural Analysis Division of Statistics Canada. Since 1980 Mr. Page has operated as an independent consultant. He has been awarded numerous public and private sector contracts in Canada and abroad. Work with the Government of Canada has included contract assignments with the Canadian Patent Office (CPO), Emergency Preparedness Canada, and Statistics Canada. He also provided technical architect support to the Treasury Board Infrastructure Project.

Mr. Page has also worked on many informatics projects overseas through the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the Governments of Ethiopia (Ministry of Finance, Public Service Commission, and the Addis Ababa Water and Sewage Authority), Egypt (Ministry of Industry) and Indonesia (Ministry of Industry); the Bank of Uganda; and the Centre for Informatics and Telecommunications in the former Yugoslavia.

Mr. Page is currently completing a long term contract at Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC) managing a secure information system including a Tempest computer network.

Mr. Page received a Bachelor of Science in Physics and Computer Science from the University of Lethbridge in 1974; he has completed Masters level courses in Systems Engineering at Carleton University, Ottawa, and Doctorate level courses in Mathematics and Computer Science at McGill University in Montreal; and has completed various other professional seminars and courses in Modelling and Simulation, User Interface Strategies, and Microsoft Windows Software Development.

Mr. Page has over twenty five years of wide and varied experience as a consultant to government, private and international organizations in North America, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, South America, and Europe.

Part 2 Personal Information

Date of Birth:

January 14, 1954

Citizenship:

Canadian

Security Clearance:

Available on request

Part 3 Formal Education

Degrees and University Courses

PhD. Programme 1994 (part time), Courses in Theoretical Physics

University of Ottawa, Ottawa

Subjects: advanced quantum mechanics

PhD. (incomplete) 1981 - 1984 (part time), School of Computer Science

McGill University, Montréal

Thesis topic: Databases from the Perspective of Category Theory and Formal Logic

MSc. (Partial) 1977-1980 (part time), Systems Engineering

Carleton University, Ottawa

Subjects: modelling, simulation, artificial intelligence

BSc. with Distinction 1971-1974, Physics and Computer Science

University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, Alberta

Project: An Application of Tessellations to Theoretical Physics [PDF]

Other Education

Hewlett Packard NewWave Microsoft Windows Developer's Course, 1992

Personal Software Division, Santa Clara, California

Graphical User Interface Strategies, 1988

Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario

NATO Modelling and Simulation seminar, 1982

University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario

In High School, 1969-70, I wrote a "treatise" on general relativity titled: "The Unification of Physics" [PDF] (Warning: The quality is poor and the content is probably only of historical interest to me.) For two years I also took evening courses at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology and the University of Calgary on electronics and computer programming (Fortran on IBM 1401 punch card system and PL/1 on IBM/360).

Part 4 Professional Activities

Conferences, Workshops and Publications

ISSAC 2008 and Aldor/Axiom Workshop 2008, RISC, Linz, Austria

Types, Classes and Domains in Python and Aldor

Aldor Workshop 2007, London, Ontario

MathAction and other tools for collaborative development

ISSAC 2007, Waterloo, Canada

Software Demonstration: Axiom and MathAction Website [URL]

IARD 2006, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut

Categorical Relativity: Composition of Relative Velocities is Associative [PDF]

Special Session on Categories and Operads in Topology, Geometry, Physics and Other Applications, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 2004

MathAction - Collaborative Mathematics on the Web using Axiom and REDUCE

4th Vigier Symposium, Paris, 2003

Soliton solutions to Shipov's geometric non-linear Dirac equation [PDF]

The 6th Conference on Clifford Algebras and their Applications in Mathematical Physics, Tennessee Technological University, 2002

Poster: Differential forms in Maple using the Liesymm package

Vigier 2000 Gravitation and Cosmology, San Francisco, 2000

Quaternions, Torsion and the Physical Vacuum [with David Cyganski] [PDF]

ISSO Torsion Workshop, San Francisco, 2000

Symbolic Tensor Calculations for Shipov's Theory of Physical Vacuum [PDF]

CoMath 1995 Maple V conference, Stockton, California, 1995

Exploring Bohmian Quantum Mechanics Using Maple V [PDF] [PS] [TEX]

5th International Conference on Cold Fusion (ICCF5), Monte-Carlo, Monaco, 1995

Poster: Two Dimensional Proton Conductors [PDF]

