Gaze-Based Human-Robot Interaction by the Brunswick Model

We present a new paradigm for human-robot interaction based on social signal processing, and in particular on the Brunswick model. Originally, the Brunswick model copes with face-to-face dyadic interaction, assuming that the interactants are communicating through a continuous exchange of non verbal social signals, in addition to the spoken messages. Social signals have to be interpreted, thanks to a proper recognition phase that considers visual and audio information. The Brunswick model allows to quantitatively evaluate the quality of the interaction using statistical tools which measure how effective is the recognition phase. In this paper we cast this theory when one of the interactants is a robot; in this case, the recognition phase performed by the robot and the human have to be revised w.r.t. the original model. The model is applied to Berrick, a recent open-source low-cost robotic head platform, where the gazing is the social signal to be considered

The Rise of iWar: Identity, Information, and the Individualization of Modern Warfare

During a decade of global counterterrorism operations and two extended counterinsurgency campaigns, the United States was confronted with a new kind of adversary. Without uniforms, flags, and formations, the task of identifying and targeting these combatants represented an unprecedented operational challenge for which Cold War era doctrinal methods were largely unsuited. This monograph examines the doctrinal, technical, and bureaucratic innovations that evolved in response to these new operational challenges. It discusses the transition from a conventionally focused, Cold War-era targeting process to one optimized for combating networks and conducting identity-based targeting. It analyzes the policy decisions and strategic choices that were the catalysts of this change and concludes with an in depth examination of emerging technologies that are likely to shape how this mode of warfare will be waged in the future.https://press.armywarcollege.edu/monographs/1436/thumbnail.jp

Gabriel Fauré and l’organisation du mouvement: Poetic prosody and rhythmic continuity in the songs (1861–1921)

The songs of Gabriel Fauré form a significant part of the recitalist’s repertoire and have been the subject of in-depth musical analysis, particularly from the middle of the twentieth century to this day. However, relatively little has been written about the relationship between poetic and musical rhythm in Fauré’s romances and mélodies. This is especially important in light of Fauré’s very personal compositional style in the songs, namely forward motion based on the musical pulse. This thesis investigates the origins of this motion from the angle of French poetics, drawing upon the work of Henri Meschonnic and Gérard Dessons as they consider l’organisation du mouvement (the organisation of motion) in poetry. In applying a similar approach to consider the way in which Fauré creates, controls and sustains musical motion and intensity in his songs, this thesis sheds new light on the role of French speech rhythms and versification in the mélodie. Through analysis of text, musical excerpts and discussion of select sound recordings, this thesis highlights the means by which Fauré achieves expressive prosody in his songs as his settings reflect the changing poetic practice of the second half of the nineteenth century into the early twentieth century through the Romantic, Parnassian and Symbolist poetic styles. Whilst forward motion on the pulse remains central to his concept of musical motion, analysis reveals that Fauré responds to poetic innovations by moving away from vocal lyricism to an expressive recitation of the poetic text using a limited number of processes; chief among them is the near neutralisation of musical metre and accentuation in order to prioritise the durational stresses in French language. By integrating speech rhythms and poetic prosody into his songs, Fauré attests to his lifelong aim of accurately expressing the poet’s voice and mind into musical recitation. However, Fauré’s musical organisation du mouvement bears important implications for the performance of his mélodies and of French song in general, since metre and regular accentuation are replaced by irregular note values and the reduced tessitura of a declamationbased mélodie. More specifically, Fauré achieves a complete transformation of the genre: through his understanding of poetic processes and stylistic transformations, he contributes to changing the role of the singer from that of a vocalist to a récitant, that is, one who recites

The Race of Sound

In The Race of Sound Nina Sun Eidsheim traces the ways in which sonic attributes that might seem natural, such as the voice and its qualities, are socially produced. Eidsheim illustrates how listeners measure race through sound and locate racial subjectivities in vocal timbre—the color or tone of a voice. Eidsheim examines singers Marian Anderson, Billie Holiday, and Jimmy Scott as well as the vocal synthesis technology Vocaloid to show how listeners carry a series of assumptions about the nature of the voice and to whom it belongs. Outlining how the voice is linked to ideas of racial essentialism and authenticity, Eidsheim untangles the relationship between race, gender, vocal technique, and timbre while addressing an undertheorized space of racial and ethnic performance. In so doing, she advances our knowledge of the cultural-historical formation of the timbral politics of difference and the ways that comprehending voice remains central to understanding human experience, all the while advocating for a form of listening that would allow us to hear singers in a self-reflexive, denaturalized way

Folk Vocal Techniques of Pontos and Epirus in Modern Greece: a Study in Reflexive Musical Ethnography

In this thesis I examine the vocal techniques employed by performers of contemporary Greek Pontic and Epirotic traditional music. Combining fieldwork analysis with personal experience, I have been able to demonstrate the underlying cognitive and physiological processes that inform these techniques. While anatomical considerations constitute a central focus of this analysis, I offer at the same time an appraisal of vocal bimusicality. The latter issue arises from my own particular perspectives, understandings and personal experience in diverse musical worlds. The objectives of this research are: a) to identify current vocal techniques in Pontic and Epirotic styles, paying special attention to the exceptional use of the larynx and the articulation/projection of vocalized sounds; b) to bridge the gap between theory and practice in studies of voice and vocal production; and c) to demonstrate how personal experience is relevant to ethnographic research in vocal music. In introducing the research field, chapter I of this study reflects on my role as a native researcher-performer and outlines my choice of case studies. The following chapter reviews the Cantometrics project and considers its relevance to Greek folk song. In addition, other scholarly literature pertinent to the present analysis is surveyed, while there is also consideration of fundamental anatomical and physiological issues. Chapters III and IV focus on the central points of analysis in the thesis with special emphasis on the vocal production of the Pontic and Epirotic styles. Employing verbatim quotations from: a) five co-workers in the Pontic style and b) five co-workers and one polyphonic group in the Epirotic style, I analyze the vocal production of these two Greek musical genres as currently performed. The main conclusions of the research refer to techniques such as: a) the movable larynx, b) the extensive use of the soft palate and upper chest area, c) the widening of the mouth, and d) the dropping of the jaw, which are equally discussed in detail. In the same vein, an analogy is drawn between the vocal production and the size of the musical intervals used in both traditions. Chapter V deals with my own learning processes in Greek folk culture and also in the two aspects of my musicality: the Pontic and Western operatic. Here I endeavour to locate myself among my co-workers and also to provide an 'insider's' view on the subject of bimusicality. I also comment upon the effect that ensues when moving from the Pontic to the operatic vocal style, that is to say, the consequences of changing musical systems and musical environments. The final chapter summarizes the findings of this monograph whose practice-based research is also accompanied by a DVD containing performances by co-workers and by audio examples. In these ways, I attempt to bridge the 'gap' between theory and practice in those aspects of vocal production that stem from an aural/oral musical tradition