From stewardship to global visibility: a new chapter for SAJAA

We present an algorithm that enables real-time dynamic shading in direct volume rendering using general lighting, including directional lights, point lights, and environment maps. Real-time performance is achieved by encoding local and global volumetric visibility using spherical harmonic (SH) basis functions stored in an efficient multiresolution grid over the extent of the volume. Our method enables high-frequency shadows in the spatial domain, but is limited to a low-frequency approximation of visibility and illumination in the angular domain. In a first pass, level of detail (LOD) selection in the grid is based on the current transfer function setting. This enables rapid online computation and SH projection of the local spherical distribution of visibility information. Using a piecewise integration of the SH coefficients over the local regions, the global visibility within the volume is then computed. By representing the light sources using their SH projections, the integral over lighting, visibility, and isotropic phase functions can be efficiently computed during rendering. The utility of our method is demonstrated in several examples showing the generality and interactive performance of the approach.

Modern storage infrastructures feature long and complicated I/O paths composed of several layers, each employing their own optimizations to serve varied applications with fluctuating requirements. However, as these layers do not have global infrastructure visibility, they are unable to optimally tune their behavior to achieve maximum performance. Background storage tasks, in particular, can rapidly overload shared resources, but are executed either periodically or whenever a certain threshold is hit regardless of the overall load on the system. In this paper, we argue that to achieve optimal holistic performance, these tasks should be dynamically programmable and handled by a controller with global visibility. To support this argument, we evaluate the impact on performance of compaction and checkpointing in the context of HBase and PostgreSQL. We find that these tasks can respectively increase 99th percentile latencies by 955.2% and 61.9%. We also identify future research directions to achieve programmable background tasks.

Insights into global visibility patterns: Spatiotemporal distributions revealed by satellite remote sensing

The global visibility of a singularity as an end state of the gravitational collapse of a spherically symmetric pressureless cloud is investigated. We show the existence of a non-zero measured set of parameters: the total mass and the initial mean density of the collapsing cloud, giving rise to a physically strong globally visible singularity as the end state for a fixed velocity function. The existence of such a set indicates that such singularity is stable under small perturbation in the initial data causing its existence. This is true for marginally as well as non-marginally bound cases. The possibility of the presence of such suitable parameters in the astrophysical setup is then studied: (1) The singularities’ requirements at the centre of the M87 galaxy and at the centre of our galaxy (SgrA*) to be globally visible are discussed in terms of the initial size of the collapsing cloud forming them, presuming that such singularities are formed due to gravitational collapse. (2) The requirement for the primordial singularities formed due to a collapsing configuration after getting detached from the background universe at the time of matter-dominated era just after the time of matter-radiation equality, to be globally visible, is discussed. (3) The scenario of the collapse of a neutron star after reaching a critical mass, which is achieved by accreting the supernova ejecta expelled by its binary companion core progenitor, is considered. The primary aim of this paper is to show that globally visible singularities can form in astrophysical setups under appropriate circumstances.

Over the last decade the event and sports industries have been operating in an environment increasingly characterised by a complex web of market and economic instability, change, security concerns, technology advances and global interdependencies. This has resulted in many changes to event management practices including how organisers seek to contain their event’s complexity, capture better practice and reuse know-how in future events as an event legacy. The resource-intensive nature of events and the ever increasing demands by stakeholder groups for a return on investment have also resulted in an increased interest in the intellectual legacy of events. While it has been accepted that the management of sporting events, by necessity, includes the sophisticated use of information, information management per se, until recently, it has rarely been recognised as a formal component of sport event management, despite the fact that the organisation of sporting events includes many information actions and processes (Halbwirth and Toohey, 2001). This is changing and many more events are now interested in managing their information. However, there is another dimension associated with this aspect of sport events: that is knowledge management (KM). The key question is, can the ‘capture’, transfer and effective reuse of knowledge make events less complex and more effective; streamline their organisation; deliver cost and project efficiencies; and build a capability legacy? If the answer to this question is yes, as this chapter argues, then what are some of the decisions, frameworks, models and processes that can be implemented to deliver this knowledge? On the surface the ‘process’ of knowledge capture and transfer seems reasonably logical: at the end of an event a process takes place to document and review what has occurred. This information is then passed on to the next edition of the event for actioning. This simplistic view of knowledge capture and transfer, however, does not cater for the significant challenges for event knowledge legacy, some of which are listed below:\n\n• Can knowledge be ‘captured’? • How do you know what you know? • What makes you want to share your knowledge? • Does knowledge have a ‘use by date’?

