Re-announcement:
Ph.d.
stipend available (Deadline February 12 2009):
Echolocation
in bats – the role of ear and face morphology for sound emission and
perception
Supervisors: Annemarie Surlykke Institute of
Biology, SDU and John Hallam,
The Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Institute,
SDU.
SDU, University
of Southern Denmark, Odense
Denmark.
Bats use
echolocation or “bio-sonar” to orient and find prey in the dark.
They emit short high frequency sound pulses and listen for the echoes
reflected
from surroundings to orient in space. Bats from different families emit
sounds
either through the mouth or through the nose. Bats emitting sound
through the
nose have elaborate skin folds or “nose-leaves” around the
nostrils. The shape and size of the sound emitting structures (mouth or
nose)
is believed to strongly affect the directionality or shape of the
emitted sound
beam. The shape of the sound beam will subsequently strongly affect the
reflected “echo-picture” of the scene. A broad beam will ensonify
objects within a wide angle, whereas a narrow beam will restrict the
bat to a
narrow angle of view, but perhaps reach further ahead than the broader
beam.
Thus, the received echo is dependent on the outgoing sound. However,
the
returning echo also depends on the shape and size of ears. This
filtering is
referred to as “head-related-transfer-function” (HRTF) and is well
described for human listening, but not at all for bats in spite of the
obvious
importance, which is reflected in the very diverse and sometimes
bizarre
morphology of bat faces.
The goal of the
project is therefore to record and use echolocation sounds from real
bat
species to determine the effect of morphology on directionality of the
emitted
beam and HRTF of returning echoes. Based on these data we want to
develop
algorithms to effectively simulate the sound in 3-D. 3-D simulations of
sounds
fields will be used for implementing bio-mimetic robots using sound
(echolocation)
to orient in space and to discriminate between objects.
An EU-funded (FP7)
project, ChiRoPing (www.ChiRoPing.org )
focuses on the engineering aspects of building bio-mimetic bat-robots,
using as
models four bat species with different morphology and echolocation
sounds, but
overlapping prey capture strategies. The ChiRoPing project seeks to
build
physical and mathematical models of the bats and compare structure,
function
and performance to the real bats. Thus, this present project will
interact with
and complement the ChiRoPing project. Biology, SDU, also has a Marine
Research
Facility, “Fjord and Baelt”, with captive trained porpoises, which
gives a unique opportunity to compare performance of bio-sonar systems
in air
and water and study how structure is linked to function in two media
posing
different constraints on the systems.
This project is
offered within the research training programme SNAK. The project is
conditioned
on funding from the Danish Agency for Science, Technology and
Innovation.
NB:
Deadline for “Declaration of Interest” is February 12.th 2009
– Project 7, see general description:
http://www.jobs.sdu.dk/vis_stilling.php?id=4896&lang=eng
Declaration of interest - PhD Research
Fellowships in Natural Sciences – Job ID 083021 – Re-announcement
of Projects 6 and 7
The Faculty
of Science offers
two PhD Research Fellowships at the Faculty of Science available as of
1 April,
2009.
The fellowships may be sought by students who wish to obtain a PhD
degree,
either with or without a previous Master's degree, in a field relevant
to one
or more of the below mentioned PhD projects.
The PhD programme at the Faculty of Science can be completed as a
three-year
study with a previous Master’s degree or as a four-year study without a
previous Master’s degree. Applicants without a relevant Master's degree
must have passed a minimum of 240 ECTS-points (Bachelor’s degree plus
one
year (60 ECTS-points) of graduate study).
The fellowships are available within the following two projects:
Project
6) Sound localizing robot
Project
7) Echolocation in bats – the role of ear and face morphology for sound
emission and perception
Further information concerning the projects: Please contact one or more
of the
supervisors mentioned under the project descriptions.
Further information about the PhD study can be found at the homepage
of the University.
|
Application,
salary, etc.:
|
The PhD
Research Fellowship is
salaried in accordance with the Danish State Education Grant and Loan
Scheme
Authority, and with the agreement on salaried PhD students between the
Ministry
of Finance and the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations,
AC.
The successful candidates will be enrolled at this University in
accordance
with Faculty regulations and the Danish Ministerial Order on the PhD
Programme
at the Universities (PhD order).
Must be made in the form of a declaration of interest and should
include the
following
• A letter stating the interest, motivation and qualifications for the
project in question (max two pages)
• Detailed CV, including personal contact information
• Certified copy of diploma
• Previous research experience and list of publications, if any.
• References
Additional information may be requested and the application process may
include
an interview before the final decision is made.
The declaration of interest will be evaluated by a committee comprised
of the
supervisor of the project and one or two members of the PhD Assessment
Committee at the Faculty. The Assessment Committee selects one or two
students
from each project who are each given one month to prepare a project and
research plan and an application for enrolment at the PhD School at the
Faculty
of Science.
All applications should be marked: “Job ID 083021” as well as one
(or both) of the above mentioned project IDs.
Employment as a PhD Research Fellow is for three or four years.
Employment
stops automatically at the end of the period. The holder of the
Fellowship is
not allowed to have other paid employment during the three/four-year
period.
The University encourages all interested persons to apply, regardless
of age,
gender, religious affiliation or ethnic background.
Applications must be forwarded by e-mail (in Adobe PDF format or Word
XP 2003
legible format) to the following e-mail address: m("sdu.dk","anc");"> and should
be
addressed to: The Faculty of Science, University of Southern Denmark,
Campusvej
55, DK-5230 Odense M.
Incomplete applications and applications received after the deadline
will not
be considered.
Application deadline is 12 February, 2009 at 12 o’clock noon for
appointment 1 April, 2009.
Employment
starts: 01.04. 2009
Closing date 12.02.
2009 at 12
noon
Location: Odense, Denmark
Mark
application Job
ID 083021 and send it to:
Det Naturvidenskabelige Fakultetssekretariat
Syddansk Universitet
Campusvej 55
5230 Odense M
