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Analog & Digital – Half II


As we speak’s electronics are primarily based on the transistor, which will be switched both on (a one) or off (a zero).  Amongst different issues, the sounds coming from musical devices are mainly easy variations, that are described as analog indicators.  To ensure that the indicators (digital representations of the sound waves) to be processed, there should be a conversion from the analog wave to a digital illustration of the unique wave.  An analog to digital converter repeatedly transforms analog indicators into the binary (ones and zeros) equal at every immediate of measurement that may be processed by the digital gear.

Take into account the piano and violin illustration of their frequencies between C and B (twelve notes) on a piano.  Determine 1 exhibits the 12 notes from C by way of B, with the A being the important thing frequency of 440 Hz.  [Re. 1] The purpose of this chart is to current the truth that the piano has fastened notes and is extra like digital data from a pc.  The violin, then again would offer a steady vary of the assorted frequencies.  (There’s additionally a slight variation of the piano key frequencies from a straight line for the violin.)

Analog & Digital – Half II

Determine 1

One fascinating merchandise is that because the piano has discrete frequencies related to the assorted keys, the precise sound shouldn’t be a easy ramp up and down like a sine wave. 

Determine Two depicts a violin and a piano word and exhibits the speedy drop-off of the word from the violin.  [Ref. 2]

Determine 2

The piano word is created by the important thing hanging the stretched piano wire that has been correctly tuned.  The preliminary strike is stuffed with non-harmonic tones that dampen down quickly. [Ref. 3] This reverberation from the strike produces the wave kind.  The violin is totally different in that the vibrating string creates harmonics that create the multitude of peaks and valleys proven in Determine 3 [Ref. 4]. 

Determine 3

I’ll borrow some rationalization of harmonics from reference 5.  It explains that the instrument produces totally different wave shapes primarily based on the form of the instrument. that reveal comparability of wave form and harmonics.  One other issue is the best way the word is performed.  “If you happen to press a piano key and launch it, the sound adjustments quantity steadily over time. First, it rises shortly (or “assaults”) to its most quantity. Subsequent, the sound “decays” to a decrease degree and stays there or “sustains.” Lastly, once we let go of the important thing, the sound “releases” and dies all the way down to silence.”

” There are different components too. An instrument doesn’t simply produce a single sound wave at a single pitch (frequency). Even when it’s taking part in a gradual word, it’s making many alternative sound waves without delay: it makes one word (known as a elementary frequency or first harmonic) and plenty of larger, associated notes known as harmonics or overtones. The frequency of every harmonic is a a number of of the elemental frequency. So, if the elemental frequency (additionally known as the primary harmonic) is 200Hz (which we are able to consider as merely 1 × 200Hz), the second harmonic is 400Hz (2 × 200Hz), the third is 600Hz (3 × 200Hz), the fourth is 800Hz (4 × 200Hz), and so forth. Enjoying collectively, the harmonics make a dense, complicated sound a bit like a barber’s store choir, with low voices and excessive voices all singing in tune. The extra harmonics there are, the richer the sound.”

Getting again to Analog and Digital, what the instrument is delivering is a continues sequence of complicated waves that embrace small and smaller parts of the waves.  Taking these waves and “chopping” them up into discrete segments has to common out the variation in every of the measurement measurement chunks of sound waves.  So, regardless of how nice one dissects the wave, there’s averaging with every bite-sized piece of the particular music.  It’s potential to take that measurement all the way down to a sufficiently small measurement that the standard listener is not going to discover the refined variations from the analog.  BUT, sound may also be subtly felt.  Irrespective of how small the averaging measurement, there can be a distinction from the unique analog sound wave.  Consequently, vinyl (information) is making a come again as a result of superior copy of precise sounds as a result of vinyl being an analog supply of the sounds.

