In Defense of Close Reading and Close Listening

Whatever we write about music is informed (in more ways than we can recognize) by our responses to works, genres, theories, performances, performers, and to many other factors, some of which we treat as "extramusical." As musicians and as writers, we enact our interpretations of prior interpretive acts. As scholars, we also reflect on the history of our modes of interpretation and compare them with other ways of responding. Blum argument states that when we are willing to recognize points at which our own techniques of storytelling and dramatizing overlap significantly with those employed by "others," we can no longer relegate the so-called others to a "backward culture" or an "outmoded paradigm." Those who learn to read well learn to listen well, and good listeners can also become good readers

Solar Energy in California: A Case for the Sun

This Comment illustrates how solar energy fits into the statutory framework of CEQA, and focuses on solar domestic water heating as an example of how CEQA\u27s mandate may be interpreted in light of specific environmentally beneficial technology. The author uses a residential development as an example of a project under consideration for approval. The author and concludes that solar heating qualifies as a feasible mitigation measure within the meaning of CEQA and that it should be incorporated into projects under normal circumstances. The author then addresses the judicial and administrative methods to obtain and enforce proper consideration of solar heating through CEQA\u27s environmental review process

Candidate selection for the FLAMINGOS-2 galactic center survey

We present a JHK_s catalog of a 20'×20' region around the Galactic Center observed with the ISPI camera on the 4 m CTIO telescope. The data is being used to select targets for the FLAMINGOS-2 Galactic Center Survey, which will take near-infrared spectra of thousands of GC sources in an effort to identify and characterize the unique X-ray binary source population in this region

L’acte musical: éléments d’analyse

RésuméDe nombreux ethnomusicologues en sont venus à partager l’idée de John Blacking que l’analyse de la musique correspond à la description de «séquences de différents types d’actes créatifs». Les séquences sont composées de réactions découlant de la reconnaissance par le musicien d’un groupe de traits caractéristiques. Dans toute série d’actes dont l’objectif est de produire de la musique (au sens large du terme), des structures de natures différentes doivent être coordonnées. L’inventaire, même incomplet, des types de coordination possibles fournit une base de données permettant d’analyser au moins une partie des critères régissant les choix effectués pour une interprétation musicale donnée, dans la mesure où ces critères ont été créés par rejet d’autres options. Ceci vaut également pour les inventaires des traits caractéristiques des habitudes vocales et instrumentales, et des modèles utilisés pour la composition et l’interprétation.AbstractMany ethnomusicologists have come to share the view of John Blacking that to analyze music is to describe «sequences of different kinds of creative act.» Such sequences are composed of responses that follow from one or another performer’s recognition of a cluster of distinctive features. Patterns of more than one kind must be coordinated in any series of acts that is intended to produce music (in the broad sense of the term). An inventory, however incomplete, of types of coordination that were in some sense possible provides a basis for estimating at least some values of the choices that have been made in a given performance, to the extent that these values were created by rejection of the other options. The same point holds for inventories of distinctive features, of vocal and instrumental habits, and of models used in composition and performance

Une passion pour l’Iran

J’ai rencontré Stephen Blum à New York en 1987, alors que je venais de commencer mon travail de terrain au Khorassan, grande province du nord-est de l’Iran, où je menais des recherches sur la tradition du barde (bakhshi) de cette région. Stephen Blum avait lui-même travaillé sur le terrain dans le nord de Khorassan à la fin des années 1960 ; il avait identifié un certain nombre de musiciens de cette zone musicalement fort riche, et dont le bakhshi est un des plus illustres représentants. De c..

Une passion pour l’Iran

J’ai rencontré Stephen Blum à New York en 1987, alors que je venais de commencer mon travail de terrain au Khorassan, grande province du nord-est de l’Iran, où je menais des recherches sur la tradition du barde (bakhshi) de cette région. Stephen Blum avait lui-même travaillé sur le terrain dans le nord de Khorassan à la fin des années 1960 ; il avait identifié un certain nombre de musiciens de cette zone musicalement fort riche, et dont le bakhshi est un des plus illustres représentants. De c..

