Coupling factors, visual rhythms, and synchronization ratios

The inter-group entrainment study by Lucas, Clayton, and Leante (2011) is an interesting research report that advances studies in both empirical ethnomusicology and entrainment research in several ways, and provides an important addition to the much needed empirical case studies on musical entrainment. I submit that the authors’ analysis of an instant of resistance to entrainment is a key demonstration of the complementarity of analytical and ethnographic approaches in entrainment research. Further, I suggest that the evidence for the influence of visual information on entrainment supports the idea that there are two types of visuo-temporal information, each with different influence on the entrainment process, those derived from static and those from moving visual objects. As a final point, I argue that if we take into consideration the possibility of higher-order synchronization, some of the authors’ interpretations would need modification

Fermi surface of MoO2 studied by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, de Haas-van Alphen measurements, and electronic structure calculations

A comprehensive study of the electronic properties of monoclinic MoO2 from both an experimental and a theoretical point of view is presented. We focus on the investigation of the Fermi body and the band structure using angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy, de Haas-van Alphen measurements, and electronic structure calculations. For the latter, the new full-potential augmented spherical wave (ASW) method has been applied. Very good agreement between the experimental and theoretical results is found. In particular, all Fermi surface sheets are correctly identified by all three approaches. Previous controversies concerning additional hole-like surfaces centered around the Z- and B-point could be resolved; these surfaces were an artefact of the atomic-sphere approximation used in the old calculations. Our results underline the importance of electronic structure calculations for the understanding of MoO2 and the neighbouring rutile-type early transition-metal dioxides. This includes the low-temperature insulating phases of VO2 and NbO2, which have crystal structures very similar to that of molybdenum dioxide and display the well-known prominent metal-insulator transitions.Comment: 17 pages, 21 figures, more information at http://www.physik.uni-augsburg.de/~eyert

La baguette magique de l’ethnomusicologue

Un des outils essentiels de la musicologie comparée est la notation, et l’analyse d’après la notation constitue l’une de ses approches méthodologiques principales. Si les limites de la notation occidentale standard appliquée à cet exercice ont été perçues dès la naissance de la discipline, suscitant, très tôt, de nombreuses tentatives d’adaptation, le rôle fondamental de la notation dans la méthodologie de la musicologie comparée n’a jamais été vraiment remis en cause. Je propose ici d’envisager la notation essentiellement comme un système d’écriture qui transpose des événements audio-temporels dans le domaine spatio-visuel. Un bref survol historique rappelle tout d’abord les étapes importantes de la genèse de cette notation musicale et explique comment elle a fini par devenir une force capable de conditionner les formes mêmes de la musique occidentale. Je tente de montrer pourquoi, lorsqu’elle s’occupe de cultures non-occidentales et non-écrites, la musicologie comparée a recours à des concepts et une notation qui aboutissent nécessairement à certains malentendus. Ces problèmes viennent surtout de ce que cette discipline semble ignorer deux facteurs: a) Etant donnée la transformation d’un mode acoustico-temporel en mode spatio-visuel, le processus de notation crée des structures et des éléments qui n’ont pas de réalité dans des cultures de musique orale. b) Les segmentations des domaines temps-fréquence tels qu’ils sont indiqués dans la notation ne découlent pas de la musique en tant que phénomène sonore mais proviennent de rationalisations théoriques et d’abstractions, issues du système lui-même. J’examine ensuite comment l’attrait pour les «formes visibles» de la musique et les concepts qui en découlent expliquent la quasi stagnation, voire l’échec, de l’intégration des instruments électroniques dans le processus de l’analyse musicale. Ces instruments offrent pourtant les moyens d’éviter les écueils de la notation utiliser comme moyen d’analyse. J’indique pour terminer quels seraient les points essentiels dans le développement d’une démarche analytique sans notation

