heeey, stay away from my portal :P

hahaha. now i understand the feeling.

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sightseeing in style

ever wondered what's the best way to check a place out? yup, do it with ingress and a bike!

so, why ingress? one, it's a game, it's fun! two, it's overlayed on a real map so you don't necessarily have to get lost along the way. three, the portals are all public-accessible landmarks that, popular or not, have interesting stories on their own. also, it's a pretty good way of finding hidden gems only locals know about and it's actually one of the best "spotted by locals" database i've seen so far, sans restos and food bars of course. and one other thing, it makes jogging and biking a lot more interesting - finally, those boring jogging sessions have a destination and an end goal.

i've created my account ages ago but i've started being active only recently because brussels is not as biker-friendly compared to gent. as of today i'm officially level 3. woot! 13 levels more to go, hahahaha.

yes, ysa0. i cannot put into words how much i regret this username but that time i registered i wasn't exactly thinking of playing the game. i just wanted to look at the interface because it's cool haha and, like i said, i've been mainly using it to spot interesting places. besides, "ishi" and most of its common derivatives were already taken :(

first portal i own! not a very strong protection but who cares, i owns it hahaha.

the downside of playing the game though is, first and foremost, it drains your battery extremely fast. let's say, from a fully-charged battery, i can only do 2 hours tops on the field which is why serious gamers should probably invest in reliable power banks. secondly, you'd need mobile data, of course. thirdly, it could be too exhaustive as a tourism information. if you're visiting only for a day it would be better to seek interesting places ahead then use ingress to check out smaller attractions in between to save time (and battery, and mobile data hehe). also, if you bike around like i do, carrying your phone in one hand is cumbersome in the long run, which is why i apparently still need that smartphone holder for the bike i thought i wouldn't need anymore the moment i stopped getting lost on my way to cmst.

all in all it's pretty fun. i've tried explaining the concept to some friends last year but i couldn't seem to capture their interest haha. oh well, time to look for new friends >:) jowk.

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24/10/14

thoughts and notes during the day:

- there doesn't seem to be a lot of people with medium hand size working in cmst. i appear to be the only one who refills the medium glove compartment.
- my fringe is not compatible with the bunny suits. to be more specific, it hates it. haha. poor littel blue bunny suits. blue, earless bunny suits. bluebell! hahaha. only sherlock fans will understand :P
- i average 2min in the entry/changing bay.

- i should remember to put the hair mask as close to the hairline as possible. the garter lines on the forehead takes forever to go away.
- cmst lithography process:
   > UV lamp (new): 50 mW/cm2
   > UV lamp (old): 5 mW/cm2
   > resist: 60 sec, 4000 rpm. Heat up to room temp before using to decrease absorptivity.
   > soft bake: 90 deg (+10 deg on aluminum hotplate), 2 min.
   > developer: 1 month max. 1:1 with DI water. Time?
   > hard bake: 120 deg, 30 min.
- friendly and jolly are indeed inherent traits of nadine. yet friendly or not she's the rule, the fraction-of-a-degree-softer version of the stringent imec regulation committee.

- jelle calls me by my complete name, hahaha. it always sounds so awkward with the mae. awkward but a little fun too, so let's just keep that thing going for a while, see how it goes. who knows it wouldn't sound so weird after all in a while.
- i suppose it's safe to say i'm in love with the cleanroom. it's practically the only thing i think and talk about for some while now.

- hoped for homework? dah, tagam lagi sa display tech! hahaha. bleeehhh :P
- i really do not understand why they put tissues on the floor at the washrooms in the faculty of economics. seriously, floor?!

- "..followed by a (sad) week with no PM session (no class on 05/11/2014).." yeheeey free day!

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optical convolution processor

so i've been sifting through my old photos and uncovered some images which, having been unfiled, didn't find it's way into the lab reports last semester. this one in particular is for the optical convolution processor under the session on fourier optics.

Equipment

HeNe Laser
Lenses
Filters
Pinhole
CCD

Set-up

errata: "image" → should be "object". that is, the image plane is the plane with the ccd.

