Timbre-Based Composition for the Guitar: A Non-Guitarist’s Approach to Mapping and Notation

Composing for the guitar can be intimidating for non-guitarists, but their fresh perspectives can uncover new ways of thinking about music for the instrument. This paper discusses timbre-based composition, an approach to writing for guitar that may be more intuitive for non-guitarist composers than traditional polyphonic composition. The rich palette of timbres available on the guitar, including pitched and nonpitched sounds, is conceived as primary compositional material. Issues of notation and mapping are addressed, focusing on three categories of mappings: (i) physical mapping from notational symbols onto physical objects, such as parts of the guitar; (ii) analogical mapping from notational symbols onto models from other domains, such as vowels; and (iii) organizational mapping from notation onto musical structures, especially nonlinear structures. The paper argues that notation should not be viewed as a closed system within which the composer is bound to work, but as an open system over which the composer has a certain amount of creative control, which may be modified freely to reflect the particular problems and solutions of a given project. Note For video and audio of much of the music discussed in this article, please visit: https://www.guitarfoundation.org/page/SbS06-Noble-Cowa

Composing for guitar orchestra: Challenges and advantages of homogeneous orchestration

The term orchestration tends to invoke heterogeneous combinations of instruments, especially those of the symphony orchestra. But homogeneous ensembles, comprised of combinations of the same kind of instrument, also make up an important part of the musical and music-pedagogical landscapes. As we argue in this paper, orchestrating for homogeneous ensembles is grounded in the same perceptual principles as orchestrating for heterogeneous ensembles, and may be analyzed using the same taxonomy of orchestral effects. In general, effects based on perceptual similarity between sounds are facilitated in homogeneous orchestration, while effects based on perceptual difference require greater attention to detail on the part of the orchestrator to be achieved effectively. Orchestrating for homogeneous ensembles also offers an unparalleled opportunity to delve into specific features of particular instruments, multiplied to symphonic proportions and unlocking new potentials. Focusing on the first authorʼs composition fantaisie harmonique, which was recorded in studio multitrack by the second author, we demonstrate our approach to composing for guitar orchestra, touching on more general considerations of homogeneous orchestration along the way. Among the specific features of guitars and guitar ensembles that we examine are complex scordatura, natural harmonics and open strings, attack qualities and degrees of asynchrony, and timbral and dynamic variation

StackGuard: Automatic Adaptive Detection and Prevention of Buffer-Overflow Attacks

This paper presents a systematic solution to the persistent problem of buffer overflow attacks. Buffer overflow attacks gained notoriety in 1988 as part of the Morris Worm incident on the Internet. While it is fairly simple to fix individual buffer overflow vulnerabilities, buffer overflow attacks continue to this day. Hundreds of attacks have been discovered, and while most of the obvious vulnerabilities have now been patched, more sophisticated buffer overflow attacks continue to emerge. We describe StackGuard: a simple compiler technique that virtually eliminates buffer overflow vulnerabilities with only modest performance penalties. Privileged programs that are recompiled with the StackGuard compiler extension no longer yield control to the attacker, but rather enter a fail-safe state. These programs require no source code changes at all, and are binary-compatible with existing operating systems and libraries. We describe the compiler technique (a simple patch to gcc), as well as a set of variations on the technique that tradeoff between penetration resistance and performance. We present experimental results of both the penetration resistance and the performance impact of this technique

Cross-Modal Decoding of Neural Patterns Associated with Working Memory:Evidence for Attention-Based Accounts of Working Memory

Recent studies suggest common neural substrates involved in verbal and visual working memory (WM), interpreted as reflecting shared attention-based, short-term retention mechanisms. We used a machine-learning approach to determine more directly the extent to which common neural patterns characterize retention in verbal WM and visual WM. Verbal WM was assessed via a standard delayed probe recognition task for letter sequences of variable length. Visual WM was assessed via a visual array WM task involving the maintenance of variable amounts of visual information in the focus of attention. We trained a classifier to distinguish neural activation patterns associated with high- and low-visual WM load and tested the ability of this classifier to predict verbal WM load (high–low) from their associated neural activation patterns, and vice versa. We observed significant between-task prediction of load effects during WM maintenance, in posterior parietal and superior frontal regions of the dorsal attention network; in contrast, between-task prediction in sensory processing cortices was restricted to the encoding stage. Furthermore, between-task prediction of load effects was strongest in those participants presenting the highest capacity for the visual WM task. This study provides novel evidence for common, attention-based neural patterns supporting verbal and visual WM

Reducing energy demand: a review of issues, challenges and approaches

Most commentators expect improved energy efficiency and reduced energy demand to provide the dominant contribution to tackling global climate change. But at the global level, the correlation between increased wealth and increased energy consumption is very strong and the impact of policies to reduce energy demand is both limited and contested. Different academic disciplines approach energy demand reduction in different ways: emphasising some mechanisms and neglecting others, being more or less optimistic about the potential for reducing energy demand and providing insights that are more or less useful for policymakers. This article provides an overview of the main issues and challenges associated with energy demand reduction, summarises how this challenge is ‘framed’ by key academic disciplines, indicates how these can provide complementary insights for policymakers and argues that a ‘sociotechnical’ perspective can provide a deeper understanding of the nature of this challenge and the processes through which it can be achieved. The article integrates ideas from the natural sciences, economics, psychology, innovation studies and sociology but does not give equal weight to each. It argues that reducing energy demand will prove more difficult than is commonly assumed and current approaches will be insufficient to deliver the transformation required

Comparative methods in R hackathon

The R statistical analysis package has emerged as a popular platform for implementation of powerful comparative methods to understand the evolution of organismal traits and diversification. A hackathon was organized to bring together active R developers as well as end-users working on the integration of comparative phylogenetic methods within R to actively address issues of data exchange standards, code interoperability, usability, documentation quality, and the breadth of functionality for comparative methods available within R. Outcomes included a new base package for phylogenetic trees and data, a public wiki with tutorials and overviews of existing packages, code to allow Mesquite and R to interact, improvement of existing packages, and increased interaction within the community

Assessment of Local Public Health Workers' Willingness to Respond to Pandemic Influenza through Application of the Extended Parallel Process Model

Local public health agencies play a central role in response to an influenza pandemic, and understanding the willingness of their employees to report to work is therefore a critically relevant concern for pandemic influenza planning efforts. Witte's Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM) has been found useful for understanding adaptive behavior in the face of unknown risk, and thus offers a framework for examining scenario-specific willingness to respond among local public health workers. We thus aim to use the EPPM as a lens for examining the influences of perceived threat and efficacy on local public health workers' response willingness to pandemic influenza.We administered an online, EPPM-based survey about attitudes/beliefs toward emergency response (Johns Hopkins approximately Public Health Infrastructure Response Survey Tool), to local public health employees in three states between November 2006-December 2007. A total of 1835 responses were collected for an overall response rate of 83%. With some regional variation, overall 16% of the workers in 2006-7 were not willing to "respond to a pandemic flu emergency regardless of its severity". Local health department employees with a perception of high threat and high efficacy--i.e., those fitting a 'concerned and confident' profile in the EPPM analysis--had the highest declared rates of willingness to respond to an influenza pandemic if required by their agency, which was 31.7 times higher than those fitting a 'low threat/low efficacy' EPPM profile.In the context of pandemic influenza planning, the EPPM provides a useful framework to inform nuanced understanding of baseline levels of--and gaps in--local public health workers' response willingness. Within local health departments, 'concerned and confident' employees are most likely to be willing to respond. This finding may allow public health agencies to design, implement, and evaluate training programs focused on emergency response attitudes in health departments