Live Coding, Live Notation, Live Performance

This paper/demonstration explores relationships between code, notation including representation, visualisation and performance. Performative aspects of live coding activities are increasingly being investigated as the live coding movement continues to grow and develop. Although live instrumental performance is sometimes included as an accompaniment to live coding, it is often not a fully integrated part of the performance, relying on improvisation and/or basic indicative forms of notation with varying levels of sophistication and universality. Technologies are developing which enable the use of fully explicit music notations as well as more graphic ones, allowing more fully integrated systems of code in and as performance which can also include notations of arbitrary complexity. This itself allows the full skills of instrumental musicians to be utilised and synchronised in the process. This presentation/demonstration presents work and performances already undertaken with these technologies, including technologies for body sensing and data acquisition in the translation of the movements of dancers and musicians into synchronously performable notation, integrated by live and prepared coding. The author together with clarinetist Ian Mitchell present a short live performance utilising these techniques, discuss methods for the dissemination and interpretation of live generated notations and investigate how they take advantage of instrumental musicians’ training-related neuroplasticity skills

Basic Atomic Physics

Contains reports on five research projects.Joint Services Electronics Program Grant DAAH04-95-1-0038National Science Foundation Grant PHY 92-21489U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-90-J-1322National Science Foundation Grant PHY 92-22768Charles S. Draper Laboratory Contract DL-H-4847759U.S. Army - Office of Scientific Research Grant DAAL03-92-G-0229U.S. Army - Office of Scientific Research Grant DAAL01-92-6-0197U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-89-J-1207Alfred P. Sloan FoundationNational Science Foundation Grant PHY 95-01984U.S. Army Research Office Contract DAAL01-92-C-0001U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-90-J-1642U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-94-1-080

Creation of ultra-high-pressure shocks by the collision of laser-accelerated disks: experiment and theory

We have used the SHIVA laser system to accelerate carbon disks to speeds in excess of 100 km/sec. The 3KJ/3 ns pulse, on a 1 mm diameter spot of a single disk produced a conventional shock of about 5 MB. The laser energy can, however, be stored in kinetic motion of this accelerated disk and delivered (reconverted to thermal energy) upon impact with another carbon disk. This collision occurs in a time much shorter than the 3 ns pulse, thus acting as a power amplifier. The shock pressures measured upon impact are estimated to be in the 20 MB range, thus demonstrating the amplification power of this colliding disk technique in creating ultra-high pressures. Theory and computer simulations of this process will be discussed, and compared with the experiment