Collaborative interfaces for ensemble live coding performance

This research is a practice-led investigation into collaborative user interfaces within the practice of live coding; the act of writing computer code for generating improvised music live in front of an audience. It examines the impact of user interface design parameters on group creativity and explores the roles of data, text, and programming languages as media for musical communication. Utilising a multi-faceted research method that combines iterative “participatory design” (Spinuzzi, 2005) with performance-led “research in the wild” (Benford et al., 2013), this research couples ethnographic and autoethnographic observations to gain insight into the practice of ensemble live coding and inform software design. Three novel collaborative interfaces have been developed as part of this research that explore various facets of musical collaboration in live coding. Each interface was developed through an iterative and reflexive methodology focused on user-centred design and was employed in a cyclical process of artistic practice and refinement based on user evaluation and in-depth study. The first interface, entitled Troop, is a shared text editor that allows multiple performers to collaborate on the same single body of code together. The second, CodeBank, explores how private working in a collaborative context affects creativity and improvisation. Finally, PolyGlot, combines multiple live coding languages into a single collaborative interface that enables live coding musicians to play together, regardless of their knowledge of languages. As well as these three graphical interfaces, the functionality of an existing live coding language, FoxDot, was extended to help facilitate the sharing of musical information within an ensemble. Each interface was used in live performance by The Yorkshire Programming Ensemble and evaluated through group interview sessions that examined the themes of immediacy, trust, and risk with regards to both human-computer interaction and intra-ensemble communication as well as the experience of personal- and group-flow states

Dosage-dependent deregulation of an AGAMOUS-LIKE gene cluster contributes to interspecific incompatibility.

Postzygotic lethality of interspecies hybrids can result from differences in gene expression, copy number, or coding sequence and can be overcome by altering parental genome dosage. In crosses between Arabidopsis thaliana and A. arenosa, embryo arrest is associated with endosperm hyperproliferation and delayed development similar to paternal-excess interploidy crosses and polycomb-repressive complex (PRC) mutants. Failure is accompanied by parent-specific loss of gene silencing including the dysregulation of three genes suppressed by PRC. Increasing the maternal genome dosage rescues seed development and gene silencing. A gene set upregulated in the failing seed transcriptome encoded putative AGAMOUS-LIKE MADS domain transcription factors (AGL) that were expressed in normal early endosperm and were shown to interact in a previous yeast 2-hybrid analysis. Suppression of these AGL's expression upon cellularization required PRC. Preceding seed failure, expression of the PRC member FIS2 decreased concomitant with overexpression of the AGL cluster. Inactivating two members, AGL62 and AGL90, attenuated the postzygotic barrier between A. thaliana and A. arenosa. We present a model where dosage-sensitive loss of PRC function results in a dysregulated AGL network, which is detrimental for early seed development

Ice-cored moraine degradation mapped and quantified using an unmanned aerial vehicle: a case study from a polythermal glacier in Svalbard

Ice-cored lateral–frontal moraines are common at the margins of receding high-Arctic valley glaciers, but the preservation potential of these features within the landform record is unclear. Recent climatic amelioration provides an opportunity to study the morphological evolution of these landforms as they de-ice. This is important because high-Arctic glacial landsystems have been used as analogues for formerly glaciated areas in the mid-latitudes. This study uses SfM (Structure-from-Motion) photogrammetry and a combination of archive aerial and UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) derived imagery to investigate the degradation of an ice-cored lateral–frontal moraine at Austre Lovénbreen, Svalbard. Across the study area as a whole, over an 11-year period, the average depth of surface lowering was − 1.75 ± 0.89 m. The frontal sections of the moraine showed low or undetectable rates of change. Spatially variable rates of surface lowering are associated with differences in the quantity of buried ice within the structure of the moraine. Morphological change was dominated by surface lowering, with limited field evidence of degradation via back-wastage. This permits the moraine a greater degree of stability than previously observed at other sites in Svalbard. It is unclear whether the end point will be a fully stabilised ice-cored moraine, in equilibrium with its environment, or an ice-free lateral–frontal moraine complex. Controls on geomorphological change (e.g. topography and climate) and the preservation potential of the lateral–frontal moraine are discussed. The methods used by this research also demonstrate the potential value of SfM photogrammetry and unmanned aerial vehicles for monitoring environmental change and are likely to have wider applications in other geoscientific sub-disciplines

Multiple novel prostate cancer susceptibility signals identified by fine-mapping of known risk loci among Europeans

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified numerous common prostate cancer (PrCa) susceptibility loci. We have fine-mapped 64 GWAS regions known at the conclusion of the iCOGS study using large-scale genotyping and imputation in 25 723 PrCa cases and 26 274 controls of European ancestry. We detected evidence for multiple independent signals at 16 regions, 12 of which contained additional newly identified significant associations. A single signal comprising a spectrum of correlated variation was observed at 39 regions; 35 of which are now described by a novel more significantly associated lead SNP, while the originally reported variant remained as the lead SNP only in 4 regions. We also confirmed two association signals in Europeans that had been previously reported only in East-Asian GWAS. Based on statistical evidence and linkage disequilibrium (LD) structure, we have curated and narrowed down the list of the most likely candidate causal variants for each region. Functional annotation using data from ENCODE filtered for PrCa cell lines and eQTL analysis demonstrated significant enrichment for overlap with bio-features within this set. By incorporating the novel risk variants identified here alongside the refined data for existing association signals, we estimate that these loci now explain ∼38.9% of the familial relative risk of PrCa, an 8.9% improvement over the previously reported GWAS tag SNPs. This suggests that a significant fraction of the heritability of PrCa may have been hidden during the discovery phase of GWAS, in particular due to the presence of multiple independent signals within the same regio