Encylopedia of Materials Science and Engineering, ed. Michael B. Bever, Pergamon Press, 1986

Article: Process Analysis [with R.B. Hoffmann and B.C. McInnis] [PDF]

Simulation and Model-Based Methodologies, NATO Advanced Study Institute, Ottawa, 1982

The Process Encylopedia - A Systems Approach [with F.A. Daneliuk] [PDF]

Conference on Libraries and Automation for Development, Israel, 1981

Design of a current awareness (SDI) alert module for the Minisis Database system

5th Global Modelling Conference, IIASA, Austria, 1977

The Process Dictionary - A Systems Approach To Production Function Theory

4th Global Modelling Conference, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg, Austria, 1976

Long Term Simulation Model of the Canadian Economy

Undergraduate Physics Conference, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., 1974

Aspects of an Automata-based World Model [PDF]

9th Annual Undergraduate Physics Conference, University of Western Ontario, 1973

Tessellation Spaces

Computer Algebra Systems

Beta tester: for Maple since 2001 (release 8)

Open source developer: for Axiom, OpenAxiom, FriCAS, Aldor and Sage

Compter Languages, Protocols and Software Systems

General purpose: Assembler, Algol, Basic, C, Fortan, Java, Lisp, Pascal, Perl, PL/1, PL/360, PL/5000, Python, SPL

Computer Algebra: Aldor, Axiom (SPAD), GPSS, Maple, Maxima, Reduce, Simula

Web standards: ASP, CSS, HTML, Javascript, JSP, MathML, SGML, XML

Networking: TCP/IP, DNS, DHCP, Sendmail

Web applications: Apache Web Server, Netscape server, Plone, Zope

Database applications: BASIS/DM, Cognos Powerhouse , Crystal Reports, DSpace, ObjectVision, Postgres, SQL

Operating Systems: Linux, Microsoft Windows server, OS/2, OS/360, Sun/Solaris, VAX/VMS

Professional Memberships

Association for Computing Machinery: Special Interest Group on Symbolic and Algebraic Manipulation - ACM/SIGSAM

Hobbies and other serious pursuits

Theoretical Physics: Various subjects including general relativity and quantum mechanics

Cold Fusion: Excess heat measurements involving electrochemical cells with Aluminum cathodes. In 1993 I was interviewed for an article published on the front page of a national newspaper! [PDF]

Hobby farm: Rare breeds, draft horses, llamas

Part 5 Professional Experience

The following list of previous jobs and contracts has been divided into two categories - planning & assessment and technical. Some assignments that fell into both categories may be repeated.

Planning and assessment

Treasury Board, Ottawa, April 2000 - June 2002; Industry Canada June 2002 - June 2004

Provide support to the Infrastructure Project at the planning, acquisition, and assessment stages in the area of RFP development, vendor assessment, systems assessment, technical architecture, network architecture, web server configuration, system quality assurance, verification and validation, for SIMSI. SIMSI is the web-based system used across Canada by various levels of government, to apply for and track infrastructure projects

Elections Canada, November 2000 - May 2001

Provide support in RFP assessment, clarification, and rating for the automation of the election process

Canadian Patent Office (CPO), Hull, March - December 1996

As part of the Continuous Improvement Program for TechSource (the Canadian automated patent system), identify and assess alternative approaches to the delivery of information to industry and the public by means of multimedia systems.

Bank of Uganda (Uganda), January - March 1994

Assess the existing environment and provide advice regarding the modernization of management information systems and financial management information systems for the Bank and, confirm the hardware and software requirements.

Addis Ababa Water and Sewage Authority (Ethiopia), April - November 1992

Assess existing environment and develop requirements for management information and financial management systems for the Authority AAWSA and, identify the requirements for additional hardware and software and infrastructure requirements (TCP/IP) to strengthen the existing computer facilities.

Canadian Patent Office (CPO), Hull, February 1990- December 1992

The development of evaluation criteria and rating factors for the workflow and other support software aspects of the CPO RFP for TechSource - the Canadian Automated Patent System.

Ministry of Industry, Government of Indonesia, Djakarta, Indonesia, October - December 1991

Under contract with UNIDO provide advice on networking and telecommunications systems for the Ministry of Industry of the Government of Indonesia.

