2 comments about Microphone Arrays: Signal Processing Techniques and Applications (Digital Signal Processing).

1. This book provides, for the first time, a single complete reference on microphone arrays. Top researchers in this field contributed articles addressing their specific topics of study. The results cover the current state of the art in microphone array research, development, and technological application. Part I concerns the problem of enhancing the speech signal acquired by an array of microphones. Part II is devoted to the source localization problem. Part III details some specific applications of microphone array technology available today. Part IV presents expert summaries of current open problems in the field, as well as personal views of what the future of microphone array processing might hold. The individual chapters selected for the book were designed to be tutorial in nature with a specific emphasis on recent important results. They are of utility to a large audience, from the student or practising engineer just approaching the field to the experienced researcher. Table of Contents: Pt. I: Speech Enhancement ch. 1 Constant Directivity Beamforming ch. 2 Superdirective Microphone Arrays ch. 3 Post-Filtering Techniques ch. 4 Spatial Coherence Functions for Differential Microphones in Isotropic Noise Fields ch. 5 Robust Adaptive Beamforming ch. 6 GSVD-Based Optimal Filtering for Multi-Microphone Speech Enhancement ch. 7 Explicit Speech Modeling for Microphone Array Speech Acquisition Pt. II: Source Localization ch. 8 Robust Localization in Reverberant Rooms ch. 9 Multi-Source Localization Strategies ch. 10 Joint Audio-Video Signal Processing for Object Localization and Tracking Pt. III: Applications ch. 11 Microphone-Array Hearing Aids ch. 12 Small Microphone Arrays with Postfilters for Noise and Acoustic Echo Reduction ch. 13 Acoustic Echo Cancellation for Beamforming Microphone Arrays ch. 14 Optimal and Adaptive Microphone Arrays for Speech Input in Automobiles ch. 15 Speech Recognition with Microphone Arrays ch. 16 Blind Separation of Acoustic Signals Pt. IV: Open Problems and Future Directions ch. 17 Future Directions for Microphone Arrays ch. 18 Future Directions in Microphone Array Processing Index



2. This book is a must-have for researchers in the area of microphone array.

1 comments about Engineering Noise Control: Theory and Practice.

1. I have spent a number of years in the acoustics field and this book is the bible of industrial acoustics.
   
   Having said that, this is not the "easiest" book to read and understand. It is aimed for those pursuing advanced studies in acoustics and acoustic control, with the assumption the reader has a thorough understanding of the fundamentals of math and physics.
   
   The first few chapters in the book do give a brief introduction to sound (from a physics standpoint) and calculating sound levels for various sources. Anyone familiar with this information will recognize the information has not been significantly altered from Beranek's texts. Some information is given for current health & safety legislation but this is rather specific to the US. The initial chapters will not be adequate for someone new to the field of acoustics.
   
   The "meat" of the book gives substantial treatment to noise control methods, noise in rooms, design of abatement equipment (both indoor and outdoor), industrial applications etc. however again the primary approach is from a mathematical/physics development. This does not mean one cannot immediately use the information effectively. The simple truth is noise abatement is not a "simple" field and the book doesn't attempt to "simplify" the complicated material.
   
   The new edition of this book gives a good (if brief) description of the emerging field of active noise control. The primary limitation of this area is not the author's fault - there isn't enough practical data for active noise control at present.
   
   One downfall of this book as a text is that very very few examples are provided for a student, and in the new version no chapter questions are included. For a student, I would recommend acquiring the 2nd edition of the text for the chapter questions.
   
   Overally, an excellent resource for the experienced practioneer or advanced student.

5 comments about Ubiquity: The Science of History . . . or Why the World Is Simpler Than We Think.

1. It is a matter of degree. If I, with my degrees in Chinese Lit, were to hurl a hundred frozen potatoes at a wall, I would probably end up in a stait-jacket. If someone with degrees in Physics does that, it's research.

   Mark Buchanan, however, does away with degrees. As the title of this book implies, all or nothing: Ubiquity is a sole authority. Only my knife cuts potatoes, no knife but mine can cut potatoes. While I agree that the existence of power laws is fascinating, I would not perhaps extend them as far as Buchanan does; I would be more interested in probing why distribution is so regular, rather than insisting that all phenomena must be explained by this, and only this, rule. A power law may signify that a country can be bled, or a forest burned, so far before you run out of fuel. This is more interesting than assuming that because the numbers resemble each other, the conditions necessarily illuminate each other. (As to the power law, please note the comments in Dennis Littrell's review of this book).

