Praying for Peace: Family Experiences of Christian Conversion in Bhaktapur

In Nepal’s public discourse, Christianity is often described as a divisive force, perhaps a plot by foreign powers to undermine the cohesion of Nepali society. In this article, I present ethnographic material from Bhaktapur suggesting that, at least with respect to family life, the social effects of conversion may often differ from this stereotypical picture. In Bhaktapur, I argue, conversion is more frequently a consequence of pre-existing conflicts within families than a source of new ones. Furthermore, in some contexts, the social, ethical, and ritual practices of Bhaktapurian churches can bring reconciliation to troubled families. In other contexts, conversion can heighten intrafamilial tensions, in particular through the commitment it brings to exclusivist theology. I explore how converts negotiate the conversion process and the tensions that precipitate and result from it, describing how familial power dynamics influence such negotiations. To give the reader a fleshed-out sense of the lived experience of Christian and part-Christian families in Bhaktapur, I give thick descriptions of the conversions of one church minister and his family, and of a church house fellowship in which post-conversion family tensions are discussed. Connecting this ethnography with wider research on Bhaktapurian Christianity, I delineate the competing forces at work in converts’ family lives. In light of the rapid growth of Christianity in Nepal, and the heated and sometimes violent nature of political responses to this, ethnographic research is urgently needed to examine not just the causes but also the longterm effects of Christian conversion; this will help to clarify whether patterns found in Bhaktapur are replicated elsewhere in the country

A wireless, real-time, social music performance system for mobile phones

The paper reports on the Cellmusic system: a real-time, wireless distributed composition and performance system designed for domestic mobile devices. During a performance, each mobile device communicates with others, and may create sonic events in a passive (non interactive) mode or may influence the output of other devices. Cellmusic distinguishes itself from other mobile phone performance environments in that it is intended for performance in ad hoc locations, with services and performances automatically and dynamically adapting to the number of devices within a given proximity. It is designed to run on a number of mobile phone platforms to allow as wider distribution as possible, again distinguishing itself from other mobile performance systems which primarily run on a single device. Rather than performances being orchestrated or managed, it is intended that users will access it and create a performance in the same manner that they use mobile phones for interacting socially at different times throughout the day. However, this does not preclude the system being used in a more traditional performance environment. This accessibility and portability make it an ideal platform for sonic artists who choose to explore a variety of physical environments (such as parks and other public spaces)

Transient Analysis for Music and Moving Images: Consideration for Television Advertising

In audiovisual composition, coupling montage moving images with music is common practice. Interpretation of the effect on an audioviewer's consequent interpretation of the composition is discursive and unquantified. Meth-odology for evaluating the audiovisual multimodal inter-activity is proposed, developing an analysis procedure via the study of modality interdependent transient structures, explained as forming the foundation of perception via the concept of Basic Exposure response to the stimulus. The research has implications for analysis of all audiovisual media, with practical implications in television advertis-ing as a discrete typology of target driven audiovisual presentation. Examples from contemporary advertising are used to explore typical transient interaction patterns and the consequences of which are discussed from the practical viewpoint of the audiovisual composer

Selective Laser Sintering Process Management Using a Relational Database

With more and more materials used in the Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) process, it is becoming necessary to use a database to manage the process efficiently. In this paper, a relational database for the SLS process is described. The database includes powdered material data, sintering parameters, machine characteristics, mechanical properties and surface quality of prototypes. Use ofthis database will make it is easy to store and retrieve processing information and make decisions for planning the SLS. This paper will go on to describe how the database can be extended to include other RP technologies.Mechanical Engineerin

Audiovisual synchrony: Cross-modal transient structure and tempo

What are the considerations of the composer when designing music to accompany a visual? Music is purposefully included within audiovisual products with considered reason; motivic, thematic, emotive, semantic or otherwise. Ultimately, music is employed to affect an audiovieweri, yet the consequences of this multi-modal interaction lacks clarity. Investigating cross-modal interaction at the level of basic exposure to audiovisual works provides a foundation in understanding the audioviewer's percept. The moving image and music are intrinsically temporal and consequently carry rhythmic potential. In the context of concurrent non-literal music (often referred to as ‘background’ or ‘non-digetic’ music) and moving images, our unified perception of the presentation is structured upon the interpretation of intrinsic audiovisual rhythms. Such rhythms are constructed via the periodic structure of transients within their individual modalities, and crucially cross-modally as auditory and visual transient patterns interact. Multimodal integration studies have shown that synchronous audiovisual stimuli will bind, creating a unified percept functioning to increase the 'transientness' of such events. Dynamic attending theory understands that attention is subject to internalised oscillations, following peaks and troughs to create an oscillation of attentional magnitude cycles. The potential for auditory rhythmic manipulation to influence the unified audiovisual percept is engaging

Virtual Prototyping for Dynamically Reconfigurable Architectures using Dynamic Generic Mapping

This paper presents a virtual prototyping methodology for Dynamically Reconfigurable (DR) FPGAs. The methodology is based around a library of VHDL image processing components and allows the rapid prototyping and algorithmic development of low-level image processing systems. For the effective modelling of dynamically reconfigurable designs a new technique named, Dynamic Generic Mapping is introduced. This method allows efficient representation of dynamic reconfiguration without needing any additional components to model the reconfiguration process. This gives the designer more flexibility in modelling dynamic configurations than other methodologies. Models created using this technique can then be simulated and targeted to a specific technology using the same code. This technique is demonstrated through the realisation of modules for a motion tracking system targeted to a DR environment, RIFLE-62

Praying for Peace

In Nepal’s public discourse, Christianity is often described as a divisive force, perhaps a plot by foreign powers to undermine the cohesion of Nepali society. In this article, I present ethnographic material from Bhaktapur suggesting that, at least with respect to family life, the social effects of conversion may often differ from this stereotypical picture. In Bhaktapur, I argue, conversion is more frequently a consequence of pre-existing conflicts within families than a source of new ones. Furthermore, in some contexts, the social, ethical, and ritual practices of Bhaktapurian churches can bring reconciliation to troubled families. In other contexts, conversion can heighten intrafamilial tensions, in particular through the commitment it brings to exclusivist theology. I explore how converts negotiate the conversion process and the tensions that precipitate and result from it, describing how familial power dynamics influence such negotiations. To give the reader a fleshed-out sense of the lived experience of Christian and part-Christian families in Bhaktapur, I give thick descriptions of the conversions of one church minister and his family, and of a church house fellowship in which post-conversion family tensions are discussed. Connecting this ethnography with wider research on Bhaktapurian Christianity, I delineate the competing forces at work in converts’ family lives. In light of the rapid growth of Christianity in Nepal, and the heated and sometimes violent nature of political responses to this, ethnographic research is urgently needed to examine not just the causes but also the longterm effects of Christian conversion; this will help to clarify whether patterns found in Bhaktapur are replicated elsewhere in the country