References:

  1. https://www.intmath.com/trigonometric-graphs/music.php
  2. https://www.shaalaa.com/question-bank-solutions/two-musical-notes-of-the-same-pitch-and-same-loudness-are-played-on-two-different-instruments-their-wave-patterns-are-as-shown-in-following-figure-properties-of-sounds_36995
  3. https://dsp.stackexchange.com/questions/46598/mathematical-equation-for-the-sound-wave-that-a-piano-makes
  4. https://www.google.com/search?q=violinpercent20soundpercent20wave&tbm=isch&consumer=firefox-b-1-d&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCAQtI8BKAFqFwoTCMD74Mi9-YEDFQAAAAAdAAAAABAU&biw=1542&bih=994https://www.google.com/search?q=violinpercent20soundpercent20wave&tbm=isch&consumer=firefox-b-1-d&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCAQtI8BKAFqFwoTCMD74Mi9-YEDFQAAAAAdAAAAABAU&biw=1542&bih=994
  5. https://www.explainthatstuff.com/synthesizers.html

About Walt

I’ve been concerned in numerous features of nanotechnology because the late Seventies. My curiosity in selling nano-safety started in 2006 and produced a white paper in 2007 explaining the 4 pillars of nano-safety. I’m a know-how futurist and is presently centered on nanoelectronics, single digit nanomaterials, and 3D printing on the nanoscale. My expertise contains three startups, two of which I based, 13 years at SEMATECH, the place I used to be a Senior Fellow of the technical workers after I left, and 12 years at Basic Electrical with 9 of them on company workers. I’ve a Ph.D. from the College of Texas at Austin, an MBA from James Madison College, and a B.S. in Physics from the Illinois Institute of Know-how.

Index goals to quantify circularity within the bioeconomy



Index goals to quantify circularity within the bioeconomy
Yuanhui Zhang with a mannequin of a biowaste recycling mission (picture credit score: Faculty of ACES).

Researchers on the College of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have developed a Circularity Index that they are saying offers a complete methodology to quantify circularity in bioeconomic techniques. In a new paper, they define the strategy and apply it to 2 case research – a corn/soybean farming operation and the complete US meals and agriculture system.

“The standard financial system is linear – we produce, distribute, use, and eliminate merchandise. To extend sustainability, we have to develop a round economic system. Fairly than simply utilizing pure assets, we should recuperate, reuse, and recycle waste supplies,” mentioned lead creator Yuanhui Zhang, a professor within the Division of Agricultural and Organic Engineering (ABE).

“Round bioeconomy has develop into a sizzling subject in analysis, however most research are merely descriptive and there’s no approach to measure impacts. To maneuver the know-how ahead, we’d like measurements to quantify results, set up benchmarks, examine approaches, and establish weak spots,” he mentioned.

Within the paper, the researchers present a step-by-step define of the Circularity Index (CI), which measures circularity on a scale from 0 to 1. Zero means the system is totally linear, and 1 means it’s utterly round. The index contains eight classes: take, make, distribute, use, dispose, recuperate, remake, and reuse. The CI is computed by getting into out there information into every of those classes.

Zhang and his colleagues show methods to use the CI in two case research. The primary examines nitrogen biking in a corn-soybean farm within the Midwestern United States. The researchers enter manufacturing and output information for a interval of 8 years, and examine the impact of two totally different fertilizer therapies: urea versus manure. They calculate the CI to be 0.687 for urea and 0.86 for manure, indicating using manure fertilizer offers a extra round economic system.

Within the second case examine, Zhang and his colleagues take a look at the U.S. meals and agriculture system, specializing in vitality use. Drawing on nationwide information from the USDA, EPA, and DOE, they examine the present system with an method primarily based on the Atmosphere-Enhancing Meals Power and Water System framework, which entails restoration, remake, and reuse of natural waste. They discover the present system has a CI of 0.179, whereas the EE-FEWS method would result in a CI of 0.84.

“Our present manufacturing system depends totally on fossil gasoline, with some use of photo voltaic and wind vitality. However there’s little or no restoration of biowaste. If we recuperate meals waste and manure and switch it into vitality and fertilizer, we are able to recycle it again to the agricultural techniques it originates from. Using the EE-FEWS framework would tremendously enhance circularity of the U.S. bioeconomy,” Zhang defined.

The CI is a scalable methodology that can be utilized on totally different useful resource sorts and techniques, relying on the main target of curiosity. Sources will be minerals, resembling carbon or nitrogen, or non-mineral, resembling water or vitality. Methods can vary from a course of or a farm to an trade sector, a nationwide economic system, and even the worldwide economic system.

