420 research outputs found

    Digital adaptions of the scores for Cage Variations I, II and III

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    Western Australian new music ensemble Decibel have devised a software-based tool for creating realisations of the score for John Cage\u27s Variations I and II. In these works Cage had used multiple transparent plastic sheets with various forms of graphical notation, that were capable of independent positioning in respect to one another, to create specifications for the multiple unique instantiation of these works. The digital versions allow for real-time generation of the specifications of each work, quasi-infinite exploration of diverse realisations of the works and transcription of the data created using Cage\u27s methodologies into proportionally notated scrolling graphical scores

    New digital interactions with John Cage\u27s Variations IV, V and VI

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    To celebrate the centenary of John Cage’s birth in 1912, Western Australian new music ensemble Decibel undertook the realization of the American composer John Cage’s (1912 – 1992) complete Variations I – VIII. The works offer a unique insight into the development of Cage’s approach to composition practice, aleatoric approaches, spatial arrangements and the use of electronics. Entitled the “John Cage Complete Variations Project”, Decibel created a performance of the eight pieces in around an hour. The preparation and reading of the scores that make use of transparent sheets (Variations I, II, III, IV and VI) has been adapted using digital score creators and readers. This permits real time generation of measurements and graphics, as well as the assemblage of performance symbols, that can occur during the actual performance of the works. This paper examines the approach to the Variations whose instructions result in the employment or creation of maps: Variations IV (1963), V (1965) and VI (1966)

    The Decibel ScorePlayer - A Digital Tool For Reading Graphic Notation

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    In 2009, the Decibel new music ensemble based in Perth, Western Australia was formed with an associated manifesto that stated “Decibel seek to dissolve any division between sound art, installation and music by focusing on the combination of acoustic and electronic instruments” [1]. The journey provided by this focus led to a range of investigations into different score types, resulting in a re-writing of the groups statement to “pioneering electronic score formats, incorporating mobile score formats and networked coordination performance environments” [2]. This paper outlines the development of Decibel’s work with the ‘screen score’, including the different stages of the ‘Decibel ScorePlayer’, an application (App) for reading graphic notation on the iPad. The paper proposes that the Decibel ScorePlayer App provides a new, more accurate and reliable way to coordinate performances of music where harmony and pulse are not the primary elements described by notation. It features a discussion of selected compositions facilitated by the application, with a focus on the significance of the application to the author’s own compositional practices. The different stages in the development, from prototype score player to the establishment of a commercialized ‘Decibel ScorePlayer’, are outlined in the context of practice led investigations

    Tectonic: a networked, generative and interactive, conducting environment for iPad

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    This paper describes the concept, implementation and context of Tectonic: Rodinia for four realtime composer-conductoors and ensemble. In this work, an addition to the reqertoire of the Decibel Scoreplayer, iPads art networked together using the bonjour protocol to manage connectivity over the network. Unlike previous Scoreplayer works, Rodinia combines conductor view control interfaces, performer view notation interfaces and an audience view overview interface, separately identified by manual connection and yet mutually interactive. Notation is communicated to an ensemble via scores independently generated in realtime in each performer view and amalgamated schematically in the :audience view interface. Interaction in the work is enacted through a collision avoidant algorithm that modifies the choices of each conductor by deflecting the streams of notation according to evaluation of the Mass and proximity to other streams, reflecting the concept of shifting Tectonic plates that crush and reform each other\u27s placement

    Establishing connectivity between the existing networked music notation packages Quintet.net, Decibel ScorePlayer and MaxScore

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    In this paper we outline a collaboration where live internet-based and local collaboration between research groups/musicians from Decibel New Music Ensemble (Perth, Australia) and ZM (Hamburg, Germany), was facilitated by novel innovations in customised software solutions employed by both groups. The exchange was funded by the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst and Universities Australia. Both groups were previously engaged in the research and performance of similar musical repertoire such as John Cage\u27s \u27Five\u27 (1988) and \u27Variations I — VIII\u27 (1958-67) among others, the performances of which utilise graphic, animated and extended traditional Western music notation. Preliminary steps were taken to achieve communication between the three existing network music notation packages, the Decibel ScorePlayer, MaxScore and quintet.net, facilitating a merging – and ultimately an extension – of notational approaches previously prescribed by each music notation package. In addition to the technical innovations required to achieve such a project, we consider the outcomes and future directions of the project, as well as their relevance for the wider contemporary music community

    Processos criativos e cognição estendida no espetáculo Embodied in Varios Darmstadt’58

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    Neste ensaio, exploramos os processos criativos e tecnológicos envolvidos no desenvolvimento do espetáculo “Embodied in varios Darmstadt’58” a partir do ponto de vista da cognição estendida e distribuída. Embora as dimensões de interpretação da arte telemática já tenham sido discutidas sob perspectivas similares, a obra “Embodied in varios Darmstadt’58" apresenta uma configuração incomum de aberturas e aleatoriedades, complexidade e minimalismo, engenharia e arte, que permitem um aprofundamento distinto sobre as relações entre tecnologias, arte e cognição. No decorrer do ensaio apresentaremos alguns conceitos norteadores no campo das teorias da mente incorporada e descreveremos parte dos processos de desenvolvimento de ferramentas computacionais utilizadas no processo de criação. Argumentaremos que a complexidade dos conceitos criativos envolvidos do espetáculo promoveu a extensão de elementos poéticos da obra e cargas cognitivas ao domínio tecnológico das máquinas

