MOVER [a Multimodal Open-Source Variorum eBook Reader]

The New York Public Library (NYPL) requests a Level II Start Up grant with which it proposes to develop MOVER [a Multimodal Open-Source Variorum eBook Reader], a mobile "app" that patrons will use to read and study media-enhanced editions of texts and musical scores that exist in multiple versions using the newly released ePub 3.0 ebook format and the Android mobile operating system. Project staff will test this software by creating a variorum (multiple version) edition of the libretto and score of the once enormously popular but now largely forgotten 1866 melodrama, The Black Crook. Using the software developed for this project, readers will be able to read the libretto and sheet music in multiple versions, while concurrently hearing the music associated with any particular line of the text or score

Electronic Broadway Project

The Electronic Broadway Project, based at the Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities (MITH), seeks to create an interface for electronic editions of musical theater texts and, as a prototype, develop an electronic edition of the new Broadway musical Glory Days. We will also explore, in this project, the problem of editing a text that was mostly composed electronically. Like so many new literary works, Glory Days was written using digital tools (Word processors, digital music recorders, etc) and so the primary sources are, in many cases, preserved as bits on magnetic media rather than as ink on paper

THE ELECTRONIC EDITION AND TEXTUAL CRITICISM OF AMERICAN MUSICAL THEATRE

For many, contemporary theatre is represented by the musical. The form remains, however, virtually unstudied by literary scholars. In part, this may be a result of the difficulty of accessing the texts. Reading a musical from a traditional codex is no easy matter. The integration of text and music in a musical make it inappropriate to separate the two. One can try to follow along with a cast recording. In most cases, though, this is awkward. Many cast albums record a significantly modified version of the score and lyrics and few include the entire work. Further, musical theatre texts often exist in many different versions. This work begins with a summary of the problems one encounters when editing a multi-authored text (musicals often have a lyricist, librettist, and composer) which may be revised for practical (rather than aesthetic) reasons. The merits of restoring the material changed during the production process are debated. In this discussion some attempt is made to identify who should be considered the dominating collaborator (or auteur) of a musical. Ultimately, this dissertation argues that the notion of trying to restore an authorial Ur-Text makes little sense given the multitude of collaborators involved in the process of making musicals. Instead, an electronic variorum edition is presented as an alternative means of studying and teaching musical theatre texts. The study concludes with a narrative of the authors own work on an electronic edition of the 1998 Broadway musical Parade and ends with a critical introduction to this text

Climate change refugia for terrestrial biodiversity

AbstractWe are currently facing the likelihood of severe climate change before the close of the century. In the face of such a global driver of species loss, we urgently need to identify refugia that will shelter species from the worst impacts of climate change. This  will be  a critical component of successful conservation and management of our biodiversity. Despite this, little is known about how best to identify refugia in the landscape, and the practical strategies needed to identify, protect and expand refugia are just beginning to be developed. Identifying refugia that will protect most species, or large numbers of species, remains a complex and daunting endeavour due to the large variations in climatic and biotic requirements of species. A first step to identifying refugia for biodiversity across Australia is to locate the areas which show the least change into the future (i.e. the most environmentally stable), particularly along axes of temperature and precipitation. The second and crucial step is to identify the areas that will retain most of their biodiversity and provide opportunities for additional species to relocate to into the future. Using these approaches in this project, we take the first steps to identify refugial areas across the Australian continent under contemporary climate change scenarios. We find that the southern and eastern parts of the continent contain refugia that many species will retreat to over the next 75 years, but that the current reserve system may be inadequate to allow species to shift to and persist in these areas. Disturbingly, we also find that there is a large portion of the Australian vertebrate community for which adequate natural refugia do not appear to exist. Fine-scaled regional analyses will be required to clarify these broad findings, and we examine a number of case studies demonstrating how these regional analyses might best proceed. Lessons learnt across the multiple techniques employed in this study include:1. High elevation areas are important refugia.2. Tasmania and the east coast of mainland Australia contain most of the key areas for refugia into the future.3. Results are dependent on which objectives, techniques, taxonomic groups and climate scenarios are used.Please cite this report as:Reside, AE, VanDerWal, J, Phillips, B, Shoo, LP, Rosauer, DF, Anderson, BA, Welbergen, J, Moritz, C, Ferrier, S, Harwood, TD, Williams, KJ, Mackey, B, Hugh, S, Williams, SE 2013 Climate change refugia for terrestrial biodiversity: Defining areas that promote species persistence and ecosystem resilience in the face of global climate change, National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility, Gold Coast, pp. 216We are currently facing the likelihood of severe climate change before the close of the century. In the face of such a global driver of species loss, we urgently need to identify refugia that will shelter species from the worst impacts of climate change. This  will be  a critical component of successful conservation and management of our biodiversity. Despite this, little is known about how best to identify refugia in the landscape, and the practical strategies needed to identify, protect and expand refugia are just beginning to be developed. Identifying refugia that will protect most species, or large numbers of species, remains a complex and daunting endeavour due to the large variations in climatic and biotic requirements of species. A first step to identifying refugia for biodiversity across Australia is to locate the areas which show the least change into the future (i.e. the most environmentally stable), particularly along axes of temperature and precipitation. The second and crucial step is to identify the areas that will retain most of their biodiversity and provide opportunities for additional species to relocate to into the future. Using these approaches in this project, we take the first steps to identify refugial areas across the Australian continent under contemporary climate change scenarios. We find that the southern and eastern parts of the continent contain refugia that many species will retreat to over the next 75 years, but that the current reserve system may be inadequate to allow species to shift to and persist in these areas. Disturbingly, we also find that there is a large portion of the Australian vertebrate community for which adequate natural refugia do not appear to exist. Fine-scaled regional analyses will be required to clarify these broad findings, and we examine a number of case studies demonstrating how these regional analyses might best proceed. Lessons learnt across the multiple techniques employed in this study include:High elevation areas are important refugia.Tasmania and the east coast of mainland Australia contain most of the key areas for refugia into the future.Results are dependent on which objectives, techniques, taxonomic groups and climate scenarios are used

