MediaSync: Handbook on Multimedia Synchronization

This book provides an approachable overview of the most recent advances in the fascinating field of media synchronization (mediasync), gathering contributions from the most representative and influential experts. Understanding the challenges of this field in the current multi-sensory, multi-device, and multi-protocol world is not an easy task. The book revisits the foundations of mediasync, including theoretical frameworks and models, highlights ongoing research efforts, like hybrid broadband broadcast (HBB) delivery and users' perception modeling (i.e., Quality of Experience or QoE), and paves the way for the future (e.g., towards the deployment of multi-sensory and ultra-realistic experiences). Although many advances around mediasync have been devised and deployed, this area of research is getting renewed attention to overcome remaining challenges in the next-generation (heterogeneous and ubiquitous) media ecosystem. Given the significant advances in this research area, its current relevance and the multiple disciplines it involves, the availability of a reference book on mediasync becomes necessary. This book fills the gap in this context. In particular, it addresses key aspects and reviews the most relevant contributions within the mediasync research space, from different perspectives. Mediasync: Handbook on Multimedia Synchronization is the perfect companion for scholars and practitioners that want to acquire strong knowledge about this research area, and also approach the challenges behind ensuring the best mediated experiences, by providing the adequate synchronization between the media elements that constitute these experiences

Concept and Workflow for 3D Visualization of Multifaceted Meteorological Data

The analysis of heterogeneous, complex data sets has become important in many scientific domains. With the help of scientific visualization, researchers can be supported in exploring their research results. One domain, where researchers have to deal with spatio-temporal data from different sources including simulation, observation and time-independent data, is meteorology. In this thesis, a concept and workflow for the 3D visualization of meteorological data was developed in cooperation with domain experts. Three case studies have been conducted based on the developed concept. In addition, the concept has been enhanced based on the experiences gained from the case studies. In contrast to existing all-in-one software applications, the proposed workflow employs a combination of existing software applications and their extensions to make a variety of already implemented visualization algorithms available. The workflow provides methods for data integration and for abstraction of the data as well as for generating representations of the variables of interest. Solutions for visualizing sets of variables, comparing results of multiple simulation runs and results of simulations based on different models are presented. The concept includes the presentation of the visualization scenes in virtual reality environments for a more comprehensible display of multifaceted data. To enable the user to navigate within the scenes, some interaction functionality was provided to control time, camera, and display of objects. The proposed methods have been selected with respect to the requirements defined in cooperation with the domain experts and have been verified with user tests. The developed visualization methods are used to analyze and present recent research results as well as for educational purposes. As the proposed approach uses generally applicable concepts, it can also be applied for the analysis of scientific data from other disciplines.In nahezu allen Wissenschaftsdisziplinen steigt der Umfang erhobener Daten. Diese sind oftmals heterogen und besitzen eine komplexe Struktur, was ihre Analyse zu einer Herausforderung macht. Die wissenschaftliche Visualisierung bietet hier Möglichkeiten, Wissenschaftler bei der Untersuchung ihrer Forschungsergebnisse zu unterstützen. Eine der Disziplinen, in denen räumlich-zeitliche Daten aus verschiedenen Quellen inklusive Simulations- und Observationsdaten eine Rolle spielen, ist die Meteorologie. In dieser Arbeit wurde in Zusammenarbeit mit Experten der Meteorologie ein Konzept und ein Workflow für die 3D-Visualisierung meteorologischer Daten entwickelt. Dabei wurden drei Fallstudien erarbeitet, die zum einen auf dem erstellten Konzept beruhen und zum anderen durch die während der Fallstudie gesammelten Erfahrungen das Konzept erweiterten. Der Workflow besteht aus einer Kombination existierender Software sowie Erweiterungen dieser. Damit wurden Funktionen zur Verfügung gestellt, die bei anderen Lösungsansätzen in diesem Bereich, die oft nur eine geringere Anzahl an Funktionalität bieten, nicht zur Verfügung stehen. Der Workflow beinhaltet Methoden zur Datenintegration sowie für die Abstraktion und Darstellung der Daten. Es wurden Lösungen für die Visualisierung einer Vielzahl an Variablen sowie zur vergleichenden Darstellung verschiedener Simulationsläufe und Simulationen verschiedener Modelle präsentiert. Die generierten Visualisierungsszenen wurden mit Hilfe von 3D-Geräten, beispielsweise eine Virtual-Reality-Umgebung, dargestellt. Die stereoskopische Projektion bietet dabei die Möglichkeit, diese komplexen Daten mit verbessertem räumlichem Eindruck darzustellen. Um dem Nutzer eine umfassende Analyse der Daten zu ermöglichen, wurden eine Reihe von Funktionen zur Interaktion zur Verfügung gestellt, um beispielsweise Zeit, Kamera und die Anzeige von 3D-Objekten zu steuern. Das Konzept und der Workflow wurden entsprechend der Anforderungen entwickelt, die zusammen mit Fachexperten definiert wurden. Des Weiteren wurden die Anwendungen in verschiedenen Entwicklungsstadien durch Nutzer getestet und deren Feedback in die Entwicklung einbezogen. Die Ergebnisse der Fallstudien wurden von den Wissenschaftlern benutzt, um ihre Daten zu analysieren, sowie diese zu präsentieren und in der Lehre einzusetzen. Da der vorgeschlagene Workflow allgemein anwendbare Konzepte beinhaltet, kann dieser auch für die Analyse wissenschaftlicher Daten anderer Disziplinen verwendet werden

