972 research outputs found
Musical Values and Practice in Old Hispanic Chant
Augustine's appraisal of music's moral value in Confessions, as selectively abbreviated by Isidore of Seville, provides a conceptual framework for understanding early medieval Iberian musical values. Augustine advocates a devotional focus primarily on text, expressing anxiety about elaborate liturgical music. For Isidore, by contrast, diverse melody leads both faithful and unfaithful toward a transcendent anticipation of heaven, beyond reason-based concentration on text. In this article I test the hypothesis that Isidore's musical values shaped the extant Old Hispanic chant texts and melodies, offering a new appraisal of the way Old Hispanic musical values and practice relate. Examples are drawn from Old Hispanic (âMozarabicâ) chant, whose texts (preserved before 732) are closer to the late antique context than any other Western liturgy. Old Hispanic melodies are preserved in unpitched notation ca. 900. The methodology developed here has the potential to be applied to other ritual traditions.</jats:p
BlindBuilder : a new encoding to evolve Lego-like structures
This paper introduces a new representation for assemblies of small Lego-like elements: structures are indirectly encoded as construction plans. This representation shows some interesting properties such as hierarchy, modularity and easy constructibility checking by definition. Together with this representation, efficient GP operators are introduced that allow efficient and fast evolution, as witnessed by the results on two construction problems that demonstrate that the proposed approach is able to achieve both compactness and reusability of evolved components
Joint working to develop R&D capacity in three rural Primary Care Trusts
Whilst much good practice relating to research support for rural PCTs undoubtedly exists, little has been published about the processes that facilitate such successful support. This paper outlines the nature of a collaborative venture between a Research & Development Support Unit, HRDNoW, and a Primary Care Research Network, CumbReN in providing research support to three rural PCTs in North Cumbria. In doing so, the paper highlights how research capacity is built through a combination of inputs at an individual and organisational level and looks specifically at the outcomes of this collaboration
His Dream of Passion: Reflections on the work of Lee Strasberg and his influence on British Actor Training (Part Two)
A previous article for Stanislavski Studies (Vol. 4, No 1, 47-62) explored and examined the impact of Lee Strasbergâs Emotion Memory technique and assessed its influence on contemporary approaches to British actor training. This second âcompanionâ article reflects on a much broader range of Strasbergian training techniques in order, initially, to examine their efficacy and to highlight the extent to which they have been absorbed and adapted by acting teachers working in a British training context. Often viewed as a controversial figure - both in the United Kingdom and in the United States - Strasbergâs approach has frequently been vilified and dismissed. This is particularly true of his interpretation of Stanislavskiâs Emotion Memory technique. Whereas the earlier article sought to arrive at an informed and balanced view of his deployment of this technique, what follows is an attempt to review other aspects of Strasbergâs work so as to evaluate the coherence and credibility of the assumptions on which his approach was based and to test whether his work remains appropriate and viable in British training environments today. His work on Relaxation, Concentration and Sense Memory will be examined alongside his development of the Private Moment, Song and Dance and Animal exercises. What, if anything, can we learn from Strasbergâs Method-based approach to actor training and how might we begin to consider the impact and unity of his work as a whole as opposed to focusing almost exclusively on his early work on Emotion Memory
Epidemics in Networks of Spatially Correlated Three-dimensional Root Branching Structures
Using digitized images of the three-dimensional, branching structures for
root systems of bean seedlings, together with analytical and numerical methods
that map a common 'SIR' epidemiological model onto the bond percolation
problem, we show how the spatially-correlated branching structures of plant
roots affect transmission efficiencies, and hence the invasion criterion, for a
soil-borne pathogen as it spreads through ensembles of morphologically complex
hosts. We conclude that the inherent heterogeneities in transmissibilities
arising from correlations in the degrees of overlap between neighbouring
plants, render a population of root systems less susceptible to epidemic
invasion than a corresponding homogeneous system. Several components of
morphological complexity are analysed that contribute to disorder and
heterogeneities in transmissibility of infection. Anisotropy in root shape is
shown to increase resilience to epidemic invasion, while increasing the degree
of branching enhances the spread of epidemics in the population of roots. Some
extension of the methods for other epidemiological systems are discussed.Comment: 21 pages, 8 figure
Farnesol restores wild-type colony morphology to 96% of \u3ci\u3eCandida albicans\u3c/i\u3e colony morphology variants recovered following treatment with mutagens
Candida albicans is a diploid fungus that undergoes a morphological transition between budding yeast, hyphal, and pseudohyphal forms. The morphological transition is strongly correlated with virulence and is regulated in part by quorum sensing. Candida albicans produces and secretes farnesol that regulates the yeast to mycelia morphological transition. Mutants that fail to synthesize or respond to farnesol could be locked in the filamentous mode. To test this hypothesis, a collection of C. albicans mutants were isolated that have altered colony morphologies indicative of the presence of hyphal cells under environmental conditions where C. albicans normally grows only as yeasts. All mutants were characterized for their ability to respond to farnesol. Of these, 95.9% fully or partially reverted to wildtype morphology on yeast malt (YM) agar plates supplemented with farnesol. All mutants that respond to farnesol regained their hyphal morphology when restreaked on YM plates without farnesol. The observation that farnesol remedial mutants are so common (95.9%) relative to mutants that fail to respond to farnesol (4.1%) suggests that farnesol activates and (or) induces a pathway that can override many of the morphogenesis defects in these mutants. Additionally, 9 mutants chosen at random were screened for farnesol production. Two mutants failed to produce detectable levels of farnesol.
