Music Industries on the Border of Northeast Mexico and South Texas: The Case of Norteño and Tejano Conjunto

When we talk about the music industry the first idea that comes to mind is the sales of records (in physical or digital format). However, the term is much broader: “music… is a system of objects, a structure of commodities with symbolic values attached to them”. Music generates several parallel businesses, ranging from the publication of scores and methods, specialized magazines and books, movies and documentaries, and many other things. This article aims to make visible the commercial exchanges generated by the “other” music industry on both sides of the border between Texas, in the US, and the Mexican states of Coahuila and Tamaulipas. Based on ethnographic interviews and field work carried out in the region, I demonstrate that the music industry creates wealth and jobs, both for musicians, as well as for sellers of musical instruments, scores, strings, accessories, and those in charge of making repairs.Cuando hablamos de “industria musical” la primera idea que viene a la mente es la venta de discos (en formato físico o digital). Sin embargo, el término es mucho más amplio: “la música ...es un sistema de objetos, una estructura de mercancías con valores simbólicos unidos a ellas.” La música genera diversas empresas paralelas, que van desde la publicación de partituras y métodos, revistas especializadas y libros, películas y documentales, y muchas otras cosas. Este artículo pretende visibilizar los intercambios comerciales que genera la “otra” industria musical en ambos lados de la frontera entre el sur de Texas, en Estados Unidos de América, y los estados mexicanos de Coahuila y Tamaulipas. Basado en entrevistas etnográficas, y trabajo de campo realizado en la región, quiero mostrar que la música genera riqueza y empleos, tanto para los músicos y maestros como para los vendedores de instrumentos musicales, partituras, cuerdas, accesorios, y los especialistas en reparaciones

Wavefront curvature sensing for the human eye

In this paper we present a curvature wavefront sensor for the eye. The layout proposed is novel, whilst the algorithm used has been adapted from previously published work [Roddier, F.; Roddier, C. Appl. Opt. 1991, 30, 1325–1327]. The design of the set-up incorporates two field lenses that, together with a beam separator, define the distance Δz between the two sampled planes. We present a feasibility study to use this particular combination of optical configuration and retrieval algorithm in the eye. We present calibration curves and results from three real eyes

Reseña del libro Los músicos de la catedral metropolitana de México (1751-1791). Transgresión o sumisión. De Raúl Heliodoro Torres Medina, UACM, 2015

En México, es común escuchar que algunos musicólogos se quejan de la carencia de partituras en tal o cual archivo eclesiástico, lo cual hace que dicha colección tenga muy poco atractivo para ellos. Ese no es el caso del archivo de la catedral metropolitana de México, uno de los depósitos de manuscritos mejor catalogados y preservados del continente americano, que cuenta con un considerable repertorio de música escrita, que ha sido difundido en publicaciones y grabaciones modernas

De Jesús Jáuregui, El son mariachero de La Negra, de gusto regional independentista a aire nacional contemporáneo

Ha despertado gran interés el disco-libro número 55 de la serie Testimonio musical de México, que publicó la Fonoteca del Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH), titulado El son mariachero de La Negra: de gusto regional independentista a aire nacional contemporáneo, de Jesús Jáuregui. No había pasado mucho tiempo desde que este autor publicara El mariachi: símbolo musical de México, que puede ser considerado como uno de los textos más significativos en torno al ensamble musical del occidente mexicano, que con el apoyo de la radio, del cine nacional y de algunos eminentes políticos mexicanos se transformó de una música marginada del ámbito rural en un símbolo, tanto al interior como al exterior, casi tan reconocido como nuestro escudo nacional

Experimentar la música, expresar la cultura: Music in Mexico

Han transcurrido más de sesenta años desde la primera edición del libro seminal Music in Mexico: a historical survey, de Robert M. Stevenson (1916-2012),1 obra que llamó la atención sobre la trascendencia del espléndido patrimonio sonoro de nuestro país

Sampling geometries for ocular aberrometry: A model for evaluation of performance

The purpose of this work is to outline a simple model to assess the relative merits of different sampling grids for ocular aberrometry and illustrate it with an example. While in traditional Hartmann-Shack setups the sampling grid geometries have been somewhat restricted by the geometries of the available microlens arrays, other techniques such as laser ray tracing or spatially resolved refractometry allow for a greater freedom of choice. For all available setups, including HS, it is worth studying which of these choices perform better in terms of accuracy (closeness of the obtained results to the actual ones) and precision (uncertainty of the obtained results). Whilst the mathematical model presented in this paper is quite general and it can be applied to optimise existing or new aberrometers, the numerical results presented in the example are only valid for the particular aberration sample used and centroiding algorithms studied, and should not be generalised outside of these boundariesS

