Portable Tape Recorder Research Articles

Peter Robert Marler FRS (1928-2014)

Peter Robert Marler FRS (1928-2014)

The poem as message: verbatim memorization in Somali poetry

1It was one of the salient characteristics of traditional Somali culture, before it was affected by the spread of cheap portable tape recorders in the 1960s and by mass literacy in the 1970s, that ...

A Call to Listen: The ‘New’ Documentary in Radio—Encountering ‘Wild Sound’ and The ‘Filme Sonore’

We must see with our ears; think with our ears; write with our ears. Peter Leonhard Braun [The feature's] task and its destiny is to mirror the true inwardness of its subject, to explore the bounda...

BRING THE NOISE: HYPERMASCULINITY IN HEAVY METAL AND RAP

“The Subliminal K i d moved in and took over bars cafes and jukeboxes of the world cities and installed radio transmitters and microphones in each bar so that the music and talk of any bar could be heard in all his bars and he had tape recorders in each bar that played and recorded at arbitrary intervals and his agents moved back and forth with portable tape recorders and brought back street sound and talk and music and poured it into his recorder array so he set waves and eddies and tornadoes of sound down all your streets and by the river of all language‐Word dust drifted streets of broken music car horn and air hammers—The Word broken pounded twisted exploded in smoke—.Nothing is true—Everything is permitted—1—William Burroughs, Nova Express

Pheromone monitoring in the field using single sensillum recording

AbstractIn order to obtain direct information of stimulus dynamics perceived by a male moth under field conditions a portable device was constructed which enables continuous recording of responses from individual pheromone receptors. The device is suitable for tip recording by means of micro‐knives as well as for recording with tungsten electrodes making it applicable for a wide range of insects. A micro thermistor air velocity sensor is placed within 2 mm from the preparation to record the momentary air flow. The signal conditioning electronic circuits are battery powered, and the signals can be stored on a portable tape recorder. Field recordings were made from individual male antennal pheromone receptors of Aegeria myopaeformis and Adoxophyes orana. In all recordings the instantaneous firing frequency of the receptor cells was strongly modulated by the air velocity. Analysis of the data may provide information about the average pheromone concentration and the fine structure of pheromone plumes under various conditions.

Cardiac arrhythmias in patients with small cell lung cancer and cardiac disease before, during and after doxorubicin administration. An evaluation of acute cardiotoxicity by continuous 24-hour Holter monitoring.

Cardiac arrhythmias have been reported during doxorubicin infusion. The aim of the present study was to investigate the prevalence of arrhythmias and elucidate whether previous cardiac disease might increase the probability of treatment-related ectopic activity. In 18 patients with small cell lung cancer, 11 with concomitant heart disease, electrocardiogram (ECG) was continuously registered by a portable tape recorder 24 h before, during and 24 h after doxorubicin infusion (Holter monitoring). The only significant finding was an increased number of bigeminal ventricular extrasystoles after doxorubicin infusion. A trend of increased number of ventricular extrasystoles was also observed. The study suggests that pretreatment arrhythmias do not dispose for increased cardiac irritability and that bolus injections of doxorubicin do not seriously influence the ectopic activity in patients with and without heart disease.

Prenatal audio apparatus

Prenatal audio apparatus includes a belt for fitting over a pregnant woman for directing audio sounds to the unborn baby. A belt has an inside surface, to fit against a pregnant woman's body, and an outside surface. Belt fasteners, such as hook and loop material, may adjustably attach the belt to the person. The belt can be made of a soft loop material fastenable for a hook material fastener portion. An audio signal source, such as a small portable tape recorder, is attachable to the belt. A pair of audio transducers are mounted in the belt in foam material with the output of the transducers facing the belt's inside surface, so that when attached to the patient, the sounds will be directed toward the unborn baby. The audio transducer is operatively connected to the audio signal source. The audio signal source may also be connected to earphones worn by the woman carrying the baby.

Menstrual cycle and voluntary food intake

The relationship of food intake and the human menstrual cycle has not been well quantified. In this study, voluntary energy and sucrose intake of seven women, aged 24-43 y, were evaluated by the weighed-intake method over one entire menstrual cycle. Portable tape recorders facilitated the recording of food intake. Although daily fluctuations of energy intake were large, analysis of variance showed intake during the luteal phase to be significantly greater than during the periovulatory and follicular phases (p less than 0.05). From 95% simultaneous (Bonferoni) confidence intervals, the estimate of difference was 283 kcal greater during the luteal phase than the periovulatory phase; the estimate of difference was 214 kcal greater during the luteal phase than during the follicular phase. No significant differences in energy intake were found among the menstrual, follicular, and periovulatory phases. No significant relationship was found between sucrose intake and the menstrual cycle.

