From novel to familiar : the learning of pitch intervals and event frequencies in microtonal music systems

This PhD project aims to investigate the learning of novel music systems during brief exposures (up to 20 minutes). Specifically, it examined the learning of microtonal pitch systems, including the learning of their pitch interval structure and the frequency of occurrence of each pitch member of the systems. Five experiments have been conducted and the findings are separately submitted to peer-reviewed journals for publication. The submitted manuscripts are provided as individual chapters in this thesis. Experiment 1 and 2 are presented in manuscript (MS) 1, 3 is presented in MS 2, while 4 and 5 are presented in MS 3. Experiments in MS 1 explored the influence of structural similarity on the learning of novel tuning systems. Non-musicians were exposed to microtonal tuning systems that are different from the western tonal system (12-tone equal temperament or 12TET) in terms of temperament (equal or unequal) and pitch intervals (based on frequency ratio(s) or frequency difference). It was hypothesized that systems that are structurally similar to 12TET in terms of temperament and pitch interval definitions (such as 11TET) would be learned more rapidly than those that are dissimilar (such as the 81 primes scale). This hypothesis was supported in part by earlier evidence on the influence of prior musical knowledge on the learnng of unfamiliar music (such as Oram & Cuddy (1995) and Rohrmeier & Widdess (2012)). Participants were tested on their memory of the relative pitches of each tuning system as well as their knowledge of which relative pitches correspond to which tuning system (pitch membership). Results indicate better pitch memory for the tuning system with two frequency ratios (Tuning system: WF) while learning of pitch membership was not found after a brief exposure. Given the findings in MS 1, MS 2 targeted the incidental learning of a microtonal scale that follows a pitch interval structure similar to WF in MS 1, which is unequal tempered with two frequency ratios. This MS extends the data-driven interpretation of MS1 in terms of my overall hypothesis. Thus, a new paradigm is developed and learning of the scale is implied by the level of sensitivity to the incongruent pitch intervals. This paradigm utilises a timbre shift detection task where participants are required to detect a timbre shift in one of the pitches of a microtonal melody. The pitch before the shift is manipulated to be either a member of the scale (congruent), just like the rest of the pitches in the melody, or a pitch from a different musical scale (incongruent). The melodies are arranged such that an incongruent pitch is a statistical cue to an upcoming timbre shift, so that when participants hear an incongruent pitch, they would have high expectation of the imminent shift and therefore respond faster when it comes. However, faster reaction times would only be observed if participants have sufficiently learnt the pitch intervals of the microtonal scale and the relationship between the incongruent pitch and the timbre shift. In other words, a faster reaction time is expected in the condition where an incongruent tone was placed before the timbre shift, than in the condition where the incongruent tone was absent. Non-musicians in MS 2 showed successful learning of both, and this experiment was extended in MS 3 where musicians were tested. Surprisingly, the same results were not observed in musicians who are professionally trained in 12TET only (general musicians) and those who are microtonal music experts (trained in 12TET and also had extensive experience in multiple microtonal tunings). While similar results with those from the non-musicians might be obtained by having a comparative sample of general musicians, the unexpected results among microtonal musicians, ironically, might still be due to their musical experience and practice. MS 3 also interrogated our overall hypothesis further by examining the learning of the frequency of occurrence of pitches of the same microtonal scale (the relative event-frequencies) in non-musicians: a similar approach was previously taken by Loui & Schlaug (2012), who examined the learning of event frequencies of the Bohlen-Pierce scale. The effect of structural similarity was once again investigated by the manipulation of event-frequency of the microtonal scale so as to be similar or dissimilar to the functional hierarchy (difference in usage) of pitches in diatonic music. Participants were exposed to melodies generated based on the similar or dissimilar pattern of event-frequency and goodness-of-fit ratings of pitches of the scale were obtained at random points in the melodies. Results delineate an insignificant effect of structural similarity, since learning was found in both patterns of event-frequency, implied by the positive correlation between the goodness-of-fit rating and the frequency of occurrence of the corresponding pitches, and demonstrated by an analytical model of the results showing the influence of the pitch-class probabilities. This result illustrates the ability to learn event frequencies in a novel musical scale among musically untrained participants. Altogether, the findings in all the experiments indicate that non-musicians can learn aspects of the pitch intervals and event-frequency of an unfamiliar microtonal scale rapidly, and learning is faster when the scale is well-formed and octave-based with two frequency ratios. Inconsistent with predictions, general and microtonal musicians did not show such rapid learning, and how this might relate to the paradigm used is discussed. This project provides informative understanding of how listeners with different musical background and experiences approach and learn a novel music system, which has implications for research in music cognition and perception, traditional and computer music composition, music production, and music performance including improvisation