   I got to the point where I dreaded having to read about yet another game that, amazingly enough, proves the power law (do any games disprove it?). Games seem to go to Buchanan's head, where they practically replace reality, which, needless to say, is far more complex. There are games and there are games, though. On page 126 (paperback version), Newton is praised for simplifying for ease of reasoning; then on page 142, economists are excoriated for simplifying for ease of reasoning. I never thought I would see the day that I stood up for economics, but isn't this a double standard? By the same token, after he so thoroughly debunked the efficient market hypothesis, I was surprised to read on page 188 that after war releases stress, 'each nation is brought back into rough balance with its true economic strength.' But as he says on the next page, 'None of this is meant to be fully convincing.' It's not.

   Buchanan at times seems to forget that there is more to human history than wars and revolution, and that great people can change the course of history; where would we be today if George Washington Carver had not saved southern agriculture? Buchanan's total belief in the ubiquity of his games leads him to say something as ridiculous as "the mark of the great scientist lies not so much in having profound ideas that revolutionize science, but in taking ideas ... and making that potential real"(p183). ...limits our reviews to 1,000 words, so I will leave it this sentence for you to explode .

   Even if we discount the role anybody but scientists and soldiers play in history, there should be some difference between incipient wars. Consider World War II, in which Germany and Japan geared for widespread conquest, planning meticulously years in advance. The German army would not have rolled through the center of Europe so irresistibly if the Hitler Youth had not trained the young so well; Japanese school children were primed to attack China before the Marco Polo Bridge Incident. Then compare this to the American Revolution, a beef far across the oceans between some (not all) ill-prepared colonists and a Great Britain preoccupied with India. Is it any surprise that WWII spread far and wide, while the American Revolution was fought locally?

   I think the author has intriguing ideas, but he has overextended them. Nonetheless, Buchanan's doctrines have a familiar ring. Buddhism long has taught that any event is the result of an infinite number of causes, and the cause of an infinite number of results. The ideas in this book are well worth pondering, but with a grain of salt. One grain. Now, if you have a whole pile of grains of salt, one more might avalanche....




2. Buchanan's book Ubiquity is a fascinating volume on self organizing criticality. It bears a striking resemblance to Per Bak's book How Nature Works, and Bak's research is cited a number of times throughout the text. As with the Bak work, Buchanan's covers a wide variety of subjects from wars to stock market fluctuations. Of particular interest to me was the discussion of evolution and the episodic character of mass extinctions, since I've read a number of books on the subject of the K-T boundary extinction.

   Like Bak, Buchanan points out that much that appears to have historical significance and specific causation, while it makes for good story telling, has little predictive value about it. He uses Bak's sandpile experiments to illustrate the futility of such efforts by creating a "Sandman's view" of catastrophe (pp. 179-180). He imagines a catastrophic sand slide from the point of view of a tiny survivor to whom events seem to have been "due" to negligence on the part of the individuals responsible for a steep area. From the point of view of the sandpile, though, the information required for such control would have to be staggeringly large and nearly perfect in order to have predicted the slide and its effects. Had some minute change to the pile been possible at the putative disaster site, a similar slide could have occurred elsewhere. Then the caretakers of the sandpile would have been blamed for causing a disaster rather than preventing one. One can see in this parable why politicians in the real world tend to seek their own ultimate good rather than that of their constituents or of the environment itself. The vagaries of prediction caused by the intertwining of particulars and the vastness of the data involved put such individuals in impossible positions. They are either guilty of not preventing or of causing various negative outcomes if they are unfortunate or praised for positive outcomes if fortunate. As the author points out in a quote of John Galbraith, "Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable (p. 1)."

