Automatic comparison of global children’s and adult songs supports a sensorimotor hypothesis for the origin of musical scales

Music throughout the world varies greatly, yet some musical features like scale structure display striking crosscultural similarities. Are there musical laws or biological constraints that underlie this diversity? The “vocal mistuning” hypothesis proposes that cross-cultural regularities in musical scales arise from imprecision in vocal tuning, while the integer-ratio hypothesis proposes that they arise from perceptual principles based on psychoacoustic consonance. In order to test these hypotheses, we conducted automatic comparative analysis of 100 children’s and adult songs from throughout the world. We found that children’s songs tend to have narrower melodic range, fewer scale degrees, and less precise intonation than adult songs, consistent with motor limitations due to their earlier developmental stage. On the other hand, adult and children’s songs share some common tuning intervals at small-integer ratios, particularly the perfect 5th (~3:2 ratio). These results suggest that some widespread aspects of musical scales may be caused by motor constraints, but also suggest that perceptual preferences for simple integer ratios might contribute to cross-cultural regularities in scale structure. We propose a “sensorimotor hypothesis” to unify these competing theories

The Artifact Assemblage from the Finger Lakes NationalForest Archaeology Project

This article examines the arifact assemblage from the Burnt Hill Study Area and reveals the utility of GIS databases for historical information available in the GIS database

Recours spontané aux urgences

Objectif : Analyser les caractéristiques sociodémographiques et les déterminants du recours spontané aux urgences des patients et évaluer leurs ressentis d'urgence et de gravité en les comparant à l'avis du médecin. Matériels et Méthodes : Etude prospective réalisée aux urgences du CH de Saumur et du CHU d'Angers, basée sur la distribution d un questionnaire à tout patient adulte, se présentant sans avis médical préalable, et aux médecins les prenant en charge. Le recueil s est fait 24h sur 24, sur une semaine en juillet 2011 et en janvier 2012. Résultats : 22.9% des admissions ont été incluses. Cette population était souvent jeune, active, masculine, consultant pour de la traumatologie apparue dans les 24 dernières heures. 56.5% venaient pendant les horaires de gardes. 10.5% des patients inclus ont tenté de joindre leur médecin traitant, dont 56.9% se présentant aux urgences car ce dernier était injoignable. 57.3% des patients n ayant pas tenté de joindre leur médecin, se sont présentés aux urgences afin de soulager un symptôme. En proportion, il y avait plus d'inclus à Saumur qu'à Angers (27,2% vs 20,8%), ils étaient plus nombreux à évoquer la facilité de l'accès aux soins à Saumur et en été. Les sentiments d urgence et/ou de gravité sont cités par 62,1 % de la population incluse. Ce ressenti est globalement discordant avec l évaluation du médecin. Conclusion : L'évaluation de l'urgence ou de la gravité d'un problème médical est subjective tant pour le médecin que pour le patient. Souvent par méconnaissance de l'organisation de la permanence des soins, le recours spontané aux urgences est motivé par une plus grande facilité d'accès aux soins.Objective: Analyze the patients sociodemographic characteristics and their determinants of the emergency service spontaneous recourse and assess their feelings of urgency and severity, comparing them with the doctor s opinion. Materials and Methods: Prospective study carried on the emergency service of the Saumur Hospital Center and Angers University Hospital, based on the distribution of a questionnaire to any adult patient, going to the emergency service without preliminary medical advice, and to supporting doctors. The collection has been made 24 hours a day, over two weeks, one in July 2011 and another in January 2012. Results: 22.9% of the patients admitted were included. Most of them were young, active, male, consulting for a traumatology appeared in the last 24 hours. 56.5% came during the guard hours. 10.5% of the patients included tried to join their regular doctor, whose 56.9% went to the emergencies because their doctor was unreachable. 57.3% of the patients who did not join their regular doctor, came to the emergencies to relieve a symptom. Proportionally, there were more patients included in Saumur than in Angers (27.2% vs 20.8%), they were more to mention the easiness access to care in Saumur in during the summer. Feelings of urgency and / or gravity are mentioned by 62.1% of the population included. This feeling is generally discordant with the doctor s evaluation. Conclusion: The evaluation of the emergency or the severity of medical problem is subjective as for the doctor and for the patient. Often, because of the lack of knowledge of the care presence organisation, the emergency service spontaneous recourse is motivated by a better care access.ANGERS-BU Médecine-Pharmacie (490072105) / SudocSudocFranceF

