Multimedia Types Research Articles

An online visualization tool for Internet-based local townscape design

In recent years, designers have used various types of spatial multimedia, including text, video, photographs, virtual reality (VR) and WebGIS, to allow for Internet-based participation in planning. For planning in Japan, we developed a visualization tool to attain consensus on townscape design within local planning committees. Participants can select design elements to visualize different alternatives in real time, and experience dynamic scenes of generated virtual townscapes in the VRML world. In our case study, this visualization tool were successful in sharing a common image, and participants were motivated to become involved in deliberation on various aspects of planning and design during committee meetings. However, we found that it is difficult for stakeholders to reach consensus on privately owned properties: they feel apprehensive in local open planning committees. Otherwise, participants had to check the discussion results by reviewing the chat history; audio devices and web cameras are better for online deliberation. A knowledge-based database system, combining similar design experiences from other regions, will be beneficial.

The relationship between health literacy and knowledge improvement after a multimedia type 2 diabetes education program

Objective Multimedia diabetes education programs (MDEP) have the potential to improve communication and education of those with low health literacy. We examined the effect of a MDEP targeted to patients with low literacy on knowledge and assessed the association between literacy and knowledge improvement. Methods We showed the MDEP to 190 patients recruited from clinics at a federally qualified health center and an academic health center. We measured diabetes knowledge before and after viewing the MDEP. Results Seventy-nine percent of patients had adequate literacy, 13% marginal, and 8% inadequate literacy. Patients across all literacy levels had significant increases in knowledge scores after viewing the MDEP ( p-value < 0.001). Patients with inadequate literacy learned significantly less after the MDEP (adjusted beta-coefficient = −2.3, SE = 0.70) compared to those with adequate literacy. Conclusions A MDEP designed for those with low literacy significantly increased diabetes knowledge across literacy levels. However, the MDEP did not overcome the learning gap between patients with low and high literacy. Practice implications A literacy appropriate MDEP may be an effective way to teach patients about diabetes. Combining the MDEP with other education methods may improve comprehension and learning among those with low literacy. Research is needed to identify which characteristics of low-literate patients influence the ability to learn health information. Identifying these factors and incorporating solutions into a diabetes education intervention may help bridge the learning gap related to literacy status.

Evaluation of alternate multimedia for web-based asynchronous learning

Choosing the appropriate multimedia for the learning modules or systems is critical to designing an efficient web-based asynchronous learning systems or modules. In response to this need, a study was conducted to gauge the effectiveness of different multimedia combinations, namely: text; audio and synchronized text; audio, video and synchronized text, for procedural-based tasks to support web-based learning for a senior-level Production, Planning and Control Course. Data were collected on performance, process and subjective measures. Analyses of these learning systems throw new light on the effectiveness of the different multimedia combinations to improve web-based learning of procedural tasks. The most salient finding of the study is that user performance is dependent on the type of multimedia combination and the type of learning task in terms of complexity. Interestingly, for low difficulty procedural tasks, the choice of multimedia is not critical for either performance or process efficiency. However, when the procedural tasks are complex, a combination of audio, video and synchronized text yields the best results both in terms of learning performance and process efficiency measured in terms of amount of time spent viewing the modules and the module accessing frequency. Another important finding is that an easy-to-use system does not imply an efficient learning system. The study helps recommend design guidelines for the most appropriate type of multimedia to be used in designing web-based asynchronous learning systems for different levels of procedural tasks. Relevance to industry This paper evaluates the usefulness of various multimedia for web-based asynchronous learning for a specific Industrial Engineering course. The results of this research could be further expanded to develop distance-learning programs for both educational and industry training programs.

Using Multimedia to Reduce Bullying and Victimization in Third-Grade Urban Schools

This study investigated the effects of increasing levels of multimedia interventions (cognitive behavioral treatment, videotapes, and CD-ROM modules) on self-reported bullying and victimization among urban third graders. Students’ self-ratings were assessed using Reynolds’ Bully Victimization Scale (Reynolds, 2003). The results indicated that the interventions did produce statistically significant reductions in bullying and victimization scores; however, these reductions were not universally associated with multimedia intervention type. Implications for school counselors and future researchers are offered.

Entropy classification and discrete-cosine-transform-based image indexing system

With the rapid growth of multimedia technology, more and more multimedia content is disseminated in networks or stored in databases. Image data is one of the multimedia types to be seen or accessed by users on the Internet or from databases. Searching the related images by querying image content is helpful for the management and usage of an image database. Therefore, research on image indexing techniques is an important topic. We propose an efficient content-based image retrieval (CBIR) system. Basically, the proposed method is a discrete cosine transform (DCT)-coefficient-based technique that extracts content features using some DCT coefficients. In addition, our method also uses entropy to classify images in the database so that it can reduce the search space to decrease the processing time. The proposed system has the property of robustness to rotation, translation, cropping, noise corruption, etc. The indexing time is only about 4 to 10% compared to most recently published results. According to our experiment results, the system is highly efficient in terms of robustness, precision, and a processing speed.