   The key point of the book seems to be that many systems are organized on the critical edge between instability and stability. Life itself may owe its very existence to that fact. Because of this poised-on-the-edge characteristic, small events may cascade in such a way as to produce major changes: a new value for stocks, a massive extinction that creates new opportunities for remaining species, a redistribution of power among nations, etc. Which outcomes occur and when, however, are not subject to predictive formulae, even though they may seem ideally suited to it. If even extreme events are the results of myriads of small, seemingly unimportant events-sort of the butterfly in Japan fluttering its wings concept-then there are no means by which catastrophic events can be predicted any more than smaller ones can be. According to the author, while there seems to be a mathematical frequency with which incidents of different magnitudes occur, there is no way of divining when a specific outcome of a given magnitude will actually occur, nor are the consequences should such an event be forestalled. This has implications for events meaningful to human beings: wars, the stock market peaks and valleys, even extinction events. For Buchanan, history itself may arise by virtue of natural resolutions of unstable systems of whatever kind.

   After reading the author's discussion of the Gutenberg-Richter power law and the scale invariance of some systems, it occurred to me that the end of the world scenario presented by Carl Sagan in his book Cosmos-and credited to an earlier researcher-may fall into this category. In that volume, a chart had been created that plotted murder (private war) to the total destruction of mankind against a time line, finding that total annihilation should occur a few years after the year 2000. (It was expected closer to mid 21st century, but the original author had not factored in the destructive power of nuclear war. Later individuals did and produced a chart that suggested armageddon would be around 2010). While the ultimate war may well occur, if Bak and Buchanan are correct, it might not be due to either predictable or controllable factors, and it will probably not occur on any clear cut timetable like that suggested in Cosmos.

   An amazingly interesting book full of concepts that, however theoretical, are certainly plausible and explain a lot about our world.




3. This is not one of my favourite reads. In some ways I found it a labour as it went over the same material again and again, albeit in very diverse areas. I understand the power law that Mr Buchanan describes and its implications, but it seems to be such an after-the-event view that can have little material impact on modern endeavours. It proves futility. It is as if what is ubiquitous is our necessary failure to achieve. But I'm sure we do do better than that.

   On the other hand there was one revelation in this book that truly fascinated me. I have always been interested in the dinosaurs and their extinction. Books like 'The Dinosaur Heresies' by Bakker and 'Hot-Blooded Dinosaurs' by Desmond developed a genuine need-to-know-more. But the matter of extinction is so challenging. There are strong suggestions that an impact of an asteroid caused such havoc that the dinosaurs became extinct - all of them, the small ones, the large ones, the carnivores, the herbivores, the pterosaurs (flying dinosaurs) and the plesiosaurs (sea-going dinosaurs). And yet, for all that, other animals - notably mammals - did survive. What allowed them through the window of extinction? In my reading I have encountered this debate many times and most writers do have a preference for one theory or another. But even those who do support the impact theory do not have evidence of an impact associated with each of the great periods of extinction that have occured through time. So, the thesis of 'Ubiquity' does provide an alternative - that sometimes the effect of even a small change will cause monumental alterations to the world according to the ubiquitous power law. What was the small change that extinguished the dinosaur SPECIES but allowed others to survive, and in the absence of the dinosurs, thrive? It seems to me that knowing what this small change was would fundamentally advance our knowledge of what the dinosaurs really were.

   The most powerful voice in the campaign for popularising the impact theory of dinosaur extinction is Alvarez who discovered the site of the impact that occured 65 million years ago just about the time the last dinosaur walked on the Earth. What Buchanan points out, that so few other writers do is this ....

   '...the bulk of the long 1980 paper by Alvarez and his colleagues was 'confined to the geological and physical evidence for an impact, and the physical results of the impact. The discussion of the biological results of the impact occupies only half a page. (quoted from M. Benton) The reason is simple: no one really has much of a clue about what an impact would really do to life all over the planet.'

   This is perhaps the strongest argument I have read against the impact causing the extinction of the dinsoaurs. Not that it couldn't have, but that the opinionated science community is so set on Alvarez' findings that they have taken the most tenuous suggestions from Alvarez' paper to support their theories.




4. There is no physical theory that explains history, economics, etc. The wary reader should beware that wishful thinking has won over scientific criticism in this book. To be more specific, sandpile models do not explain earthquakes, turbulence, economics, and so on. Sandpile models are an interesting way of trying something new and stimulating in statistical physics but certainly cannot be elevated to the level of explaining the world. Fluid turbulence is not like dynamically an earthquake, financial markets are not like sandpiles, and Hitler is not explained by any model of statistical physics (need one really say this!?). The historians and biologists need not pack their bags and go home...