Methodologies for distributed and higher dimensional geographic information

PhD ThesisIn today's digital era, cartography has changed its role, from that of a pure visual model of the Earth's surface, to an interface to other spatial and aspatial information. Along with this, representationa nd manipulation of graphical information in three-dimensional space is required for many applications. Problems and difficulties must be overcome in order to facilitate the move to three-dimensional models, multimedia, and distributed data. Can accurate measurements, at sufficient resolution, and using affordable resources be obtained? Will application software usefully process, in all aspects, models of the real world, sounds, and videos? Combined with this, the workplace is becoming distributed, requiring applications and data that can be used across the globe as easily as in the office. A distributed, three-dimensional, GIS is required with all the procedural and recording functionality of current two-dimensional systems. Such a GIS would maintain a model, typically comprised of solids of individual buildings, roads, utilities etc. with both external and internal detail, represented on a suitable digital terrain model. This research examines virtual reality software as part of an answer. Alternatively, can technologies such as HTML, VRML, and scripting, along with object-orientation and open systems, allow for the display and interrogation of networked data sets? The particular application of this technology, considered during this research, is the need for accurate reconstruction of historical urban monuments. The construction, manipulation, and exploration of these models is often referred to as virtual heritage. This research constructs an innovative and resource effective methodology, the Phoenix algorithm, which requires only a single image for creating three-dimensional models of buildings at large scale. The development of this algorithm is discussed and the results obtained from it are compared with those obtained using traditional three-dimensional capture techniques. Furthermore, possible solutions to the earlier questions are given and discussed

The applications of aerial photography, photogrammetry and photo-interpretation in the planning process

To date aerial photography and associated photogrammetric and photo-interpretation techniques have played but a limited role in the planning process. In this study their dual role (i) as a base medium and (ii) as a source of data is investigated bearing in mind the requirements of planning data and certain inherent defects of conventional maps in the planning process. Having considered certain pertinent technical aspects of aerial photography and associated techniques, especially modern developments such as orthophotos, use of multi-emulsion photography, automated data extraction and automated data processing techniques, the application of these techniques is discussed in greater detail in respect of the dual role mentioned earlier. Aerial photographs are shown to be of considerable value to the planner as an analytic tool and a powerful source of data when dealing with such topics as feasibility studies, land use, resource surveys, urban and regional research and analysis, urban history, urban and rural administration, site evaluation, transportation and other. branches of engineering, urban sociology and economics, as well as urban aesthetics. Aerial photographic data adequately meets the data requirements of the planning process and furthermore lends itself to modern automatic data processing methods. The modern improved forms of photography, i.e. photomaps, orthophotos, etc. have definite advantages over conventional maps insofar as a base medium in planning is concerned, and the wider use of aerial photographs and products is anticipated when planners become more aware of their universal application and versatility