    Rapid but narrow:Evolutionary adaptation and transcriptional response of <i>Drosophila melanogaster</i> to toxic mould

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    Insects have adapted to a multitude of environmental conditions, including the presence of xenobiotic noxious substances. Environmental microorganisms, particularly rich on ephemeral resources, employ these noxious chemicals in a chemical warfare against predators and competitors, driving co-evolutionary adaptations. In order to analyse how environmental microbes may be driving such evolutionary adaptations, we experimentally evolved Drosophila melanogaster populations by exposing larvae to the toxin-producing mould Aspergillus nidulans that infests the flies' breeding substrate. To disentangle the effects of the mycotoxin Sterigmatocystin from other substrate modifications inflicted by the mould, we used the following four selection regimes: (i) control without fungus, (ii) A. nidulans wild type, (iii) a mutant of A. nidulans ΔlaeA with impaired toxin production, (iv) synthetic Sterigmatocystin. Experimental evolution was carried out in five independent D. melanogaster populations each, for a total of 11 generations. We further combined our evolution experiment with transcriptome analysis to identify evolutionary shifts in gene expression due to the selection regimes and mould confrontation. Populations that evolved in presence of the toxin-producing mould or the pure mycotoxin rapidly adapted to the respective conditions and showed higher viability in subsequent confrontations. Yet, mycotoxin-selected populations had no advantage in A. nidulans wild type confrontation. Moreover, distinctive changes in gene expression related to the selection-regime contrast were only associated with the toxin-producing-fungus regime and comprised a narrow set of genes. Thus, it needs the specific conditions of the selection agent to enable adaptation to the fungus.</p

    The influence of a single bout of swimming training on scapular upward rotation and muscle strength in junior club swimmers

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    Swimming requires repetitive overhead movements that may lead to shoulder injury. Dysfunctions in the movements of the scapula have been associated with injury to overhead athletes in other sports. In addition, most of the current research describing scapular dysfunction in swimmers has assessed adults, with few studies assessing adolescent swimmers

    Interactions of the Striatal Gene Rhes with the Dopaminergic System in Rodents

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    Mice that are incapable of expressing the small G protein Rhes have been generated and have shown to have abnormalities in behaviors mediated by the striatum, a region in which Rhes is highly expressed. Moreover, conditions that result in dopamine supersensitivity and a breakdown in D1/D2 synergism in rodents, consistently decrease rhes mRNA in striatum. Thus, Rhes may play have relevance in dopamine signal modulation. For evaluating the role of Rhes in anxiety, stereotypy and basal motor activity, adult male and female wild-type (WT) mice, Rhes knockout (KO) mice, and mice heterozygous for the KO and WT alleles (Het) were tested. There was no genotype differences in the distance traveled in the open field. However, female KO mice showed lower anxiety than either WTs or Hets, based on the quantity of time spent in the periphery vs. the central area of the open field (p\u3c0.05). With respect to striatally-mediated motor stereotypy, the mixed D1/D2 agonist apomorphine elicited a significant greater response in male KO and Het compared to WTs (p\u3c0.05). In previous studies of D1/D2 synergism, it has been consistently found in rats and mice that when D2 receptors alone are stimulated, there is an early and brief, D1 independent peak in stereotypy that disappears by 20 minutes. In the present study, this effect was more intense in male KO mice compared to the other two genotypes during the interval between 5 and 10 minutes (p\u3c0.05). The current findings favor the hypothesis that the GTP-binding protein Rhes interacts with as yet unidentified cellular proteins to buffer the transduction of synaptic dopamine signals into intracellular responses. Decreased or loss of Rhes therefore results in increased DA signal transduction

    Interactions of the Striatal Gene Rhes with the Dopaminergic System in Rodents

    Get PDF
    Mice that are incapable of expressing the small G protein Rhes have been generated and have shown to have abnormalities in behaviors mediated by the striatum, a region in which Rhes is highly expressed. Moreover, conditions that result in dopamine supersensitivity and a breakdown in D1/D2 synergism in rodents, consistently decrease rhes mRNA in striatum. Thus, Rhes may play have relevance in dopamine signal modulation. For evaluating the role of Rhes in anxiety, stereotypy and basal motor activity, adult male and female wild-type (WT) mice, Rhes knockout (KO) mice, and mice heterozygous for the KO and WT alleles (Het) were tested. There was no genotype differences in the distance traveled in the open field. However, female KO mice showed lower anxiety than either WTs or Hets, based on the quantity of time spent in the periphery vs. the central area of the open field (p\u3c0.05). With respect to striatally-mediated motor stereotypy, the mixed D1/D2 agonist apomorphine elicited a significant greater response in male KO and Het compared to WTs (p\u3c0.05). In previous studies of D1/D2 synergism, it has been consistently found in rats and mice that when D2 receptors alone are stimulated, there is an early and brief, D1 independent peak in stereotypy that disappears by 20 minutes. In the present study, this effect was more intense in male KO mice compared to the other two genotypes during the interval between 5 and 10 minutes (p\u3c0.05). The current findings favor the hypothesis that the GTP-binding protein Rhes interacts with as yet unidentified cellular proteins to buffer the transduction of synaptic dopamine signals into intracellular responses. Decreased or loss of Rhes therefore results in increased DA signal transduction
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