Ernesto Rasa and The Earthquake

A short story about a member of an evangelical church in Adelaide in the 1970s at the time that an earthquake and tidal wave were prophesied

Urgency is a Non-monotonic Function of Pulse Rate

Magnitude estimation was used to assess the experience of urgency in pulse-train stimuli (pulsed white noise) ranging from 3.13 to 200 Hz. At low pulse rates, pulses were easily resolved. At high pulse rates, pulses fused together leading to a tonal sensation with a clear pitch level. Urgency ratings followed a nonmonotonic (polynomial) function with local maxima at 17.68 and 200 Hz. The same stimuli were also used in response time and pitch scaling experiments. Response times were negatively correlated with urgency ratings. Pitch scaling results indicated that urgency of pulse trains is mediated by the perceptual constructs of speed and pitch

Predicting musically induced emotions from physiological inputs: linear and neural network models

Listening to music often leads to physiological responses. Do these physiological responses contain sufficient information to infer emotion induced in the listener? The current study explores this question by attempting to predict judgments of ?felt? emotion from physiological responses alone using linear and neural network models. We measured five channels of peripheral physiology from 20 participants?heart rate (HR), respiration, galvanic skin response, and activity in corrugator supercilii and zygomaticus major facial muscles. Using valence and arousal (VA) dimensions, participants rated their felt emotion after listening to each of 12 classical music excerpts. After extracting features from the five channels, we examined their correlation with VA ratings, and then performed multiple linear regression to see if a linear relationship between the physiological responses could account for the ratings. Although linear models predicted a significant amount of variance in arousal ratings, they were unable to do so with valence ratings. We then used a neural network to provide a non-linear account of the ratings. The network was trained on the mean ratings of eight of the 12 excerpts and tested on the remainder. Performance of the neural network confirms that physiological responses alone can be used to predict musically induced emotion. The non-linear model derived from the neural network was more accurate than linear models derived from multiple linear regression, particularly along the valence dimension. A secondary analysis allowed us to quantify the relative contributions of inputs to the non-linear model. The study represents a novel approach to understanding the complex relationship between physiological responses and musically induced emotion

Spectral information for detection of acoustic time to arrival

The exponential increase of intensity for an approaching sound source provides salient information for a listener to make judgments of time to arrival (TTA). Specifically, a listener will experience a greater rate of increasing intensity for higher than for lower frequencies during a sound source’s approach. To examine the relative importance of this spectral information, listeners were asked to makejudgments about the arrival times of nine 1-octave-band sound sources (the bands were consecutive, nonoverlapping single octaves, ranging from 40–80 Hz to ~10–20 kHz). As is typical in TTA tasks, listeners tended to underestimate the arrival time of the approaching sound source. In naturally occurring and independently manipulated amplification curves, bands with center frequencies between 120 and 250 Hz caused the least underestimation, and bands with center frequencies between 2000 and 7500 Hz caused the most underestimation. This spectral influence appears to be related to the greater perceived urgency of higher-frequency sounds

The Orbiter Stability Experiment on STS-40

The Orbiter Stability Experiment (OSE) was developed to evaluate the steadiness of the STS Orbiter as a potential platform for instrumentation that would image the Sun in its extreme ultraviolet and soft X-ray radiations. We were interested in any high frequency motions of the Orbiter's orientation due to normal operations and manned activities. Preliminary results are presented of the observations. Other than the expected slow motion of the Orbiter within the specified angular deadband of 0.1 degrees during the observations, it was found that high frequency (above 1 Hz) angular motions (jitter) were not detectable at the 0.25 arc sec detection limit of the most sensitive detector, for most of the period of observation. No high frequency motions were recorded during intervals that were identified with vernier thruster firings. However, one short interval with detectable spectral power to a frequency of 10 Hz has been found to date. It has not yet been correlated with a particular activity going on at the time. The results of the observations may also be of value in assessing perturbations to the Orbiter's micro-gravity environment produced by normal operations

Clearing the Air: Does Choosing Agency Deference in Security Clearance Rulings Dilute Constitutional Challenges?

The ability to obtain a security clearance has a wide-ranging impact from job placement to questions of fitness in a presidential election. Sustaining a functional career in intelligence, national security, and many other federal fields within the United States is nearly impossible without proper security clearance. In 2016, the importance of proper clearance evolved into a national debate as each presidential candidate staked claims that their opposition should be excluded from receiving sensitive material. This Comment begins with a detailed history of modern security clearance procedures and MSPB reviews of clearance revocations. Part I focuses on those who need security clearances and how these clearances can be obtained, denied, or revoked. Part I then concludes with a review of the statutorily defined MSPB rules and procedures. In Part II, the conflict between due process rights and national security concerns is explored. Part II finishes with an overview of the two modern arguments, one side advocating for due process versus the other advocating for national security. Part III centers on a detailed explanation of the third approach addressed in Hegab by offering a new way forward for judicial review of security clearances that shows how the limited expansion of the federal judiciary’s role in security clearance revocation protects both constitutional due process and national security interests. Part IV concludes by reinforcing the need for greater attention in security clearance jurisprudence throughout academia

Mount Keira by night

Poem: Mount Keira by nigh