Impact of COVID-19 on cardiovascular testing in the United States versus the rest of the world

Objectives: This study sought to quantify and compare the decline in volumes of cardiovascular procedures between the United States and non-US institutions during the early phase of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the care of many non-COVID-19 illnesses. Reductions in diagnostic cardiovascular testing around the world have led to concerns over the implications of reduced testing for cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality. Methods: Data were submitted to the INCAPS-COVID (International Atomic Energy Agency Non-Invasive Cardiology Protocols Study of COVID-19), a multinational registry comprising 909 institutions in 108 countries (including 155 facilities in 40 U.S. states), assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on volumes of diagnostic cardiovascular procedures. Data were obtained for April 2020 and compared with volumes of baseline procedures from March 2019. We compared laboratory characteristics, practices, and procedure volumes between U.S. and non-U.S. facilities and between U.S. geographic regions and identified factors associated with volume reduction in the United States. Results: Reductions in the volumes of procedures in the United States were similar to those in non-U.S. facilities (68% vs. 63%, respectively; p = 0.237), although U.S. facilities reported greater reductions in invasive coronary angiography (69% vs. 53%, respectively; p < 0.001). Significantly more U.S. facilities reported increased use of telehealth and patient screening measures than non-U.S. facilities, such as temperature checks, symptom screenings, and COVID-19 testing. Reductions in volumes of procedures differed between U.S. regions, with larger declines observed in the Northeast (76%) and Midwest (74%) than in the South (62%) and West (44%). Prevalence of COVID-19, staff redeployments, outpatient centers, and urban centers were associated with greater reductions in volume in U.S. facilities in a multivariable analysis. Conclusions: We observed marked reductions in U.S. cardiovascular testing in the early phase of the pandemic and significant variability between U.S. regions. The association between reductions of volumes and COVID-19 prevalence in the United States highlighted the need for proactive efforts to maintain access to cardiovascular testing in areas most affected by outbreaks of COVID-19 infection

<i>LEAFY COTYLEDON1</i>, a Key Regulator of Seed Development, Is Expressed in Vegetative and Sexual Propagules of <i>Selaginella moellendorffii</i>

<div><p>LEAFY COTYLEDON1 (LEC1) is a central regulator of seed development that plays a key role in controlling the maturation phase during which storage macromolecules accumulate and the embryo becomes tolerant of desiccation. We queried the genomes of seedless plants and identified a LEC1 homolog in the lycophyte, <i>Selaginella</i><i>moellendorffii</i>, but not in the bryophyte, <i>Physcomitrella</i><i>patens</i>. Genetic suppression experiments indicated that <i>Selaginella LEC1</i> is the functional ortholog of <i>Arabidopsis</i><i> LEC1</i>. Together, these results suggest that <i>LEC1</i> originated at least 30 million years before the first seed plants appeared in the fossil record. The accumulation of <i>Selaginella LEC1</i> RNA primarily in sexual and asexual reproductive structures suggests its involvement in cellular processes similar to those that occur during the maturation phase of seed development.</p> </div

Dosage-dependent deregulation of an AGAMOUS-LIKE gene cluster contributes to interspecific incompatibility.

Postzygotic lethality of interspecies hybrids can result from differences in gene expression, copy number, or coding sequence and can be overcome by altering parental genome dosage. In crosses between Arabidopsis thaliana and A. arenosa, embryo arrest is associated with endosperm hyperproliferation and delayed development similar to paternal-excess interploidy crosses and polycomb-repressive complex (PRC) mutants. Failure is accompanied by parent-specific loss of gene silencing including the dysregulation of three genes suppressed by PRC. Increasing the maternal genome dosage rescues seed development and gene silencing. A gene set upregulated in the failing seed transcriptome encoded putative AGAMOUS-LIKE MADS domain transcription factors (AGL) that were expressed in normal early endosperm and were shown to interact in a previous yeast 2-hybrid analysis. Suppression of these AGL's expression upon cellularization required PRC. Preceding seed failure, expression of the PRC member FIS2 decreased concomitant with overexpression of the AGL cluster. Inactivating two members, AGL62 and AGL90, attenuated the postzygotic barrier between A. thaliana and A. arenosa. We present a model where dosage-sensitive loss of PRC function results in a dysregulated AGL network, which is detrimental for early seed development

Lipid storage in bulbils.

<p>Vibratome-cut sections were stained with Sudan Black B to identify cells with neutral lipids. (A) Section through an <i>Arabidopsis</i> leaf with a low storage lipid content. (B) Stem and leaf section from <i>S</i><i>. moellendorffii</i>. (C) Section through a pumpkin oilseed with high storage lipid content. (D) <i>S</i><i>. moellendorffii</i> bulbil section. Stained lipids appears as dark blue or black. Air bubbles in A and B (arrows) appear dark and do not indicate staining. The images are representative of material from at least three different plants.</p