tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-198606432024-03-05T01:20:51.182-05:00Sound and Light Reflectionsnews and musings on all things related to sound and light with emphasis on science, technology, security and forensicsKeithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04213943072404972001noreply@blogger.comBlogger396125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19860643.post-42854511090839165592011-05-15T14:38:00.000-04:002011-05-15T14:38:26.119-04:00Science Education: Summer Science Programs in ForensicsIt is that time of year again for students and parents - time for signing students up for summer camps!<br />
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<div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-5703533136737148535" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">The South Carolina Governor's School for Science and Mathematics (USA) runs its Summer Science Programs (SSP) every summer. SSP is a residential summer camp for rising 8th, 9th and 10th graders. Both in-state and out-of-state students are accepted.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">As usual, I'll be teaching two, one-week runnings of my course, <i>Applied Forensic Science (formerly: </i><span style="font-style: italic;">A Mathematical Tour of Forensic Science), </span>again this year<span style="font-style: italic;">. </span>In addition, Dr. Sid Parrish will be teaching his ever popular <i>CSI</i> (Crime Scene Investigation) course. For those who, for some unimaginable reason, might want to take courses in subjects unrelated to forensics, there are a large number of offerings (Lego Robotics, Great Experiments in Classical Physics, and more). If you are interested, you can find out more on their <a href="http://scgssm.org/prospective_students/outreach_programs/summer_science_program/" style="color: #5588aa; text-decoration: none;">website</a>. I hope to see you there!</span><div style="clear: both;"></div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;"><br />
</span></div><div class="post-footer" style="color: #999999; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; font: normal normal normal 78%/normal 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0.1em; line-height: 1.4em; margin-bottom: 0.75em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.75em; text-transform: uppercase;"></div>Keithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04213943072404972001noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19860643.post-20925798387941587582011-05-15T14:20:00.001-04:002011-05-15T14:21:36.351-04:00Human Auditory System: Musical training helps students and the elderly alike<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Northwestern researchers Alexandra Parbery-Clark, Dana Strait, Samira Anderson, Emily Hittner and Nina Kraus have published a journal article that extends the work being done into advantages that students get from musical training and experience to the elderly. <a href="http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-musical-offsets-aging-effects.html">Their work</a> seems to show that life-long musical training improves memory and the ability to understand speech in noisy environments. This makes sense, intuitively. After all, the human auditory system, like the human visual system, relies upon extracting and matching patterns to do its job and the more practice it gets the better job it can do!</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 13px;">Enjoy,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 13px;">Keith</span>Keithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04213943072404972001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19860643.post-70173696782934571702011-02-01T12:29:00.000-05:002011-02-01T12:29:30.889-05:00Education: US Department of State Scholarships for Needed Foreign LanguagesThe National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y) program offered by the US Government's Department of State offers merit-based scholarships to US high school students to study particularly needed languages (i.e. Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, Russian, Hindi, Korean, Persian, and Turkish). Applicants who successfully make it through the selection process will be sent abroad for either six-week or one semester long programs. All program related costs (e.g. travel, room, and board) are paid for by the scholarship. More details can be found on their website (<a href="http://exchanges.state.gov/youth/programs/nsli.html">link</a>).<br />
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(Hat Tip: <a href="http://www.governmentvideo.com/article/102484">Government Video</a>)Keithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04213943072404972001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19860643.post-62911784180929802452011-01-04T20:26:00.000-05:002011-01-04T20:26:30.124-05:00Human Speech System: North American English DialectsI don't even know this gentleman, but I confess that I have to like him just based on his introduction to this excellent website:<br />
<blockquote><i>This is just a little </i><a href="http://aschmann.net/AmEng/#AboutMe"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><i>hobby</i></span></a><i> of mine, that I thought might be interesting to a lot of people. Some people collect stamps. Others collect coins. I collect dialects. </i><a href="mailto:Map@Aschmann.net"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><i>Please let me know what you think of this page</i></span></a><i>. - </i><a href="http://aschmann.net/AmEng/#AboutMe"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><i>Rick Aschmann</i></span></a><i> </i></blockquote>See what I mean?<br />
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Mr. Aschmann has put together a collection of North American <a href="http://aschmann.net/AmEng/">accents</a> based on pronunciation. It is fascinating...<br />
