Speech:Spring 2015 Trevor Downs Log


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 * Semesters
 * Spring 2015
 * Proposal
 * Report
 * Information - General Project Information
 * Experiments - List of speech experiments

Week Ending February 3, 2015

 * Task:
 * Gather contact & project information from all other groups.

1/28:
 * Results:
 * We both started the proposal outline on wiki page in class. Adam met with each group and gathered contact information from each established group leader, while I set-up the wiki page. From there, we divided groups upon whom we will be "in charge" of communicating/working with. Since there's an odd number of groups (5), we attempted to split up the work evenly by dividing what we thought would be the two largest groups  and the three lesser of size groups.
 * The group breakdown--- Adam: Model & Experiments | Trevor: Systems, Tools & Data.
 * We will still collaborate with each other in order for us to understand how the entire project works, dividing the groups up will just help us be more organized in the process.

1/29:
 * Contacted my three groups (Systems, Tools, Data) for information (from each) pertaining to the proposal.

1/30:
 * Continued to read previous class logs/proposals to get a better understanding. Finished putting together the wiki page for our Spring 2015 proposal outline template.


 * Plan:
 * Continue to read previous class proposals and gather information from the groups.
 * Contact each group to confirm there are no issues.


 * Concerns:
 * My only concern is communication between teams, gathering information. However since we are working with smart/competent people, there won't be any issues. Aside from that I can't see any other potential issues.
 * The only group that replied back to me was Tools group.

Week Ending February 10, 2015

 * Task:
 * Information pertaining to the proposal was to be submitted to me or Adam, from each team. I received information from one group while none from others.
 * Start putting together my portion of the proposal- Systems, Data, Tools.

 2/4: 
 * Results:
 * Started to assemble my portion of the proposal with what information the teams sent me so-far.

 2/8: 
 * Contacted the Systems, Data, & Tools group - re-iterating that I need more information from them. Regarding putting together the proposal. Tools group is the only group I have been able to communicate effectively with. I have not heard from System and Tools yet.

 2/9: 
 * Read over previous semester logs/proposals. Continued working on proposal. We need much more information from each group going forward, but we still have a decent amount of time until the deadline (14th).

 2/10: 
 * Systems & Data groups responded today. Systems group sent me their rough draft proposal, I read it, and added to the wiki. Data group sent Adam their rough draft, instead of me. Tonight the proposal looks like it is coming together nicely now that we have information to add. I am comfortable with us making the deadline for proposal rough draft.


 * Plan:
 * Establish better lines of communication with my groups.
 * Inspire the groups to send information to me.


 * Concerns:
 * Haven't received much information for the proposal.

Week Ending February 17, 2015
2/11:
 * Task:
 * Gather further information to buff up the Spring 2015 rough draft proposal- asked my groups to submit to me by the 13th. (day before due date)
 * Apply finishing touches on proposal rough draft--due February 14th (has to be submitted sometime Friday night-into Saturday morning )
 * Results:
 * Received the Data team's updated rough draft proposal today. Worked on the introduction part of the proposal; re-organized the bullet list of team member names into table format--to condense space. Added a few sentences to the introduction so we'd have something to build off of.

2/12:
 * Continued to work on the proposal. Added the updated information received yesterday from the Data team. This completed the Data portion of the rough draft proposal. Today I also received more information from tools team, I added it to the proposal. Now the Tools portion of the rough draft is complete. Of my groups: two are complete at this time (Data & Tools)-- and the other group (Systems) is close to 80% done.  Things are pulling together nicely, not much to add tomorrow. Communication between my teams has been strong.

2/13:
 * Added remaining portion of System's group which completed the proposal. All of our groups pulled through by the deadline and submitted information.

2/17:
 * I spent time reading my classmates individual logs. The purpose of this was to get a deeper understanding of the project, and to see what everyone is doing.


 * Plan:


 * Put together an outstanding proposal by deadline Friday night into Saturday morning (2/13-2/14).


 * Concerns:


 * 2/12: No worries at the moment.
 * 2/13: Introduction needs to be bulked up

Week Ending February 24, 2015

 * Task:
 * Put together final draft of the Proposal and submit by 2/25.
 * Make sure all suggested edits are adhered to.


 * Results:

2/18:
 * Met with my groups to discuss needed changes to be made for our final draft proposal. I relayed the edits suggested by Professor Jonas based off our rough draft, to the teams. Teams were notified to submit to our group the final proposal revisions by Sunday, in order to have sufficient time to get it reviewed by Professor Jonas.

2/19:
 * Today I received the Data team's portion of the final proposal. Very prepared group, submitting their part <24hrs after the deadline was made in class.

2/20:
 * Added the updated information received yesterday from the Data team. As of now, the Data group section of the proposal is completed.

2/23:
 * Received the final revised proposal from Tools team today. Added updated info to their section, Tools is complete now. Hopefully our group receives the rest of the groups revised proposals by tonight. So that Adam and I can put the finishing touches on the proposal and have Professor Jonas take a look for additional review (prior to final submission).