Fast linearized energy allocation for multimedia loading on multicarrier systems

Efficient near-optimal energy allocation for multimedia data transmission using multicarrier modulation is investigated. The optimal method typically relies on an iterative process that is computationally intensive, and it does not provide insight into the allocation process for higher order M-quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) constellations. A sequence of two fast energy allocation algorithms are proposed in this work. First, a basic energy allocation algorithm is developed by solving a simple set of linear equations directly. It is shown to be near-optimal for almost the entire signal-to-noise ratio range. Based on this direct method, we can analyze asymptotic limits of the approximation error, carrier energy, and carrier rate conveniently. Then, we present an advanced algorithm that enhances the performance of the basic algorithm via iteration. The convergence of the advanced algorithm is studied, and an estimate of its computational complexity is derived. It is worthwhile to point out that, while limits for the special case with uniform noise and binary phase-shift keying modulation were studied previously, the derived asymptotic performance here works for a more general case with nonuniform noise and M-QAM constellations. Finally, we examine these limits with several types of multimedia and nonmultimedia sources, and show that our algorithms perform well regardless of the source type.

Small world distributed access of multimedia data: an indexing system that mimics social acquaintance networks

This paper proposes a technique employing the concept of small-world theory to achieve an acquaintance network made up of various types of media objects. Mirroring the way in which humans keep track of descriptions of their friends and acquaintances, every media object within the Small World Indexing Model (SWIM) actively participates in storing descriptions of the objects that are most similar to itself. This results in an extremely high level of decentralization, where each object participates as an equal member in a peer-to-peer network and no central index is required. Retrieval within this ubiquitously networked environment is performed using an agent-based technology exploiting similarity between query criteria and node-specific descriptions stored locally by each media project. This framework is extremely general in that it can easily be applied to any multimedia data type and also modified to employ any low-level or semantic descriptor

A new MAC protocol design based on TDMA/FDD for QoS support in WATM networks

Several wireless networking solutions have been developed to provide different types of services for various end user applications. Currently, wireless networking infrastructures are not suitable for multimedia applications each requiring a different QoS support with various traffic parameters. Due to the success of ATM technology in the wired network, WATM concept and related researches are of importance in the information technology area. Main objective of WATM, which promises seamless transmission of different traffics such as voice, data and video over wireless medium, is to implement high bit rate and QoS guaranteed data transfer, already well achieved by ATM technology over wired medium. To support QoS guaranteed data transfer over error-prone and low bandwidth wireless medium, an effective MAC protocol must be designed and utilized. In this paper, a new TDMA/FDD based MAC protocol, maintaining QoS requirements of real-time wireless multimedia applications, is proposed. The main contribution of this study is the new guarantee-based scheduling algorithm used in the proposed MAC to support required level of QoS guarantee for all multimedia traffic types in wireless medium. Computer modeling and simulation of the new approach providing CBR, VBR, ABR and UBR ATM services are realized using OPNET Modeler. Simulation results are also presented together with comparisons those of a WATM counterpart which uses PRMA/DA MAC protocol.

퍼지 필터링 구조를 이용한 멀티미디어 통계 사서함 시스템

According to the current increase of the usefulness of information by Internet Communication network, several methods are proposed in which a specific domain information nay be efficiently constructed and serviced. This paper proposes Relationship Grouping of Fuzzy Filtering Objects for Multimedia Statistic Post-office Box Construction. The proposed method exploits RelCRO( , Gi), RelSRO( , Gi) and FAS in order to group using (equation omitted)-cut. To know how well the proposed method is able to work, this paper have test against the methods with 1600 items of multimedia type information, and our system are compared with Random-Key, OGM and the proposed method. The results shows that the proposed method provides the better performance than the other methods.

A metadata approach to multimedia database federations

Recent research in federated database systems has advanced in the direction of federations of multimedia databases. However, in each project studied, there has been little emphasis placed on the subject of metamodels. Conversely, standard database systems (relational, object-relational and object-oriented) define metadata models that lack multimedia and federation features. In this paper, a specification of a metadata architecture for a multimedia database federation is presented. The architecture is based on a new object-oriented metamodel that has support for multimedia types and federated metadata. By using this metamodel, administrators and users of a multimedia federation can determine precisely how data is structured and the types of operations that are possible.

