Electronic musical instrument to generate musical tones to imitate a stringed instrument

Provided are an electronic musical instrument, computer Storage device, and method for generating tone. A sound source in an electronic musical instrument generates a first tone at a first pitch in response to a first tone generation instruction received by an input device of the electronic musical instrument. A second tone generation instruction is received to generate a second tone at a second pitch while generating the first tone at the sound source. A determination is made of a pitch difference of the first and the second pitches. The sound source is controlled to generate the second tone and to not generate the first tone in response to determining that the pitch difference does not exceed a predetermined number of tones. The sound Source is controlled to generate the second tone in response to determining that the pitch difference exceeds the predetermined number of tones

Electronic Musical Instrument

Provided are an electronic musical instrument, computer storage device, and method generating tones for held notes. Indication is made of held notes having pitches as held in response to receiving note-on information for the held notes from an input device of an electronic musical instrument while receiving hold information from a hold device of the electronic musical instrument. Note-on information is received for a received note having a pitch while generating the pitches for the held notes. Selection is made of one of the held notes to release according to a first selection criteria in response to determining that the pitch difference of the received note and at least one of the held notes does not exceed the predetermined number of tones or selection is made according to a second selection criteria if the pitch difference exceeds the predetermined number of tones

Generating Tones with a Vibrato Effect

Provided are a method, computer storage device, and tone control device for generating tones with a vibrato effect. A determination is made of a key depression interval comprising a difference of a current time of a current note from a previous time of a previous note. A performance mode is set to a single tone mode, in which only one note is generated, or a polyphonic mode, in which multiple notes are simultaneously generated, based on the determined key depression interval. The tone is generated to output the current note with a first modulation magnitude in response to determining that the performance mode is the single tone mode. A tone is generated to output the current note with a second modulation magnitude in response to determining that the performance mode is the polyphonic mode, wherein the first modulation magnitude is greater than the second modulation magnitude

Adjusting a Level At Which to Generate a New Tone with a Current Generated Tone

Provided are a tone control device and a method for adjusting a volume level at which to generate a new tone and at least one current tone according to a target volume level and a current volume level. A note-on event associated with a received volume level is received from an input device. A current volume level is processed to determine a new volume level in response to receiving the note-on event while generating at least one current tone at the current volume level. The at least one current tone and a new tone associated with the received note-on event are generated at the new volume level

Electronic Musical Instrument to Generate Musical Tones to Imitate a Stringed Instrument

Provided are an electronic musical instrument, computer storage device, and method for generating tone. A sound source in an electronic musical instrument generates a first tone at a first pitch in response to a first tone generation instruction received by an input device of the electronic musical instrument. A second tone generation instruction is received to generate a second tone at a second pitch while generating the first tone at the sound source. A determination is made of a pitch difference of the first and the second pitches. The sound source is controlled to generate the second tone and to not generate the first tone in response to determining that the pitch difference does not exceed a predetermined number of tones. The sound source is controlled to generate the second tone in response to determining that the pitch difference exceeds the predetermined number of tones

An Approach to Evaluate the Profitability of Component Commonality

Commonality or the use of same components (parts, assemblies, or subsystems) among multiple products can reduce component inventory and simplify processes and logistics while accommodating variations in product demand. Excessive commonality, however, causes some products to use high-performance components and increase product cost. This paper presents an approach for evaluating profitability of component commonality by integrating commonality and supply chain decisions. The proposed approach is demonstrated using commonality of electric-bicycle motors as an illustrative example. This paper presents a sensitivity analysis of the optimum commonality with respect to motor cost, demand variability, inventory-tracking cost, and inventory-ordering cost

DETC2004-57777 TESTING SUBJECTIVE BIAS IN THE ANALYSIS OF THE CUSTOMER NEEDS

ABSTRACT Collecting and grouping customer needs and constraints by similarity are essential steps in market-driven product development. This paper introduces an overall procedure to collect and structure customer needs and constraints with the emphasis on grouping customer needs by similarity. In particular, this paper applies a statistical methodology (Subjective Clustering) to test for an indication that a few participants' opinions (information) dominate the others' when grouping customer needs using the consensus-based method (Affinity Diagram). Biased use of participants' information may lead to clusters inaccurately representing customer needs, which this paper defines as "subjective bias." Using both Affinity Diagram and Subjective Clustering, one can test and correct the subjective bias while maintaining strong buy-in of the clusters by the participants

G protein-coupled receptor kinase 5 mediates Tazarotene-induced gene 1-induced growth suppression of human colon cancer cells

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Tazarotene-induced gene 1 (TIG1) is a retinoid-inducible type II tumour suppressor gene. The B isoform of TIG1 (TIG1B) inhibits growth and invasion of cancer cells. Expression of TIG1B is frequently downregulated in various cancer tissues; however, the expression and activities of the TIG1A isoform are yet to be reported. Therefore, this study investigated the effects of the TIG1A and TIG1B isoforms on cell growth and gene expression profiles using colon cancer cells.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>TIG1A and TIG1B stable clones derived from HCT116 and SW620 colon cancer cells were established using the GeneSwitch system; TIG1 isoform expression was induced by mifepristone treatment. Cell growth was assessed using the WST-1 cell proliferation and colony formation assays. RNA interference was used to examine the TIG1 mediating changes in cell growth. Gene expression profiles were determined using microarray and validated using real-time polymerase chain reaction, and Western blot analyses.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Both TIG1 isoforms were expressed at high levels in normal prostate and colon tissues and were downregulated in colon cancer cell lines. Both TIG1 isoforms significantly inhibited the growth of transiently transfected HCT116 cells and stably expressing TIG1A and TIG1B HCT116 and SW620 cells. Expression of 129 and 55 genes was altered upon induction of TIG1A and TIG1B expression, respectively, in stably expressing HCT116 cells. Of the genes analysed, 23 and 6 genes were upregulated and downregulated, respectively, in both TIG1A and TIG1B expressing cells. Upregulation of the G-protein-coupled receptor kinase 5 (GRK5) was confirmed using real-time polymerase chain reaction and Western blot analyses in both TIG1 stable cell lines. Silencing of TIG1A or GRK5 expression significantly decreased TIG1A-mediated cell growth suppression.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Expression of both TIG1 isoforms was observed in normal prostate and colon tissues and was downregulated in colon cancer cell lines. Both TIG1 isoforms suppressed cell growth and stimulated GRK5 expression in HCT116 and SW620 cells. Knockdown of GRK5 expression alleviated TIG1A-induced growth suppression of HCT116 cells, suggesting that GRK5 mediates cell growth suppression by TIG1A. Thus, TIG1 may participate in the downregulation of G-protein coupled signaling by upregulating GRK5 expression.</p

Abstracts from the 8th International Conference on cGMP Generators, Effectors and Therapeutic Implications

This work was supported by a restricted research grant of Bayer AG

A Lifecycle-Cost Model for Set-Based Concept Testing

This article presents a lifecycle-cost model for set-based concept testing. The proposed model calculates the optimum number of concepts to be prototyped before committing to a single concept and developing detail design. In the proposed model, a product lifecycle is divided into four stages (marketing, concept generation, concept testing, and design and manufacturing) and a product lifecycle cost is expressed as a sum of costs of these stages. Based on modeling assumptions in this article, the expected lifecycle cost is described by the number of concepts to be prototyped, costs of lifecycle stages, and engineers experiences. The optimum number of prototypes to be prototyped, which is a function of parameters describing the costs of lifecycle stages and engineers experiences, is obtained by minimizing the expected lifecycle cost. © The Author(s), 20http://dx.doi.org/10