The Endangered Alphabets Project—On Display and in Action

The Endangered Alphabets Project, founded in 2010 by Tim Brookes, is a unique attempt to play an active role in preserving endangered cultures by using their writing systems to create artwork and educational materials. At FEL XVII Tim Brookes will present a selection of the Endangered Alphabets carvings and discuss some of the many multi-disciplinary questions that the project suggests—questions of language, anthropology, art, writing and the influence of technology on communication. He will also present a variety of educational materials that are being generated as one particular aspect of the Alphabets project: a collaboration with indigenous peoples of the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh. Tim has put together a team including a calligrapher, a typographer, a laser specialist and other support personnel to produce the first schoolbooks ever published in three indigenous languages/scripts of the region, plus a range of educational materials including coloring books and rubber ink stamps to enable children of the Hill Tracts to be educated in their own languages. For more information: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/06/130628-endangered-languages-scripts-bangladesh-indigenous-cultures-world/ -------- Le projet Alphabets en voie de disparition, fondé en 2010 par Tim Brookes, est une tentative originale de jouer un rôle actif dans la préservation des cultures menacées en utilisant leurs systèmes d’écriture pour créer des oeuvres d’art et du matériel pédagogique. Nous présenterons des sculptures d’alphabets menacés et discuterons quelques questions pluridisciplinaires que le projet suggère: questions de langue, d’anthropologie, d’art, d’écriture et l’influence de la technologie sur la communication. Nous présenterons également une variété de supports pédagogiques, issus du projet, comme une collaboration avec les peuples autochtones des Chittagong Hill Tracts au Bangladesh. L’équipe comprend un calligraphe, un typographe, un spécialiste du laser et d’autres membres du personnel de soutien pour produire les premiers manuels scolaires jamais publiés en trois langues / scripts autochtones de la région, ainsi qu’une gamme de matériel éducatif, y compris des livres de coloriage, des tampons encreurs en caoutchouc pour permettre aux enfants des Hill Tracts être instruits dans leur propre langue. Pour plus d’informations: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/06/130628-endangered-languages-scripts-bangladesh-indigenous-cultures-world/

Spatial impression: measurement and perception of concert hall acoustics and reproduced sound

ABSTRACT The fields of concert hall acoustics and sound reproduction are traditionally studied separately, with little interaction between them. However, it is apparent that a great deal can be gained from combining the two disciplines, as long as the differences are considered. Firstly, the perceived spatial impression afforded by the two acoustical situations is reviewed, and the similarities and differences are highlighted. Secondly, the optimum method for applying concert hall measurements to sound reproduction is assessed. Finally, the potential success of applying the developments made in measurements of sound reproduction systems to concert hall acoustics is considered

Far-field effects of impulsive noise on coastal bottlenose dolphins

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We would like to thank Bill Ruck, Moray First Marine and colleagues from the University of Aberdeen for assistance with the data collection. We are also grateful to Drs. Nathan Merchant and Adrian Farcas (CEFAS) for the provision of the data on the noise modeling and their valuable comments during the development of this work. The project benefited at all stages from input provided by the scientific steering groups and stakeholder groups established by UK and Scottish Governments to support the work conducted around these regional oil and gas and renewables projects. FUNDING Financial support for this study was provided through a series of consortia funded projects that involved the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), Scottish Government, Oil and Gas UK Ltd., COWRIE, NatureScot, The Crown Estate, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Beatrice Offshore Wind Ltd., and Moray Offshore Wind Farm (East) Ltd. OFB was funded by the Fundación “la Caixa” (Becas Posgrado, 2015) and their support was greatly appreciated. The authors declare that this study received funding from three commercial developers: Oil and Gas UK Ltd., Beatrice Offshore Wind Ltd., and Moray Offshore Wind Farm (East) Ltd. However, these funding bodies had no input into the study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation of data, the writing of this article or the decision to submit it for publication.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The Global Lake Ecological Observatory Network (GLEON): the evolution of grassroots network science

Nine years later, with over 380 members from 40 countries, and 50 publications to its credit, GLEON is growing at a rapid pace and pushing the boundaries of the practice of network science. GLEON is really three networks: a network of lakes, data, and peopl

Using optically-pumped magnetometers to measure magnetoencephalographic signals in the human cerebellum

KEY POINTS: The application of conventional cryogenic magnetoencephalography (MEG) to the study of cerebellar functions is highly limited because typical cryogenic sensor arrays are far away from the cerebellum and naturalistic movement is not allowed in the recording. A new generation of MEG using optically pumped magnetometers (OPMs) that can be worn on the head during movement has opened up an opportunity to image the cerebellar electrophysiological activity non-invasively. We use OPMs to record human cerebellar MEG signals elicited by air-puff stimulation to the eye. We demonstrate robust responses in the cerebellum. OPMs pave the way for studying the neurophysiology of the human cerebellum. ABSTRACT: We test the feasibility of an optically pumped magnetometer-based magnetoencephalographic (OP-MEG) system for the measurement of human cerebellar activity. This is to our knowledge the first study investigating the human cerebellar electrophysiology using optically pumped magnetometers. As a proof of principle, we use an air-puff stimulus to the eyeball in order to elicit cerebellar activity that is well characterized in non-human models. In three subjects, we observe an evoked component at approx. 50 ms post-stimulus, followed by a second component at approx. 85-115 ms post-stimulus. Source inversion localizes both components in the cerebellum, while control experiments exclude potential sources elsewhere. We also assess the induced oscillations, with time-frequency decompositions, and identify additional sources in the occipital lobe, a region expected to be active in our paradigm, and in the neck muscles. Neither of these contributes to the stimulus-evoked responses at 50-115 ms. We conclude that OP-MEG technology offers a promising way to advance the understanding of the information processing mechanisms in the human cerebellum