Narrative-inspired generation of ambient music

An author might read other written works to polish their own writing skill, just as a painter might analyze other paintings to hone their own craft. Yet, either might also visit the theatre, listen to a piece of music, or otherwise experience the world outside their particular discipline in search of creative insight. This paper explores one example of how a computational system might rely on what they have learned from analyzing another distinct form of expression to produce creative work. Specifically, the system presented here extracts semantic meaning from an input text and uses this knowledge to generate ambient music. An independent measures experiment was conducted to provide a preliminary assessment of the system and direct future work

Imaginative Recall with Story Intention Graphs

Intelligent storytelling systems either formalize specific narrative structures proposed by narratologists (such as Propp and Bremond), or are founded on formal representations from artificial intelligence (such as plan structures from classical planning). This disparity in underlying knowledge representations leads to a lack of common evaluation metrics across story generation systems, particularly around the creativity aspect of generators. This paper takes Skald, a reconstruction of the Minstrel creative story generation system, and maps the representation to a formal narrative representation of Story Intention Graphs (SIG) proposed by Elson et al. This mapping facilitates the opportunity to expand the creative space of stories generated through imaginative recall in Minstrel while maintaining narrative complexity. We show that there is promise in using the SIG as an intermediate representation that is useful for evaluation of story generation systems

The draw-a-computational-creativity-researcher test (DACCRT): Exploring stereotypic images and descriptions of computational creativity

Prior work investigating student perceptions of scientists has revealed commonly-held beliefs, stereotypes, and even connections to career choices. We adapt the “Draw-A-Scientist” instrument to examine how undergraduates depict computational creativity researchers and the field of computational creativity as a whole. Our results indicate that there are significant differences when students are asked to draw or describe a computer scientist versus a computational creativity researcher. Whether the student is an upper-level or introductory computer science student appears to also influence responses

Effects of Popular Music on Memorization Tasks

This study investigated the effects that popular music has on memory performance. It was proposed that popular music would adversely affect both studying and memory recall. Forty introductory psychology students participated in the study. Subjects were given a list of fifty words to study in 6 ½ minutes, with music either being present or absent. This was termed the learning stage. In this study, four conditions were tested. In all 4 conditions, subjects were assigned to either a “music” pre-period or a “non-music” pre-period and a “music” post-period or a “non-music” post-period. After they had studied the words, subjects were given another 6 ½ minutes to recall the words either with or with out music present. This period was called the recall stage. The researchers hypothesized that music would have a detrimental effect on performance, these expected results were not found. Findings from this study suggested that students who study while listening to popular music performed at the same level as those without music present in either condition. Results indicated that women excelled in recall when the testing condition did not have music present in comparison to men

Construction of a Laboratory to Measure Livestock Emissions

A facility at Iowa State University was constructed to evaluate the impact diet modification has on air emissions. The facility was designed and constructed to have the unique ability to investigate emissions from cattle, poultry and swine by incorporating interchangeable penning and watering systems. Excreta and manure volumes can be measured for group-housed animals. Gas emissions are determined by measuring airflow rates through each of the eight animal chambers and multiplying airflow by the change in contaminate concentration between the effluent and influent ventilation air for each chamber. Chambers are monitored sequentially, for 15 min each, with incoming air gas concentrations subtracted from chamber gas concentrations, providing 10-11 observations per chamber each day. Each chamber is independently heated or air conditioned based on a temperature setpoint, with air delivered from a central plenum into chamber-specific variable air volume boxes. Data acquisition is coordinated through software control, including an emergency alarm system should ventilation problems arise. Findings from the first swine study conducted in the facility indicate that this facility can discriminate between emissions from animals fed diets that are modified to reduce nutrient excretions while maintaining animal performance. A brief laying hen study followed to challenge the sensitivity of the system to small dietary changes

Validation and virtuosity : Perspectives on difference and authorship/control in dance

Peer reviewedPostprin

Two Cell-Bound Keratinases of Trichophyton Mentagrophytes

Two cell-bound keratinases, II and III, of Trichophyton mentagrophytes were extracted from mycelium and purified. The purified keratinases, II and III, had a specific keratinolytic activity of 36.4 and 39.4 KU/mg respectively. The molecular weights of keratinases II and III were 440,000 and 20,300 respectively. Immunodiffusion analysis showed that these two cell-bound keratinases, II and III, were not identical to each other nor to extracellular keratinase I of the same species

