Blog on the move

This blog is now merged with my primary blog "The Perspective Dimension" due to operational ease. Here is the link to the new blog: http://paradoxsolutions.blogspot.com/

Henceforth no new posts will appear in this blog. Thank you, if you have been following the posts. Hope to see your continued interest at the new address!

Visual Search Problem

Visual perception accomplished in our brains is a fascinating process. There are many interesting features that one comes across. One of them is the visual search problem - the objective is to identify an odd image amidst a group of distractor images in the shortest time. Put differently, certain kind of symbols are more easily recognizable when placed amidst a group of similar looking symbols whilst others are not. For instance - symbol 'V' amidst symbol '^'s (inverted V) are very easy to spot. On the other hand, symbol 'S's are much more difficult to spot amidst symbol '2' (mirrored S).

I could personally relate to this phenomenon while solving a 3x3 Sudoku

Reference Books for Electronics and Communications Engineering

Few folks had asked me about reference books in electronics and communication (ECE) engineering, I felt that this list may be useful to others as well.. So here it is.. the names of the Books and authors along with the publishers.

Engineering Circuit Analysis - link
Publisher: Tata McGraw Hill Education (2013)
Authors: William H. Hayt, Jack E. Kemmerly

Introduction to Electro Dynamics - link
Publisher: Prentice Hall India
Author: David J Griffiths

Signals and Systems - link
Publisher: Prentice Hall India
Authors: Alan V. Oppenheim, Alan S. Willsky, (2009)

Modern Control Engineering - link
Publisher: Prentice Hall India (2010)
Authors: Katsuhiko Ogata

Digital Design: With an Introduction to the Verilog HDL - link
Publisher: Pearson (2013)
Authors: Morris Mano

Discrete-Time Signal Processing - link
Publisher: Pearson (2009)
Authors: Alan V. Oppenheim, Ronald W. Schafer

Integrated Electronics - link
Publisher : Tata McGraw Hill Education (2009)
Authors: Jacob Millman, Christos Halkias, Chetan Parikh

Op-Amps and Linear Integrated Circuits - link
Publisher: PHI (2009)
Author: Ramakant A. Gayakwad

Communication Systems - link
Publisher: Wiley (2009)
Authors: Simon Haykin

Digital Signal Processing - link
Publisher: Pearson (2012)
Authors: John G. Proakis, Dimitris Manolakis

Microelectronic Circuits - link
Publisher: Oxford University Press (2009)
Authors: Adel S. Sedra, Kenneth C. Smith

Information Theory - link
Publisher: Dover
Author: Robert B. Ash

These are reference books for fundamental modules not text books. So these would come handy long after your course module is over. One may consider buying a personal copy and master them for a life time..

Sanskrit language

I came across an interesting article published in 1985 in the Artificial Intelligence magazine of Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI).

This article titled "Knowledge Representation in Sanskrit and Artificial Intelligence" by Rick Briggs, from Ames Research Center, NASA talks about Sanskrit as a language and its suitability for representation of information that is amenable to processing on computer. The essence of the article that the authors wishes to convey is that Sanskrit has a mean deviation of zero from a language ideal for information processing!

Reference - Rick Briggs, Knowledge Representation in Sanskrit and Artificial Intelligence, AI Magazine, vol. 6 no. 1, 1985. Link to the article: 

A new model for scientific publication

In an article titled "Post-publication peer review: opening up scientific conversation", the inventors of and original advocates for open access now propose a radically new model of “publish first and then referee openly later” system.

Faculty of 1000 (F1000 London) where the author of this article belongs to, its remit is to work with named experts to identify and recommend the most interesting papers published across different subject areas in biology and medicine.

Quoting the article, "Open access removes barriers for readers. Open, post-publication refereeing removes barriers for readers and authors alike, and it refocuses the role of peer review from, at its worst, a behind-the-scenes variety of censorship to, at its best, the process of expert criticism and advice that has always been its core and upon which the progress of science depends".

Researcher in Indian Astronomy

Dr.S.Balachandra Rao has been researching in Indian Astronomy under successive research projects sponsored by the National Commission for History of Science (INSA), New Delhi since 1993. He is also a member of the Research Advisory Council for History of science and also the editorial board of the Indian Journal of History of Science, INSA.

He has authored numerous books on astronomy and mathematics in English and Kannada. The following lists some of the books.

• Indian Astronomy - A Primer, Gandhi Center, 2008     This is the first book that one should read in order to familiarize onself with Indian astronomy
• Eclipses in Indian Astronomy,  Gandhi Center, 2008      This book has an interesting chapter on determining the date of Mahabharatha apart from covering the methods for computing eclipses, including improved siddhantic procedures.
• Transits And Occultations in Indian Astronomy, Gandhi Center, 2009      This book is a sequel to the eclipses book dealing with transits. It also has interesting accounts of modern Indian astronomers
• Indian Mathematics And Astronomy, Gandhi Center, 2004        This is the must read and have a copy book. It introduces contributions in mathematics and astronomy from India. 
• Astrology : Believe It Or Not?, Navakarnataka Publications, 2000     For all the believers of astronomy, this book is a must. It is an eye opener which analyzes astrology from a scientific point of view.
• Tradition Science And Society, Gandhi Center, 2009
• Indian Astronomy : An Introduction, Universities Press, Hyderabad, 2002 (Alternate link).        This book has computer programs for calculating all the algorithms discussed
• Indian Mathematics And Astronomy: Some Landmarks, Gandhi Center, 2004
• Ancient Indian Astronomy: Planetary Positions and Eclipses, B.R.Publishing Corp, Delhi, 2000 (Alternate link)
• Differential Calculus (with programs), New Age International, New Delhi, 2005
• Numerical Methods with programs (Alternate link), Universities Press, Hyderabad, 2004
• Differential Equations with applications (with programs), Universities Press, Hyderabad, 2002

Adhika masa and Kshaya masa

This article is regarding the concept of Adhikamasa and Kshayamasa (intercalary months) used in some luni-solar calendars in India. Luni-solar calendars are in vogue since lunar months determine the high and low tides while the solar year determines the seasons. But the use of  luni-solar calendars create a unique problem.

Since the lunar year (12 lunar months) lags behind the solar year (~365.25 days), this creates a need to keep the lunar year and the solar year in synchrony. Hence the need to use Adhika masa (extra month) and Kshaya masa (removed month)!  The reason for their asynchrony is explained next.

Pitch correction in Music

It is long known that popular singer's vocals are pitch corrected through software. I mean off-key notes are adjusted. Yes technology can do wonders!

Computer Software is changing the way musicians create, record, and manipulate music. Software called Music Objects Recognition (MOR) can dynamically adjust music elements like harmony, tempo, melody, etc. and can even emulate human performance on the piano..!

Dr. Andy Hildebrand, Inventor of Autotune