Internet Video Access Appears Difficult for Oregon Extension Master Gardeners

Video clips are a type of interactive multimedia that are often incorporated in Internet based training, and recent studies have reported examples of how cooperative extension is beginning to use Internet technology, including video clips, as part of delivering educational programs online. A survey was designed to determine if Oregon State University Extension Master Gardener volunteers trained in 2001 were able to access a video clip online. Eighty percent of the recent trainees had access to or owned a computer and 93% of this group had access to the Internet. Yet, when asked to access the video clip online only 37% of the respondents were successful. This disparity suggests the need for a seamless interface between the multimedia component and the software required to access it. If the end user is unable to access the multimedia component, it is difficult to justify the additional resources required to develop these teaching tools.

An Xml Approach for Assessment in Education

Research efforts in the field of computer-aided education are represented by a broad spectrum of applications, from the virtual classroom to remote courses. In these environments, visualizing the progress of students is an important part of the learning process. We have developed an authoring and evaluation tool with which teachers can easily create questions of different types, store them in a database, and then use them to compose exams and auto-evaluation exercises of different kinds. The advantages of our system include an improvement in the fulfilment of the teacher's duties; an increase in the responsiveness of the exam results to the level of student understanding; and the potential for using the application in distance learning and self-training. The main novelty of the system is the use of JAVA, XML, JSP, and JavaBeans as a basis for courseware generation. The system described in this article provides a www-based assessment environment, which can be integrated in a set of course materials for delivery on the network. The main objective is to develop a testing environment with instant feedback for teachers and students, using multimedia information and several types of questions.

Low bit-rate efficient compression for seismic data

Compression is a relatively new introduced technique for seismic data operations. The main drive behind the use of data compression in seismic data is the very large size of seismic data acquired. Some of the most recent acquired marine seismic data sets exceed 10 Tbytes, and in fact there are currently seismic surveys planned with a volume of around 120 Tbytes. Thus, the need to compress these very large seismic data files is imperative. Nevertheless, seismic data are quite different from the typical images used in image processing and multimedia applications. Some of their major differences are the data dynamic range exceeding 100 dB in theory, very often it is data with extensive oscillatory nature, the x and y directions represent different physical meaning, and there is significant amount of coherent noise which is often present in seismic data. Up to now some of the algorithms used for seismic data compression were based on some form of wavelet or local cosine transform, while using a uniform or quasiuniform quantization scheme and they finally employ a Huffman coding scheme. Using this family of compression algorithms we achieve compression results which are acceptable to geophysicists, only at low to moderate compression ratios. For higher compression ratios or higher decibel quality, significant compression artifacts are introduced in the reconstructed images, even with high-dimensional transforms. The objective of this paper is to achieve higher compression ratio, than achieved with the wavelet/uniform quantization/Huffman coding family of compression schemes, with a comparable level of residual noise. The goal is to achieve above 40 dB in the decompressed seismic data sets. Several established compression algorithms are reviewed, and some new compression algorithms are introduced. All of these compression techniques are applied to a good representation of seismic data sets, and their results are documented in this paper. One of the conclusions is that adaptive multiscale local cosine transform with different windows sizes performs well on all the seismic data sets and outperforms the other methods from the SNR point of view. All the described methods cover wide range of different data sets. Each data set will have his own best performed method chosen from this collection. The results were performed on four different seismic data sets. Special emphasis was given to achieve faster processing speed which is another critical issue that is examined in the paper. Some of these algorithms are also suitable for multimedia type compression.

Ally McBeal's Postmodern Soundtrack

Television's Ally McBeal revels in soundtrack games, playing as it does with the conventions of several types of musical multimedia while elevating music, especially a particular type of pop music, to the role of central plot and series metaphor–above all in relation to Ally's character. As musically saturated television, Ally McBeal not only provides a window onto music's role in television (and hence a central expression of postmodern culture), it also engages some of pop music's broader social functions dramatically. Drawing on both film and media theory, I examine Ally McBeal's soundtrack from formal and dramatic perspectives. I then go on to situate the features discussed within wider postmodernist discourses and draw out music's contribution to the show's controversial representations of contemporary gender politics.

Adaptive quality of service handoff priority scheme for mobile multimedia networks

For various advantages including better utilization of radio spectrum (through frequency reuse), lower mobile transmit power requirements, and smaller and cheaper base station equipment, future wireless mobile multimedia networks are likely to adopt micro/picocellular architectures. A consequence of using small cell sizes is the increased rate of call handoffs as mobiles move between cells during the holding times of calls. In a network supporting multimedia services, the increased rate of call handoffs not only increases the signaling load on the network, but makes it very difficult for the network to guarantee the quality of service (QoS) promised to a call at setup or admission time. This paper describes an adaptive QoS handoff priority scheme which reduces the probability of call handoff failures in a mobile multimedia network with a micro/picocellular architecture. The scheme exploits the ability of most multimedia traffic types to adapt and trade off QoS with changes in the amount of bandwidth used. In this way, calls can trade QoS received for fewer handoff failures. The call level and packet level performance of the handoff scheme are studied analytically for a homogeneous network supporting a mix of wide-band and narrow-band calls. Comparisons are made to the performance of the nonpriority handoff scheme and the well-known guard-channel handoff scheme.