Application of Pad\'{e} interpolation to stationary state problems

If the small and large coupling behavior of a physical system can be computed perturbatively and expressed respectively as power series in a coupling parameter $g$ and $1/g$, a Pad\'{e} approximant embracing the two series can interpolate between these two limits and provide an accurate estimate of the system's behavior in the generally intractable intermediate coupling regime. The methodology and validity of this approach are illustrated by considering several stationary state problems in quantum mechanics.Comment: RevTeX4, 7 pages (including 7 tables); v4 typos correcte

OMMA enables population-scale analysis of complex genomic features and phylogenomic relationships from nanochannel-based optical maps.

BackgroundOptical mapping is an emerging technology that complements sequencing-based methods in genome analysis. It is widely used in improving genome assemblies and detecting structural variations by providing information over much longer (up to 1 Mb) reads. Current standards in optical mapping analysis involve assembling optical maps into contigs and aligning them to a reference, which is limited to pairwise comparison and becomes bias-prone when analyzing multiple samples.FindingsWe present a new method, OMMA, that extends optical mapping to the study of complex genomic features by simultaneously interrogating optical maps across many samples in a reference-independent manner. OMMA captures and characterizes complex genomic features, e.g., multiple haplotypes, copy number variations, and subtelomeric structures when applied to 154 human samples across the 26 populations sequenced in the 1000 Genomes Project. For small genomes such as pathogenic bacteria, OMMA accurately reconstructs the phylogenomic relationships and identifies functional elements across 21 Acinetobacter baumannii strains.ConclusionsWith the increasing data throughput of optical mapping system, the use of this technology in comparative genome analysis across many samples will become feasible. OMMA is a timely solution that can address such computational need. The OMMA software is available at https://github.com/TF-Chan-Lab/OMTools

Having a family doctor is associated with some better patient-reported outcomes of primary care consultations

<b>Background</b> Hong Kong (HK) has pluralistic primary care that is provided by a variety of doctors. The aim of our study was to assess patient-reported outcomes of primary care consultations in HK and whether having a family doctor (FD) made any difference.<p></p> <b>Methods</b> We interviewed by telephone 3148 subjects from 5174 contacted households (response rate 60.8%) randomly selected from the general population of HK about the experience of their last primary care consultations in September 2007 and April 2008. We compared the patient-reported outcomes (PRO) and patient-centered process of care in those with a FD, those with other types of regular primary care doctors (ORD) and those without any regular primary care doctor (NRD). PRO included patient enablement, global improvement in health, overall satisfaction, and likelihood of recommending their doctors to family and friends. Patient-centered process of care indicators was explanations about the illness, and address of patient’s concerns.<p></p> <b>Results</b> One thousand one hundred fifty, 746, and 1157 reported to have FD, ORD, and NRD, respectively. Over 80% of those with FD consulted their usual primary care doctors in the last consultation compared with 27% of those with NRD. Compared with subjects having ORD or NRD, subjects with FD reported being more enabled after the consultation and were more likely to recommend their doctors to family and friends. Subjects with FD and ORD were more likely than those having NRD to report a global improvement in health and satisfaction. FD group was more likely than the other two groups to report receiving an explanation on the diagnosis, nature, and expected course of the illness, and having their concerns addressed. Patient enablement was associated with explanation of diagnosis, nature, and expected course of illness, and address of patient’s concerns.<p></p> <b>Conclusion</b> People with a regular FD were more likely to feel being enabled and to experience patient-centered care in consultations

The Silver Lining of Heart Disease: What Type of Patients Will Be More Likely to Experience It?

