From soprano to barking dog : John Cage, the avant garde, and the counterculture, 1940-1975

John Cage’s compositions, representative of second generation avant-garde music, are an integral part of any discussion of the sixties, and his work complicates parts of the counterculture historiography. While the political ideology that drives Cage’s compositions fit many of the counterculture’s aims, it has not been included in the historiography in its own right. The evidence suggests instead that his ideas, and those of the new avant-garde of which he was a part, were actually a piece of a consistent tradition that extended into the counterculture. Historians and musicologists have not done justice to Cage’s long background of political ideas and behaviors that came to be associated with the counterculture. His influence on Yoko Ono and the Beatles has not been recognized. More importantly, intersections can be traced between reactions to his avantgardist compositions and reactions to cutting edge pop music icons, raising significant questions about the reality of the counterculture’s actual co-optation. Separately, historians have identified the end of the neo-avant-garde and the co-optation of the counterculture as the late sixties came to an end, but when reactions to Cage’s work are aligned with the life cycles of both, it suggests that parts of the counterculture were not moved into the mainstream at all but rejected and preserved instead by the elite intelligentsia of music hierarchy and by higher education perceived as liberal by the conservativism that would reassert its dominance in the eighties. The strongest opinions for and against John Cage’s avant-garde work were expressed while the counterculture was at its height, obviously polarized while it was perceived as revolutionary and threatening to the hierarchy. As the commodified parts of counterculture permeated the social fabric and the co-optation of these less threatening ideals took place, reactions transitioned. Musicology took on an overall acceptance of his work as valid and ground-breaking, while the majority of the music community continued on with the harmony and aesthetic preferences it had prior to his work. The countercultural concepts of peace, globalization, and eastern thinking did not become mainstream ideals; instead, symbols which had been revolutionary were repurposed

Honing the edge: an integrated model for supporting eresearch

Like many academic libraries, the University of Wollongong Library jumped into eResearch with the offer of Government funding through Australian National Data Service (ANDS). Contributing to the ANDS Seeding the Commons project provided the University with the opportunity to resource formative infrastructure development of eResearch services, however, without an institution-wide framework in place, the UOW Library\u27s involvement in these services failed to achieve the traction needed to enable these services to grow. As libraries and information professionals look to secure their place in emerging research-focused industries, it is becoming increasingly important to identify our relevant strengths and unique skills when defining the role we will play. With motivators such as the emergence of citation information for research data, and changes to funding body requirements, research data is gaining traction as its own marker of research impact and success. The push for making data open, reusable, and accountable is increasing, with libraries, including those in the non-academic sector, now faced with opportunities to demonstrate the relevance and flexibility of their traditional skills in this space. There has been much discussion on the re-skilling or redefining the roles of librarians, inevitably leading to the emergence of new Library roles and teams to support eResearch. Working within an academic environment in which research data has not yet achieved the same standing as publications, UOW Library took a pragmatic approach, integrating support for eResearch within existing roles and skillsets, bypassing the adoption of \u27edgy\u27 titles or complex specialised systems. The Library already has experience with managing publications, authority control, application of metadata, persistent identifiers, copyright advice, repository management, training, academic outreach, and has well-established relationships across the University. UOW Library is collaborating with the UOW Research Services Office (RSO), Information Technology Services (ITS), and a crosssection of academic researchers in the development of a simple, yet effective institution-wide eResearch framework to define support services for the registration, storage, description and discoverability of research datasets. Identifying and recognising that requisite skills already existed to support eResearch within existing structures, defined the Library\u27s role (and value proposition) within this framework, demonstrating that libraries can still be serious about supporting research data in a holistic service delivery approach. The methodology adopted by the UOW Library for defining its place in an eResearch framework has a broader application beyond academic libraries. The framework itself is scalable, and demonstrates that a library can support eResearch without recourse to major changes in roles and support systems: the skills needed are often available. As special and public libraries increasingly work with researchers and independent scholars who are generating their own data, the principles derived from UOW\u27s eResearch framework can assist other libraries in demonstrating their value in new ways to client communities

On faint companions in the close environment of star-forming dwarf galaxies. Possible external star formation triggers ?

We have searched for companion galaxies in the close environment of 98 star-forming dwarf galaxies (SFDGs) from field and low density environments, using the NASA Extragalactic Database. Most of the companions are dwarf galaxies which due to observational selection effects were previously disregarded in environmental studies of SFDGs. A subsample at low redshift, cz<2000 km/s, was chosen to partially eliminate the observational bias against distant dwarf companions. We find companion candidates for approximately 30% of the objects within a projected linear separation s_p<100 kpc and a redshift difference (Delta cz)<500 km/s. The limited completeness of the available data sets, together with the non-negligible frequency of HI clouds in the vicinity of SFDGs indicated by recent radio surveys, suggest that a considerably larger fraction of these galaxies may be accompanied by low-mass systems. This casts doubt on the hypothesis that the majority of them can be considered truly isolated. The velocity differences between companion candidates and sample SFDGs amount typically to (Delta cz)<250 km/s, and show a rising distribution towards lower (Delta cz). This is similarly found for dwarf satellites of spiral galaxies, suggesting a physical association between the companion candidates and the sample SFDGs. SFDGs with a close companion do not show significant differences in their Hbeta equivalent widths and B-V colours as compared to isolated ones. However, the available data do not allow us to rule out that interactions with close dwarf companions can influence the star formation activity in SFDGs.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, to appear in A&A; also available at http://www.uni-sw.gwdg.de/~knoeske/PUB_LIST/sfdg_comps.ps.g