2/24:
 * Systems group uploaded their revised final proposal today. At the moment, all 5 groups are now done. Today I continued to work on the proposal, created an image timeline that goes into the introduction. Uploaded the image to server, and added it to the proposal. Also made edits. Read logs.


 * Plan:


 * Maintain effective communication between team's.
 * Concerns:
 * The final proposal deadline is 2/25.
 * 2/23: Collecting the remaining information with only 2 days till deadline, shortens the potential time frame for getting the proposal reviewed. Hopefully we can get it looked at prior to submitting the final proposal.

Week Ending March 3, 2015

 * Task:
 * I am now a member of Model group, since proposal group has gone away at this point.
 * Get an understanding of what model group is all about - the task at hand.


 * Results:

2/25:
 * Met with my new group (model). Began reading what a Train consist of. Installed putty on my personal laptop in order to gain access to Caesar.

2/27:
 * Read through past modeling group logs from previous semesters. Purpose of this was to gain a fuller, deeper knowledge upon what my group is doing and responsible for. First reviewed was Spring 2014 logs since they were the more recent successful group. I continued to skim through personal logs. A lot of information to grasp all at once.

2/28:
 * Read my team members logs. In attempt to get up to speed as i'm a new member of this squad. I noticed Samuel Sweet Log  was documented clearly and in depth. Reviewed how to run the train from his log, this will help me be further prepared for next week when I attempt to run a train.

3/3:
 * Continued reading logs. Jumped around from Spring 2014 and Spring 2015 (this semester) logs in order to compare and contrast. Starting to get a better sense of what is going on here.


 * Plan:
 * To read model logs (current & previous semesters)
 * Have strong understanding of what this group is/does.


 * Concerns:
 * Getting up to speed with my new team
 * Overwhelmed with the amount of information I have to absorb, in regards to my time span to learn it.

Week Ending March 10, 2015

 * Task:
 * My goal is to get become accustomed to the software being used. I need to figure out how to setup an Experiment and run a Train. As well as Brush up on Unix commands


 * Results:

 3/4:
 * Successfully ssh'd into Caesar. Logged in as root, changed the password on my username account. Was able to view directories without any issues. Practiced some commands to navigate around, and at the same time looked up commands. Since I haven't messed around with Unix in a little over year (since Operating Systems class), I have become a bit rusty.

3/5:
 * Reviewed David Meehan's log from Spring 2014 semester (last year) modeling group. Found reference links on his page to be helpful, analyzed a few of them. I plan to look at the rest soon.  After today's investigation,  I have a better understanding of the project, specifically the modeling group's contribution.

3/6:
 * Read the Experiment setup and Training guide. Read about Spinx-3, main areas covered include how to tune the decoder, establishing a baseline, and interpreting the summary line. Starting to get a better understanding of how this all works.
 * Noticed most of links under "Helpful links" section, on the  Speech:Models page  do not work.

3/10:
 * Today is the day where I run a Train. I analyzed the wiki reference page, as well as other individual logs from past semester(s) and current semester to ensure the information is up-to-date. After comparing different tutorials, my conclusion is that the Train guide on the Wiki is being used by many others therefor it must be accurate.
 * Sam referred me to use experiment #0263 to run first_5hr.
 * I created child experiment #006, and then began running the train.
 * Everything goes smooth until the last step, "nohup scripts_pl/RunAll.pl . &" causes the train to crash, with no response.


 * Plan:
 * Read/review basic Unix Commands. Practice those commands within Caesar to navigate.
 * Review Spring 2014 modeling group individual/group logs (David Meehan & Colby Johnson).
 * Read the experiment setup and Train guide.


 * Concerns:
 * New to the modeling team, I need to get up to speed in order to pull my weight.
 * (3/10) Had difficulty getting first_5hr train to run. No problems until the nohup is executed, then the train fails. Without ryhme or reason as to why.

Week Ending March 24, 2015

 * Task:
 * Class split into 2 teams for Team Competition. ("Patriots vs Bruins)
 * Run first_5hr successfully. Had difficulty running it last week due to inconsistency in the scripts. Sam told me it is fixed as of late night 3/10 with help from Dr.Jonas.
 * Set-up team member e-mail table on the secret wiki.
 * Introduce myself to Perl
 * Results:

3/11: 3/12:
 * Today as a whole, our class voted on to skip "boot camp" and jump right into Team Competition for the remainder of this semester's project. Dr. Jonas split the class into two teams: Patriots & Bruins. I'm a proud member of the Patriots.
 * Our group (Patriots) met at the end of class. Dakota gathered all team member e-mails and sent out a group message which contained the link of our secret wiki site. This is where all the magic is going to take place.
 * Created new experiment #0270. Started running first_5hr/train at 3:02pm. Will post results once received.
 * Took the team member e-mail list received from Dakota, and turned it into a table on our secret team wiki site. Noticed that Spring 2014 winning team had this done so figured it would be helpful to do.
 * Took the team member e-mail list received from Dakota, and turned it into a table on our secret team wiki site. Noticed that Spring 2014 winning team had this done so figured it would be helpful to do.