Strata-bound vein array in the basal Pierre Shale, Lake Francis Case, South Dakota, U.S.A

A distinctive strata-bound vein array occurs in the basal Pierre Shale exposed along the shores of Lake Francis Case, a reservoir on the Missouri River in south-central South Dakota. Typically 2–4 meters in thickness, the array consistently outcrops over a \u3e50-km distance, a significant areal footprint. Ash layers define the upper and lower bounds of the vein array. Two, suborthogonal, preferred directions of vertical veins (northeast and southeast strike) define a regional pattern. By volume, vertical veins comprise 1–2% of the rock. Thinner, more discontinuous, and irregular horizontal veins also occur. Comparisons between array orientations and the joint/vein pattern in the immediately underlying marls of the top of the Niobrara Chalk identify distinct differences. Traverse data suggest that the vein arrays are characterized by uniform horizontal extension. Vertical veins in the array are typically 1–2 centimeters thick and contain massive jarosite, selenite, and fibrous gypsum. The abundance of jarosite and fibrous gypsum distinctly correlates with position in the weathering profile, and these phases are interpreted as due to replacement of original selenite during modern weathering. However, for initial vein array formation, the following suggests that they are not related to modern weathering and formed at depth: (1) a lack of correlation of vein width/frequency with position in the weathering profile; (2) the regional extent; (3) the consistent preferred orientations; (4) the uniform horizontal extension; and (5) the coarse-grained character of the selenite. The consistent strike pattern suggests influence of a regional stress field. The mechanism/timing of vein array formation is unclear. Formation due to diagenetic processes, which are especially significant in mud rocks, would explain the strata-bound character and isotropic horizontal strain and is considered most likely. Formation during glacial loading is one intriguing possibility. Localization of the vein array may be due to the organic-rich character of the host Burning Brule Member of the Sharon Springs Formation

Disability and the Dancing Body:A Symposium on Ownership, Identity and Difference in Dance

Acknowledgements We would like to thank Siobhan Davies Studios, which was aptly described by one of our participants as “a Cathedral for contemporary dance”, for hosting the symposium and assisting us on the day. We would also like to thank the staff at the Centre for Dance Research (C-Dare) at Coventry University for their support during the day. We would also, of course, like to thank the AHRC for its kind support of InVisible Difference.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Can Tetrahymena thermophila help us better understand the activity of proto-oncogenes and their associated gene regulation?

Nearly all of us have been affected by cancer, a deadly disease that has its roots in mitotic dysregulation. Proto-oncogenes, or regulated growth genes, are present in all eukaryotic cells. In many tumors, the regulatory elements that allow for homeostatic growth have been silenced or lost to mutations, resulting in pathological overgrowth of cells. Tetrahymena thermophila are free-living eukaryotic unicellular organisms that generally reproduce asexually via mitosis. Our previous studies have shown that these organisms appear to express homologues of the proto-oncogene, Ras, and its signaling partner, Raf. The Ras/Raf uncoupler BAY-293 reduces mitotic signaling in this organism, apparently by decreasing gene expression as indicated by the increased level of histone acetylation seen with drug treatment. Another proto-oncogene involved in vertebrate mitotic signaling is the tyrosine phosphatase SHP2, encoded by the gene PTPN11. This protein is instrumental in recruiting a number of pathways involved in mitosis and differentiation, including the Ras/Raf pathway. BLAST searches of the Tetrahymena Genome Database using the SHP2 sequence indicate a high likelihood that Tetrahymena have a SHP2 homolog, making this an intriguing target for drug study. We hypothesized that inhibiting SHP2 would reduce mitosis in Tetrahymena; however, the SHP2 inhibitor PHPS significantly increased cell division in this organism while decreasing histone acetylation. PHPS increased levels of tyrosine phosphorylation and nucleolar activity in Tetrahymena; the distribution of phosphorylation throughout the cell was also affected. In summary, we see that while the Ras homolog in Tetrahymena affects mitosis in a manner that is similar to vertebrates, the SHP2 homolog does not. Therefore, Tetrahymena would be a useful model system in which to study drugs that affect the Ras/Raf portion of growth factor signaling