Mahler, Politicized: Musical Diplomacy and Internationalism in the 1920 Amsterdam Mahler Festival

The 1920 Amsterdam Mahler Festival (the Mahler-Feest) was cast simultaneously as a celebration of Gustav Mahler’s life and works around a decade after his death, a jubilee honoring Willem Mengelberg on his twenty-fifth anniversary as director of the Concertgebouw Orchestra, and a grandiose return to public concert life following the First World War. In this dissertation, I argue that the festival’s organizing committee had yet another lofty goal: to turn this musical event into an unofficial diplomatic gathering, bringing artistic representatives together from across the Western world under the shared belief that the festival—and specifically the music of Gustav Mahler—would pave the way toward a more unified Europe after the turbulent years of the 1910s. Throughout this project, I analyze various elements of the Mahler-Feest through both musicological and political-historical frameworks, showing that every aspect of the festival was carefully designed to convey a spirit of internationalism and universality to those in attendance. Among these elements were the assembly of prominent guests from around the Western world, the performance of chamber music written by composers from various nations alongside the central program of Mahler’s works, the signing of a Manifesto of Foreign Guests promoting similarly politicized festivals in the future, and the establishment of a global Mahler Union that was to be headquartered in Amsterdam. I further demonstrate that the internationalistic aspects of the event also promoted an underlying nationalistic ideology, with the festival serving to support the diplomatic goals of the Dutch state, which sought to posit itself as a neutral site for dialogue and mediation among nations during the early decades of the twentieth century. Among the central figures in this dissertation is Rudolf Mengelberg—the Concertgebouw’s program annotator and a distant cousin of Willem—who, through his expansive program book written for the festival, casts Mahler as the composer whose music best matched the political framing of the event. To further analyze the Mahler-Feest, I compare this Mengelberg’s characterizations of Mahler with the viewpoints and beliefs that the composer expressed during his own lifetime, showing that Mengelberg took advantage of historical ambiguities to promote his politicized interpretations of Mahler without directly contradicting the documentary evidence available at the time. At the end of the dissertation, I assess the impact that the perspectives advanced at the festival have had (and continue to have) on the broader realm of Mahler scholarship across the past century, and I briefly examine the evolution of the Mahler-centric festival from 1920 through the present day. Methodologically, this study uses archival evidence to bring together lines of inquiry spanning the fields of musicology, political history, anthropology, and the emerging discipline of festival studies

XMM-Newton Detection of the Rare FR II BAL Quasar FIRST J101614.3+520916

We have detected FIRST J101614.3+520916 with the XMM-Newton X-ray Observatory. FIRST J101614.3+520916, one of the most extreme radio-loud, broad absorption line (BAL) quasars so far discovered, is also a Fanaroff-Riley type II (FR II) radio source. We find that, compared to its estimated intrinsic X-ray flux, the observed X-rays are likely suppressed, and that the observed hardness ratio indicates significant soft X-ray photons. This is inconsistent with the simplest model, a normal quasar spectrum absorbed by a large neutral HI column density, which would primarily absorb the softer photons. More complex models, involving partial covering, an ionized absorber, ionized mirror reflection, or jet contributions need to be invoked to explain this source. The suppressed but soft X-ray emission in this radio-loud BAL quasar is consistent with the behavior displayed by other BAL quasars, both radio-loud and radio-quiet.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures. Accepted in AJ. (Typos corrected.

NASA Probe Study Report: Farside Array for Radio Science Investigations of the Dark ages and Exoplanets (FARSIDE)

This is the final report submitted to NASA for a Probe-class concept study of the "Farside Array for Radio Science Investigations of the Dark ages and Exoplanets" (FARSIDE), a low radio frequency interferometric array on the farside of the Moon. The design study focused on the instrument, a deployment rover, the lander and base station, and delivered an architecture broadly consistent with the requirements for a Probe mission. This notional architecture consists of 128 dipole antennas deployed across a 10 km area by a rover, and tethered to a base station for central processing, power and data transmission to the Lunar Gateway, or an alternative relay satellite. FARSIDE would provide the capability to image the entire sky each minute in 1400 channels spanning frequencies from 150 kHz to 40 MHz, extending down two orders of magnitude below bands accessible to ground-based radio astronomy. The lunar farside can simultaneously provide isolation from terrestrial radio frequency interference, auroral kilometric radiation, and plasma noise from the solar wind. This would enable near-continuous monitoring of the nearest stellar systems in the search for the radio signatures of coronal mass ejections and energetic particle events, and would also detect the magnetospheres for the nearest candidate habitable exoplanets. Simultaneously, FARSIDE would be used to characterize similar activity in our own solar system, from the Sun to the outer planets. Through precision calibration via an orbiting beacon, and exquisite foreground characterization, FARSIDE would also measure the Dark Ages global 21-cm signal at redshifts from 50-100. It will also be a pathfinder for a larger 21-cm power spectrum instrument by carefully measuring the foreground with high dynamic range

XMM-Newton detection of the rare Fanaroff-Riley type II broad absorption line quasar first J101614.3+520916

We have detected FIRST J101614.3+520916 with the XMM-Newton X-ray observatory. FIRST J101614.3+520916, one of the most extreme radio-loud, broad absorption line (BAL) quasars so far discovered, is also a Fanaroff-Riley type II radio source. We find that, compared to its estimated intrinsic X-ray flux, the observed X-rays are likely suppressed and that the observed hardness ratio indicates significant soft X-ray photons. This is inconsistent with the simplest model, a normal quasar spectrum absorbed by a large neutral H I column density, which would primarily absorb the softer photons. More complex models, involving partial covering, an ionized absorber, ionized mirror reflection, or jet contributions need to be invoked to explain this source. The suppressed but soft X-ray emission in this radio-loud BAL quasar is consistent with the behavior displayed by other BAL quasars, both radio-loud and radio-quiet

Does Removing Coyotes for Livestock Protection Benefit Free-Ranging Ungulates?

