Narrative form and Mahler’s musical thinking

The close relationship between music and other art forms is a well-established feature of fin-de-siècle Vienna. Interdisciplinary study since the 1970s, of the relationship between literature and music, reflects among other things a recovery of nineteenth-century concerns. This article equates Mahler's development of symphonic form with a development of narrative form within his works, by linking three phases of his symphonic output with his literary interests. The first phase links the early symphonies with the early nineteenth-century author Jean Paul. His novel Titan provides the subtitle of Mahler's First Symphony, and correspondences can be discerned between the character of Albano, the hero of the novel, and Mahler at this stage of his career (1888). The opening of the Finale of the symphony shows narratological similarity to the opening of the final volume of the novel. The second phase links the middle-period instrumental symphonies with Dostoevsky, who became Mahler's greatest literary and moral hero. The Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Symphonies exhibit narrative structures different from those of the earlier symphonies; rather than ending with indivdualistic triumph, after the manner of Jean Paul, they pose the Dostoevskian question of whether some sort of redemption of their material is possible. The third phase links the late works with Mahler's contemporaries Robert Musil and Marcel Proust. In this context, the ending of Mahler's Ninth Symphony can be seen as a adaptation of musical narrativity analogous to the Modernist extension of the lengthy novels of these two authors

Reward, Context, and Human Behaviour

Animal models of reward processing have revealed an extensive network of brain areas that process different aspects of reward, from expectation and prediction to calculation of relative value. These results have been confirmed and extended in human neuroimaging to encompass secondary rewards more unique to humans, such as money. The majority of the extant literature covers the brain areas associated with rewards whilst neglecting analysis of the actual behaviours that these rewards generate. This review strives to redress this imbalance by illustrating the importance of looking at the behavioural outcome of rewards and the context in which they are produced. Following a brief review of the literature of reward-related activity in the brain, we examine the effect of reward context on actions. These studies reveal how the presence of reward vs. reward and punishment, or being conscious vs. unconscious of reward-related actions, differentially influence behaviour. The latter finding is of particular importance given the extent to which animal models are used in understanding the reward systems of the human mind. It is clear that further studies are needed to learn about the human reaction to reward in its entirety, including any distinctions between conscious and unconscious behaviours. We propose that studies of reward entail a measure of the animal's (human or nonhuman) knowledge of the reward and knowledge of its own behavioural outcome to achieve that reward

Infrared and Raman spectra of lignin substructures : Dibenzodioxocin

Vibrational spectroscopy is a very suitable tool for investigating the plant cell wall in situ with almost no sample preparation. The structural information of all different constituents is contained in a single spectrum. Interpretation therefore heavily relies on reference spectra and understanding of the vibrational behavior of the components under study. For the first time, we show infrared (IR) and Raman spectra of dibenzodioxocin (DBDO), an important lignin substructure. A detailed vibrational assignment of the molecule, based on quantum chemical computations, is given in the Supporting Information; the main results are found in the paper. Furthermore, we show IR and Raman spectra of synthetic guaiacyl lignin (dehydrogenation polymer-G-DHP). Raman spectra of DBDO and G-DHP both differ with respect to the excitation wavelength and therefore reveal different features of the substructure/polymer. This study confirms the idea previously put forward that Raman at 532 nm selectively probes end groups of lignin, whereas Raman at 785 nm and IR seem to represent the majority of lignin substructures.Peer reviewe

Functional Characterization of Enzymatic Steps Involved in Pyruvylation of Bacterial Secondary Cell Wall Polymer Fragments

