Learning to Create Jazz Melodies Using Deep Belief Nets

We describe an unsupervised learning technique to facilitate automated creation of jazz melodic improvisation over chord sequences. Specifically we demonstrate training an artificial improvisation algorithm based on unsupervised learning using deep belief nets, a form of probabilistic neural network based on restricted Boltzmann machines. We present a musical encoding scheme and specifics of a learning and creational method. Our approach creates novel jazz licks, albeit not yet in real-time. The present work should be regarded as a feasibility study to determine whether such networks could be used at all. We do not claim superiority of this approach for pragmatically creating jazz

Documenting the Diversity, Distribution, and Status of Maine Bumble Bees: The Maine Bumble Bee Atlas and Citizen Scientists

The Maine Bumble Bee Atlas (MBBA) is a multiyear (2015–2019) citizen science proj­ect coordinated by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (MDIFW) in partnership with the University of Maine. The project’s goals are to increase scientific knowledge of Maine’s bumble bee fauna and raise public appreciation for native pollina­tors and their conservation. Project partners accomplish these goals by training citizen scientists to conduct surveys statewide using standardized data-collection methods and by providing outreach to both project volunteers and the public on bumble bees and native pollinator conservation. During the project’s first three years, 230 volunteers have been trained to participate in MBBA at six workshops held across the state. As of the end of the second field season, MBBA citizen scientists have documented over 10,300 species records in nearly 500 townships statewide. These data have already made a valuable contribution to species status assessments conducted by MDIFW and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. MBBA staff also maintain a website, Facebook page, and blog to keep volunteers and the public informed about the project and raise awareness of, and support for, native pollinator conservation

MR448: Bees and Their Habitats in Four New England States

Bees are crucial to pollination in unmanaged ecosystems and some crops, and their roles are increasingly understood in four states in the Northeastern U.S., abbreviated “NNE” in this paper: Maine (ME), Massachusetts (MA), New Hampshire (NH), and Vermont (VT). The four states have in common many native bee and plant species, forest types, and natural communities. They share drought events and risk of wildfire (Irland 2013). They are exposed to many of the same major storms (e.g., hurricanes, Foster 1988), pollution events (Hand et al. 2014), and effects ascribed to climate change (Hayhoe et al. 2008). Beekeeping enterprises (the western honey bee, Apis mellifera, an introduced species) of various sizes exist in each of the states. By including the four states in this review, we hope to better understand wild bee distributions, inspire the expansion of floral resources to support bee populations in a strategic manner, reduce use of pesticides, create pollinator corridors, and protect subtle habitat features such as ground nest sites for solitary bees and patches of native vegetation that are free of invasive plants. Our objective in this review is to synthesize from a conservation standpoint the state of knowledge regarding bees in NNE, including their diversity, and biology especially as it relates to climate change. We review foraging and nutrition, nest ecology, parasites and parasitoids, native vs. managed bees, and interactions with plants. We then turn our focus to bee habitats, and identify 15 habitat types we find useful for recognizing essential bee resources. We discuss habitat aspects including forest succession, invasive plants, land use alterations, and agriculture including impacts of pesticides, and cover economic aspects of crop-related pollination reservoirs in NNE that demonstrate cost-effectiveness at various scales. We present habitat improvement strategies including passive and active approaches, based on the literature and our experiences in NNE, and we suggest plants for pollinator plantings. Wherever pertinent throughout the text, we highlight threats to bees in our region such as pests and pathogens, pesticides, and habitat loss. Finally, we identify gaps in knowledge that could help in prioritizing directions for future research. We hope this review will be useful to anyone seeking to protect bees and their habitats.https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/aes_miscreports/1029/thumbnail.jp

Pulmonary Rehabilitation in Patients with Neuromuscular Disease

In neuromuscular disease (NMD) patients with progressive muscle weakness, respiratory muscles are also affected and hypercapnia can increase gradually as the disease progresses. The fundamental respiratory problems NMD patients experience are decreased alveolar ventilation and coughing ability. For these reasons, it is necessary to precisely evaluate pulmonary function to provide the proper inspiratory and expiratory muscle aids in order to maintain adequate respiratory function. As inspiratory muscle weakening progresses, NMD patients experience hypoventilation. At this point, respiratory support by mechanical ventilator should be initiated to relieve respiratory distress symptoms. Patients with adequate bulbar muscle strength and cognitive function who use a non-invasive ventilation aid, via a mouthpiece or a nasal mask, may have their hypercapnia and associated symptoms resolved. For a proper cough assist, it is necessary to provide additional insufflation to patients with inspiratory muscle weakness before using abdominal thrust. Another effective method for managing airway secretions is a device that performs mechanical insufflation-exsufflation. In conclusion, application of non-invasive respiratory aids, taking into consideration characterization of respiratory pathophysiology, have made it possible to maintain a better quality of life in addition to prolonging the life span of patients with NMD

