The morphogenesis of intention and structural stability of motifs.

This article is based on the Agent-action-Objective (AaO) axiom and assumes that intention can be discovered and made evident. But this requirement can be satisfied only under the condition that a particular individual can be identified with his style of writing. This implies that the nature of writing becomes approachable. Getting a style under control presupposes the A-component, which is discussed with a focus on string rotation and the establishment of lawful relations that include intention in laws that are governing the patterning of strings. It is demonstrated that angular articulations are characterising dynamical string movements. However, independent of their textually embedded magnitudes, they cannot survive. As the result of the text production of two Swedish students, convoluted structures have come into existence and reflect transformations on the meaning of topological invariants. Thus, spaces have been realised, which have been shown to restrict string rotations. Over the given environments, it is demonstrated that uniqueness is achieved in the comprehension of a particular task. In the formation of motifs, the morphogenesis of intention and its structural stability have provided the basis for a 3D writing style control, while the growth curves of motifs have been shown to evolve in complex landscapes

Confessions of a live coder

This paper describes the process involved when a live coder decides to learn a new musical programming language of another paradigm. The paper introduces the problems of running comparative experiments, or user studies, within the field of live coding. It suggests that an autoethnographic account of the process can be helpful for understanding the technological conditioning of contemporary musical tools. The author is conducting a larger research project on this theme: the part presented in this paper describes the adoption of a new musical programming environment, Impromptu, and how this affects the author’s musical practice

Gerard Manley Hopkins and the pattern of language : a consideration of his writings in the light of some modern formalist and structuralist theories of language and poetry

Hopkins's work is better comprehensible as a unity if considered as anticipating Structuralist views of language and associated attitudes to poetic structure. Hopkins's investigations of "inscape" emphasize systemic, organization and the ontological priority of patterns of relationship over individual phenomena. His writings on language reveal a comparable inclination, inviting a special interpretation of his phrase "inscape of speech".Hopkins's attitude to poetic language centres on a notion of poetry as "metalingual" activity, and is illuminated by reference to earlier and subsequent recurrences of the idea, particularly Formalist- Structuralist variations such as Jakobson's. This discussion clarifies general questions about the functions of poetic structure. Like some Formalists, Hopkins saw versification as creative "deformation" of language, parallelism in his verse working most typically to this end and also emphasizing the interrelated wholeness of the language-system.By this stage the notion in Hopkins's work of a "language of nature" seems more than a vague metaphor. In two particular late poems,Hopkins's "framing" of language becomes (in a specially defined sense) "iconic" of his world-view, the principle of this correspondence being the notion of a system whose components (words or things) only exist or have meaning in terms of the whole.Formalist notions of literary evolution help us better to appreciate consistency of development in Hopkins's own style,and the nature of his critical attitudes(especially to Victorian poetry). His concern was for the maintenance of creative tension between form and language. His own experiments, often counter-productive, led to an exemplary revitalization of the sonnet.Further implications of the relationship in Hopkins's thought between linguistic and natural organization may now be explored.His cosmology (particularly where it involves "inscape" and "instress") is clarified by further reference to Structuralism and to Gregory Bateson' "ecology of mind"

