The Nikitin Case: Rule of Law?

Condette Jean-François. 252) MALPEL François Frédéric. In: , . Les recteurs d'académie en France de 1808 à 1940. Tome II, Dictionnaire biographique. Paris : Institut national de recherche pédagogique, 2006. p. 271. (Histoire biographique de l'enseignement, 12

The new Sunspot Number: assembling all corrections

The Sunspot Number, created by R.Wolf in 1849, provides a direct long-term record of solar activity from 1700 to the present. In spite of its central role in multiple studies of the solar dynamo and of the past Sun-Earth relations, it was never submitted to a global critical revision. However, various discrepancies with other solar indices recently motivated a full re-calibration of this series. Based on various diagnostics and corrections established in the framework of several Sunspot Number Workshops and described in Clette et al. 2014, we assembled all corrections in order to produce a new standard version of this reference time series. In this paper, we explain the three main corrections and the criteria used to choose a final optimal version of each correction factor or function, given the available information and published analyses. We then discuss the good agreement obtained with the Group sunspot Number derived from a recent reconstruction. Among the implications emerging from this re-calibrated series, we also discuss the absence of a rising secular trend in the newly-determined solar cycle amplitudes, also in relation with contradictory indications derived from cosmogenic radionuclides. As conclusion, we introduce the new version management scheme now implemented at the World Data Center - SILSO, which reflects a major conceptual transition: beyond the re-scaled numbers, this first revision of the Sunspot Number also transforms the former locked data archive into a living observational series open to future improvements

Large-Scale Plant Classification with Deep Neural Networks

This paper discusses the potential of applying deep learning techniques for plant classification and its usage for citizen science in large-scale biodiversity monitoring. We show that plant classification using near state-of-the-art convolutional network architectures like ResNet50 achieves significant improvements in accuracy compared to the most widespread plant classification application in test sets composed of thousands of different species labels. We find that the predictions can be confidently used as a baseline classification in citizen science communities like iNaturalist (or its Spanish fork, Natusfera) which in turn can share their data with biodiversity portals like GBIF.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, 1 table. Published at Proocedings of ACM Computing Frontiers Conference 201

Industrial policy: why governments pick losers

Frédéric Robert-Nicoud and Richard Baldwin explain why governments often support ailing sectors.

Student Recital: Mi H. Chi, piano

Sonata in B Flat Major, K.333, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) -- Variations Serieuses, Op. 54, Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) -- Cycles for Piano, Paul Cooper (1926-) -- Impromptu in G flat Major, Op. 51, Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849) -- Etude in G flat Major, Op. 25, No. 9, Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849) -- Etude in A flat Major, Op. 25, No. 1, Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849) -- Ballade in G Minor, Op. 23, Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849

Barry Truax Riverrun (1986/2004), a case study from the TaCEM project, exploring new approaches to techniques of analysis and re-synthesis in the study of concert electroacoustic works