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His work reminds me of an incident from many years ago, back during the Cold War. I was attending a dinner party at a US Embassy and was unexpectedly, but playfully, escorted to stand in front of a young woman who was with an Italian film company. I was asked by the onlookers to say just a few words in a sentence and to stop. Once I had done so, everyone turned to look expectantly at the young woman, who, after a pregnant pause, said something along the lines of "hmmm.... American" (which brought groans from the onlookers), "south eastern" (yielding just a few groans), "South Carolina" (serious looks), "Darlington County" (at my nod of affirmation, this led to gasps and dropped jaws). It turned out that she was the speech consultant to the film and her credits included coaching Mel Gibson (the Aussie from the Mad Max and other mainstream film series) and the New York African-Americans who needed to sound like Southerners in the movie "The Color Purple".<br />
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Enjoy!<br />
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(Hat tip: <a href="http://www.economist.com/blogs/gulliver/2011/01/american_accents">The Economist</a>, center left, UK, news magazine)Keithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04213943072404972001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19860643.post-17907514469960637402010-12-30T06:36:00.000-05:002010-12-30T06:36:07.503-05:00Forensic Audio: An IntroductionA colleague and former student of mine, Detective Phil Manchester (UK), wrote an excellent article earlier this year titled "<a href="http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jan10/articles/forensics.htm">An Introduction to Forensic Audio</a>". It appeared in the British audiophile magazine <u>Sound on Sound</u>. I highly recommend reading this short overview of audio forensics.<br />
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Enjoy!Keithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04213943072404972001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19860643.post-36965730746577101852010-12-29T13:57:00.000-05:002010-12-29T13:57:10.378-05:00Crime Scene Investigation: Photographic PortfolioA former forensic crime lab technician turned professional photographer named Angela Strassheim has used her fascination with crime scenes to create a photographic portfolio. For the portfolio, she visited dozens of former crime scenes and photographed them using a combination of low light, long exposure times, black and white film, and a chemical reagent used to highlight blood stains. The results are fascinating and you can see them <a href="http://www.wired.com/rawfile/2010/12/strassheim-crime-scenes/">here</a>.Keithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04213943072404972001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19860643.post-28784958604759493362010-11-22T14:02:00.000-05:002010-11-22T14:02:57.196-05:00Music: The HumanthesizerWhat can a group of engineers and a musician do with a computer, a sound card, a bunch of dancers, a singer, and a bucket of conductive paint? Create the <a href="http://www.bareconductive.com/pages/Projects.html">Humanthesizer</a>!<br />
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A bit of fun for a Monday morning - enjoy!<br />
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PS. I recommend watching "The making of..." clip first and then the actual performance.<br />
PPS. A "boffin" is a scientist/engineer in British slang.<br />
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(Hat tip - Thanks Robert C!)Keithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04213943072404972001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19860643.post-31422559827721287082010-11-22T13:00:00.000-05:002010-11-22T13:00:15.396-05:00Audio Forensics: Voice Risk Analysis Fails Practical TrialVoice Risk Analysis (VRA) has always been viewed skeptically by many in the speech field. This technique takes Voice Stress Analysis - i.e. analyzing speech for microtremors and possibly other indicators of nervousness, anxiety, and general stress - and applies it to a real world problem. As far as the science of strict voice stress analysis goes, it is believable to me based on my own observations. I have seen that many people can exhibit audible stress in their voices when under emotional or physical stress. As an experiment, try listening to someone on the phone when they are climbing a set of stairs rapidly and you should notice a difference! <br />
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Voice Risk Analysis takes this concept and extends it to the automated detection of deception (lying) over telephone calls. Is this completely unbelievable on the face of it? Not completely - you may have occasionally encountered people who sound nervous when trying to lie. However, pricey products have been sold based on extrapolating this a step further to claim that simply by analyzing telephone speech to a finer level of detail (e.g. looking for microtremors) one can detect stress and even lying in the general population.<br />
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">The Guardian (a center-left news organization in the UK) has a news <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/nov/09/lie-detector-tests-benefit-cheats">article</a> on the results of practical trials conducted by the British government using a commercial VRA system to attempt to catch people lying in telephone interviews regarding government-funded benefits. After analyzing the results from 45,000 calls, the bottom line was that the system did not provide enough value to justify its cost. Given the history of VRA and my own understanding of speech science, I am not surprised at all by the findings. Hopefully, as a matter of public policy, this will put an end to government purchases of VRA technology until such a time as it is proven by peer-reviewed studies to work for the application(s) it is intended for.</div><div><br />
</div>Keithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04213943072404972001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19860643.post-90438169001491740922010-11-19T13:00:00.000-05:002010-11-19T13:00:39.145-05:00Photography: Preserving old photos and documentsOne of my favorite websites, lifehacker, has an <a href="http://lifehacker.com/5693168/use-the-smithsonians-tips-to-preserve-old-photographs-and-documents?utm_source=Lifehacker+Newsletter&utm_campaign=b2b1533771-UA-142218-1&utm_medium=email">article</a> based around material by Lynda Schmitz Fuhrig, the electronic archivist for the Smithsonian Institution Archives, on how to best preserve old photographs and other documents. This topic is very important for forensic examiners and the legal system in general as, at least in the USA, we have to preserve evidence for at least 25 years in case there is ever a re-trial.<br />