Form in the Music of John Adams

The American composer John Adams, born in 1947, has composed a large body of work that has attracted the attention of many performers and legions of listeners. In addition, this work has drawn the attention of scholars intent on understanding its historical and theoretical context.;Among the theoretical writings are two papers by Catherine Pellegrino: Formalist Analysis in the Context of Postmodern Aesthetics: The Music of John Adams as a Case Study of 1999, and its offshoot article Aspects of Closure in the Music of John Adams of 2002. In these writings she conducts analyses of music by John Adams in order to determine if it is understandable in terms of formalist musical analysis, specifically by the metrics of closure and hierarchy. Closure is attained through pattern-completion. Hierarchy is attained through organic generation of surface content from background content of a single idea; Schenkerian theory and analysis is the classic means of demonstrating this.;Pellegrino ultimately determines that Adams problematizes closure , and when she attempts to abstract the large scale tonal organization of a number of works by Adams in order to determine if a logical hierarchy is consistently operative, she asserts that the analyses fall short with regard to the requirement of comprehensiveness .;In addition, music composed by John Adams later in his career can be characterized as disunified as a consequence of an intuitive compositional approach documented by researcher K. Robert Schwarz, and demonstrated through analyses by Pellegrino. For Pellegrino, these disunified works are inaccessible via the methods of formalist analysis, nor is there a good theory of disunified music to apply to them as well.;The purpose of this research paper is to demonstrate that there is music by Adams that is formalist, specifically Phrygian Gates (1977-1978), and that its formalism can be corroborated by testing for closure and hierarchy by analytical means.;The purpose of this paper is also to show how works by Adams that are non-formalist and disunified can be rendered analytically accessible. This will be accomplished by first determining the goals appropriate for analyzing disunified music, and by providing a historical context for disunified music in practice and theory; and secondly by creating a method for analyzing non-formalist music, applying the method to two works by Adams, including Century Rolls (1996) and Son of Chamber Symphony (2007), and summarizing the results

Thinking geo/graphically: The interdisciplinary space between graphic design and cultural geography

In relation to the understanding and representation of everyday life and place, it is clear that many cultural geographers are beginning to explore what one might call “creative” qualitative research methods, the majority of which draw on the discipline of fine art. In particular, the use of film and sound within research is increasing, as are calls for conference submissions and journal articles relating to such work. Such developments within cultural geography mirror those across qualitative research within the broader social science arena, and for geographers the use of this type of media is perhaps a way to contend with the ongoing, relational nature of place and the representational challenge that brings. In contrast, the perception of the traditional medium of print seems to be that it is lacking the fluid nature of film or sound, only capable of generating representations of place that are too “static” or “fixed.” However, this paper proposes that interdisciplinary collaboration between cultural geography and graphic design offers much with regard to the development of print-based creative methods for understanding and representing everyday life and place. It suggests that the form of the book offers an opportunity to develop geo/graphic work that engages both form and content in a holistic way, enabling the production of a space of interpretation and multi-sensory exploration for the reader. Such work engages with contemporary debates around representation, and positions the reader’s interaction with the book as both cognitively and performatively embodied. For the researcher, the geo/graphic design process also functions as an analytical tool, one that, through the development of the material form of the work, re-situates them in place and enables further reflection and understanding

A Semiotic Approach to the Evolution of Symboling Capacities During the Late Pleistocene with Implications for Claims of ‘Modernity’ in Early Human Groups

abstract: This research uses Peircean Semiotics to model the evolution of symbolic behavior in the human lineage and the potential material correlates of this evolutionary process in the archaeological record. The semiotic model states the capacity for symbolic behavior developed in two distinct stages. Emergent capacities are characterized by the sporadic use of non-symbolic and symbolic material culture that affects information exchange between individuals. Symbolic exchange will be rare. Mobilized capacities are defined by the constant use of non-symbolic and symbolic objects that affect both interpersonal and group-level information exchange. Symbolic behavior will be obligatory and widespread. The model was tested against the published archaeological record dating from ~200,000 years ago to the Pleistocene/Holocene boundary in three sub-regions of Africa and Eurasia. A number of Exploratory and Confirmatory Data Analysis techniques were used to identify patterning in artifacts through time consistent with model predictions. The results indicate Emergent symboling capacities were expressed as early as ~100,000 years ago in Southern Africa and the Levant. However, capacities do not appear fully Mobilized in these regions until ~17,000 years ago. Emergent symboling is not evident in the European record until ~42,000 years ago, but develops rapidly. The results also indicate both Anatomically Modern Humans and Neanderthals had the capacity for symbolic behavior, but expressed those capacities differently. Moreover, interactions between the two populations did not select for symbolic expression, nor did periodic aggregation within groups. The analysis ultimately situates the capacity for symbolic behavior in increased engagement with materiality and the ability to recognize material objects can be made meaningful– an ability that must have been shared with Anatomically Modern Humans’ and Neanderthals’ most recent common ancestor. Consequently, the results have significant implications for notions of ‘modernity’ and human uniqueness that drive human origins research. This work pioneers deductive approaches to cognitive evolution, and both strengths and weaknesses are discussed. In offering notable results and best practices, it effectively operationalizes the semiotic model as a viable analytical method for human origins research.Dissertation/ThesisAppendices A-N: SpreadsheetsDoctoral Dissertation Anthropology 201