Accuracy and feasibility of an android-based digital assessment tool for post stroke visual disorders - The StrokeVision App

Background: Visual impairment affects up to 70% of stroke survivors. We designed an app (StrokeVision) to facilitate screening for common post stroke visual issues (acuity, visual fields and visual inattention). We sought to describe the test-time, feasibility, acceptability and accuracy of our app based digital visual assessments against a) current methods used for bedside screening, and b) gold standard measures. Methods: Patients were prospectively recruited from acute stroke settings. Index tests were app based assessments of fields and inattention performed by a trained researcher. We compared against usual clinical screening practice of visual fields to confrontation including inattention assessment (simultaneous stimuli). We also compared app to gold standard assessments of formal kinetic perimetry (Goldman or Octopus Visual Field Assessment); and pencil and paper based tests of inattention (Albert’s, Star Cancellation, and Line Bisection). Results of inattention and field tests were adjudicated by a specialist Neuro-Ophthalmologist. All assessors were masked to each other’s results. Participants and assessors graded acceptability using a bespoke scale that ranged from 0 (completely unacceptable) to 10 (perfect acceptability). Results: Of 48 stroke survivors recruited, the complete battery of index and reference tests for fields was successfully completed in 45. Similar acceptability scores were observed for app-based (assessor median score 10 [IQR:9-10]; patient 9 [IQR:8-10]) and traditional bedside testing (assessor 10 [IQR:9-10; patient 10 [IQR:9-10]). Median test time was longer for app-based testing (combined time-to-completion of all digital tests 420 seconds [IQR:390-588]) when compared with conventional bedside testing (70 seconds, [IQR:40-70]) but shorter than gold standard testing (1260 seconds, [IQR:1005-1620]). Compared with gold standard assessments, usual screening practice demonstrated 79% sensitivity and 82% specificity for detection of a stroke-related field defect. This compares with 79% sensitivity and 88% specificity for StrokeVision digital assessment. Conclusion: StrokeVision shows promise as a screening tool for visual complications in the acute phase of stroke. The app is at least as good as usual screening and offers other functionality that may make it attractive for use in acute stroke

The Stripe 82 1-2 GHz Very Large Array Snapshot Survey: Multiwavelength Counterparts

We have combined spectrosopic and photometric data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) with $1.4$ GHz radio observations, conducted as part of the Stripe 82 $1-2$ GHz Snapshot Survey using the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA), which covers $\sim100$ sq degrees, to a flux limit of 88 $\mu$Jy rms. Cross-matching the $11\,768$ radio source components with optical data via visual inspection results in a final sample of $4\,795$ cross-matched objects, of which $1\,996$ have spectroscopic redshifts and $2\,799$ objects have photometric redshifts. Three previously undiscovered Giant Radio Galaxies (GRGs) were found during the cross-matching process, which would have been missed using automated techniques. For the objects with spectroscopy we separate radio-loud Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) and star-forming galaxies (SFGs) using three diagnostics and then further divide our radio-loud AGN into the HERG and LERG populations. A control matched sample of HERGs and LERGs, matched on stellar mass, redshift and radio luminosity, reveals that the host galaxies of LERGs are redder and more concentrated than HERGs. By combining with near-infrared data, we demonstrate that LERGs also follow a tight $K-z$ relationship. These results imply the LERG population are hosted by population of massive, passively evolving early-type galaxies. We go on to show that HERGs, LERGs, QSOs and star-forming galaxies in our sample all reside in different regions of a WISE colour-colour diagram. This cross-matched sample bridges the gap between previous `wide but shallow' and `deep but narrow' samples and will be useful for a number of future investigations.Comment: 17 pages, 19 figures. Resubmitted to MNRAS after the initial comment

Cystic fibrosis: analysis of linkage of the disease locus to red cell and plasma protein markers

published_or_final_versio

Records of Melanistic American Red Squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) from Nova Scotia

Though melanism has been observed in several species of North American sciurids, the occurrence of this phenotype is relatively rare in American Red Squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus). We provide the first detailed accounts of melanistic Red Squirrels observed in Nova Scotia, Canada

Wafer-Scale Nanopatterning and Translation into High-Performance Piezoelectric Nanowires

The development of a facile method for fabricating one-dimensional, precisely positioned nanostructures over large areas offers exciting opportunities in fundamental research and innovative applications. Large-scale nanofabrication methods have been restricted in accessibility due to their complexity and cost. Likewise, bottom-up synthesis of nanowires has been limited in methods to assemble these structures at precisely defined locations. Nanomaterials such as PbZr_xTi_(1−x)O_3 (PZT) nanowires (NWs)—which may be useful for nonvolatile memory storage (FeRAM), nanoactuation, and nanoscale power generation—are difficult to synthesize without suffering from polycrystallinity or poor stoichiometric control. Here, we report a novel fabrication method which requires only low-resolution photolithography and electrochemical etching to generate ultrasmooth NWs over wafer scales. These nanostructures are subsequently used as patterning templates to generate PZT nanowires with the highest reported piezoelectric performance (d_(eff) ~ 145 pm/V). The combined large-scale nanopatterning with hierarchical assembly of functional nanomaterials could yield breakthroughs in areas ranging from nanodevice arrays to nanodevice powering