The Articulation of Time in the Seventh Symphony of Jean Sibelius: Toward Informed Performance

Sibelius repeatedly maintained that tempo fluctuations in his music ought to be barely perceptible. Dealing with the subtle tempo modulations in the one-movement Seventh Symphony is thus not surprisingly one of the most challenging aspects of performing the piece. The present study addresses the matters of time and tempo from a variety of perspectives: harmony, compositional process, metronome markings. Throughout, the piece reveals itself as an organism evolving through and in time. First, we look at ways in which harmonic interruptions and sonic echoes are used to create at once continuity and discontinuity in the musical narrative. Borrowing terms from literary studies, we examine the importance of aposiopesis and stylems (a term whose use is owed to Antonin Servière) in the symphony. Each of these forms of interruption exerts a contrary force on the forward thrust of the piece that affects one's experience of time. Second, we examine Sibelius's compositional process by looking at the evolution of the piece from sketch to final form. This analysis reveals the composer stripping away cadences, strategically inserting pedal points, shifting tempo markings to avoid structural downbeats, all to achieve an elasticity and fluidity of time where the perception of tempo changes is blurred. Third, we look at Sibelius's metronome markings. While they contain helpful information, they also withhold information, particularly about the first 93 bars of the piece. We take stock of what this absence reveals about the structure of the piece and about problems in performance related to time and tempo. The ending of the piece receives separate treatment as it is particularly revelatory of Sibelius's compositional process. Here, what the composer discarded sheds light on the enigmatic but highly poetic final version of the ending of the piece. Finally, we offer in the appendix a performance history of the Seventh Symphony. The difficulty of programming this concise but epic work accounts to some measure for its lack of performance. The two tables at the end of this study are intended as a resource for conductors seeking to program this poetic work

Comment développer un antidépresseur au mécanisme d’action innovant : l’exemple de l’agomélatine

Divers axes de recherche ont été suivis pour obtenir de nouveaux traitements de la dépression plus efficaces, mieux tolérés et d’action plus rapide. Parmi ces axes de recherche, la mélatonine, synchronisateur endogène des rythmes biologiques chez les mammifères, suscite un intérêt croissant dans la mesure où la désorganisation des rythmes circadiens est caractéristique d’un grand nombre de troubles de l’humeur. L’agomélatine est un antidépresseur qui se distingue par des propriétés agonistes pour les récepteurs mélatoninergiques (MT1 et MT2) ; ses propriétés agonistes ont été confirmées lors d’études in vivo, l’agomélatine améliorant les perturbations des rythmes circadiens observés dans différents modèles animaux. La propriété antidépressive de l’agomélatine a été mise en évidence dans plusieurs modèles animaux validés, dont les tests de la nage forcée, de la résignation acquise ou du stress chronique modéré. De façon tout à fait intéressante, l’activité antidépressive de l’agomélatine ne repose pas uniquement sur une action chronobiotique : en fait, l’agomélatine présente une activité antagoniste sur les récepteurs 5-HT2C, et ce aux doses antidépressives. Par ailleurs, l’absence d’affinité de l’agomélatine vis-à-vis d’un large éventail de récepteurs lui confère un excellent profil de sécurité, particulièrement avantageux par rapport aux antidépresseurs déjà sur le marché (pas de désordres gastro-intestinaux ni de perturbations de la fonction sexuelle ou du sommeil). L’agomélatine inaugure donc un nouveau concept dans le traitement de la dépression.There are now many potentials for the development of more effective, better tolerated, and more rapidly acting antidepressants acting in association and/or beyond the monoamine hypothesis. One of these possibilities is the development of antidepressant drugs with melatonin agonist property. This holds much promise since various affective disorders, including depression, are characterized by abnormal patterns of circadian rhythms. In line with this, the melatoninergic agonist properties of agomelatine, an antidepressant with proven clinical efficacy, may represent a new concept for the treatment of depression. By way of behavioral studies in rodents, it has been shown that administration of agomelatine can mimic the action of melatonin in the synchronization of circadian rhythm patterns. Interest in agomelatine has increased in recent times due to its prospective use as a novel antidepressant agent, as demonstrated in a number of animal studies using well-validated animal models of depression (including the forced swimming test, the learned helplessness, the chronic mild stress). Interestingly, the melatoninergic agonist property of agomelatine may not, alone, be sufficient to sustain its clear antidepressant-like activity. Recent results from receptor binding and in vivo studies gave support to the notion that agomelatine’s effects are also mediated via its function as a competitive antagonist at the 5-HT2C receptor. Finally, thanks to its absence of binding with a broad range of receptors and enzymes, agomelatine is particularly safe and devoid of all the deleterious effects reported with tricyclics and SSRIs

