Musical organics: a heterarchical approach to digital organology

Gaining a comprehensive understanding of new musical technologies is fraught with difficulties. The digital materials from which they are formed are of such diverse origins and nature, that they do not match traditional organological classifications. This article traces the history of musical instrument classifications relevant to the understanding of new instruments, and proposes an alternative approach to the centuries-old tree-structure of downwards divisions. The proposed musical organics is a multi-dimensional, heterarchical, and organic approach to the analysis and classification of both traditional and new musical instruments that suits the rhizomatic nature of their material design and technical origins. Outlines of a hypothetical organological informatics retrieval system are also presented

The Arthropod Fauna of Oak (Quercus spp., Fagaceae) Canopies in Norway

(1) We document the invertebrate fauna collected from 24 oak canopies in east and west Norway as a contribution to the Norwegian Biodiversity Information Centre’s ‘The Norwegian Taxonomy Initiative’. (2) A snap-shot inventory of the canopies was recorded by means of emitting a mist of natural pyrethrum into the canopies at night using a petrol-driven fogger and collecting the specimens in butterfly nets spread on the ground under the canopy. (3) Almost the entire catch of more than 6800 specimens was identified to 722 species. Out of 92 species new to the Norwegian fauna, 21 were new to science and, additionally, 15 were new to the Nordic fauna. Diptera alone constituted nearly half of the species represented, with 61 new records (18 new species). Additionally, 24 Hymenoptera (one new species), six oribatid mites (two new species) and one Thysanoptera were new to the Norwegian fauna. (4) Our study emphasizes the importance of the oak tree as a habitat both for a specific fauna and occasional visitors, and it demonstrates that the canopy fogging technique is an efficient way to find the ‘hidden fauna’ of Norwegian forests. The low number of red listed species found reflects how poor the Norwegian insect fauna is still studied. Moreover, the implication of the IUCN red list criteria for newly described or newly observed species is discussed.</jats:p

Termodynamikk : Det termodynamiske grunnlag; Varmekraftmaskiner, Varmeoverføring, Stråling

Fra Fysisk Institutt. Disse forelesninger inngår som pensum i termodynamikk (kurs F. 2. b i normalplanen) under faget Fysikk II

Hierarchy and position usage in ‘mixed’ metrical structures

Musical metre is commonly formalised in hierarchical terms, and defined or represented on the basis of regular, interacting pulse streams. These hierarchies are often merely asserted a priori, though systematic studies by Palmer and Krumhansl and Prince and Schmuckler suggest that such hierarchies are also strongly manifest in the relative usage of metrical positions: a strong metrical position is also a frequently used one. If position usage provides an insight into metrical structure, then this may provide a way of engaging with a wider range of metrical structures, including ‘mixed’ metres (5/8, 7/8 ) which are excluded by many systems of well-formedness invoked in the canonical studies of ‘simple’ metres (2/4, 3/4 ). This article assesses whether position usage in mixed metres is similarly indicative of the metrical structures asserted for them by music theory. The complete set of Bartók’s solo piano works in 7/8 (223) provides the primary case study repertoire. This is complemented by a look at the more ambiguous 8/8 (323), as part of considering how position usage might relate to distinctions between syncopation and mixed metre. An introductory discussion of sample size also provides new data and observations for larger corpora of common practice music by Bach. Brief analytical comments keep the study grounded in ‘the music’ throughout