Sleepiness on the job: continuously measured EEG changes in train drivers

Eleven train drivers participated in the study during 1 night and 1 day journey (4.5 h) over the same route. Their EEG, EOG and ECG were recorded on portable tape recorders. The EEG records were subjected to spectral analysis (FFT) and the EOG was scored visually for slow eye movements (SEMs). The results showed rated sleepiness increased sharply during the night journey. A similar pattern was seen for spectral power density in the alpha band, SEM and, to a lesser extent, also for power in the theta and delta bands. Heart rate was low during the entire night drive. The day journey showed low values without any trend for all variables. The intra-individual correlations were very high between rated sleepiness and, particularly, alpha and theta power density, as well as SEM. Further analyses showed that most of the night time increases in EEG/EOG parameters were confined to the 6 most sleepy subjects. Among these, 4 admitted to dozing off during the night drive and 2 of these 4 subjects failed toa ct on signals while exhibiting large bursts of alpha activity. It was concluded that EEG and EOG parameters closely reflect variations in sleepiness on the job and that these parameters, together with self-ratings, demonstrate that severe sleepiness may occur in train drivers during night work.

Integrated Circuits for Tape Recorder Operated by Single Dry Battery

The latest portable tape recorders must be more compact, light-weight, and operate on a lower power supply, no more than a single 1.5V dry battery. Some of the latest integrated circuits for play-only tape recorders can operate on a single 1.5V dry battery, but integrated circuits for record-and-play cassette tape recorders still require two such batteries.

A device for unobtrusive surveillance of home relaxation practice.

We introduce a relaxation assessment device (RAD) to monitor clients' home relaxation practice unobtrusively. The RAD is a conventional, portable tape recorder with a relaxation tape sealed in the tape compartment and a cumulative stopwatch with associated electronics sealed in the battery compartment. The stopwatch is activated only when the PLAY button is depressed, thereby logging cumulative relaxation practice time. Details on the instrument's electronics are presented, as well as data documenting its functional reliability. Preliminary data on the clinical application of the RAD with samples of anxious and hypertensive individuals suggest that self-reported frequency of relaxation practice is spurious, and compliance to home practice instructions is variable but skewed in the direction of low compliance.

Computer evaluation of sleep.

Night sleep registrations were carried out using a portable 4-channel tape recorder (Medilog 4-24 recorder). The evaluation of the sleep stages was done by a computer analysis. One channel was used for EMG, 1 for EOG and 2 channels for EEG. For the analysis of the particular sleep stages the criteria of the Florida modification of the classification of Dement and Kleitman were applied. The computer analysis was based on the estimation of the power spectrum of the 2 EEG channels and the number of REM in the EOG. Automatic artifact detections were fit into the computer program and the individual differences of the EEG of the sleep recordings were taken into consideration.

Electromyographic Evidence of Paraspinal Muscle Spasm During Sleep in Patients With Low Back Pain

Elcctromyogram (EMG) was recorded by surface electrodes from lumbar paraspinal muscles during a 24-h period using Medilog 4 channel battery operated portable tape recorder. On replay records the total electrical activity amplitude and duration of the activity was evaluated. Nine patients with low back pain and unilateral or prevailing one-sided palpable paraspinal muscle spasm (PS) were studied. The control group consisted of 12 participants without pain or palpable spasm. Sustained electrical activity was documented during sleep in lumbar paraspinal muscles of patients with low back pain and palpable spasm. This study demonstrated that in normal subjects without low back pain there is no EMG activity in lumbar paraspinal muscles during sleep. The EMG activity in spasmotic muscles was statistically significantly higher than in the nonspasmotic control subjects without pain.

Impedance pneumography for long-term monitoring of respiration during sleep in adult males.

Impedance pneumography is based on the relationship between respired volume (delta V) and changes of transthoracic impedance (delta/Z/) during breathing. The impedance signal, the relationship between delta V and delta/Z/ and the success rate during long-term recording was studied in 11 healthy adult males, aged 21-46, by a portable tape recorder (Oxford Medilog 4-24). The signals from the tape recorder (delta/Z/), and from a spirometer (delta V) were recorded simultaneously on a mingograph during normal breathing, apnoea, deep sighs, and coughs. The relationship between delta V and delta/Z/ was also analysed on an X-Y recorder. Delta/Z/ was delayed in relation to delta V and during one respiratory cycle the relationship was not linear. The time constant of delta/Z/ was 6 s. A significant correlation was found between peak values of delta V and delta/Z/ for 0 less than delta V less than 2.5 litres. Long-term recording of delta/Z/ during one night's sleep resulted in a success rate of 63-100%, mean 90%. Invalidation of the impedance signal was caused by overloading (81%) and interference (19%). It is concluded that the Medilog respiratory recorder enables determination of respiratory frequency, periods of apnoea and a semiquantitative estimate of volume, but artifacts may invalidate the signal.