A Modular and Open-Source Framework for Virtual Reality Visualisation and Interaction in Bioimaging

Life science today involves computational analysis of a large amount and variety of data, such as volumetric data acquired by state-of-the-art microscopes, or mesh data from analysis of such data or simulations. The advent of new imaging technologies, such as lightsheet microscopy, has resulted in the users being confronted with an ever-growing amount of data, with even terabytes of imaging data created within a day. With the possibility of gentler and more high-performance imaging, the spatiotemporal complexity of the model systems or processes of interest is increasing as well. Visualisation is often the first step in making sense of this data, and a crucial part of building and debugging analysis pipelines. It is therefore important that visualisations can be quickly prototyped, as well as developed or embedded into full applications. In order to better judge spatiotemporal relationships, immersive hardware, such as Virtual or Augmented Reality (VR/AR) headsets and associated controllers are becoming invaluable tools. In this work we present scenery, a modular and extensible visualisation framework for the Java VM that can handle mesh and large volumetric data, containing multiple views, timepoints, and color channels. scenery is free and open-source software, works on all major platforms, and uses the Vulkan or OpenGL rendering APIs. We introduce scenery's main features, and discuss its use with VR/AR hardware and in distributed rendering. In addition to the visualisation framework, we present a series of case studies, where scenery can provide tangible benefit in developmental and systems biology: With Bionic Tracking, we demonstrate a new technique for tracking cells in 4D volumetric datasets via tracking eye gaze in a virtual reality headset, with the potential to speed up manual tracking tasks by an order of magnitude. We further introduce ideas to move towards virtual reality-based laser ablation and perform a user study in order to gain insight into performance, acceptance and issues when performing ablation tasks with virtual reality hardware in fast developing specimen. To tame the amount of data originating from state-of-the-art volumetric microscopes, we present ideas how to render the highly-efficient Adaptive Particle Representation, and finally, we present sciview, an ImageJ2/Fiji plugin making the features of scenery available to a wider audience.:Abstract Foreword and Acknowledgements Overview and Contributions Part 1 - Introduction 1 Fluorescence Microscopy 2 Introduction to Visual Processing 3 A Short Introduction to Cross Reality 4 Eye Tracking and Gaze-based Interaction Part 2 - VR and AR for System Biology 5 scenery — VR/AR for Systems Biology 6 Rendering 7 Input Handling and Integration of External Hardware 8 Distributed Rendering 9 Miscellaneous Subsystems 10 Future Development Directions Part III - Case Studies C A S E S T U D I E S 11 Bionic Tracking: Using Eye Tracking for Cell Tracking 12 Towards Interactive Virtual Reality Laser Ablation 13 Rendering the Adaptive Particle Representation 14 sciview — Integrating scenery into ImageJ2 & Fiji Part IV - Conclusion 15 Conclusions and Outlook Backmatter & Appendices A Questionnaire for VR Ablation User Study B Full Correlations in VR Ablation Questionnaire C Questionnaire for Bionic Tracking User Study List of Tables List of Figures Bibliography Selbstständigkeitserklärun

NASA Tech Briefs, November 1993

Topics covered: Advanced Manufacturing; Electronic Components and Circuits; Electronic Systems; Physical Sciences; Materials; Computer Programs; Mechanics; Machinery; Fabrication Technology; Mathematics and Information Sciences; Life Sciences

Web on TV - Designing web content for enhanced user experience on an internet-connected television device

