33,942 research outputs found
The Cosmic Microwave Background Spectrum and a Determination of Fractal Space Dimensionality
The possibility to constrain fractal space dimensionality from Astrophysics
and other areas is briefly reviewed. Assuming such dimensionality to be , a limit to can be inferred from COBE satellite data. The
available data for the cosmic microwave background radiation spectrum are
fitted by a Planck's radiation distribution generalized to non integer space
dimensionality. Our analysis shows that the shape of the CMBR spectrum, which
does not depend on the absolute normalization, is correctly described from this
distribution provided the absolute temperature is equal to 2.726
K and .
This value for is shown to be consistent with what is found on a
very different spatial scale based on a quantum field phenomenon. The
is interpreted as an upper limit for how much space dimensionality
could have deviated from three. In other words, this is the maximum fluctuation
space dimensionality should have experienced in a spatial and temporal scale
compared to that of the decoupling era.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figure
Gestures as an interface of performersâ intentionality : a case study of Western Embodiment of Karnatic Music in piano performance
Background
Music performance has a strong corporeal dimension, involving different types of gestures (technical gestures, expressive gestures, etc.) that performers employ to transform a written score into live music (Leman 2007). This transformation is based on the musical intentions that arise from the performersâ personal interpretation of the composition as an outcome of their artistic praxis, which leads to decisions on how to play the music in terms of its structure, articulation of the phrases, dynamics, timber and the necessary motor strategies to realize these decisions in the sounding music.
Aims This research wants to investigate musical gestures as an interface of performersâ intentionality, i.e. an outcome of the artistic praxis and the process of embodiment, in the light of the recent theories on enactment and embodied music cognition (Leman 2016). For this reason, we considered a case study based on the interpretation of a piece that includes the acquisition and embodiment of musical knowledge quite knew to the performer in order to map the modifications in the corporeal engagement from an intuitive approach to a conscious approach. The composition chosen was a contemporary piano piece based on a non-western music tradition: the Karnatic modes from South India.
Method To assist the performer in (re)framing the phases of her artistic process, a methodology, called performer based analysis method (Caruso et al 2016), was developed to establish also the procedures of a performative experiment where the performance of the 8th cycle from the 72 Etudes Karnatiques pour piano by Jacques Charpentier (b.1933) was taken as a case study. The performative experiment required a period of preparation, which concerns the performer/researcherâs artistic praxis (to embody the piece) and the self-observation of a video recording archive of her performances in order to map and describe the artistic praxis. The pianist conducted a musicological research on the influence of Indian music in the French contemporary piano repertoire to enrich specifically her current competences in Karnatic Music and had a collaborative three years practice with the composer and with two experts in Karnatic music, a singer and a dancer (see the Re-Orient project: http://re-orient.wixsite.com/indiandream). A retrospective thinking-aloud procedure (Van den Haak & De Jong, 2003) was used during the experiment to allow the performer in rendering explicit and systematic the artistic reflections. The experiment was recorded by a video camera, a microphone and the Motion Capture System.
Results To catch the development between the initial intuitive performance and the final embodied performance, two recordings of one fragment from the piece played with these two different approaches (intuitive and conscious) were compared. The analysis of these fragments was based on an alignment between qualitative data acquired through subjective descriptions - based on a performance model and a score annotation - and quantitative data (objective measurements) produced by the audio-video and motion capture recordings. The qualitative and quantitative data (audio and video) were processed through the ELAN software. Gestural similarities and differences between the intuitive and conscious versions were detected by comparing the kinematic and audio measurements (quantitative data) with the performerâs subjective annotations (qualitative data) concerning the motor strategies and the interpretative cues. The results show a different corporeal engagement of the pianist related to the different intentions through a parallel configuration of these two different subjective and objective layers.
