Purpose and Well-Being Through Administering Network Performances

Due to the COVID-19 crisis, music communities who found themselves in social and physical isolation have been trying to find alternative solutions to keep some form of connection. Network performance is one of these solutions, one that is specifically aimed at enhancing communities’ connectivity beyond one’s intimate surroundings. In order for network performances to properly work, there are numerous roles that need to be filled; these include performers, administrators, technicians, and event organizers. This paper presents new discussions aimed at understanding these evolving roles and the way in which they are intertwined. These discussions are based on the autobiographical reflections of one of the authors, Andrew McMillan, and his experience as organizer and technician of network performances during this crisis. This article has two objectives: one is scholarly and one is pragmatic. First, we discuss the sociotechnical challenges and opportunities of managing organizational and technical aspects of network performances. We discuss how this form of social connectivity can be considered an autotelic experience, which also creates a strong sense of purpose and well-being in isolation. Second, we offer practical suggestions and technical solutions for running online performance series

Toward the adoption of design concepts in scoring for Digital Musical Instruments: a case study on affordances and constraints

This paper, we propose the idea that a score for a Digital Musical In- strument (DMIs) can be approached from a design perspective. In particular, we focus on the concepts of affordances and constraints. The paper describes the use of scores in a piece called XXV composed for Chimney, a DMI and Cello. Both the piece and the system are detailed with a focus on design concepts. In the conclusion we compare our approach to other literature that discuss the use of score with DMIs. Based on this, and the results obtained, we present recommendations regarding the use of score in DMIs. Future work is also outlined

The Influence of Coauthorship in the Interpretation of Multimodal Interfaces

This paper presents a model to codesign interpretively flexible artefacts. We present the case study of Beatfield, a multimodal system that allows users to control audiovisual material by means of tangible interaction. The design of the system was coauthored by individuals with different background and interests to encourage a range of difference interpretations. The capability of Beatfield to foster multiple interpretations was evaluated in a qualitative study with 21 participants. Elaborating on the outcome of this study, we present a new design model that can be used to stimulate heterogeneous interpretations of interactive artefacts

Share Your Values! Community-Driven Embedding of Ethics in Research

Ethically-defensible research requires wide-ranging, holistic, and deep consideration. It is often overseen by Research Ethics Committees, Institutional Research Boards or equivalents but not all organisations have these and where they do, their degree of independence from organisational priorities varies (perhaps leading to research that would create reputational or other difficulties for organisations being left unpublished or unacknowledged). Conflicts of interest can therefore be left unmanaged, participants may be exploited, and society may not benefit. In this paper, we claim that publishing communities (e.g. scholarly conferences) can play a larger role in supporting improved ethical practice by defining and communicating the ethical values of their community’s collective identity and aspirations. This approach is not prescriptive like procedural ethics nor as broad as general research ethics codes (both are important) but offers a tangible way to unify ethics concerns across research contexts

NIME Principles & Code of Practice on Ethical Research

NIME upholds the highest ethical standards in research and artistic practice by recognising the importance of individual persons and data as an expression of personhood. These standards also include ethical values that are not always a concern of institutional research committees, including inclusivity, accessibility, animal rights, socio-economic fairness, and environmental awareness. The complete NIME Principles & Code of Practice on Ethical Research can be found at: www.nime.org/ethics

ARCAA: a framework to analyse the artefact ecology in computer music performance

This paper presents ARCAA (Actors, Role, Context, Activity, Artefacts), a framework that supports designers in understanding the artefact ecology in the music performance scenario, in particular, allowing to frame the role of the different actors. The ARCAA framework is the result of the combination of two different areas of HCI: artefact ecology concept, and design framework for digital musical instruments. The model borrows three categories from MINUET an established design framework and rethinks them from an ecological perspective. In ARCAA, these three categories are used as three lenses to connect each human actor to her artefact ecology. Finally, the framework allows comparing how the various artefacts create connections among the different people involved. The second part of the paper describes a case study that shows a practical adoption of the framework

Collaborative creativity: The Music Room

In this paper, we reflect on our experience of designing, developing and evaluating interactive spaces for collaborative creativity. In particular, we are interested in designing spaces which allow everybody to compose and play original music. The Music Room is an interactive installation where couples can compose original music by moving in the space. Following the metaphor of love, the music is automatically generated and modulated in terms of pleasantness and intensity, according to the proxemics cues extracted from the visual tracking algorithm. The Music Room was exhibited during the EU Researchers' Night in Trento, Italy

