Barak Sober | Scholars@Duke

Barak Sober
Phillip Griffiths Assistant Research Professor

I am currently privilaged to be working with Prof. Ingrid Daubechies . Before that, I have completed my PhD in applied mathematics at Tel-Aviv University under the mentoring of Prof. David Levin . My MSc was co-mentored by Prof. Levin and Prof. Israel Finkelstein from the Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Civilizations.

My research ranges between analysis of high dimensional data from a geometrical perspective and the application of mathematical and statistical methods in digital humanities.

Current Appointments & Affiliations

Phillip Griffiths Assistant Research Professor, Mathematics, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 2020 - 2021
Assistant Research Professor of Mathematics, Mathematics, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 2018

Contact Information

Background
Education, Training, & Certifications
- Ph.D., Tel Aviv University (Israel) 2018
Recognition
In the News
- JAN 31, 2020 Duke Research Blog
  
  A Puzzle of Ancient Handwriting
- JAN 23, 2020 Phys.org
  
  Study reveals two writers penned landmark inscriptions in eighth-century BCE Samaria
- SEP 7, 2019 Forbes
  
  Both Sides Now: Looking At Two-Sided Paintings With X-Rays And AI
- AUG 30, 2019 The Telegraph
  
  Hidden works of Goya, Van Gogh and Van Eyck could be discovered using artifical intelligence
- JUN 16, 2017 New York Times
  
  Revealed in Israel, a 2,600-Year-Old Request for Wine
- JUN 15, 2017 Haaretz
  
  Inscription Found on First Temple-era Pottery in Jerusalem
- APR 12, 2016 New York Times
  
  New Evidence on When Bible Was Written: Ancient Shopping Lists
- APR 21, 2015 Haaretz
  
