Berkeley Lab Wins Three Prestigious R&D 100 Awards for Technology Advances (fwd)

[Phillip E Cash Cash]

Hi Jan (and everybody),

no, i do not have recordings of Ishi. ;-)  the news article is the one
that had the original mention of new work being carried out on recordings
of Ishi.

my own work with wax cylinder recordings for Nez Perce (Sahaptian) can be
found at my website. http://www.u.arizona.edu/~cashcash
just go to "Research and downloadable papers"

it is pretty basic as i am using commercially available and free audio editing software to digitally enhance the digital
copies (of wax cylinder recordings) that i have access to.  on my webpage
you will find a quicktime movie file containing a Nez Perce speech from circa 1907.  the audio content is
my first attempt to enhance this particular wax cylinder recording.  since
this first attempt i am continuing to make slight improvements.
nonetheless, i created a Flash-based multimedia movie using
Quicktime and in it is contained the enhanced audio with its
synchronous translation.

but in trying to get examples, several enahanced versions of wax cylinder
recordings were sent to me from a professional(or semi?) sound editor and
his attempts were not that great.  while alot of the noise was removed,
they sounded like they were talking through a tin can.  i could easily do
that myself with SoundForge 6.0.  so since then, i have been experimenting
with PRAAT (free audio software) with the help of a classmate of mine here
at the University of Arizona.  nothing spectacular, but if you are interested in the speech
itself and are a speaker of that particular language then it is quite
spectacular.  i think linguists who specialize in sound can do a lot to
help endangered language communities who need these recordings to
revitalize their language.

phil cash cash
UofA, ILAT list manager

On Tue, 12 Jul 2005, Jan Tucker wrote:

> wow, Are you saying then the technology is available, and you have digitized versions of Ishi's voice? That is truly amazing. I'd love to hear a sample, can you share or post something on your website so I could hear what it sounds like also.
>
> Jan
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Indigenous Languages and Technology
> [mailto:ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU]On Behalf Of phil cash cash
> Sent: Tuesday, July 12, 2005 6:41 PM
> To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
> Subject: Re: [ILAT] Berkeley Lab Wins Three Prestigious R&D 100 Awards
> for Technology Advances (fwd)
>
>
> yea, this is pretty cool...recovering Ishi's voice from the wax
> cylinders.  myself, i have been tinkering with some digitzed wax
> cylinder recordings in SoundForge 6.0 but it can allow you to edit only
> the most obvious cracks and pops.  editing in PRATT (free phonetics
> audio editor) took it one step further but still a lot of noise.
>
> i hope they post a set of samples somewhere containing the original
> along with the new high fidelity version.  i can't wait to hear it!
>
> Phil
> UofA
>
> Quoting "Mia Kalish (LFP)" <miakalish at LEARNINGFORPEOPLE.US>:
>
> > Some people ought to be really interested in this Optical Sound Restoration.
> > I understand there are hundreds of wax cylinders, and other recordings, of
> > Ndn languages. Being able to make them available in an easily-sharable,
> > non-destructive format would be really good for Tribes.
> >
> > Thanks, Phil.
> > Mia
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Indigenous Languages and Technology [mailto:ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU]
> > On Behalf Of phil cash cash
> > Sent: Friday, July 08, 2005 7:55 AM
> > To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
> > Subject: [ILAT] Berkeley Lab Wins Three Prestigious R&D 100 Awards for
> > Technology Advances (fwd)
> >
> > Thu Jul 7 14:21:14 2005 Pacific Time
> >
> > Berkeley Lab Wins Three Prestigious R&D 100 Awards for Technology
> > Advances
> > http://newswire.ascribe.org/cgi-bin/behold.pl?ascribeid=20050707.135603&time
> > =14%2021%20PDT&year=2005&public=0
> >
> >        BERKELEY, Calif., July 7 (AScribe Newswire) -- Scientists at the
> > Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have
> > garnered three R&D 100 Awards, R&D Magazine's picks for the 100 most
> > technologically significant new products of 2005. This is the first
> > time since 1992 that Berkeley Lab has captured three of the prestigious
> > awards in a single year, bringing the Lab's total of these "Oscars of
> > Invention" to 37.
> >
> >        The 2005 awards go to:
> >
> >        - The Neural Matrix CCD, created by members of the Life
> > Sciences,
> > Accelerator and Fusion Research, and Engineering divisions, being
> > further developed in tandem with co-award winners Cellular
> > Bioengineering, Inc. (CBI) of Honolulu, Hawaii -- the only
> > state-of-the-art technology for patterning and monitoring networks of
> > growing neurons;
> >
> >        - The Optical Sound Restoration System, from the Physics
> > Division
> > -- the first "touchless" technology for restoring early sound recordings
> > on metal foil, wax, plastic, and other media, regardless of scratches,
> > warping, mold, and other effects of age;
> >
> >        - Ion Mobility Analysis, developed by members of the Life
> > Sciences and Engineering divisions -- providing fast, inexpensive,
> > accurate measurement and counting of individual lipoprotein particles
> > to assess the risk of coronary artery disease.
> >
> >        "These awards demonstrate that DOE scientists and
> > researchers are
> > hard at work developing the technologies of the future," said Secretary
> > of Energy Samuel W. Bodman. "In the past, breakthroughs like these have
> > played an important role in both our economic and national security."
> >
> >        "We're looking for products and processes that can change
> > people's lives for the better, improve the standard of living for large
> > numbers of people, save lives, promote good health, and clean up the
> > environment," say the editors of R&D Magazine, which has handed out R&D
> > 100 Awards annually since 1963.
> >
> >        "Two of this year's winning technologies have already been
> > licensed by the Technology Transfer Department to companies that are
> > working to bring them to market and benefit the public," says Pam
> > Seidenman of Berkeley Lab's Technology Transfer Department, which aided
> > the scientists in crafting the complex and demanding applications, "and
> > the third may be deployed by the Library of Congress."
> >
> >        The Neural Matrix CCD:
> >
> >        Initially designed to help scientists learn how neurons in the
> > human nervous system communicate with each other, the Neural Matrix CCD
> > is the first step in creating combined biological and electronic chip
> > implants that can provide neural networks of living, interconnected
> > nerve cells for testing drugs and sensing toxins for homeland security
> > -- and, someday, restoring the use of limbs and eyesight and improved
> > mental functions in patients.
> >
> >        In 2004, a team of scientists and engineers led by Eleanor
> > Blakely and Ian Brown, including Kathy Bjornstad, Jim Galvin, Othon
> > Monteiro, and Chris Rosen, developed a technique for growing the first
> > large arrays of networked neurons on the prepared optical surface of a
> > charge-coupled device (CCD). Diamond-like carbon deposited on the
> > optical surface of the CCD is patterned in fine detail, then coated by
> > a continuous layer of cell-culture collagen, and finally seeded with
> > neurons. The coated CCDs now have millions of individual sensors that
> > can record changes in electrical potential from individual nerve cells
> > in real time while precisely mapping each neuron's activity within the
> > neural network.
> >
> >        Development of the Neural Matrix CCD is now under way in
> > collaboration with Cellular Bioengineering Incorporated (CBI), a life
> > sciences company focusing on the bioengineering of tissues for the
> > replacement and repair of injured and diseased organs; CBI researchers
> > Amy Weintraub, Ryan Littrell, Kevin T.C. Jim, Kevin Chinn, Leslie
> > Isaki, and Geming Lui have contributed. Current research focuses on
> > detection of neurotoxins and is funded by the Defense Advanced Research
> > Projects Agency (DARPA).
> >
> >        The Optical Sound Restoration System:
> >
> >        Since 1877, when Thomas Edison recorded "Mary had a Little Lamb"
> > on a tinfoil cylinder, recordings on diverse media like foil and wax
> > cylinders, shellac and vinyl discs, acetate sheets, and plastic
> > dictation belts have captured an incredible range of material: the
> > singing voice of Enrico Caruso; the poetry of Edna St. Vincent Millay;
> > the lost language of Ishi, the last Yahi Indian; the words of
> > historical figures like Alfred Lord Tennyson and Amelia Earhart. Many
> > of these can no longer be played and are too delicate for traditional
> > restoration.
> >
> >        By adapting methods for measuring particle tracks in high-energy
> > physics experiments, Carl Haber and Victor Fadeyev created a noncontact
> > method for restoring damaged and fragile mechanical recordings. Without
> > ever touching the cylinder, disk, or belt, their technology produces
> > two- or three-dimensional digital images of its surface, which can be
> > computer analyzed to reconstruct the original recorded sound in high
> > fidelity.
> >
> >        Archivists estimate that 40 percent of the millions of
> > recordings
> > in the world's major sound archives -- including the U.S. Library of
> > Congress, the British National Library, the New York Public Library,
> > the Edison National Historical Site in New Jersey (with its trove of
> > cylinders), and historical archives in major universities and private
> > collections -- could benefit from restoration with the Berkeley Lab
> > technology.
> >
> >        Ion Mobility Analysis:
> >
> >        For over fifty years, standard tests that measure levels
> > of total
> > cholesterol, "bad" low-density lipoproteins (LDL), "good" high-density
> > lipoproteins (HDL), and triglycerides have been used to evaluate the
> > risk of heart disease. But half the heart attacks in the U.S. each year
> > strike people with normal cholesterol levels. The distribution of size,
> > quantity, and type of lipoprotein particles -- which are much more
> > various than standard tests can account for -- provides a far better
> > indicator of whether or not someone is at risk.
> >
> >        Henry Benner, Ron Krauss, and Patricia Blanche developed ion
> > mobility analysis to measure the size distribution and count the number
> > of individual particles in all classes of lipoproteins in a single
> > analytical step. The technology measures the drift of charged,
> > aerosolized lipoproteins as they are dragged through air by the force
> > of an electric field. Charge and drift velocity separate the particles
> > by weight and size. The sorted particles travel to a detector for
> > counting.
> >
> >        Ion mobility analysis is faster and potentially less expensive
> > than current technologies and is likely to be used more frequently in
> > the evaluation and management of risk for cardiovascular disease. Its
> > ability to study the entire range of lipoprotein particles with
> > unrivalled accuracy will make it a valuable tool for both clinical and
> > research labs.
> >
> >        The R&D 100 Award-winning technologies were nominated by
> > Berkeley
> > Lab's Technology Transfer Department. All winners of the 2005 award will
> > receive a plaque at R&D Magazine's formal awards banquet in Chicago on
> > October 20.
> >
> >        - - - -
> >
> >        CONTACT: Pam Seidenman, Berkeley Lab Media Relations,
> > 510-486-6461, psseidenman at lbl.gov
> >
> >        NOTE TO EDITORS: An html version of this release, with
> > images, is
> > available at
> > http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/TT-R&Dawards-2005.html.
> >
> >        ABOUT BERKELEY LAB: Berkeley Lab is a U.S. Department of Energy
> > national laboratory located in Berkeley, California. It conducts
> > unclassified scientific research and is managed by the University of
> > California. Visit our website at www.lbl.gov.
> >
> >        ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
> >
> >        For more on the Neural Matrix CCD, visit
> > http://www.lbl.gov/Tech-Transfer/techs/lbnl1888.html .
> >
> >        For more on the Optical Sound Restoration System, visit
> > http://www.lbl.gov/Tech-Transfer/techs/lbnl1855.html .
> >
> >        For more on Ion Mobility Analysis, visit
> > http://www.lbl.gov/tt/success_stories/lbnl1730.html .
> >
> >        For more about Berkeley Lab's Technology Transfer Department,
> > visit http://www.lbl.gov/Tech-Transfer/ .
> >
> >        Cellular Bioengineering, Inc. (CBI) may be contacted at
> > info at cellularbioengineering.com.
> >
> >        For more about R&D Magazine and the R&D 100 Awards, visit
> > http://www.rdmag.com/default.aspx .
> >
> >       Media Contact: Pam Seidenman, 510-486-6461, psseidenman at lbl.gov
>