2012 Wild Blueberry Project Reports

The 2012 edition of the Wild Blueberry Project Reports was prepared for the Wild Blueberry Commission of Maine and the Wild Blueberry Advisory Committee by researchers at the University of Maine, Orono. Projects in this report include: 1. Do wild blueberries alleviate risk factors related to the Metabolic Syndrome? 2. Development of effective intervention measures to maintain and improve food safety for wild blueberries 3. Control tactics for blueberry pest insects, 2012 4. Development and implementation of a wild blueberry thrips IPM program, 2012 5. IPM 6. Biology of blueberry and pest insects, 2012 7. Biology of beneficial insects and blueberry pollination, 2012 8. Pesticide residues on lowbush blueberry, 2012 9. Maine wild blueberry –mummy berry research and extension 10. Efficacy of Apogee growth regulator for stimulating rhizome growth into bare spots in wild blueberry fields 11. Velpar by Matrix pre and post-emergence applications - demonstration plots 12. Wild blueberry Extension Education Program in 2012 INPUT SYSTEMS STUDY: 13. Systems approach to improving the sustainability of wild blueberry production, Year Three of a four-year study – experimental design 14. Food safety- Prevalence study of Escherichia coli O157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella spp. on lowbush blueberries (Vaccinium angustifolium) 15. Abundance of insect pest species and natural enemies in lowbush blueberry fields maintained under different management practices 16. Input Systems Study: Systems approach to improving the sustainability of wild blueberry production, Year 3 of a four-year study, disease management results 17. Plant productivity, Year Three of a four-year study 18. Systems approach to improving the sustainability of wild blueberry production, Year Three of a four-year study, weed management results 19. Effects of organic and conventional management systems on the phosphorus solubility of lowbush blueberry barren soils 20. Systems approach to improving sustainability of wild blueberry production – soil health and chemistry measures 21. Evaluation of fungicides for control of mummy berry disease (ancillary study) 22. Systems approach to improving the sustainability of wild blueberry production – Ancillary land-leveling study, Year Two of a four-year study (ancillary study) 23. Pre-emergent combinations of herbicides for weed control in wild blueberry fields – 2012 results from the 2011 trial (ancillary study) 24. Pre-emergent combinations of herbicides for weed control in wild blueberry fields – 2012 trial (ancillary study) 25. Evaluation of herbicides for control of fineleaf sheep fescue for grass control in wild blueberries (ancillary study) 26. Pre-emergence application timing and rate of Alion and Sandea in combination with Velpar or Sinbar on weed control and injury to wild blueberry (ancillary study) 27. Compost and mulch effects on soil health and nutrient dynamics in wild blueberry (ancillary study

Land/Homeland, Story/History: the social landscapes of the Southern Levant from Alexander to Augustus

This material has been published in revised form in The Social Archaeology of the Levant from Prehistory to the Present edited by Assaf Yasur-Landau, Eric H. Cline, and Yorke Rowan https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316661468.024. This version is free to view and download for private research and study only. Not for re-distribution or re-use. © Cambridge University PressThe Hellenistic era opens with Alexander the Great’s triumph over Achaemenid Persia, an event that inaugurates a millennium of western political hegemony over the Levant and paves the way for an infusion of western cultural ideas. I examine the social repercussions of this juncture of politics and culture for five self-identifying ethnoi within the region: Phoenicians (meaning Tyrians and Sidonians), Samaritans, Judeans, Idumeans, and Nabateans. I consider physical and written evidence as reflections of agency, opportunity, status, and authority, in order to reconstruct how people defined and presented themselves, and how they jockeyed for position and security in a crowded region and a volatile world. Fortunes fluctuated along with changes in imperial rule. The Ptolemies instituted a rapacious system of resource extraction, under which only the most nimble or removed kept their footing (i.e., Phoenicians, Nabateans). The Seleucids followed in the more magnanimous footsteps of the Achaemenids, offering a measure of economic and legal autonomy, an approach that placated some (e.g., Samaritans) and empowered others (e.g., Judeans). As Seleucid control weakened, groups used various means to claim status and authority. Samaritans, Judeans, and Idumeans deployed history and geography; Phoenicians and Nabateans depended on economic connections and cultural currency. Waning imperial powers in the later second century BCE left the region’s ethnoi effectively autonomous. Phoenicians and Nabateans became wealthy cosmopolitans connected to Mediterranean markets. Judeans unleashed an aggressive program of territorial acquisition, first successfully against Idumeans and Samaritans, then less so against Tyrians and Nabateans. Contemporary writers turned these events into historical narratives – divinely countenanced (1 Maccabees, Dead Sea Scrolls) vs. opportunistic circumstance (2 Maccabees, Tacitus, Josephus). These accounts offered people differing templates by which to situate themselves in place and history – templates ill-suited for co-existence. By the time Roman authorities established their imperial presence here in the mid-first century BCE, the social landscape was mined and ready to erupt.Accepted manuscrip