Public Service Commission (Ethiopia), April - July 1989, September - November 1990

Provide advice on appropriate full automation for the Public Service Commission, identifying alternative paths and long term strategies; design of the automated system; equipment specification and selection.

Ministry of Industry, Cairo, Egypt, November 1989 - March 1990

Conduct analysis of needs, identification of users, and prepare functional system design of an information system for the Ministry. The purpose of this system was to assist with the effective management and co-ordination of research and development institutes associated with the Ministry. Under contract to UNIDO.

Canadian Patent Office, Hull, January 1988 - January 1990

Provide advice to CPO management on the automation of the CPO in areas of: planning framework and tools, system design, database design, technology assessment and training. Evaluate the file and data integrity of the existing paper-based patent files and indices and make recommendations regarding their state for conversion, as well as assessing alternative techniques for backfile capture with emphasis on image scanning and storage, and optical character recognition software. Provide management support to the in-house data capture project which integrated optical disk storage of images and text and Calera character recognition hardware. Prepare feasibility studies of integrated text and image, and build prototypes for piloting purposes

Ministry of Finance, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, May - June 1988

Advise on the computerization strategy for Ethiopian Government financial institutions ONCCP, OSCFER, as well as the Ministry of Finance as part of the overall institutional strengthening study of these institutions. Specifically addressed issues of co-ordinating relationships and communications requirements, as well as reviewing management training needs.

Technical

Department of National Defence/Defence Research and Development Canada, Ottawa, March 1997 - February 1999; March 1999 - current [URL]

Key member of a small team providing on-site and off-site support to the organization in fulfilling their mandate of developing "electronic information services to document and communicate corporate intellectual capital". Mr. Page is the primary CANDIS System Administrator responsible for project management, database and web server development, and back-up for web server applications support and maintenance.

The activities include the provision of technical and software support for the maintenance of computer systems and the development of web applications for knowledge management. The main component of the system is CANDIS, which is a classified integrated scientific and technical library system running under OpenText LiveLink Collections server with multiple bibliographic databases and a complete suite of modules for library and document management. The system is web-accessible and has both classified and unclassified components.The work involves: working with, maintaining, and supporting (includes applying upgrades and enhancements) LiveLink Collections Sever (formerly called BASIS or BASIS/Plus); database design, optimization, and maintenance; detailed system operations including trouble-shooting and supporting the in-house operator; using web tools and technology (XML, CGI, HTML, JSP, ASP and SGML) to develop and to manage and oversee the development of web interfaces to support a diverse scientific user community in both classified and unclassified activities including interactive forms, data manipulation and collection development; supporting electronic publishing and PDF document workflow and document preparation and delivery; extensive use of Adobe Acrobat, Microsoft WORD and LaTeX; using and managing Tempest equipment; supporting a cluster of Linux servers in an HP Blade environment; UNIX operating system on a SUN servers; working with and supporting a legacy VMS operating system on the VAX hardware; supporting and writing programs in Python, Perl, C and FORTRAN; managing and operating the TCP/IP networks; supporting and using the MS/WINDOWS with MS/OFFICE on IBM compatible personal computers (workstations); implementing, working with and managing Apache web and Netscape servers including overseeing their original installation at DRDC/DSIS; support the design, maintenance, and configuration of search engines; working with and support the electronic document delivery system which use high speed, high volume scanners, a variety of laser printers including Tempest, optical disk jukeboxes, and high speed imaging interfaces; website design for the DRDC/DSIS websites, user help pages (both English and French in two versions - for public and internal use); development of new web-based applications; configuring Internet mail servers. Extensive operational knowledge of National Defence Security Policy security regulations and Tempest computer security policies and procedures is required.

Treasury Board (Infrastructure Canada), Ottawa, April 2000 - June 2002; Industry Canada (Infrastructure Canada), June 2002 - 2004

Provide support to the Infrastructure Project for the development, deployment, and on-going improvement of SIMSI - the web-based system used across Canada by various levels of government, to apply for and track infrastructure projects. The work included the development of web portals for users, web pages and interfaces; applying HTML - CGI scripting and also assessing its use by the Vendor; evaluating and tuning the system for performance; advising on and assisting in implementing network security for the SIMSI network; assessing and validating the web application delivered by the vendor to Treasury Board; ensuring the consistent and correct use of Government Common Look and Feel for web applications; using email to deliver comments from websites; using browsers for full web-enabled functionality to the public. Document security regulations and procedures were in effect in this environment.