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For information about the long term care and handling of DVDs and CDs, I highly recommend the National Institute of Science and Technologies guide to the subject, available in PDF format (size = 1.24MB) at the following <a href="http://www.itl.nist.gov/iad/894.05/papers/CDandDVDCareandHandlingGuide.pdf">link</a>.<br />
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Enjoy!<br />
KeithKeithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04213943072404972001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19860643.post-72394805013818217942010-10-11T12:20:00.000-04:002010-10-11T12:20:15.736-04:00Forensic Education: Upcoming Audio Forensics Workshop<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">I would like to pass along the following announcement:</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><br />
</div><blockquote>The National Center for Media Forensics at the University of Colorado Denver will be holding an Audio Forensics Workshop December 13-15, 2010 in Denver, CO. This course is an introduction to digital audio, acoustics, audio evidence admissibility, and recorded speech enhancement. It is the perfect experience for those new to the field, practitioners needing to review forensic audio theory and practice, or those accustomed to working with other types of digital and multimedia evidence. Course topics include:</blockquote><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></div><blockquote>· Introduction to Media Forensics</blockquote><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></div><blockquote>- Overview and principles in Media Forensics</blockquote><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></div><blockquote>- Admissibility of audio evidence</blockquote><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></div><blockquote> </blockquote><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></div><blockquote>· Foundations for Forensic Audio Enhancement</blockquote><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></div><blockquote>- Sound and acoustics</blockquote><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></div><blockquote>- Audio recording and playback</blockquote><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></div><blockquote>- Digitization of sound</blockquote><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></div><blockquote>- Signal processing and enhancement algorithms</blockquote><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></div><blockquote><br />
</blockquote><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></div><blockquote>· Demonstration and Practice</blockquote><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></div><blockquote>- Digital evidence seizure and acquisition</blockquote><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></div><blockquote>- Enhancement practice</blockquote><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></div><blockquote>- Notes and report writing</blockquote><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></div><blockquote>- Preparation of enhanced material</blockquote><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></div><blockquote> </blockquote><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></div><blockquote>The course will be co-taught by Dr. Catalin Grigoras and Jeff M. Smith. The cost for this class is $850 and graduate level university credit will be given upon completion. </blockquote></span></span>Keithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04213943072404972001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19860643.post-67735731323587019362010-09-14T08:28:00.000-04:002010-09-14T08:28:38.190-04:00Human Visual System: Gene identified that causes short sightednessThe BBC (center-left news, United Kingdom) <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11285011">reports</a> on research at King's College London that has tentatively identified a gene that causes myopia, commonly known as short-sightedness. For those who confuse short and long sightedness, just remember that they are what their names say - you see objects better at short distances when short-sighted and you see objects better at long distances when long-sighted. The article is well written and has graphics to explain the condition.Keithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04213943072404972001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19860643.post-89643888572308313012010-09-14T08:23:00.000-04:002010-09-14T08:23:18.193-04:00Human Speech System: Woman's migraine causes French accentA woman in the United Kingdom is suffering from Foreign Accent Syndrome - a rare condition caused by damage to the brain that results in changes to a person's accent. In this case, the woman went from a British accent to a French one. The Guardian (UK, left-wing newspaper) has the story. <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/sep/14/woman-awoke-migraine-french-accent">Fascinating</a>.Keithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04213943072404972001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19860643.post-90832368444438785922010-09-14T08:19:00.000-04:002010-09-14T08:19:44.861-04:00Image Forensics: Bad "Photoshopped" Mad Men cover on Rolling StonesThe title of this post says it all - the writers at Jezebel (a celebrity news for women) wrote about it first. <a href="http://jezebel.com/5626417/mad-men-stars-get-a-botched-photoshop-job-from-rolling-stone">See</a> for yourself.<br />
Enjoy!Keithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04213943072404972001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19860643.post-583903638492225572010-08-30T15:02:00.000-04:002010-08-30T15:02:33.453-04:00Linguistics: Challenge PuzzlesHere is a fun <a href="http://webscript.princeton.edu/~ahesterb/puzzles.php">website</a> with lots of puzzles - from easy to hard - involving linguistics. Enjoy!<br />
