"My life transparently revealed" : interpreting Mahler's worldview through an analysis of his middle-period symphonies

Many of the comments made by Gustav Mahler concerning the relationship between his life experiences and musical compositions have compelled scholars to interpret his work through the lens of his worldview. From the known facts of his reading habits, social circle, and references to philosophy, one can establish a general picture of Mahler’s interests, beliefs, and values. But to go beyond these generalities requires a more in-depth understanding of worldview and how it manifests in artistic expression. This project attempts to answer this need by investigating the concept of worldview through an analysis of the works of Mahler’s middle-period: the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Symphonies. Chapter One pursues a deeper understanding of what is meant by the term “worldview” and its relationship to art. This chapter lays a theoretical foundation that combines a historically informed definition of worldview with the philosophy of Paul Ricoeur to create a methodology for the case studies that will follow. Worldviews, while variable in content, contain a tripartite structure consisting of narratives, symbols, and values. The case studies that follow examine the works of the middle period under the rubric of these elements. Chapter Two analyzes the Fifth Symphony’s narrative structure, applying the insights of that investigation to Ricoeur’s notion of “narrative identity.” Chapter Three focuses on a specific musical symbol used in the Sixth Symphony—commonly known as the Ewigkeit motive—and examines how Mahler’s use of this symbol in other works illuminates its philosophical meaning and its expressive role in the Sixth. The final case study, Chapter Four, theorizes that Mahler’s compositional process serves as the outward expression of his inner beliefs. It considers the development of the Seventh Symphony as evidence of how value-structures manifest themselves as modes of being and doing. The final study concludes by drawing together the insights of the three analyses to offer an interpretation of Mahler’s worldview as expressed in the symphonic trilogy of the middle period.Musi

Hyperbolic calorons, monopoles, and instantons

We construct families of SO(3)-symmetric charge 1 instantons and calorons on the space H^3 x R. We show how the calorons include instantons and hyperbolic monopoles as limiting cases. We show how Euclidean calorons are the flat space limit of this family.Comment: 11 pages, no figures 1 reference added Published version available at: http://www.springerlink.com/content/k0j4815u54303450

Cobalt and nickel uptake by silica-based extractants

The pKas of ethyl/butyl phosphonate silica (EBP-Si) have been determined, and the removal of cobalt and nickel from solution was investigated as a function of various parameters and compared with those of Purolite S950. pH uptake experiments suggested a combination of ion exchange and acid dissociation of the surface occurring. Isotherm data, fitted using the Langmuir and Dubinin–Radushkevich (D-R) models, indicated that stronger complexes formed with S950 than with EBP-Si. Kinetic data, fitted using a pseudo-second-order model, suggested that the rate-determining process is the reaction of metal ions with the chelating functionality of the resin. Uptake by EBP-Si is two to three times faster than that on S950

Multi-omics of the gut microbial ecosystem in inflammatory bowel diseases.

Inflammatory bowel diseases, which include Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, affect several million individuals worldwide. Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis are complex diseases that are heterogeneous at the clinical, immunological, molecular, genetic, and microbial levels. Individual contributing factors have been the focus of extensive research. As part of the Integrative Human Microbiome Project (HMP2 or iHMP), we followed 132 subjects for one year each to generate integrated longitudinal molecular profiles of host and microbial activity during disease (up to 24 time points each; in total 2,965 stool, biopsy, and blood specimens). Here we present the results, which provide a comprehensive view of functional dysbiosis in the gut microbiome during inflammatory bowel disease activity. We demonstrate a characteristic increase in facultative anaerobes at the expense of obligate anaerobes, as well as molecular disruptions in microbial transcription (for example, among clostridia), metabolite pools (acylcarnitines, bile acids, and short-chain fatty acids), and levels of antibodies in host serum. Periods of disease activity were also marked by increases in temporal variability, with characteristic taxonomic, functional, and biochemical shifts. Finally, integrative analysis identified microbial, biochemical, and host factors central to this dysregulation. The study's infrastructure resources, results, and data, which are available through the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Multi'omics Database ( http://ibdmdb.org ), provide the most comprehensive description to date of host and microbial activities in inflammatory bowel diseases

Imaging evaluation of the liver using multi-detector row computed tomography in micropigs as potential living liver donors

The shortage of organ donors has stimulated interest in the possibility of using animal organs for transplantation into humans. In addition, pigs are now considered to be the most likely source animals for human xenotransplantation because of their advantages over non-human primates. However, the appropriate standard values for estimations of the liver of micropigs have not been established. The determination of standard values for the micropig liver using multi-detector row computed tomography (MDCT) would help to select a suitable donor for an individual patient, determine the condition of the liver of the micropigs and help predict patient prognosis. Therefore, we determined the standard values for the livers of micropigs using MDCT. The liver parenchyma showed homogenous enhancement and had no space-occupying lesions. The total and right lobe volumes of the liver were 698.57 ± 47.81 ml and 420.14 ± 26.70 ml, which are 51.74% and 49.35% of the human liver volume, respectively. In micropigs, the percentage of liver volume to body weight was approximately 2.05%. The diameters of the common hepatic artery and proper hepatic artery were 6.24 ± 0.20 mm and 4.68 ± 0.13 mm, respectively. The hepatic vascular system of the micropigs was similar to that of humans, except for the variation in the length of the proper hepatic artery. In addition, the diameter of the portal vein was 11.27 ± 0.38 mm. In conclusion, imaging evaluation using the MDCT was a reliable method for liver evaluation and its vascular anatomy for xenotransplantation using micropigs

Cardiovascular Diseases after Kidney Transplantation in Korea

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in renal allograft recipients with functioning graft. Our study aimed to determine the incidence and the risk factors of cardiovascular disease after renal transplantation in Korea. We retrospectively analyzed 430 adult recipients who underwent kidney transplantation between January 1997 and February 2007. CVD was defined as a composite outcome of ischemic heart disease, cerebrovascular accident and peripheral vascular disease. Mean age of recipients was 40.0±11.8 yr. Mean duration of follow-up was 72±39 months. The cumulative incidence of CVD after renal transplantation was 2.4% at 5 yr, 5.4% at 10 yr and 11.4% at 12 yr. Multivariate analysis revealed that recipient's age, diabetes mellitus and duration of dialysis before transplantation were associated with post-transplant CVD (hazard ratio 1.843 [95% CI, 1.005-3.381], 3.846 [95% CI, 1.025-14.432] and 3.394 [95% CI, 1.728-6.665] respectively). In conclusion, old age, duration of dialysis and diabetes mellitus are important risk factors for post-transplant CVD, although the incidence of post-renal transplant CVD is lower in Korea than that in western countries