Ontario Ministry of Health, Kingston, October, 1999

Deliver a short course on Computer Systems Performance Simulation Basics. In a hands-on workshop provide practical advice and learning by example. Participants gain experience with discrete event simulation using GPSS on a PC workstation and build a simple working simulation model of a new computer system.

Department of National Defence/DSIS (Defence Scientific Information Systems), Ottawa, May - February 1997

To implement systems to deliver CANDIS/ALERT search results to DSIS clients by e-mail as well as the World Wide Web and MOSAIC via the Internet in a TCP/IP protocol; develop programs to automatically generate HTML coded documents. This work involved the use of the CANDIS and CANDID systems under BASIS/Plus; use of VAX and Sun environments. Supported hardware/software upgrades, provided system maintenance, handled system operations, and undertook development and implementation of system enhancements for the bibliographic information system CANDIS, running under BASISPLUS on a VAX platform; evaluated software for document publishing and conducted a variety of tests to confirm the viability of a high speed image interface to the system. National Defence Security Policy document security regulations and procedures were in day-to-day use as were Tempest computer security policies and procedures. Used email and internet browsers on a day-to-day basis to carry out duties; used Fortran and C as well as Perl to develop procedures for the environment.

Canadian Intellectual Property Office, Hull, May 1996 - June 1998

The Canadian automated patent system, TechSource, is an on-line system that is used to manage the Canadian Patent Office. It uses interfaces for document capture including scanning, imaging, storage to jukeboxes for near-line retrieval, and optical character recognition; high speed laser printers are used for delivering hard copy of the images. The database has over 2 million patents in both image and text form and is available on-line both internally and externally using TCP/IP and IBM TCP/IP equivalent protocols; the system supports a full workflow and a full-text search. The work involved coordinating, testing, and providing operational procedures for the import/export modules of the TechSource; developing programs in C for theses modules; prototyping the delivery of retrieval services on using the Internet - this involved developing web pages for demonstration and proof of concept - using a variety of scripting languages such as HTML and SGML. Security regulations and procedures were in force here. Email was used on a day-to-day basis for communication.

DND - Defense Scientific Information Systems, Ottawa, May - November 1995

To develop a PC workstation-based user interface and other enhancements for the CANDIS/ALERT selective dissemination of information system as well as a user\u2019s guide for this system and, design, optimize, and maintain for the duration of the contract, the SDI database under BASIS/PLUS. Workstations used MS Office components; CANDIS ran in a BASIS/Plus environment under VAX VMS; it was a classified system in a Tempest environment; DND security regulations and procedures, and Tempest regulations and procedures were in force here. Experiments were undertaken using Perl; programs for the interface were written using C and Fortran. Email was used as a communications tool on a day-to-day basis.

Canadian Patent Office (CPO), Hull, February 1990 - December 1992

A reference simulation model for evaluation of architectures for TechSource, was developed and used in vendor evaluation. The model incorporated high speed imaging, near-line optical jukebox storage; optical character recognition, TCP/IP environment, and other components that would be expected in such a solution. Email was used as a communication medium.

Emergency Preparedness Canada, Ottawa, March - November 1992

This work was focused on the design and implementation of an automated daily incident log and reporting system for EPC. The work involved analyzing user requirements; designing the system based on the Windows graphical user interface and PC network database system; and implementing it using ObjectVision. Security regulations and procedures were in force here. The environment was a Tempest environment including Tempest laser printers and workstations. TCP/IP protocol was applied for connectivity. Email was used as a communication medium

Privy Council Office, Ottawa, November 1991 - June 1992

The Privy Council Office was an early user of BASIS Plus, using it for newswire data. Under this contract, the work was to design and implement a real-time system to capture live newswire feeds on a database, from satellite and other sources, with real-time alert support, for delivery to the Prime Minister's Office and the Privy Council. The feeds were piped to a BASIS/Plus database running under VAX VMS, which was used to send the alerts to designated users, according to their stored profiles. Database design, optimization, and maintenance were an integral part of the project. Both Fortran and C were used for programming. Security regulations and procedures were in force here.