With the proliferation of transnational television flows, viewers can see their national affairs, traditionally covered predominantly by national news, portrayed by cross-border news channels. This article examines how transnational satellite news coverage of national events enhances nations' global visibility, and influences national public debate over national narratives. An analysis of the public debates in Spain and France over transnational channels' coverage of the March 2004 terror bombings in Madrid and the October 2005 French riots, respectively, provides the basis for discussing the implications of the `new visibility' (Thompson, 2005) of nations, in today's media age. The analysis demonstrates how transnational networks' coverage of these events generated estrangement, de-familiarized and cast doubt on national narratives and commonsensical discourses of us/them, thereby offering viewers an alternative distance from their national unit and encouraging a self-reflexive process of introspection and critical discussion. This process may open up the possibility for a more inclusive national space and strengthen democratic culture, but at the same time it triggers instabilities, which might contribute to citizens' loss of trust in the news media — a dangerous scenario for democracy.

This study reports on the 2011 survey of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) digital repositories, employing web analysis to highlight the current state of the repositories and describing their characteristics in terms of types, contents, subject coverage and language. It also identifies the web performance of these repositories as reflected through global visibility. Data obtained from the Open Directory of Open Access Repositories (OpenDOAR), Registry of Open Access Repositories (ROAR) and the Ranking Web of World Repositories (RWWR) were used to analyse the availability and global visibility. Findings indicate that the total number of digital repositories in ASEAN is 51 with Indonesia as the biggest contributor (20, 39 percent), followed by Malaysia (17, 33 percent) and Thailand (7, 13 percent). Out of the 51 ASEAN digital repositories identified from OpenDOAR and ROAR, only 23 (45 percent) are listed in RWWR. RWWR’s data indicates that only about 3 percent (33 out of 1,184 repositories worldwide) in ASEAN are visible. There are another 10 digital repositories identified in RWWR which are not listed under OpenDOAR or registered under ROAR. As such this study has identified a total of 61 ASEAN repositories participating in Open Access publishing through the Green Road. Findings suggest that ASEAN repositories which wish to be listed in RWWR need to have some degree of visibility and incorporate good practices in their web publication to fulfill the requirement of RWWR quantitative webometrics indicators, namely visibility, size, rich files and `scholar'.

Design optimization of the orbital and target groups of spacecrafts, ground-based control facilities and reception of target information is impossible without taking into account the global visibility of the spacecraft by ground-based means. The estimation of this parameter is traditionally performed using numerical methods for calculating spacecraft flight paths over long time intervals and does not allow us to visualize the relationship between the trajectory parameters and the effectiveness of the systems. The article considers several variants of analytical methods for calculating the global visibility, which allows us to evaluate the capabilities of operational control of the spacecraft and to obtain target information, the load of ground-based means, the volume of transmitted (received) information and the effectiveness of systems. The conclusion of the ratios for calculating the globality coefficient, graphs of its changes for low-orbit spacecraft, and an estimate of the accuracy of the obtained ratios are given. The graphs of global visibility make it easy to determine the optimal characteristics of the space-time structures of the created systems at the initial stage of design. Estimates of the accuracy of the results were obtained using «accurate» spacecraft flight models and confirm the recommendations for the practical application of the research results. The results obtained are of practical interest in the design of any space spacecraft systems in circular orbits.

In this paper we propose a global visibility algorithm which computes from-region visibility for all view cells simultaneously in a progressive manner. We cast rays to sample visibility interactions and use the information carried by a ray for all view cells it intersects. The main contribution of the paper is a set of adaptive sampling strategies based on ray mutations that exploit the spatial coherence of visibility. Our method achieves more than an order of magnitude speedup compared to per-view cell sampling. This provides a practical solution to visibility preprocessing and also enables a new type of interactive visibility analysis application, where it is possible to quickly inspect and modify a coarse global visibility solution that is constantly refined.

