Improving media fragment integration in emerging web formats

The media components integrated into multimedia presentations are typically entire files. At times the media component desired for integration, either as a navigation destination or as coordinate presentation, is a part of a file, or what we call a fragment. Basic media fragment integration has long been implemented in hypermedia systems, but not to the degree envisioned by hypermedia research. The current emergence of several XML-based formats is beginning to extend the possibilities for media fragment integration on a large scale. This paper presents a set of requirements for media fragment integration, describes how standards currently meet some of these requirements and proposes extensions to these standards for meeting remaining requirements

Highly efficient frequency triplers in the millimeter wave region incorporating a back-to-back configuration of two varactor diodes

This paper reports on the recent development of monolithic frequency tripler array employing a back-to-back configuration of varactor diodes. Even harmonic idler circuits are unnecessary in this design. Furthermore, no external dc bias is required. The arrangement results in highly efficient, easily-fabricated and inexpensive frequency triplers

Virtual context - relating media objects to their real world subjects

Virtual Reality (VR) is sometimes used to give the user an immersive, three-dimensional sense of a real-world setting. VR is also sometimes used for information visualization, taking advantage of the perceptual characteristics of VR to convey information. This paper presents the Dam Square Virtual Context, a Web-based VR that is a combination of both these uses. This VR presents mock-ups of both Dam Square in the city of Amsterdam and the city's largest museum, the Rijksmuseum. This VR conveys abstract information that includes the relationships between objects in the museum, such as paintings of Amsterdam cityscapes, and the corresponding objects in Dam Square itself, such as the buildings and neighborhoods shown in these paintings. It is thus a multimedia combining VR wireframes and bitmaps with still images and interface scripts. The principle behind this is that the user learns how to walk through the museum to view objects that together convey a unified view about Amsterdam, which the user can then later walk through

Work-related psychological health and psychological type among lead elders within the Newfrontiers network of churches in the United Kingdom

Building on a series of recent studies concerned with assessing work-related psychological health and psychological type among various groups of church leaders, this study reports new data provided by 134 Lead Elders within the Newfrontiers network of churches in the United Kingdom who completed the Francis Psychological Type Scales (FPTS) together with the two scales of the Francis Burnout Inventory (FBI) concerned with emotional exhaustion and satisfaction in ministry. Compared with other groups of church leaders, Lead Elders within the Newfrontiers network of churches reported lower levels of emotional exhaustion and higher levels of satisfaction in ministry. Compared with other groups of church leaders, there was a higher proportion of extraverts among Lead Elders within the Newfrontiers network of churches. There was only a weak association between psychological type and burnout

The X-ray Spectrum of the Rapid Burster using the Chandra HETGS

We present observations of the Rapid Burster (RB, also known as MXB 1730-335) using the Chandra High Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer. The average interval between type II (accretion) bursts was about 40 s. There was one type I (thermonuclear flash) burst and about 20 "mini-bursts" which are probably type II bursts whose peak flux is 10-40% of the average peak flux of the other type II bursts. The time averaged spectra of the type II bursts are well fit by a blackbody with a temperature of kT = 1.6 keV, a radius of 8.9 km for a distance of 8.6 kpc, and an interstellar column density of 1.7e22 per sq. cm. No narrow emission or absorption lines were clearly detected. The 3 sigma upper limits to the equivalent widths of any features are < 10 eV in the 1.1-7.0 keV band and as small as 1.5 eV near 1.7 keV. We suggest that Comptonization destroys absorption features such as the resonance line of Fe XXVI.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in AJ (with minor changes and enhanced discussion of the instrument configuration

Models of crustal heating in accreting neutron stars

Heating associated with non-equilibrium nuclear reactions in accreting neutron-star crusts is reconsidered, taking into account suppression of neutrino losses demonstrated recently by Gupta et al. Two initial compositions of the nuclear burning ashes, A=56 and A=106, are considered. Dependence of the integrated crustal heating on uncertainties plaguing pycnonuclear reaction models is studied. One-component plasma approximation is used, with compressible liquid-drop model of Mackie and Baym to describe nuclei. Evolution of a crust shell is followed from 10^8 g/cm^3 to 10^(13.6) g/cm^3 The integrated heating in the outer crust agrees nicely with results of self-considtent multicomponent plasma simulations of Gupta et al.; their results fall between our curves obtained for A=56 and A=106. Total crustal heat per one accreted nucleon ranges between 1.5 MeV to 1.9 MeV for A=106 and A=56, respectively. The value of total crustal heat per nucleon depends weakly on the presence of pycnonuclear reactions at densities 10^(12)-10^(13) g/cm^3. Remarkable insensitivity of the total crustal heat on the details of the distribution of nuclear processes in accreted crust is explained.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, Submitted to A&

The Link vs. the Event: Activating and Deactivating Elements in Time-Based Hypermedia

Activation and deactivation of media items plays a fundamental role in the playing of multimedia and time-based hypermedia presentations. Activation and deactivation information thus has to be captured in an underlying document format. In this paper we show that a number of aspects of activation and deactivation information can be captured using both link structures and events in time-based hypermedia. In particular, we discuss how deactivation and activation can be specified, how the activations and deactivations can be initiated and potential (synchronization) relationships between the elements involved. We first introduce the notions of time-based scheduling and event-based scheduling and then present a short summary of linking. We discuss the similarities between event-based scheduling and linking. We describe a number of aspects of activation and deactivation that can be specified within a document. We then discuss how activation and deactivation information can be recorded in link structures and events

Be Your Own Curator with the CHIP Tour Wizard [html]

Web 2.0 enables increased access to the museum digital collection. More and more, users will spend time preparing their visits to the museums and reflecting on them after the visits. In this context, the CHIP (Cultural Heritage Information Personalization) project offers tools to the users to be their own curator, e.g. planning a personalized museum tour, discovering interesting artworks they want to see in a 'virtual' or a 'real' tour and quickly finding their ways in the museum. In this paper we present the new additions to the CHIP tools, which target the above functionality - a Web-based Tour Preparation Wizard and an export of a personalized tour to an interactive Mobile Guide used in the physical museum space. In addition, the user interactions during a real museum visit are stored and synchronized with the user model, which is maintained at the museum Web site

Be Your Own Curator with the CHIP Tour Wizard [pdf]

Web 2.0 enables increased access to the museum digital collection. More and more, users will spend time preparing their visits to the museums and reflecting on them after the visits. In this context, the CHIP (Cultural Heritage Information Personalization) project offers tools to the users to be their own curator, e.g. planning a personalized museum tour, discovering interesting artworks they want to see in a 'virtual' or a 'real' tour and quickly finding their ways in the museum. In this paper we present the new additions to the CHIP tools, which target the above functionality - a Web-based Tour Preparation Wizard and an export of a personalized tour to an interactive Mobile Guide used in the physical museum space. In addition, the user interactions during a real museum visit are stored and synchronized with the user model, which is maintained at the museum Web site