This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University LondonThe Internet is gradually expanding to many new devices, in addition to its original native environment that was the Personal Computer. This wave started with mobile devices and as we enter the Internet of Things era, connectivity is possible from cars to light switches. One of the first devices, to follow mobiles, is the Television. Connectivity and two-way interaction on the TV device has in fact started even in the first days of the medium, but had failed to make it widely available, due to technological limitations of the past. Now, this has changed, with the Smart TV devices that can utilize the fast internet connections that are available in most developed countries. However, even though the technology and devices are now widely available there are still challenges in order to make the vast Internet and web content available in the Smart TVs. These challenges, have a familiar resemblance to what happened a few years ago, when internet connectivity was introduced on the mobile phone. Although, it was “feasible” to access any webpage from your mobile device, the experience for the user was often very frustrating, due to many factors, that derived from the fact that the web was designed for large screens and mice of the desktop computers, not the small touch screens and limited hardware of the phone. Nonetheless, these obstacles were successfully overcome, by introducing techniques and methodologies (e.g. Responsive Web Design) to make the web more mobile-friendly and also work from the manufacturers to improve their devices to this direction as well. The success of these actions is now evident, since the access to the web from mobile devices has surpassed the PC, and it is now a standard practice for every new website to be mobile-friendly. In this research work, we will attempt to do one very significant step towards this direction for the Smart TV. In other words, to discover what has to be done to make the web more TV-friendly. To do this, we explore many different TV devices from several manufacturers and see their similarities and differences. We explore numerous user studies and surveys to discover what is the problem in the Web experience on the TV, so that we can propose solutions to make web content TV-friendly. Based on these findings, we design prototypes and put them to the test on different devices and userevaluation. Finally, we propose a set of guidelines, that web designers can apply on their websites to make them TV-friendly, in the hope to introduce the first step towards a friendlier internet era for the TV

Multiple Particle Positron Emission Particle Tracking and its Application to Flows in Porous Media

Positron emission particle tracking (PEPT) is a method for flow interrogation capable of measurement in opaque systems. In this work a novel method for PEPT is introduced that allows for simultaneous tracking of multiple tracers. This method (M-PEPT) is adapted from optical particle tracking techniques and is designed to track an arbitrary number of positron-emitting tracer-particles entering and leaving the field of view of a detector array. M-PEPT is described, and its applicability is demonstrated for a number of measurements ranging from turbulent shear flow interrogation to cell migration. It is found that this method can locate over 80 particles simultaneously with spatial resolution of order 0.2 mm at tracking frequency of 10 Hz and, at lower particle number densities, can achieve similar spatial resolution at tracking frequency 1000 Hz. The method is limited in its ability to resolve particles approaching close to one another, and suggestions for future improvements are made.M-PEPT is used to study flow in porous media constructed from packing of glass beads of different diameters. Anomalous (i.e. non-Fickian) dispersion of tracers is studied in these systems under the continuous time random walk (CTRW) paradigm. Pore-length transition time distributions are measured, and it is found that in all cases, these distributions indicate the presence of long waiting times between transitions, confirming the central assumption of the CTRW model. All systems demonstrate non-Fickian spreading of tracers at early and intermediate times with a late time recovery of Fickian dispersion, but a clear link between transition time distributions and tracer spreading is not made. Velocity increment statistics are examined, and it is found that temporal velocity increments in the mean-flow direction show a universal scaling. Spatial velocity increments also appear to collapse to a similar form, but there is insufficient data to determine the presence of universal scaling

Conference of Remote Sensing Educators (CORSE-78)

Ways of improving the teaching of remote sensing students at colleges and universities are discussed. Formal papers and workshops on various Earth resources disciplines, image interpretation, and data processing concepts are presented. An inventory of existing remote sensing and related subject courses being given in western regional universities is included

NASA Tech Briefs, June 1989

Topics include: New Product Ideas; NASA TU Services; Electronic Components and Circuits; Electronic Systems; Physical Sciences; Materials; Computer Programs; Mechanics; Machinery; Fabrication Technology; Mathematics and Information Sciences; Life Sciences