After successfully coping with a life threatening event, people tend to look at the brighter side of life.York's Knowledge Mobilization Unit provides services and funding for faculty, graduate students, and community organizations seeking to maximize the impact of academic research and expertise on public policy, social programming, and professional practice. It is supported by SSHRC and CIHR grants, and by the Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation. [email protected] www.researchimpact.c

T-violation tests for relativity principles

We consider the implications of a violation of the equivalence principle or of Lorentz invariance in the neutrino sector for the T-asymmetry $\Delta P_T \equiv P(\nu_{\alpha} \to \nu_{\beta}) - P(\nu_{\beta} \to \nu_{\alpha})$ in a three-flavour framework. We find that additional mixing due to these mechanisms, while obeying all present bounds, can lead to a substantial enhancement, suppression, and/or sign change in $\Delta P_T$ for the preferred energies and baselines of a neutrino factory. This in turn allows for the possibility of improving existing constraints by several orders of magnitude.Comment: 2 pages; Talk given at the 4th NuFact '02 Workshop (Neutrino Factories Based On Muon Storage Rings), 1-6 Jul 2002, London, England; To appear in proceeding

Geographic Issues in Cardiac Rehabilitation Utilization: A Narrative Review.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to review the current evidence regarding the relationship between geographic indicators and cardiac rehabilitation (CR) utilization among coronary heart disease (CHD) patients. Results: Seventeen articles were identified for inclusion, where nine studies assessed rurality, 10 studies assessed travel time / distance, and two of these studies assessed both. Nine of the 17 studies (52.9%) showed a significant negative relationship between geographic barrier and CR use. Four of the 17 studies (23.5%) showed a null relationship, while four studies (23.5%) showed mixed findings. Inconsistent findings identified appeared to be related to restricted geographic range, regional density, and socioeconomic status. Conclusions: Overall, 52.9% of the identified studies reported a significant negative relationship between geographic indicators and CR utilization. This relationship appeared to be particularly consistent in North American and Australian settings, but somewhat less so in the United Kingdom where there is greater population density and availability of public transport

Dejian Mind-Body Intervention Improves the Cognitive Functions of a Child with Autism

There has been increasing empirical evidence for the enhancing effects of Dejian Mind-Body Intervention (DMBI), a traditional Chinese Shaolin healing approach, on human frontal brain activity/functions, including patients with autism who are well documented to have frontal lobe problems. This study aims to compare the effects of DMBI with a conventional behavioural/cognitive intervention (CI) on enhancing the executive functions and memory of a nine-year-old boy with low-functioning autism (KY) and to explore possible underlying neural mechanism using EEG theta cordance. At post-one-month DMBI, KY's inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility, and memory functioning have significantly improved from “severely-to-moderately impaired” to “within-normal” range. This improvement was not observed from previous 12-month CI. Furthermore, KY showed increased cordance gradually extending from the anterior to the posterior brain region, suggesting possible neural mechanism underlying his cognitive improvement. These findings have implicated potential applicability of DMBI as a rehabilitation program for patients with severe frontal lobe and/or memory disorders

A qualitative study of the views of patients with long-term conditions on family doctors in Hong Kong

<b>Background</b> Primary care based management of long-term conditions (LTCs) is high on the international healthcare agenda, including the Asia-Pacific region. Hong Kong has a 'mixed economy' healthcare system with both public and private sectors with a range of types of primary care doctors. Recent Hong Kong Government policy aims to enhance the management of LTCs in primary care possibly based on a 'family doctor' model. Patients' views on this are not well documented and the aim of the present study was to explore the views of patients with LTCs on family doctors in Hong Kong.<p></p> <b>Methods</b> The views of patients (with a variety of LTCs) on family doctors in Hong Kong were explored. Two groups of participants were interviewed; a) those who considered themselves as having a family doctor, b) those who considered themselves as not having a family doctor (either with a regular primary care doctor but not a family doctor or with no regular primary care doctor). In-depth individual semi-structured interviews were carried out with 28 participants (10 with a family doctor, 10 with a regular doctor, and 8 with no regular doctor) and analysed using the constant comparative method.<p></p> <b>Results</b> Participants who did not have a family doctor were familiar with the concept but regarded it as a 'luxury item' for the rich within the private healthcare system. Those with a regular family doctor (all private) regarded having one as important to their and their family's health. Participants in both groups felt that as well as the more usual family medicine specialist or general practitioner, traditional Chinese medicine practitioners also had the potential to be family doctors. However most participants attended the public healthcare system for management of their LTCs whether they had a family doctor or not. Cost, perceived need, quality, trust, and choice were all barriers to the use of family doctors for the management of their LTCs.<p></p> <b>Conclusions</b> Important barriers to the adoption of a 'family doctor' model of management of LTCs exist in Hong Kong. Effective policy implementation seems unlikely unless these complex barriers are addressed