Incorporating altered fire frequency scenarios in species distribution models improves climate change predictions for tropical savanna birds

Biodiversity conservation in the face of changing climate requires reliable predictions of species distributions. Distribution models need to include variables that strongly influence species persistence. Species will be affected by climate change directly by altering the amount and location of suitable climatic space, and indirectly by climate driven modification of habitat. While climate is a good predictor of species distributions, biotic and abiotic landscape factors also influence distribution. Very few studies of climate change effects on biodiversity have included key landscape factors in distribution modelling, despite recognition that landscape alteration through processes such as fire and land clearing changes fauna patterning. For birds in Australian tropical savannas, change in fire regimes is a critical conservation issue, linked to species decline. While species may show gradual shifts in distribution due to changes in temperature and rainfall, species are likely to show a more immediate response to changes in fire as a result of climatic changes. This study examines species' responses to changes in fire by projecting species distribution modelling algorithms built using Maxent onto scenarios with increased fire frequency. We accounted for important static landscape elements by including remnant vegetation and soil spatial layers. This study identified that increased fire frequency alters the predictions for birds by changing the amount of suitable habitat. Climate change combined with increased fire frequency will reduce available habitat; more than simply using climate predictions alone. Our results demonstrate the importance of including landscape factors into distribution modelling when generating species predictions. Understanding the impacts of landscape factors on bird distributions, in particular fire, is a critical step in conservation planning and adaptation of land management for combating biodiversity loss due to climate change

In vivo Assessment of Bone Healing Following Piezotome® Ultrasonic Instrumentation

The first part of this thesis details a randomized controlled study in which osteotomies were prepared in the tibia of 15 rats using either 1st or 2nd Generation Piezotome® ultrasonic surgical units, or high speed rotary instrumentation. Sham surgeries were performed as controls. Real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction was completed, highlighting differential gene expression patterns at 1 week post-surgery while immunohistochemistry staining for matrix metalloproteinase 2, matrix metalloproteinase 8, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha; compared the localization of gene expression at 1 and 3 weeks post-surgery. The second part details a second randomized control study in which osteotomies were prepared in the tibia of 9 rats using the same instrumentation methods. Three weeks post-surgery, micro-computer tomography was completed to evaluate bone mineral density and percentage of bone fill within the osteotomy defects and peripheral bone. Qualitative histological characterization of the tissues was also completed at 3 weeks.Master of Scienc

Examining current or future trade-offs for biodiversity conservation in north-eastern Australia

With the high rate of ecosystem change already occurring and predicted to occur in the coming decades, long-term conservation has to account not only for current biodiversity but also for the biodiversity patterns anticipated for the future. The trade-offs between prioritising future biodiversity at the expense of current priorities must be understood to guide current conservation planning, but have been largely unexplored. To fill this gap, we compared the performance of four conservation planning solutions involving 662 vertebrate species in the Wet Tropics Natural Resource Management Cluster Region in north-eastern Australia. Input species data for the four planning solutions were: 1) current distributions; 2) projected distributions for 2055; 3) projected distributions for 2085; and 4) current, 2055 and 2085 projected distributions, and the connectivity between each of the three time periods for each species. The four planning solutions were remarkably similar (up to 85% overlap), suggesting that modelling for either current or future scenarios is sufficient for conversation planning for this region, with little obvious trade-off. Our analyses also revealed that overall, species with small ranges occurring across steep elevation gradients and at higher elevations were more likely to be better represented in all solutions. Given that species with these characteristics are of high conservation significance, our results provide confidence that conservation planning focused on either current, near-or distant-future biodiversity will account for these species.Peer reviewe