Candida albicans est un champignon diploĂŻde qui subit une transition morphologique entre les levures en herbe, les hyphes et les formes pseudohyphales. La transition morphologique est fortement corrĂ©lĂ©e Ă la virulence et est rĂ©gulĂ©e en partie par la dĂ©tection du quorum. Candida albicans produit et sĂ©crĂšte du farnĂ©sol qui rĂ©gule la transition morphologique levure-mycĂ©lium. Les mutants qui ne parviennent pas Ă synthĂ©tiser ou Ă rĂ©pondre au farnĂ©sol pourraient ĂȘtre verrouillĂ©s en mode filamenteux. Pour tester cette hypothĂšse, une collection de mutants de C. albicans a Ă©tĂ© isolĂ©e qui ont modifiĂ© les morphologies des colonies, indiquant la prĂ©sence de cellules hyphales dans des conditions environnementales oĂč C. albicans ne pousse normalement que sous forme de levures. Tous les mutants ont Ă©tĂ© caractĂ©risĂ©s pour leur capacitĂ© Ă rĂ©pondre au farnĂ©sol. Parmi ceux-ci, 95,9% sont entiĂšrement ou partiellement revenus Ă la morphologie de type sauvage sur des plaques de gĂ©lose au levure de malt (YM) complĂ©tĂ©es par du farnĂ©sol. Tous les mutants qui rĂ©pondent au farnĂ©sol ont retrouvĂ© leur morphologie hyphale lorsqu\u27ils ont Ă©tĂ© recrĂ©Ă©s sur des plaques YM sans farnĂ©sol. L\u27observation selon laquelle les mutants curatifs du farnĂ©sol sont si communs (95,9%) par rapport aux mutants qui ne rĂ©pondent pas au farnĂ©sol (4,1%) suggĂšre que le farnĂ©sol s\u27active et (ou) induit une voie qui peut supplanter bon nombre des dĂ©fauts de morphogenĂšse de ces mutants. De plus, 9 mutants choisis au hasard ont Ă©tĂ© testĂ©s pour la production de farnĂ©sol. Deux mutants n\u27ont pas rĂ©ussi Ă produire des niveaux dĂ©tectables de farnĂ©sol
Inoculum Size Effect in Dimorphic Fungi: Extracellular Control of Yeast-Mycelium Dimorphism in \u3ci\u3eCeratocystis ulmi\u3c/i\u3e
We studied the inoculum size effect in Ceratocystis ulmi, the dimorphic fungus that causes Dutch elm disease. In a defined glucose-proline-salts medium, cells develop as budding yeasts when inoculated at \u3e106 spores per ml and as mycelia when inoculated at type, age of the spores, temperature, pH, oxygen availability, trace metals, sulfur source, phosphorous source, or the concentration of glucose or proline. Similarly, it was not influenced by added adenosine, reducing agents, methyl donors, amino sugars, fatty acids, or carbon dioxide. Instead, growing cells excreted an unknown quorum-sensing factor that caused a morphological shift from mycelia to budding yeasts. This yeast-promoting effect is abolished if it is extracted with an organic solvent such as ethyl acetate. The quorum-sensing activity acquired by the organic solvent could be added back to fresh medium in a dosedependent fashion. The quorum-sensing activity in C. ulmi spent medium was specific for C. ulmi and had no effect on the dimorphic fungus Candida albicans or the photomorphogenic fungus Penicillium isariaeforme. In addition, farnesol, the quorum-sensing molecule produced by C. albicans, did not inhibit mycelial development of C. ulmi when present at concentrations of up to 100 ÎŒM. We conclude that the inoculum size effect is a manifestation of a quorum-sensing system that is mediated by an excreted extracellular molecule, and we suggest that quorum sensing is a general phenomenon in dimorphic fungi
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