Strategy Implementation for the CTA Atmospheric Monitoring Program

The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is the next generation facility of Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes. It will reach unprecedented sensitivity and energy resolution in very-high-energy gamma-ray astronomy. CTA will detect Cherenkov light emitted within an atmospheric shower of particles initiated by cosmic-gamma rays or cosmic rays entering the Earth's atmosphere. From the combination of images the Cherenkov light produces in the telescopes, one is able to infer the primary particle energy and direction. A correct energy estimation can be thus performed only if the local atmosphere is well characterized. The atmosphere not only affects the shower development itself, but also the Cherenkov photon transmission from the emission point in the particle shower, at about 10-20 km above the ground, to the detector. Cherenkov light on the ground is peaked in the UV-blue region, and therefore molecular and aerosol extinction phenomena are important. The goal of CTA is to control systematics in energy reconstruction to better than 10%. For this reason, a careful and continuous monitoring and characterization of the atmosphere is required. In addition, CTA will be operated as an observatory, with data made public along with appropriate analysis tools. High-level data quality can only be ensured if the atmospheric properties are consistently and continuously taken into account. In this contribution, we concentrate on discussing the implementation strategy for the various atmospheric monitoring instruments currently under discussion in CTA. These includes Raman lidars and ceilometers, stellar photometers and others available both from commercial providers and public research centres.Comment: (6 pages, 2 figures, Proceedings of the 2nd AtmoHEAD Conference, Padova, Italy May 19-21, 2014

Fully-automatic inverse tone mapping algorithm based on dynamic mid-level tone mapping

High Dynamic Range (HDR) displays can show images with higher color contrast levels and peak luminosities than the common Low Dynamic Range (LDR) displays. However, most existing video content is recorded and/or graded in LDR format. To show LDR content on HDR displays, it needs to be up-scaled using a so-called inverse tone mapping algorithm. Several techniques for inverse tone mapping have been proposed in the last years, going from simple approaches based on global and local operators to more advanced algorithms such as neural networks. Some of the drawbacks of existing techniques for inverse tone mapping are the need for human intervention, the high computation time for more advanced algorithms, limited low peak brightness, and the lack of the preservation of the artistic intentions. In this paper, we propose a fully-automatic inverse tone mapping operator based on mid-level mapping capable of real-time video processing. Our proposed algorithm allows expanding LDR images into HDR images with peak brightness over 1000 nits, preserving the artistic intentions inherent to the HDR domain. We assessed our results using the full-reference objective quality metrics HDR-VDP-2.2 and DRIM, and carrying out a subjective pair-wise comparison experiment. We compared our results with those obtained with the most recent methods found in the literature. Experimental results demonstrate that our proposed method outperforms the current state-of-the-art of simple inverse tone mapping methods and its performance is similar to other more complex and time-consuming advanced techniques

Remixing Cinema: The case of the Brighton Swarm of Angels

Disintermediation, web 2.0, distributed problem solving, collaborative creation/art, user-centred innovation, creative common

Open Source Software: From Open Science to New Marketing Models

-Open source Software; Intellectual Property; Licensing; Business Model.

Digitizing Dunhuang Cultural Heritage: A User Evaluation of Mogao Cave Panorama Digital Library

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Where are all the climate change games? Locating digital games' response to climate change

The burgeoning genre of climate fiction, or ‘cli-fi’, in literature and the arts has begun to attract both scholarly and popular attention. It hasbeen described as ‘potentially [having] crucial contributions to make toward full understanding of the multiple, accelerating environmental challenges facing the world today.’ (Buell, 2014) Implicitly, these works confront the current orthodoxy about where exactly the issue of climate change sits in domains of knowledge. As Jordan (2014) notes: ‘climate change as ‘nature’ not culture is still largely perceived as a problem for the sciences alongside planning, policy, and geography.’ In this paper we ask where is, or alternatively what does or could climate fiction within the field of digital games look like? Even a passing familiarity with the cultural output of the mainstream game industry reveals the startling omission of the subject–with scant few games telling stories that engage with climate change and the unfolding ecological crisis. (Abraham, 2015) Finding a relative dearth of explicit engagement, this paper offers an alternative engagement with climate change in games by focussing on the underlying ideas, conceptions and narratives of human-environment relationships that have been a part of games since their earliest incarnations. We argue that it is possible to read games for particular conceptualisations of human relationships to nature, and offer a description of four highly prevalent ‘modes’ of human-environment engagement. We describe and analyse these relationships for their participation in or challenge to the same issues and problems that undergird the current ecological crisis, such as enlightenment narratives of human mastery and dominion over the earth

DEVELOPMENT OF WEB-BASED PENCAK SILAT DOUBLE CATEGORY TRAINING MEDIA

Pencak silat rules have changed in terms of the competition system and in terms of scoring. The artistic category in pencak silat consists of single category, double category, team category and solo creative category, each of which has its own characteristics. 49 people participated in filling out the questionnaire from the preliminary research which was divided from 19 coaches and 30 artistic category athletes from the Special Region of Yogyakarta and Central Java province. 83.7% of respondents agreed that the doubles category is the most difficult move to learn. As many as 87.8% of respondents have never encountered digital-based double-category training media. This research aims to produce a training media in the form of a web-based to facilitate the double-category training process that is valid, feasible, and effective to be used by coaches and athletes. This study uses the research and development method with the ADDIE model. Product quality results are tested from 3 aspects: validity, feasibility, and effectiveness. The web product developed is considered valid as it has an average score of 90.8% from material experts and 95% from media expert. The media developed are also considered feasible, with what was obtained in this research being web media with an average score percentage of 89°% from the athletes and an average score of 92% from the coaches. The media developed is declared effective using the paired sample t-test and both media obtain the results that show sig, (2-tailed) of 0.000 < 0.05. So that the development of this training media can be used to practice easily by arts category pencak silat athletes. The hope is that the development of digital-based media can continue to be developed and studied repeatedly academically.  Article visualizations

Exploring perceptions and attitudes towards teaching and learning manual technical drawing in a digital age

This paper examines the place of manual technical drawing in the 21st century by discussing the perceived value and relevance of teaching school students how to draw using traditional instruments, in a world of computer aided drafting (CAD). Views were obtained through an e-survey, questionnaires and structured interviews. The sample groups represent professional CAD users (e.g. engineers, architects); university lecturers; Technology Education teachers and student teachers; and school students taking Scottish Qualification Authority (SQA) Graphic Communication courses. An analysis of these personal views and attitudes indicates some common values between the various groups canvassed of what instruction in traditional manual technical drafting contributes towards learning. Themes emerge such as problem solving, visualisation, accuracy, co-ordination, use of standard conventions, personal discipline and artistry. In contrast to the assumptions of Prensky's thesis (2001a&b) of digital natives, the study reported in this paper indicate that the school students apparently appreciate the experience of traditional drafting. In conclusion, the paper illustrates the perceived value of such learning in terms of transferable skills, personal achievement and enjoyment