Addressing potential cumulative impacts of development on threatened species: the case of the endangered black-throated finch

Where threatened biodiversity is adversely affected by development, policies often state that "no net loss" should be the goal and biodiversity offsetting is one mechanism available to achieve this. However, developments are often approved on an ad hoc basis and cumulative impacts are not sufficiently examined. We demonstrate the potential for serious threat to an endangered subspecies when multiple developments are planned. We modelled the distribution of the black-throated finch (Poephila cincta cincta) using bioclimatic data and Queensland's Regional Ecosystem classification. We overlaid granted, extant extractive and exploratory mining tenures within the known and modelled ranges of black-throated finches to examine the level of incipient threat to this subspecies in central Queensland, Australia. Our models indicate that more than half of the remaining P. cincta cincta habitat is currently under extractive or exploratory tenure. Therefore, insufficient habitat exists to offset all potential development so "no net loss" is not possible. This has implications for future conservation of this and similarly distributed species and for resource development planning, especially the use of legislated offsets for biodiversity protection

The capacity of refugia for conservation planning under climate change

Refugia – areas that may facilitate the persistence of species during large-scale, long-term climatic change – are increasingly important for conservation planning. There are many methods for identifying refugia, but the ability to quantify their potential for facilitating species persistence (ie their “capacity”) remains elusive. We propose a flexible framework for prioritizing future refugia, based on their capacity. This framework can be applied through various modeling approaches and consists of three steps: (1) definition of scope, scale, and resolution; (2) identification and quantification; and (3) prioritization for conservation. Capacity is quantified by multiple indicators, including environmental stability, microclimatic heterogeneity, size, and accessibility of the refugium. Using an integrated, semi-mechanistic modeling technique, we illustrate how this approach can be implemented to identify refugia for the plant diversity of Tasmania, Australia. The highest- capacity climate-change refugia were found primarily in cool, wet, and topographically complex environments, several of which we identify as high priorities for biodiversity conservation and management

Using 3D Modeling to Describe the Electromotility of the Outer Hair Cell Protein Prestin, and its Role in Sound Perception Among Mammals

Prestin is one of the key motor proteins that has been identified in enabling auditory perception in mammals. By modulating its electromotility in response to changes in environmental voltage, prestin contracts and elongates in the plasma membrane of cochlear outer hair cells (OHCs). This allows different frequencies of sound to be processed quickly and precisely. Belonging to the SLC26A5 family of anion transporters, prestin is especially adept at binding anions in order to facilitate its oscillation through a series of unique conformations. Previous research has demonstrated that prestin is reversibly inhibited in the presence of salicylate. However, the broader mechanisms by which prestin senses and transduces voltage into cellular movement are not yet well understood. Previous studies have described the electromotility of prestin in terms of non-linear capacitance (NLC), wherein conformational changes in the protein are not linearly related to the voltage applied. High NLC is imperative for sound amplification in the cochlea, as this property enables OHCs’ selective response to different frequencies of incoming sound. 3D protein modeling was employed to better visualize the electromotility of this OHC protein by manipulating models of bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) prestin available in the Protein Data Bank. Using the software PyMOL, Chain A of prestin in the inhibited state (7S9E) and Chain B of the compact, sensor-up state (7S8X) were spliced together into a novel merged model that depicts the fluctuation in the cross-sectional area of the transmembrane regions. This was possible because prestin is a protein homodimer whose peptide subunits could be swapped and replaced accordingly upon manipulation in the program. Key elements of prestin’s topology were then highlighted on this nascent model to emphasize the locations of the 14 gate and core transmembrane (TM) helices, the site of anion binding, and the cytosolic STAS domain. The colors corresponding with these regions include salmon, light blue, dark violet, and lavender, respectively. Helices TM3 and TM10 play a pivotal role in facilitating the movement of prestin’s dimers when bound to specific ligands. Likewise, the pocket formed by residues Gln97, Phe101, Phe137, Leu397, Ser398, and Arg399 has been identified as the anion binding site in the homodimer. The binding stability of ligands is further enhanced via additional noncovalent forces present in the active site, including pi stacking between salicylate and Phe137, and Ser393’s participation in hydrogen bonding. Arg399, the only positively charged residue in the cavity, is known to rotate up and down while the protein is moving, and neutralization of this key residue has also been found to eliminate prestin’s NLC entirely in vitro. Other residues of note that have been described by researchers include a series of 13 amino acid replacements (depicted in gold) that appear to be shared by several echolocating mammals, indicating convergent evolution between bats, whales, and dolphins.https://nsuworks.nova.edu/protein_modeling_reports/1013/thumbnail.jp