We studied the effects of coyote (Canis latrans) control for livestock protection on native ungulates during 2003 and 2004 on 7 sites in Utah and Colorado, USA, totaling over 1,900 km2. We found no relationships between coyote control variables and offspring/female deer ratios. However, control effort (no. of hr spent aerial gunning for coyotes) and success (no. of coyotes taken) were positively correlated with numbers of mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) and pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) observed per kilometer of transect. Our results suggest that coyote control for livestock protection may increase densities of mule deer and pronghorn in areas where it is conducted

PEGylated enhanced cell penetrating peptide nanoparticles for lung gene therapy

The lung remains an attractive target for the gene therapy of monogenetic diseases such as cystic fibrosis (CF). Despite over 27 clinical trials, there are still very few gene therapy vectors that have shown any improvement in lung function; highlighting the need to develop formulations with improved gene transfer potency and the desirable physiochemical characteristics for efficacious therapy. Herein, we introduce a novel cell penetrating peptide (CPP)-based non-viral vector that utilises glycosaminoglycan (GAG)-binding enhanced transduction (GET) for highly efficient gene transfer. GET peptides couple directly with DNA through electrostatic interactions to form nanoparticles (NPs). In order to adapt the GET peptide for efficient in vivo delivery, we engineered PEGylated versions of the peptide and employed a strategy to form DNA NPs with different densities of PEG coatings. We were able to identify candidate formulations (PEGylation rates ≥40%) that shielded the positively charged surface of particles, maintained colloidal stability in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and retained gene transfer activity in human bronchial epithelial cell lines and precision cut lung slices (PCLS) in vitro. Using multiple particle tracking (MPT) technology, we demonstrated that PEG-GET complexes were able to navigate the mucus mesh and diffuse rapidly through patient CF sputum samples ex vivo. When tested in mouse lung models in vivo, PEGylated particles demonstrated superior biodistribution, improved safety profiles and efficient gene transfer of a reporter luciferase plasmid compared to non-PEGylated complexes. Furthermore, gene expression was significantly enhanced in comparison to polyethylenimine (PEI), a non-viral gene carrier that has been widely tested in pre-clinical settings. This work describes an innovative approach that combines novel GET peptides for enhanced transfection with a tuneable PEG coating for efficacious lung gene therapy

The association of long-term outcome and biological sex in patients with acute heart failure from different geographic regions

Aims: Recent data from national registries suggest that acute heart failure (AHF) outcomes might vary in men and women, however, it is not known whether this observation is universal. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association of biological sex and 1-year all-cause mortality in patients with AHF in various regions of the world. Methods and results: We analysed several AHF cohorts including GREAT registry (22 523 patients, mostly from Europe and Asia) and OPTIMIZE-HF (26 376 patients from the USA). Clinical characteristics and medication use at discharge were collected. Hazard ratios (HRs) for 1-year mortality according to biological sex were calculated using a Cox proportional hazards regression model with adjustment for baseline characteristics (e.g. age, comorbidities, clinical and laboratory parameters at admission, left ventricular ejection fraction). In the GREAT registry, women had a lower risk of death in the year following AHF [HR 0.86 (0.79-0.94), P < 0.001 after adjustment]. This was mostly driven by northeast Asia [n = 9135, HR 0.76 (0.67-0.87), P < 0.001], while no significant differences were seen in other countries. In the OPTIMIZE-HF registry, women also had a lower risk of 1-year death [HR 0.93 (0.89-0.97), P < 0.001]. In the GREAT registry, women were less often prescribed with a combination of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and beta-blockers at discharge (50% vs. 57%, P = 0.001). Conclusion: Globally women with AHF have a lower 1-year mortality and less evidenced-based treatment than men. Differences among countries need further investigation. Our findings merit consideration when designing future global clinical trials in AHF

Cardiorespiratory fitness is associated with physical literacy in a large sample of Canadian children aged 8 to 12 years

Background The associations between cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and physical literacy in children are largely unknown. The aim of this study was to assess the relationships between CRF, measured using the 20-m shuttle run test (20mSRT), and components of physical literacy among Canadian children aged 8–12 years. Methods A total of 9393 (49.9% girls) children, with a mean (SD) age of 10.1 (±1.2) years, from a cross-sectional surveillance study were included for this analysis. The SRT was evaluated using a standardized 15 m or 20 m protocol. All 15 m SRTs were converted to 20mSRT values using a standardized formula. The four domains of physical literacy (Physical Competence, Daily Behaviour, Motivation and Confidence, and Knowledge and Understanding) were measured using the Canadian Assessment of Physical Literacy. Tertiles were identified for 20mSRT laps, representing low, medium, and high CRF for each age and gender group. Cohen’s d was used to calculate the effect size between the low and high CRF groups. Results CRF was strongly and favourably associated with all components of physical literacy among school-aged Canadian children. The effect size between low and high CRF tertile groups was large for the Physical Competence domain (Cohen’s d range: 1.11–1.94) across age and gender groups, followed by moderate to large effect sizes for Motivation and Confidence (Cohen’s d range: 0.54–1.18), small to moderate effect sizes for Daily Behaviour (Cohen’s d range: 0.25–0.81), and marginal to moderate effect sizes for Knowledge and Understanding (Cohen’s d range: 0.08–0.70). Conclusions This study identified strong favourable associations between CRF and physical literacy and its constituent components in children aged 8–12 years. Future research should investigate the sensitivity and specificity of the 20mSRT in screening those with low physical literacy levels