“We all know it’s essential to scale back fossil gasoline use, enhance renewable assets, and decrease our water consumption. However to take action successfully, we have to understand how a lot, and what the weak hyperlinks and tradeoffs are. The CI offers a single quantity that lets you set up a baseline, examine techniques, and decide finest methods for motion,” Zhang mentioned.

The CI can function an indicator to help coverage initiatives such because the United Nations’ Sustainable Growth Objectives. It additionally has potential industrial worth; for instance, meals corporations can show their manufacturing circularity to shoppers.

The paper, “A scalable index for quantifying circularity of bioeconomy techniques,” is printed in Sources, Conservation and Recycling [DOI: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2024.107821].

iOS Dev Weekly – The most effective iOS improvement hyperlinks, each Friday


What every week! I hope you all loved WWDC as a lot as I did. I made time to observe fairly a couple of session movies this 12 months, and naturally, seeing our work on Prepared for Swift 6 within the Platform State of the Union completely made my 12 months.

As I all the time say, I received’t try to recap every part from the convention in right this moment’s challenge. We’ve the entire summer season to discover this week’s bulletins, so let’s take our time. 👍

I wish to write about this text on Personal Cloud Compute right this moment. The article is revealed on a safety analysis weblog, and as you’d count on it’s an in depth piece, but it surely’s designed to be far more than simply a technical overview, that is additionally a advertising doc.

There are such a lot of apparent examples of Apple being nice at advertising, from the enduring, to the humorous, to the intelligent. However that advertising must be backed up with nice merchandise to be efficient. The iPod was a tremendous transportable music participant, they received away with being cheeky with the Mac vs PC adverts as a result of the Mac is a good laptop, and there actually was no step three!

Apple centres a number of present advertising round privateness, and claims round privateness are a lot tougher to show than how good an mp3 participant is. It comes all the way down to belief in some unspecified time in the future, however that’s constructed on years of taking the topic very severely. From differential privateness to the safe enclave¹, Apple talks about privateness at each alternative and it was on the coronary heart of Monday’s Apple Intelligence bulletins.

For Personal Cloud Compute and Apple Intelligence to achieve success Apple wants everybody to consider that it’s meaningfully extra personal than the options, and for everybody who makes use of it to consider that privateness nonetheless issues.

We’re continuously challenged to surrender points of privateness with every cookie permission click-through and each pundit saying that privateness is useless. Apple’s first job is to indicate that it doesn’t have to be that method. As soon as that’s carried out, it should show that Apple Intelligence is meaningfully totally different from the competitors and this doc and others are a key a part of that. Even when your common client won’t ever learn paperwork like these, they affect individuals who write about Apple. You possibly can name it full-stack advertising, and it’s very efficient.

It additionally helps Apple say “What we’re doing is exclusive so it will possibly’t be in comparison with our competitors”, however speaking about that must wait for an additional day


¹ Notice that these options each have names so good that I might recall them with out trying them up. That’s additionally a part of nice advertising.



Dave Verwer  

Save $200 on the Starlink Normal Equipment and get web wherever!

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Starlink Standard Kit

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Get the Starlink Normal Equipment for simply $300

This supply is offered instantly from Finest Purchase, however Starlink’s official web site additionally presents the identical deal. The online web page additionally mentions this deal will finish on October 5, 2024.

Starlink Normal Equipment

Starlink Standard Kit

Starlink Normal Equipment

Engineered by SpaceX, Starlink is designed to ship high-speed, low-latency web to essentially the most rural and distant places worldwide. Starlink permits actions that traditionally haven’t been attainable with satellite tv for pc web, together with streaming, on-line gaming, video calls, and extra. The Starlink Equipment is designed for self-install and arrives with every little thing you’ll want to get on-line inside minutes.

The Starlink Normal Equipment is really useful for residential customers. The flat antenna is made to be stationary, and may be put in by your self. The app may help you orient it in the best course, and can stroll you thru all of the steps to get you linked as quickly as attainable. It’s IP67-rated, so it ought to be capable of deal with the weather simply advantageous.

Additionally included is a router with Wi-Fi 6 capabilities. Whereas this router is supposed for use indoors, it nonetheless has an IP56 ranking. You may join as much as 256 units concurrently, which is sort of spectacular. Wi-Fi protection may be expanded with as much as three Starlink Gen 2 and Gen 3 Mesh nodes, too.

