A Memetic Analysis of a Phrase by Beethoven: Calvinian Perspectives on Similarity and Lexicon-Abstraction

This article discusses some general issues arising from the study of similarity in music, both human-conducted and computer-aided, and then progresses to a consideration of similarity relationships between patterns in a phrase by Beethoven, from the first movement of the Piano Sonata in A flat major op. 110 (1821), and various potential memetic precursors. This analysis is followed by a consideration of how the kinds of similarity identified in the Beethoven phrase might be understood in psychological/conceptual and then neurobiological terms, the latter by means of William Calvin’s Hexagonal Cloning Theory. This theory offers a mechanism for the operation of David Cope’s concept of the lexicon, conceived here as a museme allele-class. I conclude by attempting to correlate and map the various spaces within which memetic replication occurs

Optical interface created by laser-cooled atoms trapped in the evanescent field surrounding an optical nanofiber

Trapping and optically interfacing laser-cooled neutral atoms is an essential requirement for their use in advanced quantum technologies. Here we simultaneously realize both of these tasks with cesium atoms interacting with a multi-color evanescent field surrounding an optical nanofiber. The atoms are localized in a one-dimensional optical lattice about 200 nm above the nanofiber surface and can be efficiently interrogated with a resonant light field sent through the nanofiber. Our technique opens the route towards the direct integration of laser-cooled atomic ensembles within fiber networks, an important prerequisite for large scale quantum communication schemes. Moreover, it is ideally suited to the realization of hybrid quantum systems that combine atoms with, e.g., solid state quantum devices

Dispersive Optical Interface Based on Nanofiber-Trapped Atoms

We dispersively interface an ensemble of one thousand atoms trapped in the evanescent field surrounding a tapered optical nanofiber. This method relies on the azimuthally-asymmetric coupling of the ensemble with the evanescent field of an off-resonant probe beam, transmitted through the nanofiber. The resulting birefringence and dispersion are significant; we observe a phase shift per atom of $\sim$\,1\,mrad at a detuning of six times the natural linewidth, corresponding to an effective resonant optical density per atom of 0.027. Moreover, we utilize this strong dispersion to non-destructively determine the number of atoms.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Cutting down, quitting and motivation to stop smoking by self-reported COVID-19 status: Representative cross-sectional surveys in England.

To examine the association of self-reported COVID-19 disease status with cutting down, past-month and past-year quit attempts and motivation to stop smoking. Repeat cross-sectional survey, representative of the adult population in England. Past-year smokers, n = 3338 (aged ≥ 18 years) responding between May 2020 and April 2021. Outcomes were (i) currently cutting down, (ii) having made a quit attempt in the past month, (iii) having made a quit attempt in the past year and (iv) motivation to stop smoking. The explanatory variable was self-reported COVID-19 disease status (belief in never versus ever had COVID-19). Covariates included age, sex, occupational grade, region, children in the household, alcohol use and survey month. Of past-year smokers, 720 (21.6%) reported past-COVID-19 infection and 48 (1.4%) reported current COVID-19 infection. In adjusted analyses, rates of currently cutting down [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 1.12, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.93-1.34], past-year quit attempts (aOR = 0.99, 95% CI = 0.82-1.19) and motivation to stop smoking (aOR = 1.04, 95% CI = 0.89-1.23) were comparable in those who did and did not report ever having had COVID-19. People who reported ever having had COVID-19 had 39% higher odds than those without of attempting to quit in the past month, but the confidence interval contained the possibility of no difference (aOR = 1.39, 95% CI = 0.94-2.06) and for some the quit attempt may have occurred before they had COVID-19. During the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in England, rates of reducing smoking and attempting to quit in the past year were similar in smokers who did or did not self-report ever having had COVID-19. There was also little difference in motivation to stop smoking between groups. However, causal interpretation is limited by the study design, and there is potential misclassification of the temporal sequence of infection and changes to smoking behaviour. [Abstract copyright: © 2022 The Authors. Addiction published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society for the Study of Addiction.

Frustrations of fur-farmed mink

Captive animals may suffer if strongly motivated to perform activities that their housing does not allow. We investigated this experimentally for caged mink, and found that they would pay high costs to perform a range of natural behaviours, and release cortisol if their most preferred activity, swimming, was prevented. Investigates the effect of limitations on caged mink. Popularity of fur farming; Research into the possible deprivation of mink, which result in their frustration; Details of the experiment; Impact of an access to water; Results which indicate that fur-farmed mink are still motivated to perform the same activities as their wild counterpart

