Thanks to CNN!
We hope you enjoyed your vacation, now fix the country. Congress is back to “work.”
Speaking of disappointing performances…President Obama’s ratings hit a new low.
Texas on fire, again. Wildfire tearing through the drought-struck state.
Feeling queasy? There might be a solution!
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Commercials will tell you to blame your cell phone carrier for problems with reception. They’re partly right, though location also plays a role — a Metro train might not be the best place for a heart-to-heart with a loved one.
But a seldom acknowledged source of bad reception comes from a basic challenge of signal processing. Cell phones convert data from two distinct channels of radio waves into information that can be used and understood. The same signal processing challenge applies for a wide range of devices used in communications, medicine and other fields.
For decades, engineers made various assumptions to simplify the data so they could design devices efficiently. They traded clarity for speed, reducing costs but also leaving us with garbled phone calls and reduced precision for some medical tests.
Now researchers at UMBC are receiving wide recognition for describing a mathematical technique that allows researchers to avoid this tradeoff.
“People have been making simplifying assumptions that don’t make good use of the data,” explains Tülay Adali, a professor of computer science and electrical engineering. “With the framework we developed, researchers don’t have to do that.”
The technique is not technically new. The researcher D.H. Brandwood described similar ideas in a 1983 paper. But Adali describes a “lightbulb” moment in 2006 when she was discussing that paper with Hualiang Li ’08, Ph.D., electrical engineering, who has since become a research assistant professor at UMBC.
The two researchers realized the technique could be applied broadly to process a range of data without having to simplify those assumptions.
“People had missed that one elegant, simple point,” Adali says.
Subsequent research at UMBC linked the technique to work published in the early 20th century by the Austrian mathematician Wilhelm Wirtinger. Adali and Li, along with Mike Novey ’09, Ph.D., computer science, and French researcher Jean-Francois Cardoso, described the technique and developed a framework for applying it to a range of problems in “Complex ICA Using Nonlinear Functions,” a paper published in IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing in 2008.
The four researchers were honored in May with the 2010 IEEE Signal Processing Society Best Paper Award, presented in Prague at the 2011 International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing. Given annually, the award recognizes up to six recent papers with significant impact on the field.
While cell phone reception problems frustrate many consumers on a daily basis, the same challenges present themselves in satellite communications, acoustics, radar, medical imaging and other fields. Adali’s research now focuses on an analysis of medical data from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and other sources. Researchers often use fMRI to see what is happening in subjects’ brains while they are at rest or performing tasks such as driving or solving problems.
Applying Wirtinger’s techniques to analyze fMRI data, Adali and her colleagues have shown, on average, a 20 percent improvement in sensitivity detecting brain activity. The technique also does a better job highlighting which brain regions are involved in certain tasks, providing insights that can be used to more accurately diagnose mental disorders.
It’s a discovery that translates into shorter, more accurate tests and, for the broad field of signal processing, a more effective and efficient way to use data.
— Anthony Lane
]]>Manil Suri, professor of mathematics, will serve on two panels at the Centre Pompidou library in Paris as part of an event with Indian authors. Suri’s most recent book is “The Age of Shiva.” Suri also teaches in the Asian studies program.
]]>Manil Suri, professor of mathematics, reflects on returning to Mumbai, the Indian city of a million incarnations, in the July 17 issue of Newsweek magazine. Suri also teaches in the Asian studies program.
In his piece, he compared Mumbai to a Hindu goddess. “In some ways, Mumbai is called upon to be even more subsuming than other goddesses. Her population is enormously diverse and regularly at odds on the basis of religion, language, ethnicity, and a host of other schisms. Her visibility attracts benign and malignant elements from inside and outside the country. These factors can result in heinous acts of terror. Yet somehow, Mumbai always manages to recover, no matter how grievous her wounds,” he writes.
The full piece can be read here.
]]>Government Market and Opportunity Research Internship
Suniva, a leading American solar cell and panel manufacturing company is seeking an intern to provide market research and opportunity monitoring. This 6 month duration, part time position requires 15 hours per week via telework. Bi-monthly, in-person review meetings will be held in proximity to the final candidate’s location. Target start date: 9/12/2011
COMPENSATION:
Initially $8.00/hr
DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
* Provides research on federal government solar energy procurements
* Conducts daily research on pertinent solicitation announcement websites for new procurement opportunities as well as monitoring existing solicitation progress
* Develops reports on individual opportunity research that ties together stakeholders information including company/agency level info and individual level
* Provides tracking and updates of competitor announcements, marketing and strategy
QUALIFICATIONS:
Mature undergraduate or graduate with a demonstrated history of market and data research capabilities; Strong search engine knowledge and manipulation; Highly organized with ability to aggregate and present disparate information in easy to comprehend structure; Ability to work independently and remotely; Ability to perform diverse and complex tasks with accuracy and attention to detail; Ability to identify relationships between disparate data sources; Strong written and oral communication skills; Experience with Microsoft office or similar tools required; Strong preference for course work or experience in sustainability related markets; Background and demonstrated passion for clean energy a major plus.
APPLICATION:
Please send cover letter and resume to:solar.intern@verizon.net
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