Various mechanisms of protein cell surface display have evolved during bacterial evolution. Several Gram-positive bacteria employ S-layer homology (SLH) domain-mediated sorting of cell-surface proteins and concomitantly engage a pyruvylated secondary cell-wall polymer as a cell-wall ligand. Specifically, pyruvate ketal linked to β-D-ManNAc is regarded as an indispensable epitope in this cell-surface display mechanism. That secondary cell wall polymer (SCWP) pyruvylation and SLH domain-containing proteins are functionally coupled is supported by the presence of an ortholog of the predicted pyruvyltransferase CsaB in bacterial genomes, such as those of Bacillus anthracis and Paenibacillus alvei. The P. alvei SCWP, consisting of pyruvylated disaccharide repeats [→4)-β-D-GlcNAc-(1→3)-4,6-Pyr-β-D-ManNAc-(1→] serves as a model to investigate the widely unexplored pyruvylation reaction. Here, we reconstituted the underlying enzymatic pathway in vitro in combination with synthesized compounds, used mass spectrometry, and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy for product characterization, and found that CsaB-catalyzed pyruvylation of β-D-ManNAc occurs at the stage of the lipid-linked repeat. We produced the P. alvei TagA (PAV_RS07420) and CsaB (PAV_RS07425) enzymes as recombinant, tagged proteins, and using a synthetic 11-phenoxyundecyl-diphosphoryl-α-GlcNAc acceptor, we uncovered that TagA is an inverting UDP-α-D-ManNAc:GlcNAc-lipid carrier transferase, and that CsaB is a pyruvyltransferase, with synthetic UDP-α-D-ManNAc and phosphoenolpyruvate serving as donor substrates. Next, to substitute for the UDP-α-D-ManNAc substrate, the recombinant UDP-GlcNAc-2-epimerase MnaA (PAV_RS07610) of P. alvei was included in this in vitro reconstitution system. When all three enzymes, their substrates and the lipid-linked GlcNAc primer were combined in a one-pot reaction, a lipid-linked SCWP repeat precursor analog was obtained. This work highlights the biochemical basis of SCWP biosynthesis and bacterial pyruvyl transfer

Sensitivity and Bias in Decision-Making under Risk: Evaluating the Perception of Reward, Its Probability and Value

BACKGROUND: There are few clinical tools that assess decision-making under risk. Tests that characterize sensitivity and bias in decisions between prospects varying in magnitude and probability of gain may provide insights in conditions with anomalous reward-related behaviour. OBJECTIVE: We designed a simple test of how subjects integrate information about the magnitude and the probability of reward, which can determine discriminative thresholds and choice bias in decisions under risk. DESIGN/METHODS: Twenty subjects were required to choose between two explicitly described prospects, one with higher probability but lower magnitude of reward than the other, with the difference in expected value between the two prospects varying from 3 to 23%. RESULTS: Subjects showed a mean threshold sensitivity of 43% difference in expected value. Regarding choice bias, there was a 'risk premium' of 38%, indicating a tendency to choose higher probability over higher reward. An analysis using prospect theory showed that this risk premium is the predicted outcome of hypothesized non-linearities in the subjective perception of reward value and probability. CONCLUSIONS: This simple test provides a robust measure of discriminative value thresholds and biases in decisions under risk. Prospect theory can also make predictions about decisions when subjective perception of reward or probability is anomalous, as may occur in populations with dopaminergic or striatal dysfunction, such as Parkinson's disease and schizophrenia

Immaturities in Reward Processing and Its Influence on Inhibitory Control in Adolescence

The nature of immature reward processing and the influence of rewards on basic elements of cognitive control during adolescence are currently not well understood. Here, during functional magnetic resonance imaging, healthy adolescents and adults performed a modified antisaccade task in which trial-by-trial reward contingencies were manipulated. The use of a novel fast, event-related design enabled developmental differences in brain function underlying temporally distinct stages of reward processing and response inhibition to be assessed. Reward trials compared with neutral trials resulted in faster correct inhibitory responses across ages and in fewer inhibitory errors in adolescents. During reward trials, the blood oxygen level–dependent signal was attenuated in the ventral striatum in adolescents during cue assessment, then overactive during response preparation, suggesting limitations during adolescence in reward assessment and heightened reactivity in anticipation of reward compared with adults. Importantly, heightened activity in the frontal cortex along the precentral sulcus was also observed in adolescents during reward-trial response preparation, suggesting reward modulation of oculomotor control regions supporting correct inhibitory responding. Collectively, this work characterizes specific immaturities in adolescent brain systems that support reward processing and describes the influence of reward on inhibitory control. In sum, our findings suggest mechanisms that may underlie adolescents’ vulnerability to poor decision-making and risk-taking behavior

Songwriters and song lyrics: architecture, ambiguity and repetition

This article argues for understanding popular songs and songwriting through the metaphor of architecture, an idea we draw from vernacular terms used by songwriters when comprehending and explaining their own creative practice, and which we deploy in response to those who have called for writing about music to use a non-technical vocabulary and make greater use of metaphor. By architecture we mean those recognisable characteristics of songs that exist as enduring qualities regardless of a specific performance, recording or sheet music score. We use this analogy not as a systematic model, but as a device for exploring the intricate ways that words and music are combined and pointing to similarities in the composition of poetry and writing of song lyrics. The art of repetition and play with ambiguity are integral to popular song architectures that endure regardless of the modifications introduced by performers who temporarily inhabit a particular song