Deep interactive evolution

This paper describes an approach that combines generative adversarial networks (GANs) with interactive evolutionary computation (IEC). While GANs can be trained to produce lifelike images, they are normally sampled randomly from the learned distribution, providing limited control over the resulting output. On the other hand, interactive evolution has shown promise in creating various artifacts such as images, music and 3D objects, but traditionally relies on a hand-designed evolvable representation of the target domain. The main insight in this paper is that a GAN trained on a specific target domain can act as a compact and robust genotype-to-phenotype mapping (i.e. most produced phenotypes do resemble valid domain artifacts). Once such a GAN is trained, the latent vector given as input to the GAN's generator network can be put under evolutionary control, allowing controllable and high-quality image generation. In this paper, we demonstrate the advantage of this novel approach through a user study in which participants were able to evolve images that strongly resemble specific target images.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures, Published at EvoMUSART EvoStar 201

Coevolutionary Dynamics: From Finite to Infinite Populations

Traditionally, frequency dependent evolutionary dynamics is described by deterministic replicator dynamics assuming implicitly infinite population sizes. Only recently have stochastic processes been introduced to study evolutionary dynamics in finite populations. However, the relationship between deterministic and stochastic approaches remained unclear. Here we solve this problem by explicitly considering large populations. In particular, we identify different microscopic stochastic processes that lead to the standard or the adjusted replicator dynamics. Moreover, differences on the individual level can lead to qualitatively different dynamics in asymmetric conflicts and, depending on the population size, can even invert the direction of the evolutionary process.Comment: 4 pages (2 figs included). Published in Phys. Rev. Lett., December 200

Comparing identity, attitudes, and indicators of effectiveness in people who smoke, vape or use heated tobacco products: a cross-sectional study

Background: There is limited long-term and independent research on heated tobacco products (HTPs). We compared people who used HTPs with those who used nicotine vaping products (NVP) or cigarettes on smoker identity, indicators of effectiveness and, among NVP/HTP users, perceptions of these products. Methods: Adults exclusive cigarette smokers (N=45) and ex-smokers with medium/long-term (>3months) NVP (N=46) or HTP use (N=45) were recruited in London, UK. Participants completed a questionnaire assessing socio-demographics, smoking characteristics, smoker identity, dependence, intention to stop and attitudes towards HTP/NVP. Results: In adjusted analysis, people who used cigarettes (Mean Difference (MD)=1.4, 95%Confidence Intervals (CI) 0.7,2.0) and HTPs (MD=0.8, 95%CI 0.1,1.5) reported stronger smoker identities than those who used NVPs. Compared with smokers, HTP/NVP users had lower cravings for cigarettes (MD=3.0, 95%CI 1.6,4.3; MD=3.1, 95%CI 1.9,4.3, respectively), and higher intention to stop product use (MD=-0.8, 95%CI -1.7,-0.01; MD=-1.2, 95%CI -2.0,-0.3, respectively). People using HTPs or NVPs reported similar perceived product satisfaction (HTP:M=3.4, 95%CI 2.8,3.9; NVP:M=3.0, 95%CI 2.5,3.5), efficacy for smoking cessation (HTP:M=4.5, 95%CI 4.2,4.9; NVP:M=4.6, 95%CI 4.3,4.9) and safety (HTP:M=2.1, 95%CI 2.0,2.2; NVP:M=2.0, 95%CI 1.8,2.1). HTP users reported greater perceived addictiveness than NVPs (MD=0.3, 95%CI 0.2,0.6). Conclusions: HTP and NVP users perceived products to be similarly acceptable and effective suggesting that HTPs, like NVPs, may support smoking cessation. However, since HTP use appears to maintain a stronger smoker identity and perceived addiction, this may suggest a more limited role of HTP for a permanent transition away from cigarettes

E‐cigarette support for smoking cessation: Identifying the effectiveness of intervention components in an on‐line randomized optimization experiment

Aims, Design and Setting The aim of this study was to determine which combination(s) of five e-cigarette-orientated intervention components, delivered on-line, affect smoking cessation. An on-line (UK) balanced five-factor (2 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 = 32 intervention combinations) randomized factorial design guided by the multi-phase optimization strategy (MOST) was used. Participants A total of 1214 eligible participants (61% female; 97% white) were recruited via social media. Interventions The five on-line intervention components designed to help smokers switch to exclusive e-cigarette use were: (1) tailored device selection advice; (2) tailored e-liquid nicotine strength advice; (3): tailored e-liquid flavour advice; (4) brief information on relative harms; and (5) text message (SMS) support. Measurements The primary outcome was 4-week self-reported complete abstinence at 12 weeks post-randomization. Primary analyses were intention-to-treat (loss to follow-up recorded as smoking). Logistic regressions modelled the three- and two-way interactions and main effects, explored in that order. Findings In the adjusted model the only significant interaction was a two-way interaction, advice on flavour combined with text message support, which increased the odds of abstinence (odds ratio = 1.55, 95% confidence interval = 1.13–2.14, P = 0.007, Bayes factor = 7.25). There were no main effects of the intervention components. Conclusions Text-message support with tailored advice on flavour is a promising intervention combination for smokers using an e-cigarette in a quit attempt