  A High-tech Quest to Unlock the Secrets of Ancient Israelite Letters
Awards & Honors
Publications & Artistic Works
Selected Publications
- Academic Articles
  - Sober, B., Y. Aizenbud, and D. Levin. “Approximation of functions over manifolds: A Moving Least-Squares approach.” Journal of Computational and Applied Mathematics 383 (February 1, 2021). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cam.2020.113140.
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  - Dym, Nadav, Barak Sober, and Ingrid Daubechies. “Expression of Fractals Through Neural Network Functions.” Ieee Journal on Selected Areas in Information Theory 1, no. 1 (May 2020): 57–66. https://doi.org/10.1109/jsait.2020.2991422.
    Full Text Open Access Copy
  - Faigenbaum-Golovin, Shira, Arie Shaus, Barak Sober, Eli Turkel, Eli Piasetzky, and Israel Finkelstein. “Algorithmic handwriting analysis of the Samaria inscriptions illuminates bureaucratic apparatus in biblical Israel.” Plos One 15, no. 1 (January 22, 2020): e0227452. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0227452.
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  - Shaus, Arie, Yana Gerber, Shira Faigenbaum-Golovin, Barak Sober, Eli Piasetzky, and Israel Finkelstein. “Forensic document examination and algorithmic handwriting analysis of Judahite biblical period inscriptions reveal significant literacy level.” Plos One 15, no. 9 (January 2020): e0237962. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0237962.
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  - Sabetsarvestani, Z., B. Sober, C. Higgitt, I. Daubechies, and M. R. D. Rodrigues. “Artificial intelligence for art investigation: Meeting the challenge of separating x-ray images of the Ghent Altarpiece.” Science Advances 5, no. 8 (August 30, 2019): eaaw7416. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aaw7416.
    Full Text Open Access Copy
  - Shaus, A., B. Sober, O. Tzang, Z. Ioffe, O. Cheshnovsky, I. Finkelstein, and E. Piasetzky. “Raman Binary Mapping of Iron Age Ostracon in an Unknown Material Composition and High-Fluorescence Setting—A Proof of Concept.” Archaeometry 61, no. 2 (April 1, 2019): 459–69. https://doi.org/10.1111/arcm.12419.
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  - Mendel-Geberovich, A., S. Faigenbaum-Golovin, A. Shaus, B. Sober, M. Cordonsky, E. Piasetzky, I. Finkelstein, and I. Milevski. “A renewed reading of Hebrew ostraca from cave A-2 at ramat beit shemesh (Nahal Yarmut), based on multispectral imaging.” Vetus Testamentum 69, no. 4–5 (January 1, 2019): 682–701. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685330-00001370.
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  - Mendel-Geberovich, A., A. Shaus, S. Faigenbaum-Golovin, B. Sober, M. Cordonsky, E. Piasetzky, and I. Finkelstein. “A brand new old inscription: Arad ostracon 16 rediscovered via multispectral imaging.” Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 378 (November 1, 2017): 113–25. https://doi.org/10.5615/bullamerschoorie.378.0113.
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  - Sober, B., and D. Levin. “Computer aided restoration of handwritten character strokes.” Cad Computer Aided Design 89 (August 1, 2017): 12–24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cad.2017.04.005.
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  - Faigenbaum-Golovin, Shira, Anat Mendel-Geberovich, Arie Shaus, Barak Sober, Michael Cordonsky, David Levin, Murray Moinester, et al. “Multispectral imaging reveals biblical-period inscription unnoticed for half a century.” Plos One 12, no. 6 (January 2017): e0178400. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0178400.
    Full Text Open Access Copy
  - Faigenbaum-Golovin, Shira, Arie Shaus, Barak Sober, David Levin, Nadav Na’aman, Benjamin Sass, Eli Turkel, Eli Piasetzky, and Israel Finkelstein. “Algorithmic handwriting analysis of Judah's military correspondence sheds light on composition of biblical texts.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 113, no. 17 (April 11, 2016): 4664–69. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1522200113.
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  - Faigenbaum-Golovin, S., A. Shaus, B. Sober, I. Finkelstein, D. Levin, M. Moinester, E. Piasetzky, and E. Turkel. “Computerized paleographic investigation of hebrew iron age Ostraca.” Radiocarbon 57, no. 2 (January 1, 2015): 317–25. https://doi.org/10.2458/azu_rc.57.18565.
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  - Faigenbaum, S., B. Sober, I. Finkelstein, M. Moinester, E. Piasetzky, A. Shaus, and M. Cordonsky. “Multispectral imaging of two Hieratic inscriptions from Qubur el-Walaydah.” Agypten Und Levante 24 (January 1, 2014): 349–53. https://doi.org/10.1553/s349.
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  - Sober, B., S. Faigenbaum, I. Beit-Arieh, I. Finkelstein, M. Moinester, E. Piasetzkey, and A. Shaus. “Multispectral imaging as a tool for enhancing the reading of Ostraca.” Palestine Exploration Quarterly 146, no. 3 (January 1, 2014): 185–97. https://doi.org/10.1179/0031032814Z.000000000101.
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  - Faigenbaum, S., B. Sober, A. Shaus, M. Moinester, E. Piasetzky, G. Bearman, M. Cordonsky, and I. Finkelstein. “Multispectral images of ostraca: Acquisition and analysis.” Journal of Archaeological Science 39, no. 12 (January 1, 2012): 3581–90. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2012.06.013.
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  - Faigenbaum-Golovin, Shira, Rollston Christopher, Eli Piasetzky, Barak Sober, and Israel Finkelstein. “The Ophel (Jerusalem) Ostracon in Light of New Multispectral Images.” Semitica, n.d.
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  - Pu, Wei, Barak Sober, Nathan Daly, Zahra Sabetsarvestani, Catherine Higgitt, Ingrid Daubechies, and Miguel R. D. Rodrigues. “Image Separation with Side Information: A Connected Auto-Encoders Based Approach,” n.d.
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  - Sober, Barak, Robert Ravier, and Ingrid Daubechies. “Approximating the Riemannian Metric from Point Clouds via Manifold Moving Least Squares,” n.d.
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  - Sober, Barak, and David Levin. “Manifold Approximation by Moving Least-Squares Projection (MMLS).” Constructive Approximation, n.d. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00365-019-09489-8.
    Full Text Open Access Copy Link to Item
  - Yariv, Aizenbud, and Barak Sober. “Approximating the Span of Principal Components via Iterative Least-Squares,” n.d.
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- Conference Papers
  - Pu, W., B. Sober, N. Daly, C. Higgitt, I. Daubechies, and M. R. D. Rodrigues. “A connected auto-encoders based approach for image separation with side information: With applications to art investigation.” In Icassp, Ieee International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing Proceedings, 2020-May:2213–17, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICASSP40776.2020.9054651.
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  - Shaus, A., S. Faigenbaum-Golovin, B. Sober, and E. Turkel. “Potential contrast - A new image quality measure.” In Is and T International Symposium on Electronic Imaging Science and Technology, 52–58, 2017. https://doi.org/10.2352/ISSN.2470-1173.2017.12.IQSP-226.
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  - Shaus, A., B. Sober, E. Turkel, and E. Piasetzky. “Beyond the ground truth: Alternative quality measures of document binarizations.” In Proceedings of International Conference on Frontiers in Handwriting Recognition, Icfhr, 0:495–500, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICFHR.2016.0097.
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  - Faigenbaum, S., A. Shaus, B. Sober, E. Turkel, and E. Piasetzky. “Evaluating glyph binarizations based on their properties.” In Doceng 2013 Proceedings of the 2013 Acm Symposium on Document Engineering, 127–30, 2013. https://doi.org/10.1145/2494266.2494318.
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  - Shaus, Arie, Barak Sober, Eli Turkel, and Eli Piasetzky. “Improving binarization via sparse methods,” n.d.
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- Theses and Dissertations
  - Sober, Barak. “Structuring High Dimensional Data: A Moving Least-Squares Projective Approach to Analyze Manifold Data,” n.d.
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Teaching & Mentoring
Recent Courses

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Education, Training, & Certifications

In the News

Awards & Honors

Selected Publications

Academic Articles

Conference Papers

Theses and Dissertations

Recent Courses