When music speaks: An aoustic study of the speech surrogacy of the Nigerian Dùndún Talking Drum

Yorùbá dùndún drumming is an oral tradition which allows for manipulation of gliding pitch contours in ways that correspond to the differentiation of the Yorùbá linguistic tone levels. This feature enables the drum to be employed as both a musical instrument and a speech surrogate. In this study, we examined four modes of the dùndún talking drum, compared them to vocal singing and talking in the Yorùbá language, and analyzed the extent of microstructural overlap between these categories, making this study one of the first to examine the vocal surrogacy of the drum in song. We compared the fundamental frequency, timing pattern, and intensity contour of syllables from the same sample phrase recorded in the various communicative forms and we correlated each vocalization style with each of the corresponding drumming modes. We analyzed 30 spoken and sung verbal utterances and their corresponding drum and song excerpts collected from three native Yorùbá speakers and three professional dùndún drummers in Nigeria. The findings confirm that the dùndún can very accurately mimic microstructural acoustic temporal, fundamental frequency, and intensity characteristics of Yorùbá vocalization when doing so directly, and that this acoustic match systematically decreases for the drumming modes in which more musical context is specified. Our findings acoustically verify the distinction between four drumming mode categories and confirm their acoustical match to corresponding verbal modes. Understanding how musical and speech aspects interconnect in the dùndún talking drum clarifies acoustical properties that overlap between vocal utterances (speech and song) and corresponding imitations on the drum and verifies the potential functionality of speech surrogacy communications systems

Tendinosis develops from age- and oxygen tension-dependent modulation of Rac1 activity.

Age-related tendon degeneration (tendinosis) is characterized by a phenotypic change in which tenocytes display characteristics of fibrochondrocytes and mineralized fibrochondrocytes. As tendon degeneration has been noted in vivo in areas of decreased tendon vascularity, we hypothesized that hypoxia is responsible for the development of the tendinosis phenotype, and that these effects are more pronounced in aged tenocytes. Hypoxic (1% O2 ) culture of aged, tendinotic, and young human tenocytes resulted in a mineralized fibrochondrocyte phenotype in aged tenocytes, and a fibrochondrocyte phenotype in young and tendinotic tenocytes. Investigation of the molecular mechanism responsible for this phenotype change revealed that the fibrochondrocyte phenotype in aged tenocytes occurs with decreased Rac1 activity in response to hypoxia. In young hypoxic tenocytes, however, the fibrochondrocyte phenotype occurs with concomitant decreased Rac1 activity coupled with increased RhoA activity. Using pharmacologic and adenoviral manipulation, we confirmed that these hypoxic effects on the tenocyte phenotype are linked directly to the activity of RhoA/Rac1 GTPase in in vitro human cell culture and tendon explants. These results demonstrate that hypoxia drives tenocyte phenotypic changes, and provide a molecular insight into the development of human tendinosis that occurs with aging

Paradoxical popups: Why are they hard to catch?

Even professional baseball players occasionally find it difficult to gracefully approach seemingly routine pop-ups. This paper describes a set of towering pop-ups with trajectories that exhibit cusps and loops near the apex. For a normal fly ball, the horizontal velocity is continuously decreasing due to drag caused by air resistance. But for pop-ups, the Magnus force (the force due to the ball spinning in a moving airflow) is larger than the drag force. In these cases the horizontal velocity decreases in the beginning, like a normal fly ball, but after the apex, the Magnus force accelerates the horizontal motion. We refer to this class of pop-ups as paradoxical because they appear to misinform the typically robust optical control strategies used by fielders and lead to systematic vacillation in running paths, especially when a trajectory terminates near the fielder. In short, some of the dancing around when infielders pursue pop-ups can be well explained as a combination of bizarre trajectories and misguidance by the normally reliable optical control strategy, rather than apparent fielder error. Former major league infielders confirm that our model agrees with their experiences.Comment: 28 pages, 10 figures, sumitted to American Journal of Physic

Factors Influencing Cerebral Plasticity in the Normal and Injured Brain

An important development in behavioral neuroscience in the past 20 years has been the demonstration that it is possible to stimulate functional recovery after cerebral injury in laboratory animals. Rodent models of cerebral injury provide an important tool for developing such rehabilitation programs. The models include analysis at different levels including detailed behavioral paradigms, electrophysiology, neuronal morphology, protein chemistry, and epigenetics. A significant challenge for the next 20 years will be the translation of this work to improve the outcome from brain injury and disease in humans. Our goal in the article will be to synthesize the multidisciplinary laboratory work on brain plasticity and behavior in the injured brain to inform the development of rehabilitation programs

Combined application of nitrogen and phosphorus to enhance nitrogen use efficiency and close the wheat yield gap on varying soils in semi‐arid conditions

A primary driver of the wheat yield gap in Australia and globally is the supply of nitrogen (N) and options to increase N use efficiency (NUE) are fundamental to closure of the yield gap. Co‐application of N with phosphorus (P) is suggested as an avenue to increase fertiliser NUE, and inputs of N and P fertiliser are key variable costs in low rainfall cereal crops. Within field variability in the response to nutrients due to soil and season offers a further opportunity to refine inputs for increased efficiency. The response of wheat to N fertiliser input (0, 10, 20, 40 and 80 kg N ha‐1) under four levels of P fertiliser (0, 5, 10 and 20 kg P ha−1) was measured on three key low rainfall cropping soils (dune, mid‐slope and swale) across a dune‐swale system in a low rainfall semi‐arid environment in South Australia, for three successive cropping seasons. Wheat on sandy soils produced significant and linear yield and protein responses across all three seasons, while wheat on a clay loam only produced a yield response in a high rainfall season. Responses to P fertiliser were measured on the sandy soils but more variable in nature and a consistent effect of increased P nutrition leading to increased NUE was not measured

