Arthur Lugtigheid

Reading files with headers into matlab

Arthur — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 14:58:48 +0000

Here's a handy code sniplet that enables you to read a file with columns of data with headers into MATLAB:

function importfile(filename)
 
% import the file
newdata = importdata(filename);
 
% create new variables in the base workspace from these fields
vars = fieldnames(newdata);
for i=1:length(vars),
    assignin('base', vars{i}, newdata.(vars{i}));
end

This will give you three variables in your workspace:

colheaders: a list of all the variable names, extracted from the header
data: a matrix with all your data in it
textdata: essentially the same thing as colheaders

JANE: Journal Author Name Estimator

Arthur — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 22:22:07 +0000

"Have you recently written a paper, but you're not sure to which journal you should submit it? Or are you an editor, and do you need to find reviewers for a particular paper? Jane can help!"

From: http://biosemantics.org/jane/

Some people have real problems..

Arthur — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 01:51:13 +0000

That's the title of the (for me) long awaited new CD of the wonderful singer Sia Furler. Some of you might know her from her excellent work for Zero 7 or maybe even from her previous album "Colour the small one". This new album certainly does not disappoint.. In fact.. it's great! Although I have to admit it seems to be less electronic and more poppy than previous work. But hey, it works for me!

My favorites? "Electric Bird", "Day too soon", "Button" (the hidden track) and "The girl you lost to cocaine". So what are you waiting for? Go and get that album (or listen to the previews on Amazon).

Alternatively, watch the KCRW2007 live sessions (big thanks to Milo for the link).

Also, new CD by Goldfrapp incoming soon! W00t~? Oh the joy..

Macbook Pro Wishlist

Arthur — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 11:51:58 +0000

So, there's been a lot of rumors concerning the Apple Macbook Pro, which is due for renewal. A lot of rumors and patent applications point in the direction of some sort of multi-touch integration - a technology already used by Apple in the iPod Touch and the iPhone. Other rumors point to a sub-notebook, meaning they will probably reintroduce the 12-inch Macbook Pro and sacrifice the optical drive for a thiner model. Many people believe that these changes will be announced at the MacWorld 2008 convention this tuesday.

But I don't really care about all that.. For me, these new features would just be nice bonuses.. I work with OpenGL a lot and I just want to be able to do that on my laptop - something I think the Macbook Pro can do just fine. However, if I would have to make a list of upgrades, that list would be the following:

Upgraded CPU (2.6 Penryn CPU's standard in new models, maybe?)
Upgraded video memory (512MB would be splendid)

I'm gonna be disappointed if none of these make it in the new model. ~~But then again, I'd buy a new MacBook Pro anyway...~~

Fingers crossed and creditcard at the ready!

Update: There's some new rumors on a new apple notebook called "MacBook Air" - a new model that apparently is completely wireless (or so people are suggesting). I'm not sure how it compares to the current models, but it doesn't make much sense to introduce a 3rd model now that they have a top-end and a lower-end model in production. Only 22 more hours, and we'll know, I guess...

Post MWSF Update: Not a happy bunny. Not happy at all.

Looking back: 2007

Arthur — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 16:17:54 +0000

I think I can safely say that 2007 was a very good year for me, especially in academic regards. I finished my master degree in psychology in September. In April, I applied for a studentship for a PhD at the University of Birmingham, got accepted and started that this October! And as a consequence, I also moved from the Netherlands to the UK.

So far, I'm quite enjoying myself as a PhD student - it's hard work, but it's very rewarding and I get to work with some of the best people in the field. I'm quite eager to see what next year will bring me! As for new years resolutions, I'd think my main one would be to get my first article published or at the very least submitted. Furthermore, I want to visit conferences, meet new people, and talk about the research I'm doing. In that respect I think I'll be up for a treat next year!

But, enough science talk. Tomorrow I'll fly back home to the Netherlands and enjoy two weeks of "rest". Quite looking forward to seeing my parents and my cat Floris again. Leaves me one last thing to do: I'd like to wish everyone a very happy Christmas and all the best for the new year!

A note on my e-mail address..

Arthur — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 17:28:13 +0000

I have been the victim of some prick using my email address in a spam run, due to which I started receiving about 20 emails per minute from various spam filters and/or mail servers, saying:

Message you sent blocked by our bulk email filter,
Undelivered Mail Returned to Sender,
Delivery Notification: Delivery has failed, or
Returned mail: see transcript for details.

I was forced to filter out all these messages with procmail, using quite a rigid filter (cheers Ruben). As a consequence, there is a possibility that all email not directly addressed to me is deleted without further notice. If you are in doubt, or if you've sent me an email lately and you haven't received a reply - please send me an email on my gmail account, for which my usename is my last name.

And the beat goes on..

Arthur — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 22:22:02 +0000

Originally sung by Sonny & Cher in 1967, then covered by Buddy Rich (you can only watch the video if you register, because Americans don't like 50's clips of women "fighting" in their underwear), whose version was then slightly remixed into the 1998 version I'm talking about: The All Seeing I, which was originally made for Britney Spears (is she actually singing "blah blah" at 0:31?). However, the album version of the All Seeing I still rocks - it's amazing how this song stood the test of time. And as a bonus: the video clip is very, very cool as well!

And, well.. There's other versions of this as well. There's a clip of a band called the Screamers, performing it live, their "singer" screaming the song (I'm guessing that's where they got their name from). If anyone knows another version, please let me know. I'd be very interested to hear it.

Still one of my favorite songs: (And) the beat goes on - The All Seeing I.

The PhD is going well, I think - First experiment should be up and running before I leave for Christmas the 22nd. And I've been working on some new designs again, expect to see this website change soon. Again.

Yarrrr, harrrrr..

Arthur — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 16:09:12 +0000

In case you missed it, today is "international talk like a pirate day":

And in other news: Today will be t' day that you will forever remember as t' day that I finished me Master o' biological and cognitive psychology! And… Only 12 days port until I start in Birmin'ham!

Pushing up the daisies

Arthur — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 09:19:45 +0000

There's a new series coming this fall; Pushing Daisies. Now here's one to look out for - produced by the same team as "Big Fish", this series has it all; a very nice plot, snappy dialogues and a general Timburtonesque mystical style.

Plot, taken from Wikipedia:

Pushing Daisies is a "forensic fairy tale" that focuses on Ned, a pie maker with a mysterious ability to make the dead briefly live again. The gift is not without its complications, as if he touches this being once again, they'll be dead permanently. If he doesn't touch them at all within sixty seconds, they continue, but someone other than the deceased will die. It's a gift that he puts in good use to help a private investigator friend, Emerson Cod and his childhood spirit, the once dead Charlotte "Chuck" Charles.

First episode on TV: October 3rd, 2007. Leaked pilot now available from the interweb.

(And thanks to Bob for the tip)

A simple adaptive staircase toolbox for Matlab

Arthur — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 13:16:02 +0000

Today, I'm publishing a small toolbox for Matlab which enables you to run simple adaptive staircase procedures. Its theoretical basics can be found in Levitt's 1971 influential article titled "Transformed up-down methods in psychoacoustics". Its code flow is inspired on code previously written by Dirk Beer.

More information about the toolbox itself can be found on the project page.