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(Hat Tip: <a href="http://www.siliconvalley.com/">SiliconValley.com</a>, USA, technology news)Keithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04213943072404972001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19860643.post-85108964732827614032010-08-26T09:58:00.000-04:002010-08-26T09:58:19.878-04:00Human Speech System: Test your lip-reading abilitySpeech scientists have long known that seeing individuals can, even unconsciously, use lip-reading to assist in decoding words spoken in a conversation. (Note: lip-reading words spoken randomly, without context, is very difficult). This entertaining and challenging puzzle (<a href="http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2010/08/a-classic-back-to-school-lip-reading-puzzle/">link</a> to a Wired on-line article entitled <u>A Classic Back-to-School Lip-Reading Puzzle</u>) will test whether you can match a given list of names to faces in an illustration by lip-reading, given the context that each boy in the illustration is on the verge of pronouncing his name.<div><br />
</div><div>Enjoy!</div>Keithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04213943072404972001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19860643.post-66082986921073286322010-07-30T14:57:00.000-04:002010-07-30T14:57:48.850-04:00Admin: Apologies and "make up" for light postingHi, All.<br />
It has been a very hectic summer for me (again), but I'm back to blogging (finally).<br />
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I offer the following <a href="http://wondermark.com/634/">website and comic</a> as a sort of "make up" for my delinquency.<br />
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Enjoy!<br />
Keith<br />
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(Hat tip to <a href="http://www.eetimes.com/electrical-engineer-community">EE Life</a>)Keithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04213943072404972001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19860643.post-29121113447798343632010-05-17T11:36:00.000-04:002010-05-17T11:36:03.539-04:00Science Education: The Listen ProjectMy local newspaper (Charleston's Post and Courier) had a blurb in the comics section this week that mentioned a good resource for kids (at heart) to learn about audio. It is the <i>Listen Project</i> and can be found on the <a href="http://exploratorium.edu/listen/index.php">Exploratorium's website</a>. It seems to live up to its tag line of "Explore the art and science of listening". I highly recommend it.<br />
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To give credit where credit is due - the project is funded by the National Science Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, The Bernard Osher Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts.<br />
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Enjoy!Keithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04213943072404972001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19860643.post-57035331367371485352010-04-05T21:37:00.001-04:002010-04-05T22:15:48.427-04:00Science Education: Summer Science Programs in Forensics<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">The South Carolina Governor's School for Science and Mathematics (USA) runs its Summer Science Programs (SSP) every summer. SSP is a residential summer camp for rising 8th, 9th and 10th graders. Both in-state and out-of-state students are accepted.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px;">I'll be teaching two, one-week runnings of my course, <span style="font-style: italic;">A Mathematical Tour of Forensic Science, </span>again this year<span style="font-style: italic;">. </span>In addition, Dr. Sid Parrish will be teaching his ever popular <i>CSI</i> (Crime Scene Investigation) course. For those who, for some unimaginable reason, might want to take courses in subjects unrelated to forensics, there are a large number of offerings (Lego Robotics, Great Experiments in Physics, and more). If you are interested, you can find out more on their <a href="http://www.scgssm.com/prospective_students/outreach_programs/summer_science_program/">website</a>. I hope to see you there!</span>Keithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04213943072404972001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19860643.post-24924740473607095182010-03-06T05:25:00.000-05:002010-03-06T05:25:39.321-05:00Science Education: Popular Science Magazine puts entire archive online for free viewingAs a kid growing up in the USA in the 70's, I spent a lot of time in my local public library reading everything I could get my hands on. When it came to science and technology magazines, I remember reading every single <i>Popular Mechanics, Popular Science</i>, and <i>Scientific American</i> as soon as it came in. Of course, a lot of what was in <i>Scientific American</i> was written above my academic level, but with each issue I read I got a little further into each article before I was lost- over time I gave myself a pretty good science education that way. (Aside: of course, that was before <i>Scientific American</i> became so politicized, but I can expound upon the politicization of science and science journalism another day...).<br />
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This trip down Memory Lane has a pleasant destination - Popular Science Magazine has put its entire <a href="http://www.popsci.com/announcements/article/2010-03/new-browse-137-years-popsci-archive-free">archive</a> of back issues - complete with period advertisements- online for free viewing. The archive is even searchable using Google's technology. Very cool, in a geeky sort of way (yes, I was a geek before geeks became cool). <br />
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Enjoy!Keithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04213943072404972001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19860643.post-88756830420154576452010-03-04T05:07:00.000-05:002010-03-04T05:07:02.173-05:00Speech Recognition: Men harder to understand than womenResearchers at <a href="http://stanford.edu/">Stanford University</a> (USA) and the <a href="http://www.ed.ac.uk/home">University of Edinburgh</a> (UK) have tested various automatic speech recognition (ASR) systems and found that in general they have a more difficult time recognizing speech from males than females. One of the causes mentioned by the researchers was that the men tended to use fillers such as "emm" more often.<br />