Et quand ils n’en disent rien ?…

Depuis les débuts de l’« émicisation » des sciences ethniques, une tendance à l’impérialisme interdisciplinaire s’est développée dans laquelle la stratégie émique nie délibérément la validité de toute option de recherche alternative. De nombreux ethnologues soutiennent, par exemple, que les enquêtes dans le domaine de la culture humaine ne peuvent se définir qu’en termes émiques, c’est-à-dire seulement en référence à la façon dont les gens en parlent, négligeant ainsi , ou interprétant de façon erronée, les théories originales élaborées par K. Pike, qui indiquait pourtant des techniques permettant l’identification d’unités émiques non verbales. La cause émique est devenue criarde, insistante, marquée par un esprit de chapelle et beaucoup des analyses formelles de la « nouvelle ethnographie », y compris l’ethmomusicologie, ont un relent de scolastique.Sans contester la contribution des ethnolinguistes à certains domaines des sciences ethniques, j’aborde deux points critiques : les ethnosémanticiens semblent avoir du mal à tenir compte du fait que dans les répertoires culturels de l’homme plus nombreux sont les domaines dérivant leur ordre sémantique de l’ambiguïté et de la variation que ceux dont l’ordre reflète l’uniformité et le consensus. Deuxièmement, étant donné leur intérêt pour le comportement verbal, ils ont du mal à voir l’importance d’un autre comportement, non verbal, et de ses manifestations structurelles.Des preuves de nature tant logique qu’empirique dans différents domaines des sciences humaines indiquent que les règles émiques du comportement, en particulier du comportement verbal, ne constituent qu’une aide limitée pour comprendre les phénomènes étiques dans de nombreux sous-systèmes sociaux-culturels.Since the beginning of « emicization » of ethno sciences, there has been a tendency of intradisciplinary imperialism whereby the emic strategy deliberately denies the validity of alternative research options. There is the insistence of many ethno scientists that inquiries into the field of human culture is only definable in emic terms, and that means, only with reference to the way people talk about it - in negletgt or misinterpretation of K. Pike’s original elaborations (he even outlined operations for the identification of nonverbal emic units). Emic commitments have become blatant, insistent and parochial and there is an air of scholasticism or of arm chair detachment about much of the formal analysis of the « new ethnography » including ethnomusicology.Not denying the scientific credentials ethnolinguistics has brought to certain domains of the ethno sciences, I am going to discuss two critical aspects: Ethnosemanticists don’t seem to be able to cope with the contingency that in human cutural repertoires there may actually be more domains which derive their salient semantic order from ambiguity and variation that there are domains whose orderliness reflects uniformity and consensus. Secondly, due to their fixation on verbal behavior, they are unable to see the importance of other, non-verbal behavior and its structural manifestations.Evidence of both logical and empirical nature from many different quarters of humanities (human sciences) indicate that emic rules of behavior, especially verbal behavior, are a poor guide to significant etic regularities in many a socio-cultural subsystems

Et quand ils n’en disent rien ?…

Depuis les débuts de l’« émicisation » des sciences ethniques, une tendance à l’impérialisme interdisciplinaire s’est développée dans laquelle la stratégie émique nie délibérément la validité de toute option de recherche alternative. De nombreux ethnologues soutiennent, par exemple, que les enquêtes dans le domaine de la culture humaine ne peuvent se définir qu’en termes émiques, c’est-à-dire seulement en référence à la façon dont les gens en parlent, négligeant ainsi , ou interprétant de façon erronée, les théories originales élaborées par K. Pike, qui indiquait pourtant des techniques permettant l’identification d’unités émiques non verbales. La cause émique est devenue criarde, insistante, marquée par un esprit de chapelle et beaucoup des analyses formelles de la « nouvelle ethnographie », y compris l’ethmomusicologie, ont un relent de scolastique.Sans contester la contribution des ethnolinguistes à certains domaines des sciences ethniques, j’aborde deux points critiques : les ethnosémanticiens semblent avoir du mal à tenir compte du fait que dans les répertoires culturels de l’homme plus nombreux sont les domaines dérivant leur ordre sémantique de l’ambiguïté et de la variation que ceux dont l’ordre reflète l’uniformité et le consensus. Deuxièmement, étant donné leur intérêt pour le comportement verbal, ils ont du mal à voir l’importance d’un autre comportement, non verbal, et de ses manifestations structurelles.Des preuves de nature tant logique qu’empirique dans différents domaines des sciences humaines indiquent que les règles émiques du comportement, en particulier du comportement verbal, ne constituent qu’une aide limitée pour comprendre les phénomènes étiques dans de nombreux sous-systèmes sociaux-culturels.Since the beginning of « emicization » of ethno sciences, there has been a tendency of intradisciplinary imperialism whereby the emic strategy deliberately denies the validity of alternative research options. There is the insistence of many ethno scientists that inquiries into the field of human culture is only definable in emic terms, and that means, only with reference to the way people talk about it - in negletgt or misinterpretation of K. Pike’s original elaborations (he even outlined operations for the identification of nonverbal emic units). Emic commitments have become blatant, insistent and parochial and there is an air of scholasticism or of arm chair detachment about much of the formal analysis of the « new ethnography » including ethnomusicology.Not denying the scientific credentials ethnolinguistics has brought to certain domains of the ethno sciences, I am going to discuss two critical aspects: Ethnosemanticists don’t seem to be able to cope with the contingency that in human cutural repertoires there may actually be more domains which derive their salient semantic order from ambiguity and variation that there are domains whose orderliness reflects uniformity and consensus. Secondly, due to their fixation on verbal behavior, they are unable to see the importance of other, non-verbal behavior and its structural manifestations.Evidence of both logical and empirical nature from many different quarters of humanities (human sciences) indicate that emic rules of behavior, especially verbal behavior, are a poor guide to significant etic regularities in many a socio-cultural subsystems

