The Artist as a Producer and Entrepreneur

This project dives deep into the processes of music production and distribution, and it aims to explore how the state of the art tools and technologies can support an independent artist like me to successfully manage both of them. As musicians, our responsibility often ends when the music gets created, but what happens if we want to take the lead as producers of ourselves and utilize all our technological resources to obtain the desired sounds? If we want to be entrepreneurial and upload our music on digital stores, how can we be sure that our music is protected, or be aware of all the royalties that it is generating once released and of how to collect them as independent artists? These, among other questions, are the treated themes of this project, that was practically executed through the production of five songs; to fulfil the purpose of the project, one of the songs was entirely produced by me using all the knowledge and experience acquired during my year at Berklee Valencia, and another one was registered with a performing rights organization, released, marketed and promoted by me, with the knowledge acquired through research, and through the attendance of webinars and workshops. I truly believe that the achievements of this project can support my future artistic career, and that they might be of interest to other artists that want to gain more responsibility in the production process of their work or in managing their own music business.https://remix.berklee.edu/graduate-studies-contemporary-performance/1205/thumbnail.jp

Testing devices under different source impedances: a novel technique for on-line measurement of source and device reflection coefficients

This paper describes a new approach for fast and accurate determination of the source reflection coefficient in microwave source-pull measurements. To the authors' knowledge, this is the only technique that allows the simultaneous measurement of the source and the DUT gammas. A traditional vector network analyzer is used as a three-channel receiver. The calibration procedure is based on a new reflectometer model that extends the traditional error box concept. Experimental results are presented and compared to data obtained with traditional techniques

Interaction diagrams of thin-walled, open cross section PC beams

Thin-walled, open cross section PC (prestressed concrete) beams are widely used in precast structures. Nevertheless, the analytical computation of their load carrying capacity under bending and torsion is still an unsolved problem. This is because of the markedly non-linear behaviour of both steel and concrete and of the asymmetry of the behaviour of concrete in tension and compression. This involves a search for the correct solution from a physical point of view (among those mathematically admissible) based on trial-and-error methods of numerical analysis. This paper suggests a method to evaluate the interaction diagrams under bending and torsion. According to this method the solving system is made by two equilibrium plus two compatibility equations. Some examples show the outcomes of this approach

A Permutation-based Combination of Sign Tests for Assessing Habitat Selection

The analysis of habitat use in radio-tagged animals is approached by comparing the portions of use vs the portions of availability observed for each habitat type. Since data are linearly dependent with singular variance-covariance matrices, standard multivariate statistical test cannot be applied. To overcome the problem, compositional data analysis is customary performed via log-ratio transform of sample observations. The procedure is criticized in this paper, emphasizing the many drawbacks which may arise from the use of compositional analysis. An alternative nonparametric solution is proposed in the framework of multiple testing. The habitat use is assessed separately for each habitat type by means of the sign test performed on the original observations. The resulting p-values are combined in an overall test statistic whose significance is determined permuting sample observations. The theoretical findings of the paper are checked by simulation studies. Applications to some case studies are considered.compositional data analysis, Johnson’s second order selection, Johnson’s third order selection, Monte Carlo studies, multiple testing, random habitat use.

The new INRIM rotating encoder angle comparator (REAC)

A novel angle comparator has been built and tested at INRIM. The device is based on a double air bearing structure embedding a continuously rotating encoder, which is read by two heads: one fixed to the base of the comparator and a second fixed to the upper moving part of the comparator. The phase measurement between the two heads’ signals is proportional to the relative angle suspended between them (and, therefore, the angle between the base and the upper, movable part of the comparator). The advantage of this solution is to reduce the encoder graduation errors and to cancel the cyclic errors due to the interpolation of the encoder lines. By using only two pairs of reading heads, we have achieved an intrinsic accuracy of ±0.04″ (rectangular distribution) that can be reduced through self-calibration. The residual cyclic errors have shown to be less than 0.01″ peak-to-peak. The random fluctuations are less than 0.01″ rms on a 100 s time interval. A further advantage of the rotating encoder is the intrinsic knowledge of the absolute position without the need of a zeroing procedure. Construction details of the rotating encoder angle comparator (REAC), characterization tests, and examples of practical use are given