After all, you’ll additionally must pay for service. The usual residential plan prices $120 a month. Whereas this will likely appear a bit costly to many people, keep in mind it’s a specialised service for these with out many choices. To many, Starlink is a lifesaver. It is going to work in just about any distant space, even locations with zero mobile protection.

Able to get linked? Go get your Starlink Normal Equipment. Offers on these Starlink antennas are fairly uncommon!

Why you shouldn’t dread software program updates


Digital Safety

The widespread IT outages triggered by a defective CrowdStrike replace have put software program updates within the highlight. Right here’s why you shouldn’t dread them.

Beyond the blue screen of death: Why software updates matter

Within the realm of computing, few issues are as unsettling as encountering a blue display screen of loss of life (BSOD) in your Home windows system. The ominous display screen with its cryptic error messages evokes a mixture of alarm and frustration even amongst many seasoned know-how customers.

The stakes are even greater when a BSOD occurs on a mass scale; that’s, if it’s a part of a wider incident that ‘bricks’ numerous units world wide and even disrupts among the most crucial providers we depend on daily. That is now taking part in out with widespread outages blamed on a defective CrowdStrike replace for Home windows units.

Understanding BSODs

First issues first, what’s a BSOD? It’s a deadly system error that forces Home windows to close down with a view to stop additional harm. It may be attributable to something from defective {hardware} parts to outdated drivers that trigger conflicts throughout the working system, severe errors throughout the system or essential functions (or, certainly, their updates), and malware.

When such errors are detected, Home windows halts operations, shows the BSOD with a cease code and probably a QR code, and restarts to forestall harm to your system. Whereas a BSOD is an indication that one thing has gone critically fallacious together with your machine, you could need to keep away from panicking and as a substitute seek advice from this Microsoft steering. Most of the time, the difficulty is fixable, and you’ll take steps to assist keep away from it sooner or later.

Moreover, a BSOD will also be considered a reminder of the significance of holding your software program and units up-to-date. Certainly, understanding the significance of software program updates and appearing accordingly is essential in your defenses in opposition to ever-evolving threats.

The position of software program updates

Each utility wants updating, as does the underlying working system and firmware (a particular kind of software program that hooks into machine {hardware}). Whereas these updates are a possible productiveness headache or at the very least a little bit of a nuisance for many people, they’re important for a number of causes.

Crucially, they assist hold you (and your group) safer. No software program is ideal, and it’s usually discovered to comprise errors, together with software program vulnerabilities that might be exploited by hackers. Additionally it is effectively established that unpatched vulnerabilities are the supply of a giant proportion of information breaches.

This is the reason patches, shipped by software program producers both at common intervals or as wanted, are so necessary. Final yr, greater than 29,000 vulnerabilities have been reported, up from round 25,000 reported the yr prior.

Moreover serving to hold you protected from threats that prey in your private and monetary information, software program updates play a essential position in sustaining the general well being of your machine. They lengthen past safety fixes and likewise deal with a spread of points, bugs and glitches, add new options and functionalities, enhance your machine’s battery life and improve system efficiency.

The dangers of software program updates

Most significantly, the advantages outweigh any potential dangers – by a protracted shot. Nonetheless, software program updates might introduce new points. For instance, they could sometimes trigger conflicts or sudden interactions with present functions or system software program or they might not at all times work effectively with older {hardware} parts. They could additionally have an effect on system stability, probably leading to errors and finally even prompting rollbacks that present a security internet if a latest replace has induced issues.

Considerably sarcastically, updates themselves might introduce new safety vulnerabilities that might be exploited by attackers earlier than they’re patched in subsequent updates. Additionally, and as ESET analysis has proven repeatedly (right here is only one latest instance), subtle attackers might subvert the replace mechanism itself to distribute bogus updates.

Parting ideas

Software program runs the world nowadays, and holding your software program stack up-to-date is likely one of the handiest methods for safeguarding your digital life. When doing so, bear in mind to obtain updates from official sources, not by clicking on e mail hyperlinks or advertisements. And subsequent time you’re tempted to disregard or maintain off on putting in software program updates, bear in mind why they’re so important within the first place.