Complete Genome Sequences of Six Copper-Resistant Xanthomonas citri pv. citri Strains Causing Asiatic Citrus Canker, Obtained Using Long-Read Technology

The gammaproteobacterium Xanthomonas citri pv. citri causes Asiatic citrus canker. Pathotype A strains have a broad host range, which includes most commercial citrus species, and they cause important economic losses worldwide. Control often relies on frequent copper sprays. We present here the complete genomes of six X. citri pv. citri copper-resistant strains.EEA Bella VistaFil: Richard, Damien. CIRAD, UMR PVBMT; Francia. ANSES, Plant Health Laboratory; Francia. Université de la Réunion; FranciaFil: Boyer, Claudine. CIRAD, UMR PVBMT; FranciaFil: Vernière, Christian. CIRAD, UMR PVBMT; Francia. CIRAD, UMR BGPI, Montpellier, FranciaFil: Canteros, Blanca Isabel. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Bella Vista; ArgentinaFil: Lefeuvre, Pierre. CIRAD, UMR PVBMT; FranciaFil: Pruvost, Olivier. CIRAD, UMR PVBMT; Franci

Complete Genome Sequences of Six Copper-Resistant Xanthomonas citri pv. citri Strains Causing Asiatic Citrus Canker, Obtained Using Long-Read Technology

The gammaproteobacterium Xanthomonas citri pv. citri causes Asiatic citrus canker. Pathotype A strains have a broad host range, which includes most commercial citrus species, and they cause important economic losses worldwide. Control often relies on frequent copper sprays. We present here the complete genomes of six X. citri pv. citri copper-resistant strains.EEA Bella VistaFil: Richard, Damien. CIRAD, UMR PVBMT; Francia. ANSES, Plant Health Laboratory; Francia. Université de la Réunion; FranciaFil: Boyer, Claudine. CIRAD, UMR PVBMT; FranciaFil: Vernière, Christian. CIRAD, UMR PVBMT; Francia. CIRAD, UMR BGPI, Montpellier, FranciaFil: Canteros, Blanca Isabel. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Bella Vista; ArgentinaFil: Lefeuvre, Pierre. CIRAD, UMR PVBMT; FranciaFil: Pruvost, Olivier. CIRAD, UMR PVBMT; Franci

Efficient tabling of structured data with enhanced hash-consing

Current tabling systems suffer from an increase in space complexity, time complexity or both when dealing with sequences due to the use of data structures for tabled subgoals and answers and the need to copy terms into and from the table area. This symptom can be seen in not only B-Prolog, which uses hash tables, but also systems that use tries such as XSB and YAP. In this paper, we apply hash-consing to tabling structured data in B-Prolog. While hash-consing can reduce the space consumption when sharing is effective, it does not change the time complexity. We enhance hash-consing with two techniques, called input sharing and hash code memoization, for reducing the time complexity by avoiding computing hash codes for certain terms. The improved system is able to eliminate the extra linear factor in the old system for processing sequences, thus significantly enhancing the scalability of applications such as language parsing and bio-sequence analysis applications. We confirm this improvement with experimental results.Comment: 16 pages; TPLP, 201