Chronic constipation diagnosis and treatment evaluation: The "CHRO.CO.DI.T.E." study

Background: According to Rome criteria, chronic constipation (CC) includes functional constipation (FC) and irritable bowel syndrome with constipation (IBS-C). Some patients do not meet these criteria (No Rome Constipation, NRC). The aim of the study was is to evaluate the various clinical presentation and management of FC, IBS-C and NRC in Italy. Methods: During a 2-month period, 52 Italian gastroenterologists recorded clinical data of FC, IBS-C and NRC patients, using Bristol scale, PAC-SYM and PAC-QoL questionnaires. In addition, gastroenterologists were also asked to record whether the patients were clinically assessed for CC for the first time or were in follow up. Diagnostic tests and prescribed therapies were also recorded. Results: Eight hundred seventy-eight consecutive CC patients (706 F) were enrolled (FC 62.5%, IBS-C 31.3%, NRC 6.2%). PAC-SYM and PAC-QoL scores were higher in IBS-C than in FC and NRC. 49.5% were at their first gastroenterological evaluation for CC. In 48.5% CC duration was longer than 10 years. A specialist consultation was requested in 31.6%, more frequently in IBS-C than in NRC. Digital rectal examination was performed in only 56.4%. Diagnostic tests were prescribed to 80.0%. Faecal calprotectin, thyroid tests, celiac serology, breath tests were more frequently suggested in IBS-C and anorectal manometry in FC. More than 90% had at least one treatment suggested on chronic constipation, most frequently dietary changes, macrogol and fibers. Antispasmodics and psychotherapy were more frequently prescribed in IBS-C, prucalopride and pelvic floor rehabilitation in FC. Conclusions: Patients with IBS-C reported more severe symptoms and worse quality of life than FC and NRC. Digital rectal examination was often not performed but at least one diagnostic test was prescribed to most patients. Colonoscopy and blood tests were the "first line" diagnostic tools. Macrogol was the most prescribed laxative, and prucalopride and pelvic floor rehabilitation represented a "second line" approach. Diagnostic tests and prescribed therapies increased by increasing CC severity

Azimuthal anisotropy of charged jet production in root s(NN)=2.76 TeV Pb-Pb collisions

We present measurements of the azimuthal dependence of charged jet production in central and semi-central root s(NN) = 2.76 TeV Pb-Pb collisions with respect to the second harmonic event plane, quantified as nu(ch)(2) (jet). Jet finding is performed employing the anti-k(T) algorithm with a resolution parameter R = 0.2 using charged tracks from the ALICE tracking system. The contribution of the azimuthal anisotropy of the underlying event is taken into account event-by-event. The remaining (statistical) region-to-region fluctuations are removed on an ensemble basis by unfolding the jet spectra for different event plane orientations independently. Significant non-zero nu(ch)(2) (jet) is observed in semi-central collisions (30-50% centrality) for 20 <p(T)(ch) (jet) <90 GeV/c. The azimuthal dependence of the charged jet production is similar to the dependence observed for jets comprising both charged and neutral fragments, and compatible with measurements of the nu(2) of single charged particles at high p(T). Good agreement between the data and predictions from JEWEL, an event generator simulating parton shower evolution in the presence of a dense QCD medium, is found in semi-central collisions. (C) 2015 CERN for the benefit of the ALICE Collaboration. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Peer reviewe

Production of He-4 and (4) in Pb-Pb collisions at root(NN)-N-S=2.76 TeV at the LHC

Results on the production of He-4 and (4) nuclei in Pb-Pb collisions at root(NN)-N-S = 2.76 TeV in the rapidity range vertical bar y vertical bar <1, using the ALICE detector, are presented in this paper. The rapidity densities corresponding to 0-10% central events are found to be dN/dy4(He) = (0.8 +/- 0.4 (stat) +/- 0.3 (syst)) x 10(-6) and dN/dy4 = (1.1 +/- 0.4 (stat) +/- 0.2 (syst)) x 10(-6), respectively. This is in agreement with the statistical thermal model expectation assuming the same chemical freeze-out temperature (T-chem = 156 MeV) as for light hadrons. The measured ratio of (4)/He-4 is 1.4 +/- 0.8 (stat) +/- 0.5 (syst). (C) 2018 Published by Elsevier B.V.Peer reviewe