Analysis & Discussion

An optical convolution processor, or 4f processor, is an optical setup which enables real time implementation on the mathematical cross-correlation and convolution methods. It states that the convolution of two images (f(x,y) and h(x,y))



can be expressed as a simple product of the fourier transforms of both images:



Given a certain image, we first would like to view its fourier transform. Using the setup shown above, we obtain the following images at the specified planes:

object mask placed on the object plane.

image at fourier plane: "A" decomposed in it's spatial frequencies.

image at CCD without filter at fourier plane

if a low pass filter, like this, is placed at the fourier plane, we can clearly see that light corresponding to the high frequencies are filtered out. hence, in the image plane we see the image below.

low pass filter

image at CCD with a low-pass filter at fourier plane

on the other hand, placing a high-pass filter on the fourier plane generates the following image:

image at CCD with a high-pass filter at fourier plane

when a pinhole is set in the fourier transform plane, intuitively we would expect it to give a better, clearer output of the image at the observation plane. this is not the case that was observed, however. since the lenses that make up the system are imperfect, then their imperfection adds to the noise which is contained in the high frequencies. decreasing the aperture removes the ambient noise hence we can see the image become clearer. further decreasing the aperture removes more higher frequencies hence the image becomes more blurred at the edges.

these are simple examples of spatial filtering. spatial filtering is a technique for filtering out certain spatial frequencies usually in order to improve input image caused by scattering by defects or particles in the air. when focusing a beam, the image of the source composed of low frequencies is concentrated at the centre while higher order frequencies, noise, are focused further away.by employing a pinhole at the fourier transform plane, the higher order frequencies will be filtered out thus, theoretically, giving a clean spatial profile at the output.

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sun!

as autumn deepens, warm, bright, sunny days like these are getting fewer and further apart. which is why it's absolutely necessary to take the time to bike around (and hack a little here and there #ingress haha) and enjoy taking in enough of your dose of vitamin d to keep the happy hormones flowing :)

my bike path for the day led me to the most touristy spot in the city center for a view of the famous landmarks of the city as a special backdrop for my video call with red whose birthday falls today. afterwards, before heading indoors for a game of table tennis with my chinese friends, here are quick snaps of the area around the university sports centrum.

sponsored by..hehe

mga krodero ni nong basyo! haha. reminds me of home and the subdivision caretaker's herd of sheep who never cares about passing cars or pedestrians and often causing traffic jams in the main road.

view of the lake from the gusb bar.

lamb burger and beer after the game :P

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rawr

no, of course i'm not particularly obsessing over my hair tonight :P

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hayyy

"adults have wounds in places where band-aids are completely useless, see. i'd give anything to have the the kind of troubles that a trusty band-aid can solve."

you were saying? hahaha. hayyy, i'm too old for this. seriously.

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chris

my room mate, chris, is an interesting soul, a kindred spirit. he's from holland, doing his first bachelor in veterinary medicine, has a 14-year old sister, and the third of the five other room mates i met on my first week in this apartment. he's really friendly, talkative, animated, and is pretty meticulous when it comes to cleanliness we've been laughing all dinner long about him finally being able to throw away the unclaimed shampoo bottle in the shower and the unusable teflon pan under the kitchen sink. he's one of my dutch mentors, the others being the rest of my room mates haha, though they're mostly teaching me dutch dutch and not flemish. with his personality i'm sure he'll go a long way and i'm glad he was around tonight to be my guinea pig for the first menudo i cooked over here :)

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ballet dancing in the moonlight

slept later than usual because when i finally turned the lights off around one this morning the moon was THIS bright..and little ishchan couldn't resist to play. who needs bedside lamps when you've got beautiful moonlight like this streaming through your window?

and the song that entered my mind was, "goodbye, goodbye, good friends goodbye. but now it's time to go. the moon, the bear, and the big blue house will be waiting for you to come and play!" haha.

peace, man. why does peter pan hate his shadow so much when they're so much fun! :P

getting ready to go on pointe.

shhh burglar alert. nag-effort to fit into the window's silhouette.

okay, this one's a little creepy.

