%APN3_PROCEEDINGS_FORM%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
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% TEMPLATE.TEX -- APN3 (2003) ASP Conference Proceedings template.
%
% Derived from ADASS VIII (98) ASP Conference Proceedings template
% Updated by N. Manset for ADASS IX (99), F. Primini for ADASS 2000,
% D.Bohlender for ADASS 2001, and H. Payne for ADASS XII and LaTeX2e.
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\documentclass[11pt,twoside]{article}  % Leave intact
\usepackage{adassconf}

% If you have the old LaTeX 2.09, and not the current LaTeX2e, comment
% out the \documentclass and \usepackage lines above and uncomment
% the following:

%\documentstyle[11pt,twoside,adassconf]{article}

\begin{document}   % Leave intact

%-----------------------------------------------------------------------
%			    Paper ID Code
%-----------------------------------------------------------------------
% Enter the proper paper identification code.  The ID code for your
% paper is the session number associated with your presentation as
% published in the official conference proceedings.  You can           
% find this number locating your abstract in the printed proceedings
% that you received at the meeting or on-line at the conference web
% site; the ID code is the letter/number sequence proceeding the title 
% of your presentation. 
%
% This will not appear in your paper; however, it allows different
% papers in the proceedings to cross-reference each other.  Note that
% you should only have one \paperID, and it should not include a
% trailing period.
%
% EXAMPLE: \paperID{O4-1}
% EXAMPLE: \paperID{P7-7}
%

\paperID{D6}
%%%% ID=D6

%-----------------------------------------------------------------------
%		            Paper Title 
%-----------------------------------------------------------------------
% Enter the title of the paper.
%
% EXAMPLE: \title{A Breakthrough in Astronomical Software Development}
% 
% If your title is so long as to fill the page header when you print it,
% then please supply a short form as a \titlemark.
%
% EXAMPLE: 
%  \title{Rapid Development for Distributed Computing, with Implications
%         for the Virtual Observatory}
%  \titlemark{Rapid Development for Distributed Computing}
%

\title{AstroCat/CVcat: A catalogue on Cataclysmic Variables based on a new framework for online interactive astronomical databases}
\titlemark{AstroCat/CVcat: A catalogue on Cataclysmic Variables}

%-----------------------------------------------------------------------
%		          Authors of Paper
%-----------------------------------------------------------------------
% Enter the authors followed by their affiliations.  The \author and
% \affil commands may appear multiple times as necessary (see example
% below).  List each author by giving the first name or initials first
% followed by the last name.  Authors with the same affiliations
% should grouped together. 
%
% EXAMPLE: \author{Raymond Plante, Doug Roberts, 
%                  R.\ M.\ Crutcher\altaffilmark{1}}
%          \affil{National Center for Supercomputing Applications, 
%                 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL
%                 61801}
%          \author{Tom Troland}
%          \affil{University of Kentucky}
%
%          \altaffiltext{1}{Astronomy Department, UIUC}
%
% In this example, the first three authors, "Plante", "Roberts", and
% "Crutcher" are affiliated with "NCSA".  "Crutcher" has an alternate 
% affiliation with the "Astronomy Department".  The fourth author,
% "Troland", is affiliated with "University of Kentucky"

\author{Fabian Euchner, Alexander Pollmer, Klaus Beuermann}
\affil{Universit\"ats-Sternwarte, Geismarlandstr.~11, D-37083 G\"ottingen, Germany}
\author{Boris T.\ G\"ansicke}
\affil{Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4~7AL, UK}
\author{Jens Kube}
\affil{Stiftung Alfred-Wegener-Institut f\"ur Polar- und Meeresforschung in der Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft, Koldewey-Station, 
N-9173 Ny-{\AA}lesund, Norway}

%-----------------------------------------------------------------------
%			 Contact Information
%-----------------------------------------------------------------------
% This information will not appear in the paper but will be used by
% the editors in case you need to be contacted concerning your
% submission.  Enter your name as the contact along with your email
% address.
% 
% EXAMPLE:  \contact{Dennis Crabtree}
%           \email{crabtree@cfht.hawaii.edu}
%

