Timbre in the Musical Performance as a Result of Audio-Mental Operations

The aim of this paper is to reveal the relationship between the timbre i e sound quality obtained by an instrumentalist when playing a music piece and the role of the hearing listening and other musical specific mental operations that take place in the brain of the instrumentalist during the performance with the focus on the classical music which depends in the most cases on the score The timbre is a characteristic of every instrument or voice that makes their tone unique It is given by the different sound components partials with different frequencies and amplitudes The number and the amplitude of the partials are different from instrument to instrument they depend on the construction of the instrument and on the art of playing the last being the point in this article It is known that timbre has an emotional impact on the perception Its semantic features are represented through descriptors as dark bright round dull dry harsh etc that have to be created by the performers in order to affect the auditory Thus they have to possess a good technique able to get different timbres Although the technique has to be subordinated to the capacity of hearing in advance the sound with all its features pitch duration intensity and timbre The excessive attention of the performers from the pitch and duration that are exactly notated in the score has to be turned to the intensity and timbre that are less notated Therefore the audio-mental operations the term belongs to piano teachers Ana Piti and Ioana Minei both of the performers and listeners as part of music cognition are discussed here The decoding of the music information from the score and the sending of it to the auditory together with the regarding of the music as a language were be also approache

Ontologies and Knowledge Aggregation in the Active Semantic Learning System

5 PagesInternational audienceThe construction of semantic-based learning systems depends on the development of ontologies and the capacity to integrate and exploit knowledge using semantic technologies, notably RDF and ontologies. In this paper we present some concepts and ontologies defined in the context of the Active Semantic Learning System (Active SLS) that are used to describe resources and the semantic relation between these concepts defined in different ontologies. The purpose is to obtain a learning system that is capable of aggregating knowledge from different sources from the web and to exploiting that knowledge for the benefit of the learner

Ionogel-based light-actuated valves for controlling liquid flow in micro-fluidic manifolds

We present the fabrication, characterisation and performance of four novel ionic liquid polymer gels (ionogels) as photo-actuated valves incorporated into micro-fluidic manifolds. The ionogels incorporate benzospiropyran units and phosphonium-based ionic liquids. Each ionogel is photo-polymerised in situ in the channels of a poly(methyl methacrylate) micro-fluidic device, generating a manifold incorporating four different micro-valves. The valves are actuated by simply applying localised white light irradiation, meaning that no physical contact between the actuation impulse (light) and the valve structure is required. Through variation of the composition of the ionogels, each of the micro-valves can be tuned to open at different times under similar illumination conditions. Therefore, flows through the manifold can be independently controlled by a single light source. At present, the contraction process to open the channel is relatively rapid (seconds) while the recovery (expansion) process to re-close the channel is relatively slow (minutes), meaning that the valve, in its current form, is better suited for single-actuation events

Design and baseline characteristics of the finerenone in reducing cardiovascular mortality and morbidity in diabetic kidney disease trial

Background: Among people with diabetes, those with kidney disease have exceptionally high rates of cardiovascular (CV) morbidity and mortality and progression of their underlying kidney disease. Finerenone is a novel, nonsteroidal, selective mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist that has shown to reduce albuminuria in type 2 diabetes (T2D) patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) while revealing only a low risk of hyperkalemia. However, the effect of finerenone on CV and renal outcomes has not yet been investigated in long-term trials. Patients and Methods: The Finerenone in Reducing CV Mortality and Morbidity in Diabetic Kidney Disease (FIGARO-DKD) trial aims to assess the efficacy and safety of finerenone compared to placebo at reducing clinically important CV and renal outcomes in T2D patients with CKD. FIGARO-DKD is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group, event-driven trial running in 47 countries with an expected duration of approximately 6 years. FIGARO-DKD randomized 7,437 patients with an estimated glomerular filtration rate >= 25 mL/min/1.73 m(2) and albuminuria (urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio >= 30 to <= 5,000 mg/g). The study has at least 90% power to detect a 20% reduction in the risk of the primary outcome (overall two-sided significance level alpha = 0.05), the composite of time to first occurrence of CV death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke, or hospitalization for heart failure. Conclusions: FIGARO-DKD will determine whether an optimally treated cohort of T2D patients with CKD at high risk of CV and renal events will experience cardiorenal benefits with the addition of finerenone to their treatment regimen. Trial Registration: EudraCT number: 2015-000950-39; ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02545049

Legislative direction of regulatory bureaucracies: evidence from a semi-presidential system

International audienceIndependent regulatory agency has become the standard institutional choice in Western Europe. Little is known, however, about the involvement of legislators in their design and in their monitoring. In this paper, we analyse ex-ante and ex-post legislative involvement for 48 regulatory agencies enacted in France. We show that legislators debate and design more substantially agencies for which the government bill has already granted them more powers to appoint members to their board, or to be appointed as board members themselves. Once enacted, agencies that allow greater participation by legislators in their decision-making are subject to greater scrutiny, and this even after controlling for routine oversight activities. Regulatory domains matter, though only for ex-post legislative oversight. These results suggest that legislative involvement is selective and driven by strategic considerations. More fundamentally, they imply that legislative involvement could be more important in regulatory agency activities than usually assumed

Advanced Process Engineering Control

As a mature topic in chemical engineering, the book provides methods, problems and tools used in process control engineering. It discusses: process knowledge, sensor system technology, actuators, communication technology, and logistics, design and construction of control systems and their operation. The knowledge goes beyond the traditional process engineering field by applying the same principles, to biomedical processes, energy production and management of environmental issues. The book explains all the determinations in the "chemical systems" or "process systems", starting from the beginning of the processes, going through the intricate interdependency of the process stages, analyzing the hardware components of a control system and ending with the design of an appropriate control system for a process parameter or a whole process. The book is first addressed to the students and graduates of the departments of Chemical or Process Engineering. Second, to the chemical or process engineers in all industries orЯвляясь зрелой темой в области химического машиностроения, книга содержит методы, проблемы и инструменты, используемые в разработке систем управления технологическими процессами. В нем обсуждаются: знание технологических процессов, технология сенсорных систем, приводы, коммуникационные технологии и логистика, проектирование и конструирование систем управления и их эксплуатация. Знания выходят за рамки традиционной области разработки технологических процессов, применяя те же принципы к биомедицинским процессам, производству энергии и решению экологических проблем. В книге объясняются все определения в разделах "химические системы" или "технологические системы", начиная с начала процессов, проходя через сложную взаимозависимость стадий процесса, анализируя аппаратные компоненты системы управления и заканчивая проектированием соответствующей системы управления для параметра процесса или весь процесс. Книга в первую очередь адресована студентам и выпускникам химических факультетов или инженерно-технологических спИспользуемые программы Adobe Acroba

Kernel for a Semantic Learning Platform with adapted suggestions

International audienceAn important aspect in the context of personalized learning is providing adapted suggestions to the learner. These suggestions consist in resources that are either specially designed for learning purposes or not, notably in the case of blog articles, forum discussions, etc. However, the objective is to help the learner in better understanding a concept, with any kind of additional resources. The offered suggestions are selected in close relation with the learner's profile. The Learner Profile consists of the sum of specific learner characteristics that are used to describe the Learning Style, Learning Path, Learning goals, Knowledge Base, etc. The decisions about suggested resources are taken at the Kernel level, which represents the central part of the Semantic Learning Content Management System