Student-Centered, Interactive Teaching of the Anglo-Saxon Cult of the Cross

Although most Anglo-Saxonists deal with Old English texts and contexts as a matter of course in our research agendas, many of us teach relatively few specialized courses focused on our areas of expertise to highly-trained students; thus, many Old English texts and objects which are commonplace in our research lives can seem arcane and esoteric to a great many of our students. This article proposes to confront this gap, to suggest some ways of teaching a few potentially obscure texts and artifacts to undergrads, to offer some guidance about uses of technology in this endeavor, and to help fellow teachers of undergraduate Old English to develop ways to impart some transferable skills and modes of critical thinking to unsuspecting students. [excerpt

The Infrared Database of Extragalactic Observables from Spitzer I: the redshift catalog

This is the first of a series of papers on the Infrared Database of Extragalactic Observables from Spitzer (IDEOS). In this work we describe the identification of optical counterparts of the infrared sources detected in Spitzer Infrared Spectrograph (IRS) observations, and the acquisition and validation of redshifts. The IDEOS sample includes all the spectra from the Cornell Atlas of Spitzer/IRS Sources (CASSIS) of galaxies beyond the Local Group. Optical counterparts were identified from correlation of the extraction coordinates with the NASA Extragalactic Database (NED). To confirm the optical association and validate NED redshifts, we measure redshifts with unprecedented accuracy on the IRS spectra ({\sigma}(dz/(1+z))=0.0011) by using an improved version of the maximum combined pseudo-likelihood method (MCPL). We perform a multi-stage verification of redshifts that considers alternate NED redshifts, the MCPL redshift, and visual inspection of the IRS spectrum. The statistics is as follows: the IDEOS sample contains 3361 galaxies at redshift 0<z<6.42 (mean: 0.48, median: 0.14). We confirm the default NED redshift for 2429 sources and identify 124 with incorrect NED redshifts. We obtain IRS-based redshifts for 568 IDEOS sources without optical spectroscopic redshifts, including 228 with no previous redshift measurements. We provide the entire IDEOS redshift catalog in machine-readable formats. The catalog condenses our compilation and verification effort, and includes our final evaluation on the most likely redshift for each source, its origin, and reliability estimates.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in MNRAS. Full redshift table in machine-readable format available at http://ideos.astro.cornell.edu/redshifts.htm

Comparing of radial and tangencial geometric for cylindric panorama

Cameras generally have a field of view only large enough to capture a portion of their surroundings. The goal of immersion is to replace many of your senses with virtual ones, so that the virtual environment will feel as real as possible. Panoramic cameras are used to capture the entire 360°view, also known as panoramic images.Virtual reality makes use of these panoramic images to provide a more immersive experience compared to seeing images on a 2D screen. This thesis, which is in the field of Computer vision, focuses on establishing a multi-camera geometry to generate a cylindrical panorama image and successfully implementing it with the cheapest cameras possible. The specific goal of this project is to propose the cameras geometry which will decrease artifact problems related to parallax in the panorama image. We present a new approach of cylindrical panoramic images from multiple cameras which its setup has cameras placed evenly around a circle. Instead of looking outward, which is the traditional ”radial” configuration, we propose to make the optical axes tangent to the camera circle, a ”tangential” configuration. Beside an analysis and comparison of radial and tangential geometries, we provide an experimental setup with real panoramas obtained in realistic conditionsLes caméras ont généralement un champ de vision à peine assez grand pour capturer partie de leur environnement. L’objectif de l’immersion est de remplacer virtuellement un grand nombre de sens, de sorte que l’environnement virtuel soit perçu comme le plus réel possible. Une caméra panoramique est utilisée pour capturer l’ensemble d’une vue 360°, également connue sous le nom d’image panoramique. La réalité virtuelle fait usage de ces images panoramiques pour fournir une expérience plus immersive par rapport aux images sur un écran 2D. Cette thèse, qui est dans le domaine de la vision par ordinateur, s’intéresse à la création d’une géométrie multi-caméras pour générer une image cylindrique panoramique et vise une mise en œuvre avec les caméras moins chères possibles. L’objectif spécifique de ce projet est de proposer une géométrie de caméra qui va diminuer au maximum les problèmes d’artefacts liés au parallaxe présent dans l’image panoramique. Nous présentons une nouvelle approche de capture des images panoramiques cylindriques à partir de plusieurs caméras disposées uniformément autour d’un cercle. Au lieu de regarder vers l’extérieur, ce qui est la configuration traditionnelle ”radiale”, nous proposons de rendre les axes optiques tangents au cercle des caméras, une configuration ”tangentielle”. Outre une analyse et la comparaison des géométries radiales et tangentielles, nous fournissons un montage expérimental avec de vrais panoramas obtenus dans des conditions réaliste