2013 Wild Blueberry Project Reports

The 2013 edition of the Wild Blueberry Project Reports was prepared for the Wild Blueberry Commission of Maine and the Wild Blueberry Advisory Committee by researchers at the University of Maine, Orono. Projects in this report include: 1. Development of effective intervention measures to maintain and improve food safety for wild blueberries 2. Do wild blueberries alleviate risk factors related to the Metabolic Syndrome? 3. Wild Blueberry consumption and exercise-induced Oxidative Stress: Inflammatory Response and DNA damage 4. Control tactics for blueberry pest insects, 2013 5. Pesticide residues on wild blueberry, 2013 6. Biology of pest insects and IPM, 2013 7. Biology of blueberry, beneficial insects, and blueberry pollination 8. Biology of spotted wing drosophila, 2013 9. Maine wild blueberry –mummy berry research and extension 10. Evaluation of fungicides for control of mummy berry on lowbush blueberry (2013) 11. Wild blueberry Extension Education Program in 2013 INPUT SYSTEMS STUDY: 12. Systems approach to improving the sustainability of wild blueberry production, Year Four of a four-year study – experimental design 13. Food safety- Prevalence study of Escherichia coli O157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella spp. on lowbush blueberries (Vaccinium angustifolium) 14. Agronomic input effects on sensory quality and chemical composition of wild Maine blueberries 15. Systems approach to improving the sustainability of wild blueberry production, Year four of a four-year study – reports from Frank Drummond 16. Systems approach to improving the sustainability of wild blueberry production, Year 4 of a four-year study, disease management results 17. Systems approach to improving the sustainability of wild blueberry production, Year Four of a four-year study, weed management results 18. Phosphorus and organic matter interactions on short-range ordered minerals in acidic barren soils 19. Systems approach to improving the sustainability of wild blueberry production, preliminary economic comparison for 2012-13 20. Ancillary projects in disease research (ancillary study) 21. Systems approach to improving the sustainability of wild blueberry production – Ancillary land-leveling study, Year Three of a four-year study (ancillary study) 22. Pre-emergent combinations of herbicides for weed control in wild blueberry fields – 2013 results from the 2012 trial (ancillary study) 23. Evaluation of herbicides for 2012 prune year control of fineleaf sheep fescue in wild blueberries – 2013 crop year results (ancillary study) 24. 2012 pre-emergence application timing and rate of Alion and Sandea in combination with Velpar or Sinbar – 2013 yields (ancillary study) 25. Pre-emergence Sinbar combinations for weed control in a non-crop wild blueberry field – 2012-2014 (ancillary study) 26. Evaluation of three pre-emergence herbicides alone and in combination with Velpar or Sinbar for effects on wild blueberry productivity and weed control (ancillary study) 27. Post-harvest control of red sorrel in a non-crop blueberry field, 2012-2014 (ancillary study) 28. Compost and mulch effects on soil health and nutrient dynamics in wild blueberry (ancillary study) 29. Evaluation of conventional and organic fertilizers on blueberry growth and yield (ancillary study

Evaluation of Musical Creativity and Musical Metacreation Systems

The field of computational creativity, including musical metacreation, strives to develop artificial systems that are capable of demonstrating creative behavior or producing creative artefacts. But the claim of creativity is often assessed, subjectively only on the part of the researcher and not objectively at all. This article provides theoretical motivation for more systematic evaluation of musical metacreation and computationally creative systems and presents an overview of current methods used to assess human and machine creativity that may be adapted for this purpose. In order to highlight the need for a varied set of evaluation tools, a distinction is drawn among three types of creative systems: those that are purely generative, those that contain internal or external feedback, and those that are capable of reflection and self-reflection. To address the evaluation of each of these aspects, concrete examples of methods and techniques are suggested to help researchers (1) evaluate their systems' creative process and generated artefacts, and test their impact on the perceptual, cognitive, and affective states of the audience, and (2) build mechanisms for reflection into the creative system, including models of human perception and cognition, to endow creative systems with internal evaluative mechanisms to drive self-reflective processes. The first type of evaluation can be considered external to the creative system and may be employed by the researcher to both better understand the efficacy of their system and its impact and to incorporate feedback into the system. Here we take the stance that understanding human creativity can lend insight to computational approaches, and knowledge of how humans perceive creative systems and their output can be incorporated into artificial agents as feedback to provide a sense of how a creation will impact the audience. The second type centers around internal evaluation, in which the system is able to reason about its own behavior and generated output. We argue that creative behavior cannot occur without feedback and reflection by the creative/metacreative system itself. More rigorous empirical testing will allow computational and metacreative systems to become more creative by definition and can be used to demonstrate the impact and novelty of particular approaches