Effects of ocean biology on the penetrative radiation in a coupled climate model

The influence of phytoplankton on the seasonal cycle and the mean global climate is investigated in a fully coupled climate model. The control experiment uses a fixed attenuation depth for shortwave radiation, while the attenuation depth in the experiment with biology is derived from phytoplankton concentrations simulated with a marine biogeochemical model coupled online to the ocean model. Some of the changes in the upper ocean are similar to the results from previous studies that did not use interactive atmospheres, for example, amplification of the seasonal cycle; warming in upwelling regions, such as the equatorial Pacific and the Arabian Sea; and reduction in sea ice cover in the high latitudes. In addition, positive feedbacks within the climate system cause a global shift of the seasonal cycle. The onset of spring is about 2 weeks earlier, which results in a more realistic representation of the seasons. Feedback mechanisms, such as increased wind stress and changes in the shortwave radiation, lead to significant warming in the midlatitudes in summer and to seasonal modifications of the overall warming in the equatorial Pacific. Temperature changes also occur over land where they are sometimes even larger than over the ocean. In the equatorial Pacific, the strength of interannual SST variability is reduced by about 10%–15% and phase locking to the annual cycle is improved. The ENSO spectral peak is broader than in the experiment without biology and the dominant ENSO period is increased to around 5 yr. Also the skewness of ENSO variability is slightly improved. All of these changes lead to the conclusion that the influence of marine biology on the radiative budget of the upper ocean should be considered in detailed simulations of the earth’s climate

Evolutionary mechanisms of long-term genome diversification associated with niche partitioning in marine picocyanobacteria

Marine picocyanobacteria of the genera Prochlorococcus and Synechococcus are the most abundant photosynthetic organisms on Earth, an ecological success thought to be linked to the differential partitioning of distinct ecotypes into specific ecological niches. However, the underlying processes that governed the diversification of these microorganisms and the appearance of niche-related phenotypic traits are just starting to be elucidated. Here, by comparing 81 genomes, including 34 new Synechococcus, we explored the evolutionary processes that shaped the genomic diversity of picocyanobacteria. Time-calibration of a core-protein tree showed that gene gain/loss occurred at an unexpectedly low rate between the different lineages, with for instance 5.6 genes gained per million years (My) for the major Synechococcus lineage (sub-cluster 5.1), among which only 0.71/My have been fixed in the long term. Gene content comparisons revealed a number of candidates involved in nutrient adaptation, a large proportion of which are located in genomic islands shared between either closely or more distantly related strains, as identified using an original network construction approach. Interestingly, strains representative of the different ecotypes co-occurring in phosphorus-depleted waters (Synechococcus clades III, WPC1, and sub-cluster 5.3) were shown to display different adaptation strategies to this limitation. In contrast, we found few genes potentially involved in adaptation to temperature when comparing cold and warm thermotypes. Indeed, comparison of core protein sequences highlighted variants specific to cold thermotypes, notably involved in carotenoid biosynthesis and the oxidative stress response, revealing that long-term adaptation to thermal niches relies on amino acid substitutions rather than on gene content variation. Altogether, this study not only deciphers the respective roles of gene gains/losses and sequence variation but also uncovers numerous gene candidates likely involved in niche partitioning of two key members of the marine phytoplankton

Global Soil Biodiversity Atlas

Soils provide numerous ecosystem services. Most people do not know that the key drivers of soil ecosystems are the living organisms within the soil. Soils may be home to over one fourth of all living species on Earth, with a significant part not yet characterized. The first Global Soil Biodiversity Atlas is a product of the Global Soil Biodiversity Initiative. It aims at raising awareness of the importance and beauty of soil biodiversity among the general public and policy makers. Furthermore, it highlights the need to increase efforts to develop a global assessment of soil biodiversity. Data on distribution of soil-dwelling organisms are often difficult to combine. The atlas represents an attempt to create a unique network among soil biodiversity scientists. Such an effort may help in reaching the level of attention that research on soil biodiversity deserves. With contributions from over 80 experts in soil biodiversity from all over the world, and over 170 pages, the atlas will also display distribution maps of the main soil organisms. Furthermore, an exceptionally high number of images will allow non-specialists to get in touch with this fascinating and mysterious world.JRC.D.6-Knowledge for Sustainable Development and Food Securit

Massively distributed authorship of academic papers

Wiki-like or crowdsourcing models of collaboration can provide a number of benefits to academic work. These techniques may engage expertise from different disciplines, and potentially increase productivity. This paper presents a model of massively distributed collaborative authorship of academic papers. This model, developed by a collective of thirty authors, identifies key tools and techniques that would be necessary or useful to the writing process. The process of collaboratively writing this paper was used to discover, negotiate, and document issues in massively authored scholarship. Our work provides the first extensive discussion of the experiential aspects of large-scale collaborative research.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Connecting Health and Technology (CHAT): protocol of a randomized controlled trial to improve nutrition behaviours using mobile devices and tailored text messaging in young adults

Background: Increasing intakes of fruits and vegetables intake, in tandem with reducing consumption of energy-dense and nutrient poor foods and beverages are dietary priorities to prevent chronic disease. Although most adults do not eat enough fruit and vegetables, teenagers and young adults tend to have the lowest intakes. Young adults typically consume a diet which is inconsistent with the dietary recommendations. Yet little is known about the best approaches to improve dietary intakes and behaviours among this group. This randomised controlled trial aims to evaluate the effectiveness of using a mobile device to assess dietary intake, provide tailored dietary feedback and text messages to motivate changes in fruit, vegetable and junk food consumption among young adults