Calibration of high accuracy accelerometers for ESA missions BepiColombo and JUICE at INRIM

High sensitive triaxial accelerometers are used in several space missions to measure the non-gravitational accelerations acting on the spacecraft. Among these, the capacitive accelerometers developed for ESA missions Jupiter Icy moons Explorer (JUICE) and BepiColombo were designed to measure accelerations of the order of 3 · 10−6 m s−2 with an accuracy level of 300 ppm in the frequency range (3 · 10−5–0.1) Hz. Despite the signal to be measured is of the same order of magnitude of the seismic noise on the earth, an accurate on-ground calibration is needed. The facility set-up at INRIM to this purpose is based on a simple principle: the base of the accelerometer is dynamically tilted by an angle α so that the sensor undergoes a component of the gravitational acceleration g proportional to angle α. In practice, several issues have to be addressed by the calibration facility, such as the seismic noise limiting the signal-to-noise ratio, the generation and the accurate measurement of the tilt angle. Furthermore, the calibration was performed taking into account different on-flight conditions such as different operating temperatures and possible deformation of the accelerometers during the launch. The experimental set-up and the calibration procedure are described in the paper. The measurement results and the uncertainty budget show that a relative accuracy of 240 ppm has been achieved

Fourier Transform Hyperspectral Imaging for Cultural Heritage

Hyperspectral imaging is a technique of analysis that associates to each pixel of the image the spectral content of the radiation coming from the scene. This content can be helpful to recognize the chemical nature of the materials within the scene or to calculate their colours under particular conditions. Different solutions of hyperspectral imager have been realized with different spatial resolution, spectral resolution and range in the electromagnetic spectrum. In particular, improving the spectral resolution allows discriminating smaller features in the spectrum and the unambiguous detection of the absorption bands characteristic of superficial materials. Hyperspectral imagers based on interferometers have the advantage of having a spectral resolution that can be varied according to the needs by changing the optical path delay of the interferometer. A spectrum for each pixel is obtained with an algorithm based on the Fourier transform of the calibrated interferogram. We present the results of the application of a hyperspectral imager based on Fabry‐Perot interferometers to the field of cultural heritage. On different artworks, the hyperspectral imager has been used for pigment recognition, for colour rendering elaborations of the image with different light sources or standard illuminants and for calculating the chromatic coordinates useful for specific purposes

Patient selection for partial breast irradiation by intraoperative radiation therapy: Can magnetic resonance imaging be useful?- perspective from radiation oncology point of view

The guidelines of the European and American Societies of Radiation Oncology (GEC-ESTRO and ASTRO) defined the selection criteria to offer partial breast irradiation (PBI) after lumpectomy in patients with low risk breast cancer regardless pre-operative staging. A recent publication by Tallet et al. explored the impact of preoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) on patient eligibility for PBI. From their study, an ipsilateral BC was detected in 4% of patients, excluding these patients from intraoperative radiotherapy (IORT). The authors suggested that preoperative MRI should be used routinely for patient's candidate to IORT, because of the rate of ipsilateral breast cancer detected. In view of Tallet's article, we analyzed some aspects of this issue in order to envisage some possible perspective on how to better identify those patients who could benefit from PBI, especially using IORT. From historical studies, the risk of breast cancer recurrence outside index quadrant without irradiation is in the range of 1.5-3.5%. MRI sensitivity for detection of invasive cancer is reported up to 100%, and it is particularly useful in dense breast. Other imaging technique did not achieve the same sensibility and specificity as conventional MRI. Of note, none of randomized trials published and ongoing on PBI included preoperative MRI as part of staging. To perform a preoperative MRI in PBI setting is an interesting issue, but the available data suggest that this issue should be preferably studied in the setting of prospective clinical trials to clarify the role of MRI and the clinical meaning of the discovered additional foci. \ua9 Journal of Thoracic Disease