3/14:
 * Dr. Jonas informed me to change how the e-mails were typed on the Avengers (Spring 2014 winning team) wiki page. The purpose of this change is to avoid web bots parsing the e-mails, which results in a lesser chance of being spammed. An example of how this was done below:
 * Actual e-mail:  firstname.lastname@gmail.com
 * Modified e-mail: firstname.lastname_@_gmail_._com
 * Helps ensure a level of privacy/security

3/21:
 * Can't log-in to Caesar. Was hoping to make some progress today.
 * Read logs, noticed others have had trouble logging in as well, glad it's not just me :)

3/22:
 * Installed cent OS 6.5 on a desktop that wasn't being used.
 * Read up on Perl.
 * Ran a few basic programs (hello world! and a couple others).


 * Plan:
 * Further investigation into running train.
 * Read up on Perl + run some basic programs
 * Concerns:
 * (3/21) Seems that Caesar went on vacation

Week Ending March 31, 2015

 * Task:
 * Patriots group: each member was assigned a script(s) to analyze.
 * Breakdown & understand the script I was assigned. In order to relay the information I learn, to my fellow team members. Essentially splitting up these scripts among each member will make it easier for us to understand as a team. Opposed to everyone trying to research all scripts, and just scratching the surface.

3/29:
 * Results:
 * Practiced running a train again just to ensure that I can do this.

3/30:
 * Attempted to analyze my script (setup_Sphinx3.pl), can't find the script. I dug through /mnt/main/scripts/train/scripts_pl. And still couldn't find my script. Instead of analyzing mine, I just poked around and looked at other various scripts, to grasp an understanding.

3/31:
 * Spent over an hour trying to gain access to Caesar. Password's that I wrote down didn't work. Found out from Melissa that that new user accounts were created when drones were mounted to Caesar last night. Guessing that has to do with it.
 * Dr. Jonas sent me a solution to my issue, and it fixed easily.
 * Dakota located setup_Sphinx3.pl with a lot of digging, it wasn't located in scripts directory. He found it within /mnt/main.
 * Today i'm gonna try and figure out what it does.


 * Plan:
 * Continue researching Perl when I run into something I don't understand.
 * Concerns:
 * None at the moment.
 * Wasted a lot of time just trying to login from home

Week Ending April 7, 2015

 * Task:
 * Run a longer train (more than 5hr)
 * Analyze scripts

4/3:
 * Results:
 * Checking in. Read logs.

4/4:
 * Analyzed scripts. Trying to get a grasp on how they all interact with each other.
 * Being in the proposal group kinda put me a little behind the curb, so getting up-to speed is the main goal.

4/6:
 * Read logs

(4/7) None at the moment
 * Plan:
 * Analyze all necessary scripts. Understand how scripts work and interact
 * Concerns:

Week Ending April 14, 2015

 * Task:
 * Work with my group to assemble poster, to showcase at URC event.
 * Continue script investigation.
 * Run trains & decode.
 * Modify parameters

4/10:
 * Results:
 * Worked on URC poster- "rough draft" version.

4/13:
 * Read logs
 * Ran 5hr train and tweaked some parameters. Still need to put more research in to figure out how I can run a better one.

4/14:
 * Run a 125 hour train -- While attempting this I ran into errors and results were unsuccessful.
 * Need to look deeper into what is wrong or what i'm doing wrong perhaps.


 * Plan:
 * Collaborate with my group to assemble an outstanding poster.
 * Run trains and modify scripts to get a better baseline.
 * Concerns:
 * (4/10) None at the moment.
 * (4/14) Running a successful 125 hour train.

Week Ending April 21, 2015

 * Task:
 * Run a decode

4/19:
 * Results:
 * Read teammates logs

4/20:
 * Read teammates logs
 * Running a 5hr train.
 * Purpose of short train is so that I can start de-code process

4/21:
 * Lost internet connection during train. So it failed

4/21: Time left in the semester, to run longer trains.
 * Plan:
 * Run 5hr train, and decode it
 * Concerns:

Week Ending April 28, 2015
4/25: 4/27: 4/28: (4/27): time left in the semester. Fortunately i'll be continuing work with this project in the summer and can continue to further my understandings then.
 * Task:
 * Run and decode 125hr train
 * Results:
 * Read logs
 * Read logs
 * Ran 125hr train
 * Read logs
 * Plan:
 * Run and decode trains
 * Read logs to stay up-to-date with team members/class
 * Concerns:

Week Ending May 5, 2015

 * Task:
 * Put together my section of the report-- Description.
 * The report has been split into 4 sections ( Goal, Description, Results, Summary). There is 1 member of the team, in charge of each section (so 4 people drafting the rough draft).

4/30:
 * Results:
 * Began to draft my portion of the report.(Description)
 * Looked at the example report to gain an understanding of what is supposed to be getting accomplished.

5/3:
 * Read logs.
 * Worked on draft for final report.

5/4:
 * Finished up rough draft version of the description section.
 * Submitted to team members for review/edits.

5/5:
 * Read logs.
 * Looked over rough draft version of the report that Dakota put together.

(4/30): None.
 * Plan:
 * Communicate with team members when questions arise.
 * Finish my task (description) by Sunday night. So that the team has adequate time to assemble the final report by Wednesday.
 * Concerns: