Unfading Echoes

The initial concept of Unfading Echoes is to combine the elements of both Western and Eastern music in a profound way; the violin and the Chinese fiddle--"erhu," are used to symbolize the two cultures. The erhu--a Chinese traditional instrument--is normally tuned to D4 and A4, which is the same as the two middle strings of the violin. Comparing its timbre with the violin's, the erhu emphasizes higher overtones; its fundamental is weaker than some of the partials, which gives its sound a nasal quality. The traditional Chinese piece for the erhu, "The Moon Reflected in Er-quan," which is often considered one of the most important masterpieces in China, inspired this work in various respects. In small scale, its pitches, melodic contour, and its rhythms are thoroughly utilized in Unfading Echoes; in larger scale, the ways of varying theme, the slow pace, the ambiguous edges between sections/phrases have also considerably influenced the design of this piece. The piece can be divided into three major sections (see table 1 & figure 1). Proportionally, the sum of section I and II is roughly equal to section III; the overall plan also suggests that the contour design reflects quasi-symmetry. The timbral evolution, mainly established by the tape, includes two phases. From the beginning to 11'30'; is a progress of tape splitting from the violin as its extension and eventually draws emphasis on the attack sound, which finally accumulates to white noises. The second phase starts after the violinist's cadenza at 13'17', where the tape shifts its function from a violin's follower or competitor to a main character. Finally, the two detuned strings at the beginning are designed to relate to the open strings of the erhu. The unusual tuning gives listeners a clue which remains unsolved until its reoccurrence at the end when the intro phrase of The Moon Reflected in Er-quan becomes the closing phrase of the whole piece. The idea corresponds to the sense of infinity in Chinese esthetics--endless cycles

On the topological pressure of axial product on trees

This article investigates the topological pressure of isotropic axial products of Markov subshift on the $d$-tree. We show that the quantity increases with dimension $d$, and demonstrate that, with the introduction of surface pressure, the two types of pressure admit the same asymptotic value. To this end, the pattern distribution vectors and the associated transition matrices are introduced herein to partially transplant the large deviation theory to tree-shifts, and so the increasing property is proved via an almost standard argument. An application of the main result to a wider class of shift spaces is also provided in this paper, and numerical experiments are included for the purpose of verification

Dietary, Metabolic, and Potentially Environmental Modulation of the Lysine Acetylation Machinery

Healthy lifestyles and environment produce a good state of health. A number of scientific studies support the notion that external stimuli regulate an individual's epigenomic profile. Epigenetic changes play a key role in defining gene expression patterns under both normal and pathological conditions. As a major posttranslational modification, lysine (K) acetylation has received much attention, owing largely to its significant effects on chromatin dynamics and other cellular processes across species. Lysine acetyltransferases and deacetylases, two opposing families of enzymes governing K-acetylation, have been intimately linked to cancer and other diseases. These enzymes have been pursued by vigorous efforts for therapeutic development in the past 15 years or so. Interestingly, certain dietary components have been found to modulate acetylation levels in vivo. Here we review dietary, metabolic, and environmental modulators of the K-acetylation machinery and discuss how they may be of potential value in the context of disease prevention

Revitalizing Endangered Traditions: Innovative Approaches to Safeguarding Yunnan's Ethnic Minority Music as Intangible Cultural Heritage

  This qualitative research study investigates the cultural symbolism and identity exhibited by ethnic minorities in Yunnan, China, through vocal music, as well as the ethnic minority music consequences. The study adopts a three-step coding analysis based on interviews with 18 respondents representing diverse ethnic minority groups to discover themes and patterns in the cultural symbolism buried within vocal music. For data analysis, the MAXQDA-2020 software is used. The findings show that ethnic minority groups in Yunnan rely heavily on vocal music to preserve cultural history, generate community pride, and promote intercultural understanding. The rich connection between vocal music and ethnic identity, the influence of nature and environment on musical expressions, the preservation of cultural heritage through rituals and celebrations, and the evolving collaborations and contemporary adaptations in vocal music are among the themes extracted from the data. This study has three implications: general, theoretical, and practical. In overall, this study adds to our understanding of vocal music as a potent medium for cultural expression and identity building. The identification of recurring themes and patterns has theoretical significance, offering a platform for further investigation and comparative investigations. In practice, the findings influence ethnic minority music practices by emphasizing the importance of introducing vocal music traditions into curricula, encouraging cultural awareness, and developing international discussion

Revitalizing Endangered Traditions: Innovative Approaches to Safeguarding Yunnan's Ethnic Minority Music as Intangible Cultural Heritage

  This qualitative research study investigates the cultural symbolism and identity exhibited by ethnic minorities in Yunnan, China, through vocal music, as well as the ethnic minority music consequences. The study adopts a three-step coding analysis based on interviews with 18 respondents representing diverse ethnic minority groups to discover themes and patterns in the cultural symbolism buried within vocal music. For data analysis, the MAXQDA-2020 software is used. The findings show that ethnic minority groups in Yunnan rely heavily on vocal music to preserve cultural history, generate community pride, and promote intercultural understanding. The rich connection between vocal music and ethnic identity, the influence of nature and environment on musical expressions, the preservation of cultural heritage through rituals and celebrations, and the evolving collaborations and contemporary adaptations in vocal music are among the themes extracted from the data. This study has three implications: general, theoretical, and practical. In overall, this study adds to our understanding of vocal music as a potent medium for cultural expression and identity building. The identification of recurring themes and patterns has theoretical significance, offering a platform for further investigation and comparative investigations. In practice, the findings influence ethnic minority music practices by emphasizing the importance of introducing vocal music traditions into curricula, encouraging cultural awareness, and developing international discussion

Topological Entropy for Shifts of Finite Type Over Z\mathbb{Z} and Tree

We study the topological entropy of hom tree-shifts and show that, although the topological entropy is not conjugacy invariant for tree-shifts in general, it remains invariant for hom tree higher block shifts. In doi:10.1016/j.tcs.2018.05.034 and doi:10.3934/dcds.2020186, Petersen and Salama demonstrated the existence of topological entropy for tree-shifts and $h(\mathcal{T}_X) \geq h(X)$, where $\mathcal{T}_X$ is the hom tree-shift derived from $X$. We characterize a necessary and sufficient condition when the equality holds for the case where $X$ is a shift of finite type. In addition, two novel phenomena have been revealed for tree-shifts. There is a gap in the set of topological entropy of hom tree-shifts of finite type, which makes such a set not dense. Last but not least, the topological entropy of a reducible hom tree-shift of finite type is equal to or larger than that of its maximal irreducible component