At last year’s EMS in Lisbon we introduced the TaCEM project (Technology and Creativity in Electroacoustic Music), a 30-month project funded by the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council, and demonstrated the generic TIAALS software being produced as part of this project. This year we present an update on the project, focusing particularly on the first of our case studies, Barry Truax’s Riverrun. Eight works have been selected for the project, taking into account criteria such as historical context, the nature of the synthesis techniques employed, and the aesthetics that have underpinned their realisation. Key considerations have included the accessibility of the technical resources and composing materials used in their production, and opportunities to pursue particular lines of enquiry with the composer concerned. In selecting the eight works for detailed study, a further consideration has been the extent to which the composers explored techniques that were already available at the time in ways that are unique and distinctive, or alternatively developed entirely new methods of synthesis in pursuit of their creative goals. The pioneering work of Barry Truax in terms of developing techniques of granular synthesis assign his achievements almost exclusively to the latter classification, and the composition of Riverrun (1986/2004) is a landmark achievement in this regard. Truax’s composing environment evolved from the early study of interactive real-time synthesis techniques at the Institute of Sonology, Utrecht 1971-73, exploring the possibilities of using Poisson-ordered distributions in the generation of microsound, to the emergence of entirely granular techniques at Simon Fraser University, British Columbia a decade later, culminating in the development of his program GSX designed specifically for waveform-based synthesis and first used to compose Riverrun, and its later extension, GSAMX, that extended these granular techniques to include the manipulation of previously sampled sound material. At the time of composition conventional minicomputers still lacked the capacity to generate multiple voices of granulated sound material in real time, but for Truax the acquisition in 1982 of a high speed bit slice array processor, the DMX-1000, provided the enhancedprocessing power necessary for achieving such a goal. The unique characteristics of its special hardware and associated programming environment, managed in turn via a host PDP 11/23 computer, both empowered his creative objectives and also materially shaped and influenced the ways in which they could be practically achieved. The significance of such causal relationships in the evolution of the electroacoustic music repertory has yet to be widely understood, and this study of Riverrun corroborates the importance of such a line of investigation. In this case it has been possible to carry out a detailed study of the original system, still maintained in working order by Truax, leading to a reconstruction of key elements of Riverrun using a Max-based simulation of GSX, the authenticity of the results being assessed both subjectively by means of a direct aural comparison and also measured objectively using software. Our presentation at this year’s EMS in Berlin included a demonstration of examples of the software we have developed to enable readers to engage with Riverrun interactively, both by analysing the original recordings and by using our emulation of the GSX system to be able to recreate passages of the work and manipulate the techniques employed in order to learn more about them. We also gave examples of other materials we have collected in relation to this case study, including videos of the composer himself working with the GSX system and discussing the composition of Riverrun

Analysing the Creative Process through a Modelling of Tools and Methods for Composition in Hans Tutschku’s Entwurzelt

The analysis of the creative processes involved in electroacoustic music may to a large extent rely on the thorough study of the technological tools used for the realisation of a musical work, both on the composition and on the performance sides. Understanding the behaviour and potential range of aesthetic results of such tools enables the musicologist to approach the studied work much beyond its final form, as presented on tape or as performed on a particular occasion: gaining knowledge on a wider technological context leads to considering the actual artistic decisions in the perspective of the potential outcomes that the composer and performer could face but not necessarily adopt. Hence, analysing an electroacoustic work on the basis of the study of its creative context, technological tools and compositional methods may constitute a useful approach to a better understanding of its related creative processes. However, the implementation of such an approach, mainly based on the hardware or software elements used during the creation of a given work, is not straightforward. First, it implies that the considered technologies are still in use and have not be come irreversibly obsolete. In this matter, new performances of a work are good opportunities for such investigations, as they often provide a technical update and require a deep understanding of the composer’s intentions. The musicologist also needs to have access to the resources, which may not be available without a direct contact with the composer. Assuming these conditions are reached,the musicological and organological studies can encounter another issue, particularly in the digital domain: the sources are not always presented under forms that are directly readable by the analyst, for instance with a specific programming language. Despite all these possible difficulties, many cases of technological tools lean themselves to an in-depth investigation, leading to relevant conclusions on some of the creative processes appearing in the field of electroacoustic music. In the context of a common session of several analytical approaches to a same electroacoustic piece, Hans Tutschku’s Entwurzelt for six singers and electronics (2012), this article focuses on the investigation and modelling of tools and methods of the compositional stage of the realisation of the work. During a performance of Entwurzelt, the electronic materials are simply triggered as events by one of the singers, without further interactivity–thus, the essential part of the research on the electroacoustic realisation aims at exploring the processes used during the compositional stage itself. As the electronics are used as an extension of the live vocal expression by the means of harmonic amplification and complex texturing, the tools for generation and processing of both symbolic representations and audio explored. Since the software tools that constitute the primary sources for our research were not directly designed to be used beyond their creative purposes, this talk presents software modelling implemented by the two authors to demonstrate the technological context in which Tutschku could compose Entwurzelt, emphasizing his creative methods and the decisions he could make upon a wider range of possible materials and processing techniques