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I should point out that the tests were conducted using recordings of telephone calls. This is important because the type of "channel" the audio is being carried over makes a significant difference to a computer-based speech recognition system.<br />
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The work was sponsored by the US Office of Naval Research.<br />
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For a quick overview of the research, you can read the BBC (center-left news media, UK) article <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/8548131.stm">here</a>.<br />
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Enjoy!Keithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04213943072404972001noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19860643.post-24211381298829250452010-02-23T14:53:00.000-05:002010-02-23T14:53:37.719-05:00Human Auditory System: Audiences hate modern classical music because their brains can not copeI guess there is a scientific reason "modern" classical music sounds so awful to my ear after all! The Daily Telegraph (center-right newspaper, UK) has the <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/7279626/Audiences-hate-modern-classical-music-because-their-brains-cannot-cope.html">story</a>.Keithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04213943072404972001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19860643.post-59763774023998475482010-02-06T14:26:00.000-05:002010-02-06T14:26:23.995-05:00Human Visual System: Caucasians and Asians recognize faces and expressions differentlyWorld Science (an online science news site) summarizes work by researchers at the University of Montreal (Canada) into how Asians and Caucasians differ in recognizing faces and facial expressions. Eye tracking cameras were used to monitor where the subjects were gazing. Doctoral candidate and researcher Caroline Blais said that<br />
<blockquote><i>The study confirmed that Caucasians study the triangle of the eyes and mouth, while Asians focus on the nose..</i></blockquote> In a separate study, she also tested how recognition of facial expressions differed between the two ethnic groups. It turned out that Asians were not as accurate at recognizing emotions that required observing the mouth, such as fear, disgust, and anger.<br />
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The two studies were published in the journals <i>Current Biology</i> and <i>PLoS One.</i>Keithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04213943072404972001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19860643.post-89381935344178005302010-02-01T16:24:00.000-05:002010-02-01T16:24:55.724-05:00Acoustics: Visualizing whale calls as artNewScientist (science magazine, UK) has a fascinating set of <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/gallery/whalesong-art">images</a> from <a href="http://aguasonic.com/">Mark Fischer</a>, who uses artistically manipulated <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discrete_wavelet_transform">wavelet transforms</a> of the calls of marine mammals to create stunning artwork.<br />
Enjoy!Keithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04213943072404972001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19860643.post-68502444396980893702010-01-18T15:40:00.000-05:002010-01-18T15:40:27.848-05:00Science and Math: Another round-up of interesting linksI have been having difficulty finding enough time to write my normal analysis and commentary on the information I have come across. Therefore, in order to not fall any further behind in getting interesting things out to you, I'm going to once again resort to listing the links.<br />
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With apologies, here they are:<br />
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<a href="http://www.forensicmag.com/News_Articles.asp?pid=761">US Judge rules that computerized voice stress analysis can be used to monitor offenders</a> (note: I've blogged previously about how detecting stress is NOT the same as detecting a lie)<br />
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<a href="http://seedmagazine.com/slideshow/mathematicians/">Mathematicians: An Outer View of an Inner World</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/ibex/index.html">NASA Interstellar Boundary Explorer Mission</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.forensicmag.com/articles.asp?pid=290">Forensic Audio overview article</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1234773/The-answer-mystery-Norways-spiral-light-display-Was-failed-Russian-Bulava-missile-test.html">Mysterious spiral lights</a><br />
(solution: failed Russian missile launch)<br />
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<a href="http://bibliodyssey.blogspot.com/2009/12/victorian-infographics.html">Victorian Infographics</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.onlineuniversities.com/blog/2010/01/100-incredible-educational-virtual-tours-you-dont-want-to-miss/">Virtual tours you don't want to miss</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/10/saturn_at_equinox.html">Saturn at equinox</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=664F2AE1160FF884">The secret life of chaos</a><br />
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Enjoy!Keithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04213943072404972001noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19860643.post-58764565652534762842009-12-13T14:46:00.000-05:002009-12-13T14:46:12.407-05:00Acoustics: Shattering glass with soundI really enjoy Make Magazine (USA) for their many contributions to open source hardware development, but that is not the subject of this post. Instead, I'd like to point you to an excellent video they have up on their site from the MIT Department of Physics on <a href="http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/11/breaking_glass_with_sound.html">breaking a wine glass with sound</a>.Keithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04213943072404972001noreply@blogger.com0