\contact{Fabian Euchner}
\email{feuchner@astro.physik.uni-goettingen.de}

%-----------------------------------------------------------------------
%		      Author Index Specification
%-----------------------------------------------------------------------
% Specify how each author name should appear in the author index.  The 
% \paindex{ } should be used to indicate the primary author, and the
% \aindex for all other co-authors.  You MUST use the following
% syntax: 
%
% SYNTAX:  \aindex{Lastname, F. M.}
% 
% where F is the first initial and M is the second initial (if
% used).  This guarantees that authors that appear in multiple papers
% will appear only once in the author index.  
%
% EXAMPLE: \paindex{Crabtree, D.}
%          \aindex{Manset, N.}        
%          \aindex{Veillet, C.}        
%
% NOTE: this information is also used to build the author list that
% appears in the table of contents.  Authors will be listed in the order
% of the \paindex and \aindex commmands.
%

\paindex{Euchner, F.}
\aindex{Pollmer, A.}
\aindex{Gansicke@G\"ansicke, B. T.} 
\aindex{Kube, J.} 
\aindex{Beuermann, K.} 

%-----------------------------------------------------------------------
%		      Author list for page header	
%-----------------------------------------------------------------------
% Please supply a list of author last names for the page header. in
% one of these formats:
%
% EXAMPLES:
% \authormark{Lastname}
% \authormark{Lastname1 \& Lastname2}
% \authormark{Lastname1, Lastname2, ... \& LastnameN}
% \authormark{Lastname et al.}
%
% Use the "et al." form in the case of seven or more authors, or if
% the preferred form is too long to fit in the header.

\authormark{Euchner, Pollmer, G\"ansicke, Kube \& Beuermann}

%-----------------------------------------------------------------------
%			Subject Index keywords
%-----------------------------------------------------------------------
% Enter a comma separated list of up to 6 keywords describing your
% paper.  These will NOT be printed as part of your paper; however,
% they will be used to generate the subject index for the proceedings.
% There is no standard list; however, you can consult the indices
% for past proceedings (http://adass.org/adass/proceedings/).
%
% EXAMPLE:  \keywords{visualization, astronomy: radio, parallel
%                     computing, AIPS++, Galactic Center}
%
% In this example, the author noticed that "radio astronomy" appeared
% in the ADASS VII Index as "astronomy" being the major keyword and
% "radio" as the minor keyword.  The colon is used to introduce another
% level into the index.

\keywords{databases, catalogs, data: distribution, information: services,
variable stars: Cataclysmic Variables}

%-----------------------------------------------------------------------
%			       Abstract
%-----------------------------------------------------------------------
% Type abstract in the space below.  Consult the User Guide and Latex
% Information file for a list of supported macros (e.g. for typesetting 
% special symbols). Do not leave a blank line between \begin{abstract} 
% and the start of your text.

\begin{abstract}          % Leave intact
% Place the text of your abstract here - NO BLANK LINES
We report on the progress of the development of CVcat, an interactive 
catalogue on Cataclysmic Variables, which is the first application based on
AstroCat, a general framework for the installation and maintenance of
web-based interactive astronomical databases. 
%
Registered users can contribute 
directly to the catalogue content by adding new objects, object properties, 
literature references, and annotations. 
%
The scientific quality control of the 
catalogue is carried out by a distributed editorial team.
%
Searches in CVcat can be performed by object name, classification,
certain properties or property ranges, and coordinates. Search results 
can be retrieved in several output formats, including XML.
%
Old database states can be restored in order to ensure the citability
of the catalogue. 
%
Furthermore, CVcat is designed to serve as a repository for 
reduced data from publications.
%
Future prospects include the integration of AstroCat-based catalogues
in the international network of Virtual Observatories.
\end{abstract}

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%			      Main Body
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% Place the text for the main body of the paper here.  You should use
% the \section command to label the various sections; use of
% \subsection is optional.  Significant words in section titles should
% be capitalized.  Sections and subsections will be numbered
% automatically. 
%
% EXAMPLE:  \section{Introduction}
%           ...
%           \subsection{Our View of the World}
%           ...
%           \section{A New Approach}
%
% It is recommended that you look at the sample papers, sample1.tex
% and sample2.tex, for examples for formatting references, footnotes,
% figures, equations, html links, lists, and other special features.  