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a little music a day keeps insanity at bay

aww yisss. optical sensors lab 1, prev. sem.: optical transducer using fiber bragg gratings/recording sound through optical fibers. photo c/o yuting.

Background

Acoustic vibrations are generated by musical instruments either by plucking the strings mounted on an instrument, blowing air into a cavity, and various other means. These vibrations are transmitted through the air and are received by the ear. In some cases amplification and/or recording of these acoustic vibrations is desired and is typically done using piezoelectric transducers that are sensitive to mechanical vibration in the acoustic frequency (from 5Hz to 20kHz). In some cases, magnetic pickups are used which record vibrations using electromagnetic induction. 

A drawback from these methods, however, is that the system involves electrical cables connecting the musical instrument to the recording instrument which generates noise and significant audio signal delays. In order to address some of these issues optical pickups have been developed being potentially insensitive to electrical interference.

Here, we recreate the study performed by Loock, et. Al. on an optical pickup which uses a fiber bragg grating as a sensor. As discussed in Lab 1, an FBG is a periodically modulated structure of the refractive index along the core of a single-mode fiber. Any environmental change that changes the parameters of the FBG leads to a change in the reflection spectrum. By exploiting the sensitivity of an FBG to mechanical strain caused by acoustic vibrations we are able to monitor and transduce those signals.

Experiment 

Figure 1 shows a schematic diagram of the experimental setup. The FBG is pre-strained and fixed on a flat portion of the guitar. The reflection spectrum of the grating is shown in Figure 2 and shows the peak to be at 1520.296 nm. Light signal from a tunable semiconductor laser is guided through an optical circulator to the FBG and is tuned to the steep flank along the long wavelength range of the FBG spectrum.

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the experimental set-up. The light from the tunable light source is guided through a cirulator towards the optical pickup (FBG). The third arm of the circulator is connected to a photodiode which monitors the change in transmission.

By doing so, the intensity of the transmitted light would vary depending on how much the FBG peak has shifted. The change in transmission is monitored using a photodiode. The setup is connected to a PC and uses the software Matlab for processing the recorded signal.

Fig. 2. Reflection spectra of the FBG (lower spectrum, yellow) and laser diode (upper spectrum, white).

Results and Discussion 

By slightly adjusting the spectrum of the laser source and changing the gain of the photodiode we can tune the system in order to get a recording with the best signal to noise ratio. Figure 3 shows sample waveforms using different gain values and laser diode wavelength peaks.

Fig. 3. (a)1516.900nm, gain: 50dB, (b)1516.900nm, gain: 40dB, (c) 1516.956nm, gain: 40dB, (d) 1516.960nm, gain: 40dB

Although we can clearly notice the presence of noise in some waveforms, we cannot make a direct association between the recorded waveforms and it’s signal to noise ratio. The quality of the recording is measured by ear and a gain of 40 with a wavelength peak at 1516.956 nm seems to yield the best signal to noise ratio.

The sensitivity of the response depends on the slope of the laser attenuation spectrum where the FBG peak is tuned. It is noticeable that even a very small change in the wavelength settings, in the order of picometers, leads to a considerable change in the quality of the recording. In certain settings we notice a relatively good signal to noise ratio but there exists high harmonics in the recordings (Fig.3a) that may be caused by the FBGs nonlinear response to strain.

The quality of the recordings also depends greatly on the initial strain induced on the fiber as well as the relative distance on which the fiber is affixed on the instrument. When unstrained, acoustic vibrations would not induce large changes in the fiber properties resulting in poor quality recording. This phenomena was observed yet unquantified for this demonstration.

From this we can remark that FBGs can indeed be used as an optical transducer.

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education and service

on education

one of the best feelings in the world i feel whenever the professor starts handing out those 300 pages or more of course notes for free, or provide you with soft copies of the lecture materials when they could also be bought at a higher price at the student center. it gives you the affirmation that indeed you're here to be taught and to learn and not being exploited as a business opportunity.

on service

back on pedals and butt-aches in 30 minutes! if there's anything i can hardly complain about, it's excellent, no-nonsense service from private and government offices alike. aside from speedy service everyone seems to be so polite, professional and forthcoming i don't even think it's possible to say alstublieft with sarcasm and a scowl the way some people say palihog with an obvious hint of irritation. if privatization of certain government offices is what it takes to lift philippine government office services to this level, then i resolutely support you, rody.