Speciation of phosphorus in a fertilized, reduced-till soil system: in-field treatment incubation study

Citation: Khatiwada, Raju, Ganga M. Hettiarachchi, David B. Mengel, and Mingwei Fei. “Speciation of Phosphorus in a Fertilized, Reduced-Till Soil System: In-Field Treatment Incubation Study.” Soil Science Society of America Journal 76, no. 6 (2012): 2006–18. https://doi.org/10.2136/sssaj2011.0299.Phosphorus management in reduced-tillage systems is a great concern for farmers. Conclusive positive results of deep-banding P fertilizers compared with broadcast application and the chemistry of reduced-tillage systems remain unclear. Knowledge of the dominant solid P species present in soil following application of P fertilizers and the resulting potential P availability would help us understand and efficiently manage P in reduced-tillage systems. The objective of this research was to study the influence of placement (broadcast vs. deep-band P), fertilizer source (granular vs. liquid P), and time on the reaction products of P under field conditions. Changes in soil pH, resin-extractable P, total P, and speciation of P were determined at different distances from the point of fertilizer application at 5 wk and 6 mo after P application at a rate of 75 kg ha−1 to a soil system that was under long-term reduced tillage. Resin-extractable P was lower for broadcast treatments compared with deep-band treatments for both time periods. Resin-extractable P was greater in the liquid P-treated soils than in the granular P-treated soils. Speciation results showed that granular P fertilizers tended to form Fe–P-like forms, whereas liquid forms remained in adsorbed P-like forms in the soil 5 wk after application; moreover, speciation results showed granular P fertilizers precipitated less when deep-banded. During the 6-mo period following application, reaction products of broadcast granular, broadcast liquid, and deep-band granular fertilizers transformed to Ca-phosphate or mixtures of Ca-, Fe- and adsorbed-phosphate-like forms, whereas deep-band liquid P remained as mainly adsorbed P-like forms. Deep-banding of P would most likely provide a solution that is both agronomically and environmentally efficient for reduced-till farmers

Break-crop effects on wheat production across soils and seasons in a semi-arid environment

In low-rainfall environments, a high frequency of cereal crops has been favoured for optimising productivity and risk. However, cereals at high intensity often lead to declining water-use efficiency and increasing inputs to cope with emergent nutritional, disease and weed problems. The value of including breaks in the cropping sequence can involve a high level of uncertainty in low-rainfall areas where non-cereal crops are more risky and profitability is largely determined by the subsequent benefit to cereal productivity. In this study, we aimed to improve understanding of the magnitude and primary source of break benefits such as nutrition, water and disease management in a low-rainfall environment where a high level of within-field soil variability can also contribute to uncertainty about the value of breaks. In on-farm field experiments near Karoonda in the South Australian Mallee, breaks were grown in 2009 or 2010 on four distinct soil types across a dune–swale catena. The effect of these breaks on subsequent cereal production was measured for up to 3 years. In addition, the effect of breaks on nutrition and water available, along with disease infection in subsequent cereal crops, was explored and actual yields were compared with nitrogen and water-limited potential yields. Consistent cumulative benefits to subsequent cereal crops of at least 1 t ha–1 after 3 years accrue from breaks grown on the different soil types. The inclusion of breaks had beneficial effects on the cycling and supply of nutrients along with some short-term impacts on infection by Rhizoctonia solani AG8 in subsequent cereals, whereas there were no conclusive effects of breaks on the supply of water to subsequent crops. This study suggests that the inclusion of both legume and brassica breaks is likely to be beneficial to subsequent cereal production where nitrogen is a factor limiting productivity in low-rainfall, semi-arid environments

The information for catching fly balls: judging and intercepting virtual balls in a CAVE

Visually guided action implies the existence of information as well as a control law relating that information to movement. For ball catching, the Chapman Strategy - keeping constant the rate of change of the tangent of the elevation angle (d(tan(α))/dt) - leads a catcher to the right location at the right time to intercept a fly ball. Previous studies showed the ability to detect the information and the consistency of running patterns with the use of the strategy. However, only direct manipulation of information can show its use. Participants were asked to intercept virtual balls in a Cave Automated Virtual Environment (CAVE) or to judge whether balls would pass behind or in front of them. Catchers in the CAVE successfully intercepted virtual balls with their forehead. Furthermore, the timing of judgments was related to the patterns of changing d(tan(α))/dt. The advantages and disadvantages of a CAVE as a tool for studying interceptive action are discussed

The fate of fertiliser P in soil under pasture and uptake by subterraneum clover: a field study using ³³P-labelled single superphosphate

Background and aims: Single superphosphate (SSP) is a major source of phosphorus (P) used in grazing systems to improve pasture production. The aim of this experiment was to determine the fate of fertiliser P in clover pastures under field conditions. Methods: A procedure was developed to radiolabel SSP granules with a ³³P radiotracer, which was then applied to the soil surface (equivalent to ~12 kg P ha‾¹) of a clover pasture. Recovery of fertiliser P was determined in clover shoots, fertiliser granules and soil fractions (surface layer: 0-4 cm and sub-surface layer: 4-8cm). Results: The P diffusion patterns of the ³³P-labelled SSP granules were not significantly different to those of commercial SSP granules (P > 0.05). Recovery of fertiliser P in clover shoots was 30-35 %. A considerable proportion of the fertiliser P (~28 %) was recovered in the surface soil layer and was largely inorganic P. Conclusions: Recovery of fertiliser P by clover plants was up to 35 % in the year of application. Much of the fertiliser P in soil fractions was inorganic P, which highlights the importance of inorganic P forms and dynamics in soils under clover pasture on a single season timeframe at these sites