   (A physics professor)




5. In the book Ubiquity by Mark Buchanan, processes as diverse as forest fire size, stacking rice grains, market fluctuation, scientific paper citations, species extinction history, epidemiology, sizes of wars and earthquake severity are said to generate occasional catastrophic behavior following similar statistical behavior. Buchanan presents these arguments in a very readable style at a level that can be grasped by the layman. I found the physical descriptions of the processes fascinating. The phenomena is, indeed, ubiquitous. Repeatedly, we find that, if X measures severity and f is the frequency histogram of occurrence, then numerous processes containing a catastrophic component adhere to a linear log-log plot with negative slope. Although unsaid in the book, probably to allow access to a wider audience, the underlying probability density function of the ubiquitous process is a Pareto random variable with probability density function f(x)=(a/b)*(b/x)^(a+1) for x>b and zero otherwise. The enormously fat tails of this distribution allow the outlier-like catastrophic events described in the book. Taking the log of both sides of the density function gives log[f(x)] = -(a+1)*log(x) + constant which is a line of negative slope on a log-log plot. If U is a uniform random variable on (0,1), then X=b*U^(-1/a) is a Pareto RV. Using this, plots similar to the time series and log-log plots in Ubiquity can be straightforwardly simulated. Googling "Pareto distribution" gives a plurality of interesting web accounts, many mathematically deeper, of this remarkable phenomena made wonderfully accessible by Buchanan.

3 comments about Chaos Under Control: The Art and Science of Complexity.

1. As a teacher attempting to introduce chaos theory into high school physics and mathematics classes, the book gave many examples of practical activities. It also gave many examples of how chaos could and would become useful. There are currently so many false methods being used to integrate subject matter in education; chaos theory has great potential to demonstrate clear connections between arts, sciences, and social sciences, and Peak and Frame in a simple manner bring this to light.



2. CHAOS UNDER CONTROL lies somewhere between a standard textbook on chaos and fractals and the more popular works on the subject. There are suggested experiments to be performed by the reader, but no sets of exercises at the end of sections or chapters. I chiefly want to warn potential buyers that the paperback edition contains 16 "color plates" that are unfortunately reproduced in black and white. The discussion of the plates by the authors refers repeatedly to the colors, which are indeed significant. Many of the other black and white figures scattered throughout the text would provide the reader with more information (and enjoyment) if reproduced in color. If you wish to purchase this book, at least try to find a hard cover edition with true color plates.



3. Chaotic dynamics is one of the most fascinating areas of mathematics and one that every mathematician should have some knowledge of. This book is an excellent primer on the geometry of fractals, chaotic dynamics and cellular automata. It is written for a popular audience, although the authors were not afraid to include the appropriate equations when they were needed for a full explanation. Many examples of how fractals and chaos can be used to describe the physical world are included. A large number of figures are used to demonstrate the consequences of the equations.
   If your background in mathematics is limited to basic algebra, then there are areas of this book that you will struggle with. However, if you are determined to learn, you will be able to do so. It is one of the best introductions to fractals and chaos that is available.

No comments about Acoustics for Engineers: Troy Lectures.

5 comments about Sound Design and Science Fiction.

1. If you're interested in Sound Design, Science Fiction, or both, you must read this book. If you're teaching a course on either of the topics, you must assign this book for your students to read. Well researched, an easy read, yet rigorous... What more could you ask for?



2. I know of no other book that considers sound in science fiction films in this depth. The case studies of such films as 2001 and T2 are fascinating. Whittington writes engagingly and accessibly, making the book valuable not just to academically inclined readers but to casual science fiction fans as well.



3. I'm teaching "Sound Design in Science Fiction and Horror Films," and so was of course delighted when I came across this book. Academically sound and insightful, I had a sophomore the other day come up after class and say "I really like this book. I thought it was going to be boring, but it's really interesting." High, high praise. It's much more of a thematic, conceptual exploration than any kind of a "how-to" or even "how they did it," so if you're looking for information on how to create sound design for science fiction, this isn't your book. But if you are interested in examining, for instance, how in science fiction "the sonic landscapes begin to emphasize a greater uneasiness in relation to technology, scientific breakthroughs and the future" with some specific illustrations from movies like Alien, 2001, and Star Wars, then this book is for you. This is an area of study that could use a lot more books like this! Sound design studies, to the front. Next we need the same kind of treatment for Horror films.