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12 hours in antwerp

the weather forecast said sunny with scattered clouds and a 2% chance of rain in the afternoon for antwerp. without further ado, in goes my trusty notebook, wallet and cards, camera, and a selection of spie newsletters (kay para informative kunuhay akong basabasahon while waiting haha) into a day bag. finally, at 8:30 on saturday morning, hello antwerp!

antwerpen-centraal statie

i got off at the antwerp central station which is, according to the website mashable, the most beautiful railway in the world.

well..it's huge. and very clean. the layout of the topmost level facing the entrance to the terminal from the trains reminds me of the train station in the movie hugo. the platforms have the modern, edgy, almost minimalist designs while the main entrance hall under the dome is of the older, "classical" style. i'm not familiar with the terminologies basta kanang karaan bitaw tan-awon haha.

the station has four levels, three of which underground, which caters to high-speed international trains like thalys. i tried to wait for the thalys train bound for paris just to see how fast it runs but then i got bored and a little hungry so i sauntered off to find food after a while. it's no bullet train anyway so i don't think i'm missing a lot.

middelheim museum

being a part of flanders, i wasn't expecting much difference in the architectural structures between gent and antwerp so i thought visiting museums would be reasonable. the middelheim museum is a huuuuuge expanse of land featuring sculptures and architectural art from the 1870's to present. it's an open air museum with over a hundred installations scattered all over the enormous nature park. best to see it by bike.

Jessica Stockholder, Born of Landscape Linoleum, 1999

Het Huis

Roman Signer, Bidon bleu, 2012

Panamarenko, Archaeopterix Lithografica, 1993.
This installation has motion sensors causing the bird to move about when people pass by.

Erwin Wurm, Misconceivable, 2010

Francois Pompon, Ijsbeer, 1920-1922

omg, omg, powlar beaaaaar!

Antony Gormley, Firmament III, 2009

Giacomo Manzu, 1950's

Alice Aycock, Leonardo swirl, 1982

giant yoga ball.

de hound

Carl Milles, Pegasus, 1949

Erwin Wurm, Disziplin in der Subjektivitat, 2006-2011

Eugene Dodeigne, Drie staanden, 1978

Pascale Marthine Tayou, Palaverboom, Diamond scape II, 2013

Rick Wouters, Het zotte geweld, 1912

to make things more interesting i also wasn't just a passive observer; a student of photography asked to take my portrait. now i'm also art in some random person's portfolio. haha. and i had a little chat with this belgian guy who was cycling around looking at the displays. he lives nearby, has two kids, one 5 years old and the other 11, had a bachelor in something related to electromagnetics then studied business and architecture afterwards, but i kid you not he doesn't look anywhere older than 30! like, seriously! now he's doing managing stuff running his own bakery. we talked about art and stuff and making things with your hands, masters and phd's, parks in brussels and gent, he promoted this great museum in dusseldorf, and told me that antwerp is currently celebrating the world war centenary and about some bridge over scheldt being opened to people and how he couldn't get through because there were just too many people. okay. at the exit we greeted each other "see you!" and laughed because i suppose we both knew there's less than a small chance we'll actually meet again.

saturday market, theatersplein

back in the city center i passed by the saturday market in theatersplein and ended up spending the rest of my lunch hopping from one free food sampling to the next haha. anyway, i decided to try new things that are not related to burgers, kebab, or waffles and i ended up with karakollens (escargot/snails. gulp!), fried fresh mackerels, a selection of cheese and olives, and some pre-prepared ravioli for take away.

these calla lilies are cute! i wanted to buy flowers but they'd die in my arms before i'd get back home so picture na lang muna.

