Frequently Asked Questions about Using LucID Keys
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Q. What is a key?
- A. A key is a tool that, figuratively speaking, unlocks the door
to identification of an unknown object or organism. Keys can be built
to identify any group of things: the pieces of apparatus in a laboratory,
the parts of a car, the species of termites in Africa, the types
of stars in our galaxy. Typically, an expert in the relevant field
puts together the information and builds the key. Keys are useful
in any biological field where large numbers of taxa are difficult
to distinguish just by using the naked eye and memory.
- The builder of a key must choose characters that best distinguish
between taxa to be included. Each character has a number of character
states e.g. pink, yellow, blue - for the character "colour of petals".
Clearly defining the character states is crucial to the efficient
working of a key. Subjective decision making on the part of the user
should be avoided e.g. character states "dark pink" and "red" could
be interpreted differently by different users.
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Q. What is a dichotomous key?
- A. Dichotomous keys are the most common keys encountered. They
may be laid out in various ways, but usually form a series of numbered
questions arranged in "couplets" as shown below
- 1. Bark on trunk smooth.................................. 2
- Bark on trunk rough....................................
3
- 2. Bark mostly white.......................................
4
- Bark other colours.......................................
7
- Each time a question is answered, the user is directed to the number
of a new question-couplet and the key continues to do this until
instead of a number, the name of the species (or other taxon) is
given. This type of key is called a "dichotomous" key because the
meaning of the word is "two branching". The structure of the key
is such that each question is actually like a tree branch that has
two smaller branches proceeding from it as demonstrated on the next
page.
- Despite their wide use, dichotomous keys suffer from one very
bad problem – you have no choice about the order in which characters
are presented. For instance, suppose you are trying to identify a
plant and the next couplet is about the colour of the flowers, but
the material you have only has fruits. You can go no further with
any confidence. Lucid Phoenix can help overcome this problem by allowing
you to skip couple questions and help manage your selected path through
the key.
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Q. What is a multi-access key?
- A. Multi-access Keys, such as those built using Lucid Matrix, do
not suffer from the unanswerable couplet problem encountered in a
traditional dichotomous key (Lucid Phoenix helps to over come this
problem) because multi-access keys allow you to start at any point
you choose and to proceed in any order you choose. Computers are
ideal to handle these keys. In its database, the key contains all
the information about the taxa that are to be identified. The user
chooses a character state of a selected character in the key and
the multi-access key retains taxa that have the character state;
taxa that have a different character state for the selected character
are discarded. Next another character is chosen, and again the same
process is repeated with the remaining taxa. You can avoid characters
that are difficult for you or not appropriate for your specimen.
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Q. What is an Internet key?
- A. An Internet key is a Lucid key hosted on a web server.
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Q. What's needed to host or run an Internet key?
- A. The user of the key just needs to have a Lucid Player installed.
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Q. What's the difference between an Internet key and a CD or hard
disk based key?
- A. The major difference between a local key (CD or hard disk based
key) is where the media is stored. All of the media for CD based
keys is located on the CD while an Internet key has the media stored
on a web server.
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Q. Is is possible to have keys that use a combination of CD and the
Internet?
- A. Yes, for example, for a key which uses subkeys, the main key
may be on CD-ROM as a product while the subkeys may be Internet keys.
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Q. Does Lucid have to download all of the key before it can be used?
- A. No. The actual key file the Lucid Player needs to run is usually
very small, around 20-40KB. Also the Lucid Player doesn't have to
download all of the associated media in one go before the key can
be used. It downloads media on an as needed basis and caches it like
a web browser, saving the time of downloading the same media multiple
times.
Using Lucid3
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Q. What do I need to install to see a Lucid3 key within a web page?
- A. Lucid3 is a full cross platform application written in Java.
To see the Lucid3 Player Applet within a web page you need to have
the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) installed. Lucid3 needs JVM 1.4.2
or greater to work correctly. This is available free of charge from
Sun Microsystems at www.java.com.
Note: Macintosh users need to use their system update utility or
visit the Apple website to obtain the JVM. The web browser you choose
to view the page containing the Lucid3 Player Applet needs to be
compatible with the JVM, fortunately this includes most modern versions
of web browsers such as Internet
Explorer, Netscape and Mozilla, Safari and Opera.
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Q. Does Lucid3 run on a Macintosh?
- A. Yes. See the System requirements FAQ for more details.
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Q. What are the system requirements for Lucid3?
- A. The Java Virtual Machine (JVM) v1.4.2 or greater needs to be
installed on your computer. The JVM is provided with the CD ROM edition
of Lucid3. To obtain the latest version of the JVM for free, go to www.java.com.
Users who want to download the demonstration version of Lucid3 or
who want to view the Lucid3 player will need to download it from www.java.com,
if not already installed. To check if you have the JVM installed
or what version you may already have. See the following FA
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Q. To install the JVM, your computer needs to meet one of the following.
- Windows OS
- 98/ME/NT(SP6a)/2000(SP3)/XP(SP1)
- Pentium 166MHz
- HD: 75MB
- RAM: 64MB Please note: The JVM no longer supports Windows 95.
- Macintosh OS
- OS X 10.2.6 or greater
- HD: 51MB
- RAM: 128MB
- Linux OS
- A flavour of Linux that supports J2RE, such as: Red Hat 7.3/8.0
SuSE 8.0, TurboLinux 7.0 or SLEC 8
- Pentium 166MHz
- HD: 85MB
- RAM: 64MB
- Solaris OS: 7, 8 or 9
- RAM: 128MB
- HD: Up to 70MB
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Q. I have the latest version of Java installed – why is Lucid3 still
not working?
- A. In most cases this will be caused by you having older versions
of Java installed on your computer. Uninstalling these older versions
should fix the problem. To uninstall older versions of the Java Runtime
Environment under Microsoft Windows, go to the Control Panel, and
select Add/Remove Programs. If you still cannot get the applet to
appear, check your browsers security settings and ensure that Java
applets have permission to run. For Internet Explorer users this
can be done through the ‘Internet Options’ under the ‘Tools’ menu.
You will need to contact your network administrator if this is the
problem.
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Q. Where do I get support for Lucid3?
- A. First check the Lucidcentral website – there is a section devoted
to Lucid3 - for the latest information and updates. If you can not
find a solution, then please contact us and we will endeavour to
answer your questions as soon as possible.
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Q. Can I view keys without a web server?
- A. Yes, Lucid3 keys can be viewed via web pages loaded directly
from your local hard drive or CD ROM. The only requirement is to
have the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) v1.4.2 or greater installed on
your computer. The can be obtained free from www.java.com.
Note: Macintosh users need to use their system update utility or
visit the Apple website to obtain the JVM.
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Q. How do I check what version of Java I have installed, if any?
- A. To run Lucid3, you need to install Java Virtual Machine version
1.4.2 or greater on your computer. To check if you have the correct
Java Virtual Machine (JVM) type the following command at a command
prompt or terminal window. java -version If you receive an error
message stating 'java' is an unknown command then you need to download
the Java Virtual Machine. If you receive a response to the command
that states a Java version number less than 1.4.2, such as version
1.2, 1.3 or 1.4.1, then you need to download a newer version of the
Java Virtual Machine. At the time of Lucid3 release the current Java
Virtual Machine version is 1.4.2_03. To download the latest Java
Virtual Machine go to www.java.com.
Note: Macintosh users need to use the system update utility or visit
the Apple website
to obtain the JVM.