\section{AstroCat -- a new concept for astronomical catalogues}
\subsection{Motivation}
Traditionally, in astronomy the availability of online digital information is excellent with respect
to scientific publications (NASA's \emph{Astrophysics Data System}, \emph{arXiv.org} preprint
server) and raw observational data. With the development of the \emph{AstroCat} software
we intend to fill the gap between these two categories by enabling astronomers to set up 
\emph{interactive} astronomical catalogues for reduced and inferred data (Fig.~1). 
\begin{figure}
\plotone{D6-f1.eps}
\caption{Level of abstraction and digital availability of astronomical information.}
\end{figure}

\subsection{Objectives}
\emph{AstroCat} is a software framework for the implementation of a new type of web-based 
interactive astronomical catalogues.
\emph{AstroCat}-based catalogues are intended to hold information on the physical properties 
of astronomical objects of a specific class. We provide the possibility to account for 
fine-grained hierarchical sub-classifications of the selected objects. The information contained
in the catalogue should be gathered from trustworthy publications, preferably from refereed papers.
The scientific quality control is performed by users who assumed editorial duties. If available, 
a hyperlink to an electronic version of the referenced publication should be given for each catalogue 
entry (e.g.\ via the ADS, the astro-ph preprint server, or online journals like the 
\emph{Information Bulletin on Variable Stars}).
We will also provide the possibility for authors to share reduced data (spectra, light curves, images, etc.) from 
their publications with the community of users. 

Our new concept of astronomical catalogues and the differences to existing catalogues 
are best characterized by the terms \emph{interactivity}, \emph{up-to-dateness}
and \emph{accessibility}:

\emph{Interactivity:} All registered users may contribute to the database content by adding new data. 
The reliability of the data is ensured by an editorial team which is allowed to modify catalogue
entries. We achieve a high level of objectiveness by allowing for several entries per property. 
We also allow for detailed annotations on the catalogue entries.

\emph{Up-to-dateness:} Most `classical' catalogues are updated only in irregular and/or lengthy intervals. 
In \emph{AstroCat}-based catalogues all changes to the database are made instantly visible to the users. 
To ensure the citability of the catalogue, we provide a mechanism for restoring previous states of 
the catalogue content.

\emph{Accessibility:} The web-based character allows for simple but powerful searching on the 
database via a web browser. The query results can be formatted in various user-definable styles. 
We also provide the possibility to retrieve the query results in XML format in order to supply the user 
with semantically enriched data. 

Additional information on the \emph{AstroCat/CVcat} project can be found at our 
\htmladdnormallinkfoot{web page}{http://astrocat.uni-goettingen.de}.
At this location, we provide an online 
\htmladdnormallinkfoot{discussion forum}{http://astrocat.uni-goettingen.de/\#discussion} 
where comments on the project can be placed.

\section{CVcat -- the online catalogue on Cataclysmic Variables}
\emph{CVcat}, a first version of an online catalogue on Cataclysmic Variables (CVs), 
was developed by the CV group in G\"ottingen and presented to the public in August 2001 
due to the increasing need in the community of CV researchers for an authoritative, up-to-date, 
online database of the relevant objects (Kube et al. 2003). In this catalogue some of the concepts 
of \emph{AstroCat} are already realized. It comprises data from `classical' 
catalogues on CVs (mainly Ritter \& Kolb 2003) as well as additional information compiled 
manually from numerous publications.

Since the acceptance of \emph{CVcat} in the CV community is good, we decided to
re-implement the catalogue with additional features providing more flexibility and convenience 
to the users. For that purpose, we started to develop the \emph{AstroCat} framework which is not
only designed for the re-implementation of \emph{CVcat}, but can also be used for the 
installation of catalogues covering different astronomical fields.

Up to now, \emph{CVcat} is used by $\sim$150 registered users and can be accessed at 
\htmladdURL{http://www.cvcat.org}. The upgrade to the \emph{AstroCat}-based version is
planned for January 2004. A non-interactive demonstration of the new version can already be
found at \htmladdURL{http://astrocat.uni-goettingen.de/cvcat-demo/}. 