4. I'm one of those picky people when it comes going to the movies. I always go early and only to specific theaters to make sure I get the best seat. I want to see a movie the way it was meant to be seen. After reading William Whittington's Sound Design & Science Fiction Film, I realized that where I sit is just as important if you want to hear the film the way it was meant to be heard. I've also gained an appreciation for what goes into how I experience a movie.
   
   One of the most enjoyable parts of this exploration is that it focuses on my favorite genre, science fiction. It's a logical choice for experimentation and certainly technological innovation, after all, what does a alien, a light saber, or a pod racer sound like? Ask Ben Burt. It is up to the imagination of the designers like Burt to create the realities of that imagined universe. It's been 30 years since I saw Star Wars for the first time, but the sensation of the opening as Vader's ship passes, seemingly, overhead and onto the screen is still crystal clear.
   
   While Whittington explores the development of the sound design through films like THX 1138, Star Wars, Exterminator II, Alien, and the Matrix, my favorite chapter is the one on the two Blade Runners, one of my favorite films. I have my own issues with director's cuts and though I loved the visual sensation, music, and the Sam Spade-like voiceover of the original 1982 version, I almost wish I hadn't seen Blade Runner until the director's cut came out in 1992. But, it's like the judge asking the jury to disregard the previous statement, it took some convincing for me to see how the basic elements of the story had changed.
   
   Whittington goes carefully through both versions of the film and, skeptical the whole way, I had to re-examine my own memory of the story. Gradually I realized that not only were there two different stories, with basically different Decker's, but that the majority of the transformation comes from the sound design itself. Removing the voiceover and allowing the story to reveal, not explain the events, fundamentally changes the story and leaves open questions about Decker himself. Is he a replicant? Are his memories more real then those of Rachel? Those issues, unambiguous in the original version, are much more in the style of author, Philip K. Dick.
   
   Okay, you may not be interested in re-examining your view of Blade Runner; the way I was. Apparently, I was one of the few people who saw it the first time out. But, if you are curious and enjoy movies, this book will give you insight on the changes in sound within the film industry and in how we experience that when we view films at home or in the theater. On the other hand, if you're one of those hopeful future filmmakers it will give you a broader perspective on the power of sound as an integrated element of film. As for me, I'll just have to make sure I get the best seat in the theater, and give this director's cut a chance.



5. A very good book. A theory based journey in the development of sound in cinema since the late 60's. speaking of influences of the french new wave and the impact of George Lucas and Ridley Scott.
   
   This is not a pragmatic technical book, on how to produce sounds. its more why this sound is used for this story element, what effect it might have on the audience, drawing from anecdotal material.
   
   I am interested in film making. I see this as a way of improving film grammar.

1 comments about Elastic Waves in Solids I: Free and Guided Propagation (Advanced Texts in Physics).

1. Oneof the best book with latest information on this subject. Detail and lucid explanation keeps you discovering the subject enchantingly.

No comments about Coping with Chaos: Analysis of Chaotic Data and The Exploitation of Chaotic Systems.

1 comments about Architectural Acoustics: Principles and Design.

1. I ordered this book presuming it was the harcover edition. It wasn't. In fact, not only was it paperback, but the pages were PHOTOCOPIED from the original. ALl of the photos and graphics look terrible. It is missing pages here and there, in the body, appendices, and index.
   
   The book itself is a great book. Architectural Acoustics for dummies essentially. Just don't pay $80+ for a cheap photocopy.

1 comments about Optimal Estimation of Dynamic Systems (Chapman & Hall/Crc Applied Mathematics & Nonlinear Science).

1. It presents the fundamentals of state estimation theory and the tools for the design of state-of-the-art algorithms for navigation and tracking, vehicle attitude determination. There is a lot of material that is covered by this book. The examples are well presented and they really help you when working on the problems at the end of each chapter. Also, computer routines for all the examples shown in the text can be accessed. I have to say that this is an excellent book for estimation of dynamic systems.