Pulse and Entrainment to Non-Isochronous Auditory Stimuli: The case of North Indian Alap

Pulse is often understood as a feature of a (quasi-) isochronous event sequence that is picked up by an entrained subject. However, entrainment does not only occur between quasi-periodic rhythms. This paper demonstrates the expression of pulse by subjects listening to non-periodic musical stimuli and investigates the processes behind this behaviour. The stimuli are extracts from the introductory sections of North Indian (Hindustani) classical music performances (alap, jor and jhala). The first of three experiments demonstrates regular motor responses to both irregular alap and more regular jor sections: responses to alap appear related to individual spontaneous tempi, while for jor they relate to the stimulus event rate. A second experiment investigated whether subjects respond to average periodicities of the alap section, and whether their responses show phase alignment to the musical events. In the third experiment we investigated responses to a broader sample of performances, testing their relationship to spontaneous tempo, and the effect of prior experience with this music. Our results suggest an entrainment model in which pulse is understood as the experience of one’s internal periodicity: it is not necessarily linked to temporally regular, structured sensory input streams; it can arise spontaneously through the performance of repetitive motor actions, or on exposure to event sequences with rather irregular temporal structures. Greater regularity in the external event sequence leads to entrainment between motor responses and stimulus sequence, modifying subjects’ internal periodicities in such a way that they are either identical or harmonically related to each other. This can be considered as the basis for shared (rhythmic) experience and may be an important process supporting ‘social’ effects of temporally regular music

[Ni(NHC)2] as a scaffold for structurally characterized trans [H-Ni-PR2] and trans [R2P-Ni-PR2] complexes

The addition of PPh2H, PPhMeH, PPhH2, P(para-Tol)H2, PMesH2 and PH3 to the two-coordinate Ni0 N-heterocyclic carbene species [Ni(NHC)2] (NHC=IiPr2, IMe4, IEt2Me2) affords a series of mononuclear, terminal phosphido nickel complexes. Structural characterisation of nine of these compounds shows that they have unusual trans [H−Ni−PR2] or novel trans [R2P−Ni−PR2] geometries. The bis-phosphido complexes are more accessible when smaller NHCs (IMe4>IEt2Me2>IiPr2) and phosphines are employed. P−P activation of the diphosphines R2P−PR2 (R2=Ph2, PhMe) provides an alternative route to some of the [Ni(NHC)2(PR2)2] complexes. DFT calculations capture these trends with P−H bond activation proceeding from unconventional phosphine adducts in which the H substituent bridges the Ni−P bond. P−P bond activation from [Ni(NHC)2(Ph2P−PPh2)] adducts proceeds with computed barriers below 10 kcal mol−1. The ability of the [Ni(NHC)2] moiety to afford isolable terminal phosphido products reflects the stability of the Ni−NHC bond that prevents ligand dissociation and onward reaction

[Ni(NHC)2] as a scaffold for structurally characterized trans [H-Ni-PR2] and trans [R2P-Ni-PR2] complexes