\section{Target Group}
\emph{AstroCat} is especially suited to set up databases used by relatively small research communities 
(several hundred users). Since all catalogue entries should be approved by editors, we estimate 
the maximum number of objects that can be handled properly to be several thousands. The possibility to
comment on catalogue entries is particularly useful if extensive calculations and/or non-standard
methods are required to derive the respective object properties. 

\section{Technical Realization}
The catalogue data is held in a PostgreSQL database management system. 
The communication between the database and the webserver (Apache) is controlled by PHP scripts. 
Queries to and results from the database are  handled internally in an XML dialect, 
\htmladdnormallinkfoot{\emph{AstroCatML}}{http://astrocat.uni-goettingen.de/\#astrocatml}, 
for which an XML Schema can be found on our web page.
A schematic view of the data flow in \emph{AstroCat} can be found in Fig.~2.
\begin{figure}
\plotone{D6-f2.eps}
\caption{Software components and data flow in AstroCat.}
\end{figure}

\section{Outlook}
After the completion of \emph{CVcat} we plan to transfer the new concept to a different field of
astronomical research by installing a catalogue on extrasolar planets \emph{(EPcat)} based on 
the \emph{AstroCat} software.
Furthermore, we will provide a registry where the metadata of all \emph{AstroCat}-based catalogues
can be stored, in order to establish interoperability mechanisms between catalogues, e.g.\ simultaneous searches.
It is also intended to integrate the information provided by the catalogues based on \emph{AstroCat}
in the global network of Virtual Observatories.

\section{Partners}
\emph{AstroCat/CVcat} is funded by the \emph{Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft}
(project number LIS 4 - 554 95 (1) SUB G\"ottingen). 
The project is realized in collaboration with the Nieders\"achsische Staats- und Universit\"atsbibliothek (SUB), 
G\"ottingen, in the framework of \emph{Virtuelle Fachbibliothek Astronomie}. 
\emph{CVcat} will be hosted at the SUB after completion.

%-----------------------------------------------------------------------
%			      References
%-----------------------------------------------------------------------
% List your references below within the reference environment
% (i.e. between the \begin{references} and \end{references} tags).
% Each new reference should begin with a \reference command which sets
% up the proper indentation.  Observe the following order when listing
% bibliographical information for each reference:  author name(s),
% publication year, journal name, volume, and page number for
% articles.  Note that many journal names are available as macros; see
% the User Guide listing "macro-ized" journals.   
%
% EXAMPLE:  \reference Hagiwara, K., \& Zeppenfeld, D.\  1986, 
%                Nucl.Phys., 274, 1
%           \reference H\'enon, M.\  1961, Ann.d'Ap., 24, 369
%           \reference King, I.\ R.\  1966, \aj, 71, 276
%           \reference King, I.\ R.\  1975, in Dynamics of Stellar 
%                Systems, ed.\ A.\ Hayli (Dordrecht: Reidel), 99
%           \reference Tody, D.\  1998, \adassvii, 146
%           \reference Zacharias, N.\ \& Zacharias, M.\ 2003,
%                \adassxii, \paperref{P7.6}
% 
% Note the following tricks used in the example above:
%
%   o  \& is used to format an ampersand symbol (&).
%   o  \'e puts an accent agu over the letter e.  See the User Guide
%      and the sample files for details on formatting special
%      characters.  
%   o  "\ " after a period prevents LaTeX from interpreting the period 
%      as an end of a sentence.
%   o  \aj is a macro that expands to "Astron. J."  See the User Guide
%      for a full list of journal macros
%   o  \adassvii is a macro that expands to the full title, editor,
%      and publishing information for the ADASS VII conference
%      proceedings.  Such macros are defined for ADASS conferences I
%      through XI.
%   o  When referencing a paper in the current volume, use the
%      \adassxii and \paperref macros.  The argument to \paperref is
%      the paper ID code for the paper you are referencing.  See the 
%      note in the "Paper ID Code" section above for details on how to 
%      determine the paper ID code for the paper you reference.  
%
\begin{references}
\reference Kube, J., G{\"a}nsicke, B.\ T., Euchner, F.\ \& Hoffmann, B.\ 
2003, \aap, 404, 1159
\reference Ritter, H.\ \& Kolb. U.\ 2003, \aap, 404, 301
\end{references}

% Do not place any material after the references section

\end{document}  % Leave intact