Conclusions The actual investigation wants to present musical gestures as vehicles of idiosyncratic intentions and expressions by linking performersâ corporeal engagement to the embodiment of their interpretation in order to better understand the connection between musical intentions, goal actions and sound. The role of the technology-mediated approach (thirdpersonâs perspective) gives the opportunity to study, as in a mirror-like tool, some aspects, which imply the performerâs subjective involvement (first-personâs perspective). This method provides specifically to musicians/researchers an easier access to music performance analysis. Furthermore, with the implementation of a transdisciplinary and collaborative practice (with the composer, the Indians singer and dancer) plus the aid of technology with the motion and audio analysis, the actual study adds an alternative perspective concerning the exploration and the design of new paths within the field of artistic research
Experimenting with subjectivity instantiated into gestures âMy soul at my fingertipsâ : My Avatar and Me
Recalling a sentence by the famous French pianist and pedagogue Marie JaĂ«ll-Trautmann who said, âI will play with my soul at my fingertipsâ, I reflected on the role of performing gestures as an objectifiable aspect of the performerâs subjectivity. Music performance implies a union between soul/mind and body which instantiates the sound message as a felt experience. The energetic tension produced by the âsoulâ in the creative act of performing is spread at first throughout the entire body to reach finally the âfingertipsâ. Focusing on the primary role of the body in performance as a potential vehicle to capture subjectivism, I asked myself:
What would happen if I visualize my performing body by projecting it into a âbody imageâ, an avatar? Can I use this pragmatic avatar of my-self to look at my subjectivity from an outsiderâs perspective? Can I identify my lived experience as instantiated in my gestures through the lens of self-objectification based on empirical data?
The assumptions concerning the body as an interface of the performerâs intentionality in terms of sound producing and expressivity inspired me to investigate on my subjectivity through a âperformative experimentâ combining self-reflections and objective measurements of my bodily expressions during a performance. My performative presentation wants to bring alive the dialectic relation between subjectivity and objectivity in piano performance practice by alternating my live piano performance with interactive reflections on my captured avatar projected on a screen as an objectification of my-self. From this specific angle, my presentation aims at experimenting with subjectivity the creative act of performing instantiated into gestures as a tactile sensation expressing the soulâs intentions. This approach constitutes a connection between gestures and intentionality in music performance and a mediation between scientific understanding and artistic concern
Life and Space Dimensionality: A Brief Review of Old and New Entangled Arguments
A general sketch on how the problem of space dimensionality depends on anthropic arguments is presented. Several examples of how life has been used to constraint space dimensionality (and vice-versa) are reviewed. In particular, the influences of three-dimensionality in the solar system stability and the origin of life on Earth are discussed. New constraints on space dimensionality and on its invariance in very large spatial and temporal scales are also stressed
Random matrix over a DVR and LU factorization
Let R be a discrete valuation ring (DVR) and K be its fraction field. If M is
a matrix over R admitting a LU decomposition, it could happen that the entries
of the factors L and U do not lie in R, but just in K. Having a good control on
the valuations of these entries is very important for algorithmic applications.
In the paper, we prove that in average these valuations are not too large and
explain how one can apply this result to provide an efficient algorithm
computing a basis of a coherent sheaf over A^1 from the knowledge of its
stalks.Comment: 23 page
A New Athenian Gymnasium from the 4th Century BC?
Schriftquellen belegen, dass das Gymnasium der Athener Akademie vom 6. Jh. v. Chr. bis mindestens zum 2. Jh. n. Chr. benutzt wurde. Der Ort wurde anhand von Texten und einem Horosstein lokalisiert und seit 1929 mehrfach untersucht. Zu den freigelegten Strukturen gehören im SĂŒden ein rechtÂeckiger Bau mit Hof, der als Palaestra der Akademie gedeutet wurde, und im Norden ein groĂer quadratischer Peristylbau, der wenig beachtet wurde. Dieser Beitrag revidiert die Identifizierung der beiden Bauten. Es wird gezeigt, dass der Hof des sĂŒdlichen Baus in die SpĂ€tantike gehört und nicht als Palaestra fungiert haben kann. Stattdessen ist der quadratische Bau, dessen Peristyl von RĂ€umen umgeben und der ins 4. Jh. v. Chr. zu datieren ist, anhand von Plan und Inschriften als Palaestra zu identifizieren
A family of pseudo-Anosov braids whose super summit sets grow exponentially
We prove that the size of the super summit set of a braid can grow
exponentially with the canonical length of the braid, even for pseudo-Anosov
braids
Resultants and subresultants of p-adic polynomials
We address the problem of the stability of the computations of resultants and
subresultants of polynomials defined over complete discrete valuation rings
(e.g. Zp or k[[t]] where k is a field). We prove that Euclide-like algorithms
are highly unstable on average and we explain, in many cases, how one can
stabilize them without sacrifying the complexity. On the way, we completely
determine the distribution of the valuation of the principal subresultants of
two random monic p-adic polynomials having the same degree
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