Rhoticity in Chinese English: An experimental investigation on the realization of the variant (r) in an Expanding Circle variety

The realization of postvocalic /r/ has been frequently examined in both diachronic and synchronic research on world Englishes, showing a multitude of linguistic and extra-linguistic factors to modulate the degree of rhoticity. Since rhoticity is one of the most important indices of variation across Englishes, it forms an instructive phonological marker to investigate the dynamics of norm formation in emerging varieties. While the Inner and Outer Circle varieties have been extensively studied, there is fairly little research on the variable realization of postvocalic /r/ in the Expanding Circle Englishes. Here, we fill this gap with a study on the degree of rhoticity by highly proficient users of an EFL variety emerging in China, college English teachers, who are pertinent norm providers for EFL learners. We provide a multivariate analysis of phonological and sociolinguistic factors conditioning the degree of rhoticity in Chinese English on the basis of speech production data from 13 participants. Results show that Chinese English is best categorized as marginally rhotic. Concerning the patterning of phonological variables, it aligns more with Inner Circle than Outer Circle Englishes, albeit with significant inter- and intra-speaker variability. We discuss the competing roles of norm orientation, substrate influence, and other relevant variables therein

Rebecoming analogue : groove, breakbeats and sampling

In this thesis I address two related questions: how does groove work in breakbeats, and how might it enable musical participation across time and space?In order to do this, I analyse breakbeats as they are heard in their original funk context and then in various subsequent genres for which they provide a percussive backbone via the process of recontextualization made possible by digital sampling. From this seemingly narrow focus, more broadly useful ideas about groove emerge and I discuss these in relation to current groovological thought. Of particular significance within my findings is the often‐overlooked role which timbre plays in groove. I propose that the groove in breakbeats operates as a result of timbral, as much as temporal, factors, and that breakbeats can therefore be seen to embody the complementary concepts of Wilson’s heterogeneous sound ideal and Small’s musicking. By exploring groove, breakbeats and sampling from a range of perspectives I show that the potent conceptual combination of musicking and the heterogeneous sound ideal accounts for the perennial appeal of breakbeats as a fundamental building block in contemporary popular music. In order to explore these ideas, following initial chapters that establish a theoretical framework, each successive chapter then deals with a particular manifestation of the breaks. Overall, this structure builds a kaleidoscopic conceptual picture that is appropriate to the multi--‐faceted nature of groove and the enduring versatility of breakbeats.[Note: audio samples available with hard copy of thesis only.

Produced Consciousness: Shapes of the Machiavellian Snake

Consciousness, in the beginning of its scientific use, was considered to be material, i.e., to represent an attribute of substance or matter. During later periods, it was associated with learning processes. Based on questionnaires and interviews, a number of different definitions have made its learned content dependent on statistical measures of what people consciously know. However, statically and without a proper time-scale, it is impossible to identify causal links to the biological mechanisms, responsible for consciousness. Despite the fact that no satisfactory explanation exists at the morphogenetic level, speculations continue about what consciousness actually is about. As a first measure, it has been important to establish the quality (q) function of consciousness. Empirically, it is demonstrated that the (q) function, together with the developed Agent-action-Objective (AaO) formalism has the capacity to connect spinning strings to flowing consciousness. It will also be demonstrated that a biologically important link exists between changes in the flow and the production of various shapes of consciousness. By referring to the balanced states of Orientation that involve (1) Heretic for the original Italian text and (2) Proof for its English translation, the latter signals an important deviation due to the ethical conduct of the translator. Moreover, the Intention in the original is emerging as (1) Warning meanwhile the English translation is resulting in (2) Confession, which again is markedly different from the original Italian import. A full description will be based on the established functional text geometry. This includes both potential and free energy surfaces. The calculation of their dynamic (flow) and thermodynamic (fusion) properties are derived directly from real time imaging procedures