A portable phonetics laboratory

PIPS (Portable Instrumental Phonetics Station) is a portable box designed for gathering and analyzing aerodynamic and other phonetic data in the field. It contains two pressure transducers mounted 10 cm apart in a single tube with accompanying amplifiers, a high-speed chart recorder, a Rothenberg airflow measurement system, and a miniature storage oscilloscope. Circuits constructed at UCLA provide (1) preamplification to strengthen weak signals, (2) amplification to drive the chart recorder galvanometers (3) rms energy envelopes of ac signals, and (4) FM modulation and demodulation that can record and play back one channel of relatively high-frequency data or two channels of low-frequency data on a single track of a portable tape recorder. An experimenter normally uses the other track of a stereo tape recorder for an audio recording, although the two types of FM encoders can be used simultaneously to provide up to three channels of FM recording on a stereo tape recorder. Rechargeable batteries can drive most of the circuits. At present, the PIPS has been used in the U.S., China, and the Southern Sudan. [Work supported by NIH and NSF.]

Training observers to follow children and score their road-crossing behaviour

A training programme has been developed for six observers who had to follow and score the behaviour of (mainly 4- and 5-year-old) kindergarten children when crossing roads on their way to and from school or while at play. The objectives of the observations were (i) to analyse child road-crossing behaviour in great detail and (ii) to evaluate the effect of a child pedestrian training programme, involving road crossings between and at intersections and near parked cars. For the first objective it was desirable to score behaviour at various road-crossing stages: approach, curb, parking area, line of vision and road. Some 20 variables had to be scored verbally using a portable tape-recorder. Three video-films each containing between 18 and 34 crossings at various sites were produced. One for training the observers on a step-by-step basis to score all items. A second for exercise with new material and a third for a final test on proficiency. The training took 12 days full time, including some exercises on the ...

Microcomputers as field tools

Methodological development often occurs in response to new technology. The recent development of inexpensive portable motion picture equipment and video tape recorders, for example, has led to a new subfield, a new society, and a new journal in anthropology. Now another new piece of technology is upon us, the microcomputer. For the first time, the availability of a computer that is relatively inexpensive and portable suggests its use in any setting where power is available. From an anthropological point of view, and given the overall goal of doing 'ethnography' (the process of acquiring an understanding of an alien way of viewing the world), the problem is to evaluate the new technology and place it in perspective. While the microcomputer has obvious uses in traditional analyses of quantified data, its potential is more interesting as an aid in qualitative work. The classic problem in ethnography is the management of large amounts of non-numeric records-field notes, transcribed informal interviews, documents, genealogies and so on. In the handling of this kind of material, the microcomputer is a potential ally. An example of the kind of work the machine can do will help to exhibit its strengths and weaknesses in the analysis of one kind of ethnographic data, and simultaneously arouse interest among other qualitative researchers. Though microcomputers are no magic solution to ethnographic problems, they will, I think, prove useful as methodological tools.

Urodynamics: Continuous Monitoring

Continuous ambulatory monitoring of intravesical and intraurethral pressures was done in 26 patients using a portable tape recorder, a specially designed urethral catheter and pressure sensitive catheter tip transducers. With this technique we overcame some of the difficulties encountered with previously described recording systems for monitoring intravesical and intraurethral pressures on a continuous basis. Pressure changes in the urethra and bladder were recorded in response to various resting and stressful situations, with the patient in a natural environment and with freedom of activities of daily living. A correlation was established between the symptoms and the results of continuous monitoring, at the same time unmasking the discrepancies between the results of cystometry and the urinary complaints of the patient.

New IC Family for a Single-Tube Color Video Camera

With a marked spread of portable video tape recorders, there has been an increasing demand for reduction in size and power consumption and improved performance of color video cameras. To meet this demand, a family of seven IC's for a single-tube color video camera has been developed. The IC's can be used for any single-tube color video cameras employing the one-carrier frequency-division systeml) which is the most popular color encoding system.

A Consumer's Guide to Computerized Arrhythmia Monitoring

THE IMPORTANCE of arrhythmia monitoring in the care of the cardiac patient is now well established. 1,2,3 The use of computers in arrhythmia monitoring is also well established, with more than 1,000 hospital-based computerized arrhythmia monitoring systems currently in use throughout the world. 4,5 Arrhythmia monitoring can be broadly divided into two distinct types—inpatient and ambulatory. Ambulatory arrhythmia monitoring is typically performed using a portable battery-operated tape recorder that records the patient's ECG during a 24-hour period. The tape recording is later scanned at high speed to detect cardiac arrhythmias for purposes of diagnosis and for documenting the efficacy of therapy with antiarrhythmic drugs. The patient typically is not hospitalized, and the detection and quantitation of arrhythmias are only useful for documentation purposes. The purpose of inpatient arrhythmia monitoring is to detect and document cardiac arrhythmias as they happen so that appropriate treatment can be initiated. Thus, the inpatient arrhythmia