The addition of PPh(2)H, PPhMeH, PPhH(2), P(para‐Tol)H(2), PMesH(2) and PH(3) to the two‐coordinate Ni(0) N‐heterocyclic carbene species [Ni(NHC)(2)] (NHC=IiPr(2), IMe(4), IEt(2)Me(2)) affords a series of mononuclear, terminal phosphido nickel complexes. Structural characterisation of nine of these compounds shows that they have unusual trans [H−Ni−PR(2)] or novel trans [R(2)P−Ni−PR(2)] geometries. The bis‐phosphido complexes are more accessible when smaller NHCs (IMe(4)>IEt(2)Me(2)>IiPr(2)) and phosphines are employed. P−P activation of the diphosphines R(2)P−PR(2) (R(2)=Ph(2), PhMe) provides an alternative route to some of the [Ni(NHC)(2)(PR(2))(2)] complexes. DFT calculations capture these trends with P−H bond activation proceeding from unconventional phosphine adducts in which the H substituent bridges the Ni−P bond. P−P bond activation from [Ni(NHC)(2)(Ph(2)P−PPh(2))] adducts proceeds with computed barriers below 10 kcal mol(−1). The ability of the [Ni(NHC)(2)] moiety to afford isolable terminal phosphido products reflects the stability of the Ni−NHC bond that prevents ligand dissociation and onward reaction

The International Virus Bioinformatics Meeting 2023

The 2023 International Virus Bioinformatics Meeting was held in Valencia, Spain, from 24–26 May 2023, attracting approximately 180 participants worldwide. The primary objective of the conference was to establish a dynamic scientific environment conducive to discussion, collaboration, and the generation of novel research ideas. As the first in-person event following the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, the meeting facilitated highly interactive exchanges among attendees. It served as a pivotal gathering for gaining insights into the current status of virus bioinformatics research and engaging with leading researchers and emerging scientists. The event comprised eight invited talks, 19 contributed talks, and 74 poster presentations across eleven sessions spanning three days. Topics covered included machine learning, bacteriophages, virus discovery, virus classification, virus visualization, viral infection, viromics, molecular epidemiology, phylodynamic analysis, RNA viruses, viral sequence analysis, viral surveillance, and metagenomics. This report provides rewritten abstracts of the presentations, a summary of the key research findings, and highlights shared during the meeting

High prevalence of non-accidental trauma among deceased children presenting at Level I trauma centers in the Netherlands

PURPOSE: Between 0.1—3% of injured children who present at a hospital emergency department ultimately die as a result of their injuries. These events are typically reported as unnatural causes of death and may result from either accidental or non-accidental trauma (NAT). Examples of the latter include trauma that is inflicted directly or resulting from neglect. Although consultation with a forensic physician is mandatory for all deceased children, the prevalence of fatal inflicted trauma or neglect among children is currently unclear. METHODS: This is a retrospective study that included children (0–18 years) who presented and died at one of the 11 Level I trauma centers in the Netherlands between January 1, 2014, and January 1, 2019. Outcomes were classified based on the conclusions of the Child Abuse and Neglect team or those of forensic pathologists and/or the court in cases referred for legally mandated autopsies. Cases in which conclusions were unavailable and there was no clear accidental cause of death were reviewed by an expert panel. RESULTS: The study included 175 cases of childhood death. Seventeen (9.7%) of these children died due to inflicted trauma (9.7%), 18 (10.3%) due to neglect, and 140 (80%) due to accidents. Preschool children (< 5 years old) were significantly more likely to present with injuries due to inflicted trauma and neglect compared to older children (44% versus 6%, p < 0.001, odds ratio [OR] 5.80, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.66–12.65). Drowning accounted for 14 of the 18 (78%) pediatric deaths due to neglect, representing 8% of the total cases. Postmortem radiological studies and autopsies were performed on 37 (21%) of all cases of childhood death. CONCLUSION: One of every five pediatric deaths in our nationwide Level I trauma center study was attributed to NAT; 44% of these deaths were the result of trauma experienced by preschool-aged children. A remarkable number of fatal drownings were due to neglect. Postmortem radiological studies and autopsies were performed in only one-fifth of all deceased children. The limited use of postmortem investigations may have resulted in missed cases of NAT, which will result in an overall underestimation of fatal NAT experienced by children. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12024-021-00416-7