Ministry of Industry, Government of Indonesia, Djakarta, Indonesia September - October 1991

Assess the management of a network of Unix workstations and provide advice on configuration and hardware/software upgrades.

Department of Indian and Northern Development (Canada), Hull, April 1990 - June 1991

Work under this contract involved implementing a correspondence tracking system combining the screen-oriented user interface of the Cognos Powerhouse fourth generation language with the text retrieval capabilities of MINISIS, in a MINISIS bibliographic environment.

Immigration Refugee Board (Canada), Ottawa, May 1990 - September 1991

Design and implement a prototype textual retrieval information system for the Documentation Centre of IRB, on an IBM mainframe (VM/CMS).

Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Hull, 1989

Under this contract, a feasibility study was conducted and a logical design was developed, for a system for the capture and retrieval of project documentation and records management files in a distributed network environment, dealing with documents already in electronic form as well as documents received as paper copy. The design included the scanning and conversion to image and/or text of the paper documents, storage of such documents on an optical disk attached to the network server and retrieved via assigned keywords as well as the indexed text content of the documents. Components of the design were piloted at CIDA.

Canadian Patent Office, Hull, January 1988 - November 1990

As part of the automation of the Canadian Patent Office, the work under this contract was to develop a prototype data capture system for obtaining high resolution digital images of patent documents, which included scanning and image capture, conversion of image data to text where appropriate via character recognition software, extraction of relevant key fields for use in on-line searching, and compression of the result for storage on archival magnetic tape cartridges. High-end workstations (Sun and Apollo) were tested, along with IBM compatible PCs. A network consisting of IBM compatible personal computers with a digital scanner, laser printer, optical jukebox, and high resolution displays ran an integrated set of software written in C, Microsoft windows, Calera, and other commercial software packages. Components (Word, Excel, Project) of what is currently known as MS/Office were used on the workstations and integrated into the process.The work involved managing and supporting the in-house data capture pilot. A prototype patent examiner display work station was prepared with images stored on CDROM and image/text display on high resolution monitors. The file and data integrity of the CPO patent files and indices were evaluated using programs written in Fortran to compare data to data available commercially, and alternative techniques for backfile capture with emphasis on image scanning and storage, and optical character recognition software, were assessed. Security regulations and procedures were in force here.

Centre for Informatics and Telecommunications (ZIT) in Split, Yugoslavia, March - June 1987

On contract to UNIDO to assess the potential ways and means of telecommunications and networking between various computer systems used by the for the development of a database of industrial applications programs throughout the former Yugoslavia, and to prototype and pilot some possible solutions. The information was held in both a bibliographic database and a relational database; TCP/IP protocol was employed; programming was involved using both Fortran and C.

UNIDO, Beijing, January - February 1986

Support was provided to the Ministry of Machine Building Industry of China in the implementation of a Chinese character processing facility in MINISIS, and in providing training in the development of new MINISIS processors and external routines which could be in any supported programming language such as FORTRAN.

CENAGRI (Brazil), Brasilia, November - December, 1984, May - June 1985

Design and implement a programming language based on Pascal and C to facilitate the translation of selected portions of the MINISIS system for use on a mini computer manufactured in Brazil.

Government of Canada, Statistics Canada, Ottawa, 1983 [PDF]

Design and implement a general purpose language called EVALUATE (extended vector algebra language) for manipulating generalized vector-like expressions in a large highly structured technical database. Vectors are treated as morphisms in a concrete category over SET. Algebraic operations are inherited from SET viewed as a topos. The resulting language and interpreter written in C allows large time series datasets to be manipulated in large-scale structural models of the economy running on a desktop computer and unix.

International Development Research Centre, Ottawa, March - November 1981

Development of current awareness alert software for MINISIS.

Government of Canada, Statistics Canada, Ottawa, April 1975 - March 1981

Employed as economist/statistician. Work included designing simulation models for various sectors of the economy - working on VAX under VMS and UNIX, in Fortran and in C. Security regulations and procedures were in force here. Pioneered the use of email in the Structural Analysis Division at Statistics Canada - exchanging mail with researchers working on joint projects at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Vienna.

University of Lethbridge Computing Centre, Lethbridge, Alberta, 1972 - 1974

Part-time systems programmer for time shared HP minicomputer using assembler languageand developing custom microcode. Full-time academic applications support during summer semesters using Cobol, Fortran and Basic.