Aberrations of the human eye in visible and near infrared illumination

10 pages, 8 figures.-- PMID: 12553541 [PubMed].[Purpose] In most current aberrometers, near infrared light is used to measure ocular aberrations, whereas in some applications, optical aberration data in the visible range are required. We compared optical aberration measurements using infrared (787 nm) and visible light (543 nm) in a heterogeneous group of subjects to assess whether aberrations are similar in both wavelengths and to estimate experimentally the ocular chromatic focus shift.[Methods] Ocular aberrations were measured in near infrared and visible light using two different laboratory-developed systems: laser ray tracing (LRT) and Shack-Hartmann. Measurements were conducted on 36 eyes (25 and 11 eyes, respectively), within a wide range of ages (20 to 71 years), refractive errors (-6.00 to +16.50), and optical quality (root mean square wavefront error, excluding defocus, from 0.40 to 9.89 μm). In both systems, wave aberrations were computed from the ray aberrations by modal fitting to a Zernike polynomial base (up to seventh order in laser ray tracing and sixth order in Shack-Hartmann). We compared the Zernike coefficients and the root mean square wavefront error corresponding to different terms between infrared and green illumination.[Results] A Student's t-test performed on the Zernike coefficients indicates that defocus was significantly different in all of the subjects but one. Average focus shift found between 787 nm and 543 nm was 0.72 D. A very small percentage of the remaining coefficients was found to be significantly different: 4.7% of the 825 coefficients (25 eyes with 33 terms) for laser ray tracing and 18.2% of the 275 coefficients (11 eyes with 25 terms) for Shack-Hartmann. Astigmatism was statistically different in 8.3% of the eyes, root mean square wavefront error for third-order aberrations in 16.6%, and spherical aberration (Z40) in 11.1%.[Conclusions] Aerial images captured using infrared and green light showed noticeable differences. Apart from defocus, this did not affect centroid computations because within the variability of the techniques, estimates of aberrations with infrared were equivalent to those measured with green. In normal eyes, the Longitudinal Chromatic Aberration of the Indiana Chromatic Eye Model can predict the defocus term changes measured experimentally, although the intersubject variability could not be neglected. The largest deviations from the prediction were found on an aphakic eye and on the oldest subject.This study was supported by grants CAM 08.7/0010./2000 from Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain and BFM 2002–02638, Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología, Spain to S. Marcos, TCI98-0925-C02-01 from the Ministerio de Educación y Cultura, Spain to R. Navarro, CONACyT 150238 predoctoral fellowship, Mexico to D. Lara-Saucedo and CAM 03/0101/1999 to L. Llorente.Peer reviewe

Small-scale distribution of the mesozooplankton in a tropical insular system

Neste presente trabalho, são apresentadas as flutuações espacial e sazonal da abundância e diversidade do mesozooplâncton, com especial atenção para assembleia de copépodes da área costeira do Arquipélago de Fernando de Noronha (AFN) (3°50'24''S and 32°24'48''W). A amostragem foi realizada durante as estações seca e chuvosa de dois anos consecutivos (julho e dezembro de 2013) e (junho e novembro de 2014). Um total de 37 taxa do mesozooplâncton foram registrados, sendo os copépodes o grupo mais diversificado (15 taxa). A Subclasse Copepoda dominou em ambos os períodos amostrados, com valores de abundância relativa equivalentes a 53% e 86%, respectivamente, nas estações seca e chuvosa. As espécies consideradas abundantes foram: Calanopia americana, Undinula vulgaris, Oithona plumifera e Corycaeus speciosus. A estação chuvosa favoreceu um aumento significativo na abundância do mesozooplâncton e copépodes. No entanto, um baixo valor do índice de diversidade de Shannon-Wiener foi observado para este mesmo período sazonal. Isso foi explicado pelo domínio das espécies C. americana e U. vulgaris na área estudada. Diferença espacial não foi verificada. A assembleia de copépodes apresentou um maior número de espécies consideradas carnívoro-predador de grande importância na teia trófica pelágica, indicadoras de condições oligotróficas e componente de grande porção dos itens alimentares dos peixes. Assim, sugerimos que a área costeira do Arquipélago de Fernando de Noronha é caracterizada por uma comunidade do mesozooplâncton espacialmente homogênea, onde as mudanças observadas estão principalmente relacionadas ao fator sazonal.In the present work, spatial and seasonal fluctuations of the abundance and diversity of mesozooplankton are presented, with special attention being given to copepod assemblages from coastal area of the Fernando de Noronha Archipelago (FNA) (3°50'24''S and 32°24'48''W). Sampling was carried out during the dry and rainy seasons of two consecutive years (July and December 2013) and (June and November 2014). A total of 37 mesozooplankton taxa were recorded, being the copepods the most diversified group (15 taxa). The Subclass Copepoda dominated in both periods sampled, comprising 53% and 86% of the total abundance in the dry and rainy season respectively. The species considered abundant were: Calanopia americana, Undinula vulgaris, Oithona plumifera and Corycaeus speciosus. The rainy season favored a significant increase in the abundance of mesozooplankton and copepods. However, a low value of the Shannon-Wiener diversity index was observed in this same seasonal period. This was explained by the dominance of the species C. americana and U. vulgaris in the studied area. Spatial differences have not been verified. The copepod assemblages was composed mostly by species considered as predator-carnivours of greater importance on the pelagic trophic web, indicators of oligotrophic conditions and components of a major portion of fish food items. Thus, we suggest that a spatially homogeneous mesozooplankton community characterizes the coastal area of Fernando de Noronha Archipelago with variations related mainly to the seasonal factor