This article investigates how China fantasised about itself and the Beijing 2008 Olympics through the award-winning TV public service announcements (PSAs) of the Beijing Opera Series, with a focus on visibility. By drawing on theories of the spectacle, I perform a semiotic analysis of the most recurrent signs, organising them according to the main themes that emerge. The theatre stage – which represents the Olympic stage – is closely linked to China’s dream of owning the Games and its desire for global visibility. The performance includes the theatrical performance of the Beijing Opera and the performance of civilisation, which semiotically over-determines the Games. The protagonists include famous actors and roles of Beijing Opera (i.e. Dan, who is an anthropomorphic metaphor for China), as well as ordinary people, who are extraordinary for their high degree of civilisation. The spectators, especially through the intradiegetic presence of a Western male Other, validate the country’s performative success and confirm its achieved global visibility.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the potential of open access institutional repositories (IR) in enhancing the global visibility and impact of Nigerian scholarly publication.Design/methodology/approachThis is a literature‐based opinion paper which examines the problem of open access IR in Nigeria providing pragmatic suggestions that would address the challenges of making Nigerian scholarly publications accessible internationally.FindingsWhile the paper acknowledges several problems that impede the building of open access IR, it equally highlights some necessary requirements for the building of IR with a road map for the development of functional IR in Nigeria.Practical implicationsThe proliferation of universities and other higher institutions that are in one way or the other engaged in research activities suggests that Nigeria would have generated a lot of research to facilitate speedy development. Available evidence shows that in recent years scholarly publications in Nigeria lack viable means of global dissemination, which has reduced the global visibility of many publications from the country. This paper focuses on the current situation in scholarly publications in Nigeria and examines the need for building of institutional open access repositories and its influence in the dissemination of scholarly research from the country to the international scholarly community.Originality/valueThe originality of the paper is purely the proposal for the building of IR in Nigeria which includes creation of awareness on IR, government sponsorship of IR, development of information and communication technology infrastructure, use of effective advocacy, submission of electronic theses and dissertations, and self‐archiving mandate. The paper concludes that open access IR are the most viable means of ensuring the global visibility and impact of Nigerian scholarship.

This study explores the role of Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) in supporting Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the Delhi NCR region, particularly in facilitating cross-border commerce. The research investigates the financial, capacity-building, logistical, and digital support provided by MFIs to enable MSMEs' participation in international trade. Through a survey of MSME owners and managers, the study reveals that MFIs play a crucial role in offering export-focused loans, providing capacity-building programs, and supporting e-commerce adoption. However, despite these contributions, the study identifies gaps in the accessibility of low-interest loans, the comprehensiveness of export training programs, and the digital literacy of MSMEs. The findings show that 35% of respondents strongly agree that MFIs provide adequate export-focused loans, yet concerns over high-interest rates persist. Furthermore, while training programs are generally appreciated, only 40% of respondents believe that export documentation training is sufficiently detailed. The study also highlights the significance of e-commerce platforms in enhancing MSMEs’ global visibility, with 60% of respondents strongly agreeing that these platforms help reach international markets. Nevertheless, digital literacy and access to technology remain barriers for many MSMEs. Logistical support provided by MFIs, such as partnerships with logistics providers, is also deemed beneficial in reducing costs and improving reliability for MSMEs engaged in international trade. The study concludes that while MFIs play an essential role in supporting MSMEs, there is a need for more affordable financial products, comprehensive export training, enhanced digital literacy programs, and stronger logistics partnerships. Policymakers and MFIs must collaborate to develop strategies that address these challenges and empower MSMEs to succeed in global markets. This research contributes to a deeper understanding of how MFIs can foster MSME participation in cross-border trade.

Integrating the warehousing and transportation functions of the supply chain

Solar radiation data are of great significance for energy harvesting. This paper’s main objective is to study clearness index of atmosphere over Biratnagar (latitude: 26.45° N, longitude: 87.27° E, altitude: 72 m a. s. l.), an eastern city of Nepal. Daily global solar radiation data are derived by using CMP6 pyranometer for one year period (2015). The monthly, annual and seasonal variations of global solar radiation, clearness index and visibility were analyzed. The annual average of global solar radiation (GSR), clearness index (KT) and visibility indices are found to be 11.37 ± 3.76 MJ/m2 /day, 0.37 ± 0.15 and 7.06 ± 5.56 km are respectively. In the study period, number of clear days (KT >0.65) and number of cloudy days (KT <0.34) are found to be 26 and 172 respectively. Study of clearness index of atmosphere and its dependence on meteorological parameters (such as maximum temperature, minimum temperature, rainfall, relative humidity, total ozone column and dew point) are used on agriculture, hydrology, and climate change. Finding of GSR and visibility helps for energy harvesting and aviation.

The concept of webpage visibility is usually linked to search engine optimization, and it is based on global in-link metric, that is, the number of received links from other websites, but without considering the sources of these links. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate that this global idea of visibility is only weakly correlated with web metrics measured over a network of related institutions or organizations (local visibility) and research production. As a case study, global and local visibility measurements have been obtained for a set of Spanish Universities, and they have been correlated with results provided by international rankings like the Webometrics Ranking of World's Universities and the Academic Ranking of World Universities by Shanghai Jiao Tung University. Obtained results suggest that the development of web indicators to be included as part of Universities evaluation programs should consider a local idea of visibility, considering a certain geographical context or similar related institutions. Copyright The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com, Oxford University Press.