Spectral pitch distance and microtonal melodies

We present an experiment designed to test the effectiveness of spectral pitch distance at modeling the degree of “affinity” or “fit” of pairs of successively played tones or chords (spectral pitch distance is the cosine distance between salience-weighted, Gaussian-smoothed, pitch domain embeddings of spectral pitches—typically the first eight to ten partials of a tone). The results of a previously conducted experiment, which collected ratings of the perceived similarity and fit of root-position major and minor triads, suggest the model works well for pairs of triads in standard 12-tone equal temperament tunings. The new experiment has been designed to test the effectiveness of spectral pitch distance at modeling the affinity of tones in microtonal melodies where the partials of the tones can be variably tempered between being perfectly harmonic and perfectly matched to the underlying microtonal tuning. The use of microtonal tunings helps to disambiguate innate perceptual (psychoacoustical) responses from learned (cultural) responses. Participants are presented with a software synthesizer containing two unlabeled controls: one adjusts the precise tuning of the tones; the other adjusts the extent to which the spectrum is tempered to match the tuning (as set by the first control). A selection of microtonal melodies are played in different tunings, and the participants adjust one, or both, controls until they find a “sweet spot” at which the music sounds most “in-tune” and the notes best “fit” together. The results of these experiments will be presented and discussed

Hex Player—a virtual musical controller

In this paper, we describe a playable musical interface for tablets and multi-touch tables. The interface is a generalized keyboard, inspired by the Thummer, and consists of an array of virtual buttons. On a generalized keyboard, any given interval always has the same shape (and therefore fingering); furthermore, the fingering is consistent over a broad range of tunings. Compared to a physical generalized keyboard, a virtual version has some advantages—notably, that the spatial location of the buttons can be transformed by shears and rotations, and their colouring can be changed to reflect their musical function in different scales. We exploit these flexibilities to facilitate the playing not just of conventional Western scales but also a wide variety of microtonal generalized diatonic scales known as moment of symmetry, or well-formed, scales. A user can choose such a scale, and the buttons are automatically arranged so their spatial height corresponds to their pitch, and buttons an octave apart are always vertically above each other. Furthermore, the most numerous scale steps run along rows, while buttons within the scale are light-coloured, and those outside are dark or removed. These features can aid beginners; for example, the chosen scale might be the diatonic, in which case the piano’s familiar white and black colouring of the seven diatonic and five chromatic notes is used, but only one scale fingering need ever be learned (unlike a piano where every key needs a different fingering). Alternatively, it can assist advanced composers and musicians seeking to explore the universe of unfamiliar microtonal scales

Prevalence of traumatic brain injury amongst children admitted to hospital in one health district : a population-based study

There is a dearth of information regarding the prevalence of brain injury, serious enough to require hospital admission, amongst children in the United Kingdom. In North Staffordshire a register of all children admitted with traumatic brain injury (TBI) has been maintained since 1992 presenting an opportunity to investigate the incidence of TBI within the region in terms of age, cause of injury, injury severity and social deprivation. The register contains details of 1553 children with TBI, two thirds of whom are male. This population-based study shows that TBI is most prevalent amongst children from families living in more deprived areas, however, social deprivation was not related to the cause of injury. Each year, 280 per 100,000 children are admitted for ≥24 hours with a TBI, of these 232 will have a mild brain injury, 25 moderate, 17 severe, and 2 will die. The incidence of moderate and severe injuries is higher than previous estimates. Children under 2 years old account for 18.5% of all TBIs, usually due to falls, being dropped or non-accidental injuries. Falls account for 60% of TBIs in the under 5s. In the 10-15 age group road traffic accidents were the most common cause (185, 36.7%). These findings will help to plan health services and target accident prevention initiatives more accurately

Protocol for a randomised control trial of methylnaltrexone for the treatment of opioid-induced constipation and gastrointestinal stasis in intensive care patients (MOTION)

Gastrointestinal dysmotility and constipation are common problems in intensive care patients. The majority of critical care patients are sedated with opioids to facilitate tolerance of endotracheal tubes and mechanical ventilation, which inhibit gastrointestinal motility and lead to adverse outcomes. Methylnaltrexone is a peripheral opioid antagonist that does not cross the blood-brain barrier and can reverse the peripheral side effects of opioids without affecting the desired central properties. This trial will investigate whether methylnaltrexone can reverse opioid-induced constipation and gastrointestinal dysmotility.This is a single-centre, multisite, double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial. 84 patients will be recruited from 4 intensive care units (ICUs) within Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. Patients will receive intravenous methylnaltrexone or placebo on a daily basis if they are receiving opioid infusion to facilitate mechanical ventilation and have not opened their bowels for 48 hours. All patients will receive standard laxatives as per the clinical ICU bowel protocol prior to randomisation. The primary outcome of the trial will be time to significant rescue-free laxation following randomisation. Secondary outcomes will include tolerance of enteral feed, gastric residual volumes, incidence of pneumonia, blood stream and Clostridium difficile infection, and any reversal of central opioid effects.The trial protocol, the patient/legal representative information sheets and consent forms have been reviewed and approved by the Harrow Research Ethics Committee (REC Reference 14/LO/2004). An independent Trial Steering Committee and Data Monitoring Committee are in place, with patient representation. On completion, the trial results will be published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at national and international scientific meetings.2014-004687-37; Pre-results

DAzLE: The Dark Ages z (redshift) Lyman-alpha Explorer

DAzLE is an near infrared narrowband differential imager being built by the Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge, in collaboration with the Anglo-Australian observatory. It is a special purpose instrument designed with a sole aim; the detection of redshifted Lyman-alpha emission from star forming galaxies at z>7. DAzLE will use pairs of high resolution (R=1000) narrowband filters to exploit low background `windows' in the near infrared sky emission spectrum. This will enable it to reach sensitivities of ~2E-21 W/m^2, thereby allowing the detection of z>7 galaxies with star formation rates as low as a few solar masses per year. The design of the instrument, and in particular the crucial narrowband filters, are presented. The predicted performance of DAzLE, including the sensitivity, volume coverage and expected number counts, is discussed. The current status of the DAzLE project, and its projected timeline, are also presented.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, to appear in Proceedings of SPIE Vol. 5492, Ground-based Instrumentation for Astronom