Variation in acclimation of photosynthesis in Trifolium repens after eight years of exposure to Free Air CO2 Enrichment (FACE)

The initial stimulation of photosynthesis observed on elevation of [CO2] in grasslands has been predicted to be a transient phenomenon constrained by the loss of photosynthetic capacity due to other limitations, notably nutrients and sinks for carbohydrates. Legumes might be expected partially to escape these feedbacks through symbiotic N2 fixation. The Free‐Air Carbon dioxide Enrichment (FACE) experiment at Eschikon, Switzerland, has been the longest running investigation of the effects of open‐air elevation of [CO2] on vegetation. The prediction of a long‐term loss of photosynthetic capacity was tested by analysing photosynthesis in Trifolium repens L. (cv. Milkanova) in the spring and autumn of the eighth, ninth and tenth years of treatment. A high and low N treatment also allowed a test of the significance of exogenous N‐supply in maintaining a stimulation of photosynthetic capacity in the long‐term. Prior work in this Free Air CO2 Enrichment (FACE) experiment has revealed that elevated [CO2] increased both vegetative and reproductive growth of T. repens independent of N treatment. It is shown here that the photosynthetic response of T. repens was also independent of N fertilization under both current ambient and elevated (600 µmol mol-1) [CO2]. There was a strong effect of season on photosynthesis, with light‐saturated rates (Asat) 37% higher in spring than in autumn. Higher Asat in the spring was supported by higher maximum Rubisco carboxylation rates (Vc,max) and maximum rates of electron transport (Jmax) contributing to RuBP regeneration. Elevated [CO2] increased Asat by 37% when averaged across all measurement periods and both N fertilization levels, and decreased stomatal conductance by 25%. In spring, there was no effect of elevated [CO2] on photosynthetic capacity of leaves, but in autumn both Vc,max and Jmax were reduced by approximately 20% in elevated [CO2]. The results show that acclimation of photosynthetic capacity can occur in a nitrogen‐fixing species, in the field where there are no artificial restrictions on sink capacity. However, even with acclimation there was a highly significant increase in photosynthesis at elevated [CO2

High-Resolution Infrared Spectroscopy of the Brown Dwarf Epsilon Indi Ba

We report on the analysis of high-resolution infrared spectra of the newly discovered brown dwarf Epsilon Indi Ba. This is the closest known brown dwarf to the solar system, with a distance of 3.626 pc. Spectra covering the ranges of 2.308-2.317 microns and 1.553-1.559 microns were observed at a spectral resolution of R=50,000 with the Phoenix spectrometer on the Gemini South telescope. The physical paramters of effective temperature and surface gravity are derived by comparison to model spectra calculated from atmospheres computed using unified cloudy models. An accurate projected rotational velocity is also derived.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures. Astrophysical Journal Letters, in pres

The twelve dimensional super (2+2)-brane

We discuss supersymmetry in twelve dimensions and present a covariant supersymmetric action for a brane with worldsheet signature (2,2), called a super (2+2)-brane, propagating in the osp(64,12) superspace. This superspace is explicitly constructed, and is trivial in the sense that the spinorial part is a trivial bundle over spacetime, unlike the twisted superspace of usual Poincare supersymmetry. For consistency, it is necessary to take a projection of the superspace. This is the same as the projection required for worldvolume supersymmetry. Upon compactification of this superspace, a torsion is naturally introduced and we produce the membrane and type IIB string actions in 11 and 10 dimensional Minkowski spacetimes. In addition, the compactification of the twelve dimensional supersymmetry algebra produces the correct algebras for these theories, including central charges. These considerations thus give the type IIB string and M-theory a single twelve dimensional origin.Comment: 32 pages LaTex, no figures, minor comments and address(!) adde