Representing and Reasoning on Conceptual QueriesOver Image Databases

The problem of content management of multimedia data types (e.g., image, video, graphics) is becoming increasingly important with the development of advanced multimedia applications. Traditional database management systems are inadequate for the handling of such data types. They require new techniques for query formulation, retrieval, evaluation, and navigation. In this paper we develop a knowledge-based framework for modeling and retrieving image data by content. To represent the various aspects of an image object's characteristics, we propose a model which consists of three layers: (1) Feature & Content Layer, intended to contain image visual features such as contours, shapes, etc.s (2) Object Layer, which provides the (conceptual) content dimension of imagess and (3) Schema Layer, which contains the structured abstractions of images, i.e., a general schema about the classes of objects represented in the object layer. We propose two abstract languages on the basis of description logics: one for describing knowledge of the object and schema layers, and the other, more expressive, for making queries. Queries can refer to the form dimension (i.e., information of the Feature & Content Layer) or to the content dimension (i.e., information of the Object Layer). These languages employ a variable free notation. As the amount of information contained in the previous layers may be huge and operations performed at the Feature & Content Layer are time-consuming, resorting to the use of materialized views to process and optimize queries may be extremely useful. For that, we propose a formal framework for testing containment of a query in a view expressed in our query language.

The EuroSkyWay worldwide system providing broadband service to fixed and mobile end-users

Chiefly as a result of the phenomenal world-wide growth in the use of the Internet, Wireless Communications and DVB a number of geostationary satellite systems have recently been proposed for provision of broadband services to consumer customers. The vast majority of these systems address the needs of users for transporting heterogeneous type of information. The paper describes the EuroSkyWay geo-stationary satellite network, capable of providing multimedia type services to mass consumer end-users on global scale, considering both fixed and mobile environments. The paper will address specifically the problem of connectivity on a global scale as well as the interworking in multi-protocol (identified also with the term: multi-domain) and multi-regional environments according to the interconnection arrangement with carriers. Moreover, considering the mass consumer market to be addressed, the crucial traffic management procedures will be illustrated.

A New Environment for Developing Fuzzy Expert Systems

This work presents a grid-based fuzzy expert system environment, which employs a repertory grid, fuzzy theory and case-based reasoning. The proposed environment provides friendly user interfaces, abundant data types, intelligent knowledge acquisition facilities and an efficient inference engine. To help users make precise decisions, three factors (i.e., feasibility, reliability and certainty) are used during inference. Moreover, several tools are provided to help experts define membership functions and the knowledge of multimedia data types. Furthermore, the proposed approach is evaluated by implementing an expert system for the diagnosis of animal diseases and by performing several tests.

The Effectiveness of a Multimedia Type CALL Material on the Learning of English and Its Methodology

The Effectiveness of a Multimedia Type CALL Material on the Learning of English and Its Methodology

Interdisciplinary innovation: psychoeducational multimedia technologies

This article presents new ideas arising at the intersection of many subfields of psychology – including child, cognitive, developmental, educational, general, personality, and media psychology, – as well as education and multimedia, and leading to the creation of an innovative type of educational multimedia 1 1 Educational multimedia applications” means on-line (e.g., Internet) and off-line (e.g., CD-ROMs and CD-Is) multimedia products and services devoted to learning, teaching, and training of various knowledge domains. In turn, “multimedia” in general refers to a new generation of communication tools, which can draw on a full range of audio-visual resources – from text and data to sound and pictures – and which store and process all these diverse data in a single integrated delivery system. A general definition of multimedia describes an integrated presentation which combines at least three of: • Text (including notes, captions, subtitles and resources such as tables of contents, indexes, dictionaries and help facilities). • Data (such as tables, charts, graphs, spreadsheets, statistics and raw data of various kinds). • Audio (including speech, music, atmospheric background noise and sound effects). • Graphics (often ranging from traditional media such as drawings, prints, maps and posters to images processed or created entirely within a computer). • Photographic images, from negatives, slides, prints or even digital cameras (which record photographic images directly as computer graphics). • Animation (whether recorded on film or video, or created with a computer). • Moving pictures (specifically, digital video either converted from analogue film and video, or created entirely within a computer). technologies – psychoeducational multimedia technologies (PEMTs). The existing educational multimedia applications are critically examined. The nature of PEMTs, their basis, and specific traits are considered. One of the most developing multimedia areas, “edutainment”, is in fact transformed into “psychoedutainment”. Finally, one of the possible kinds of PEMTs – high intellectual and creative educational multimedia technologies (HICEMTs) – are discussed.