SORAMA : Visualizing Sound and Vibrations

This video explains the basics of Sound Imaging measurements with the Sorama Scan. THe MEMS arrays are positioned, either by hand or automatically, in front of the object of interest. The measurement is performed in the near-field of a sound source (typically between a few and a few tens of centimeters), while the Sorama software is able to calculate the sound field in full 3D. Only the sound pressure is measured, yet the sound pressure, particle velocity and sound intensity can all be obtained in very high detail.

For more information:
http://www.sorama.eu/
http://www.youtube.com/user/SoramaSoundImaging?feature=watch

What is the PhD

Imagine a circle that contains all of human knowledge:

By the time you finish elementary school, you know a little:

By the time you finish high school, you know a bit more:

With a bachelor's degree, you gain a specialty:

A master's degree deepens that specialty:

Reading research papers takes you to the edge of human knowledge:

Once you're at the boundary, you focus:

You push at the boundary for a few years:

Until one day, the boundary gives way:

And, that dent you've made is called a Ph.D.:

Of course, the world looks different to you now:

So, don't forget the bigger picture:

Keep pushing.

Solar Impulse

Solar Impulse is a Swiss long-range solar powered aircraft project being undertaken at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. The project eventually hopes to achieve the first circumnavigation of the Earth by a piloted fixed-wing aircraft using only solar power. The project is led by Bertrand Piccard, who co-piloted the first balloon to circle the world non-stop, andAndré Borschberg.

The first aircraft, bearing the Swiss aircraft registration code of HB-SIA, is a single-seater monoplane, capable of taking off under its own power, and intended to remain airborne up to 36 hours. This aircraft first flew an entire diurnal solar cycle, including nearly 9 hours of night flying, in a 26-hour flight on 7–8 July 2010. Building on the experience of this prototype, a slightly larger follow-on design (HB-SIB) is planned to make circumnavigation of the globe in 20–25 days; this flight is currently planned for 2013 or 2014.

for more info and tracking the status of the plane http://live.solarimpulse.com/

Japanese 3D singing hologram

She is cute, stylish and has had a number one chart-topping single.

But Japan’s newest and biggest pop star differs from most of her peers in one crucial aspect: she is a hologram.

Hatsune Miku has taken the music scene by storm in her native Japan where her concerts are always sold out and are full of screaming, adoring fans.

Now, like something out of a science fiction film, videos have emerged which show Miku on tour in Japan, singing a selection of hits.

Scroll down to watch Hatsune Miku perform 'live' in concert

Holographic singing idol Hatsune Miku has taken Japan by storm - and plays to sold out crowds

Miku is a digital avatar created by Japanese technology firm Crypton Future Media that customers can purchase and then program to perform any song on their computer.

She is supposed to be 16 years old and five foot two inches tall but her makers have given little away about her personality.

Crypton uses voices recorded by actors and then puts them through Yamaha’s Vocaloid software to create its characters.

Miku’s voice was created by taking vocal samples from the voice actress Saki Fujita. All of the samples contained a single Japanese sound which when strung together would create full words and phrases.

Her music and image have proved so popular that she has now gone on a sell-out tour where thousands of fans wave light sticks and scream as if she is a real-life pop star.

Thousands of fans wave glow sticks as Miku performs on stage with a live backing band

Miku has already had a number one single and is now on tour

It is the first time a hologram has been used on stage in this way, moving and strutting just like a real pop star.

Gorillaz, the band fronted by Damon Albarn, used projected holograms at the MTV music awards in 2005 and 2006 but these were projected onto a back screen, rather than in full three dimensions.

Miku has become such a star that she already has a fan club, Facebook page and has set up ‘her’ own record label. She has also appeared in a number of episodes of popular Japanese anime TV programs.

She performed her first ‘live’ concert in 2009 and has also travelled to Singapore on tour.

In March 2010 three metal plates with Hatsune Miku’s image etched on them were placed on board Japanese spacecraft Akatsuki and sent into space after a nationwide petition with more than 14,000 signatures demanded she be included.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1329040/Japanese-3D-singing-hologram-Hatsune-Miku-nations-biggest-pop-star.html#ixzz1xU86QADm

ـفاصيل نتيجة الإنتخاب

الأندلس

Al-Andalus (Arabic: الأندلس‎, trans. al-ʼAndalus; Spanish: Al-Ándalus; Portuguese: Al-Andalus; Catalan: Al-Àndalus), also known as Moorish Iberia, was a medieval Muslim state and territorial region occupying parts of what is today Spain and Portugal, and small parts of modern France; its precise extent varied over time. The name more generally describes parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania governed by Muslims (given the generic name of Moors), at various times in the period between 711 and 1492, although the territorial boundaries underwent constant changes due to wars with the Christian Kingdoms. Following the Muslim conquest of Hispania, Al-Andalus was divided into five administrative areas roughly corresponding to Andalusia, Galicia and Portugal, Castile and León, Aragon and Catalonia, and Septimania. As a political domain or domains, it successively constituted a province of the Umayyad Caliphate, initiated by the Caliph Al-Walid I (711–750); the Emirate of Córdoba (c. 750–929); the Caliphate of Córdoba (929–1031); and the Caliphate of Córdoba's taifa (successor) kingdoms. Rule under these kingdoms saw the rise in cultural exchange and cooperation between Christians, Muslims, and Jews. Under the Caliphate of Córdoba, al-Andalus was a beacon of learning, and the city of Córdoba became one of the leading cultural and economic centres in both the Mediterranean Basin and the Islamic world. In succeeding centuries, Al-Andalus became a province of the Berber Muslim dynasties of the Almoravids and Almohads, subsequently fragmenting into a number of minor states, most notably the Emirate of Granada. With the support of local inhabitants of the Iberian Peninsula the Almoravids deposed the taifa Muslim princes, after helping to repel Christian attacks on the region by Alfonso VI. Rule under the Almoravids and Almohads saw a decline in cultural and social exchange and increased persecution of religious minorities, with a return to more fundamentalist forms of Islam. For much of its history, Al-Andalus existed in conflict with Christian kingdoms to the north, which at first were forced into subservience but eventually overpowered their Muslim neighbors to the south. In 1085, Alfonso VI of León and Castile captured Toledo, precipitating a gradual decline until, by 1236, with the fall of Córdoba, the Emirate of Granada remained the only Muslim-ruled territory in what is now Spain. The Portuguese Reconquista culminated in 1249 with the conquest of the Algarve by Afonso III. In 1238, the Emirate of Granada officially became a tributary state to the Kingdom of Castile, then ruled by King Ferdinand III. On January 2, 1492, Emir Muhammad XII surrendered the Emirate of Granada to Queen Isabella I of Castile, who along with her husband King Ferdinand II of Aragon were the "Catholic Monarchs". The surrender concluded Al-Andalus as a political entity, but the cultural and social contributions under Muslim rule still persist in the region.

for more info http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Andalus