antwerp is actually supposed to be known for its fashion and style. it's dubbed as the fashion capital of belgium where internationally acclaimed designers like ann demeulemeester and dries van houten come from. cool, i really thought they were dutch. i may not have photos of the shopping district itself but i have something better. tadaaa! street artists in action :D

world war i centenary

advice from a clueless tourist like me to another clueless tourist: if you're not sure where to start, head for the grote markt! every flemish city has one, or something similar to it. i needed to go there anyway to look for souvenirs for my mom's coffee table and that was where most of the activity was this weekend.

as my new found friend on bike mentioned, antwerp is currently celebrating the world war i centenary. apparently, antwerp was an important allied stronghold keeping the germans at bay and where king albert i and all important government officials retreated to when brussels fell during the war. it eventually fell to the germans but the resistance allowed the allies the much needed victory over ypres and the coast which are more strategic locations. as a result hundreds and thousands of people were displaced, fleeing to the netherlands, france, and britain. the activities and displays for the centenary is focused on this diaspora and the effect of the wars on the people and culture instead of the technicalities of war.

so this is the pontoon bridge mr. guy-on-bike was talking about! at that same location in 1914, the original pontoon bridge was built over the scheldt river and was invaluable for the transportation of supplies and quick evacuation.

members and volunteers of the royal british legion handing out paper poppies, or remembrance poppies as they are known. i asked about the significance of the poppies and he told me it's the symbol used to commemorate people who have died in the wars. its use was inspired by the poem "in flanders fields" written by a soldier about poppies growing on the graves of soldiers during the war.

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved, and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders Fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If you break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders Fields

By Major John McCrae – 1915 - Boezinge

dogs everywhere! weee! petting dogs is my favorite past time haha.

het steen

the pontoon starts outside het steen, one of the oldest structures in antwerp. it's been renovated multiple times, used as a prison, as an archaeological museum, etc. currently it has a cafe/pub and holds children's activities for the promotion of history and culture.

just around the grote markt are, of course, a number of notable churches. churches are interesting because in the medieval ages they are so conservative (and rich..not to mention manipulative and worldly) they were an excellent keeper of culture, hence, visiting churches is like stepping into museums where you have to keep quieter than usual.

sint-paulskerk

a garden of statues. i counted about 50 sculptures.

a depiction of hell, i suppose.

reliefs of the stations of the cross.

12th station. Jesus dies on the cross.

saint paul's church is also notable for its pipe organ, the oldest and largest in belgium.

onze-lieve-vrouw kerk

the really big church near the grote markt and usually depicted in the antwerp souvenirs.

sint-andrieskerk

most churches are more or less the same, each with their own special, most notable features or displays. but sint-andrieskerk is something else altogether, it has the most unique church installations i have ever seen. food for thought.

punching bag. define unique, haha. inscription: jacob wrestled with (a man of) God until daybreak. "and i have survived", jacob said. (gen. 32: 25, 31). better to remain wrestling with someone than dumping him. also with God.

"come after me and i will make you fishers of men". van hoof/van geel, 1821.
(prayer for vocations on the inscription)
Lord God, You never stop to take care of Your people. We ask You: let younger and older people always be attracted by Your unique son, Jesus. May there also be in our time candidates to devote their lives as: priest, deacon, sister, brother, missionary, pastoral assistant, catechist. May they in their prayer and in their actions dedicate themselves completely to You and offer themselves to Your church and to your people. We ask You this through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. 

wat is waarheid? (what is truth?) a. senez, 2012.

a person's lifetime from the cradle to the grave. just before the depiction of the graves there is a suitcase with the inscription, wat neem jij mee op je laatste reis? what would you take with you on your last trip?

museum aan de stroom (mas)

museum in the stream. a 10-storey museum built beside the scheldt. in celebration of the world war centenary it currently exhibits very powerful images of the great diaspora during the world war.

refugees flocking the pontoon at the scheldt to take refuge in the netherlands, france, or great britain.

the pontoon bridge between steenplein and sint-anna, october 1914. in order to escape german troops the belgian army built a pontoon bridge over the scheldt supported by dozens of small boats.

the gasoline fire. the gasoline fire in hoboken, 8 october 1914.

nearing sunset.

panorama of antwerp on the eastern side of the scheldt.

to end, here are photos of the central station at night:

以上!

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