685 research outputs found
Conducting space: An analysis-based approach to spatial sound design in contemporary chamber music performance
Contemporary chamber music performance practice is often a hybrid that has evolved from the merging of acoustic instrumental performance practice and spatialized, loudspeaker-based acousmatic performance practice. As this hybrid practice continues to evolve, the development of interpretation strategies for performed spatialization based on score analysis can facilitate spatialization design that will clarify the articulation of complex musical structures. This study outlines the development of a spatial performance practice from the perspective of sound designer and audio engineer with the ELISION Ensemble. A framework for the development of this practice is presented through the consideration of a personal perspective on the role of spatiality in the communication of sonic information, examined in the light of published research in auditory communication and both instrumental and acousmatic music performance practice
Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed at Risk: Report #53
The Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed at Risk (CRESPAR) was established in 1994 and continued until 2004. It was a collaboration between Johns Hopkins University and Howard University. CRESPAR’s mission was to conduct research, development, evaluation, and dissemination of replicable strategies designed to transform schooling for students who were placed at risk due to inadequate institutional responses to such factors as poverty, ethnic minority status, and non-English-speaking home background.A few renowned early interventions have compelling evidence of enduring achievement effects for at-risk children: Perry Preschool; the Abecedarian Project; and the Tennessee class-size experiment.Grant (No. R-117-D40005) from the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI), U.S. Department of Educatio
Take the Monkey and Run
The common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) is a small, New World primate that is used extensively in biomedical and behavioral research. This short-lived primate, with its small body size, ease of handling, and docile temperament, has emerged as a valuable model for aging and neurodegenerative research. A growing body of research has indicated exercise, aerobic exercise especially, imparts beneficial effects to normal aging. Understanding the mechanisms underlying these positive effects of exercise, and the degree to which exercise has neurotherapeutic effects, is an important research focus. Thus, developing techniques to engage marmosets in aerobic exercise would have great advantages
Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed at Risk: Report #64
The Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed at Risk (CRESPAR) was established in 1994 and continued until 2004. It was a collaboration between Johns Hopkins University and Howard University. CRESPAR’s mission was to conduct research, development, evaluation, and dissemination of replicable strategies designed to transform schooling for students who were placed at risk due to inadequate institutional responses to such factors as poverty, ethnic minority status, and non-English-speaking home background.This study contributes to the growing body of research on classroom instruction by exploring the possibility of measuring a specific instructional strategy using statistical methods based on item response theory (IRT). We seek to measure teachers’ instructional practices using the same rigorous statistical techniques that are now applied to most large-scale assessments of student achievement. We focus specifically on teachers’ use of pedagogical techniques consistent with those espoused by the national standards-based reform movement in science. We use data for a nationally representative sample of public school eighth graders and their teachers from the 1996 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).Grant (No. R117-D40005) from the Institute of Education Sciences (IES, formerly OERI), U.S. Department of Educatio
Natural iron enrichment around the Antarctic Peninsula in the Southern Ocean
As part of the US-AMLR program in January-February of 2006, 99 stations in
the South Shetland Islands-Antarctic Peninsula region were sampled to
understand the variability in hydrographic and biological properties related
to the abundance and distribution of krill in this area. Concentrations of
dissolved iron (DFe) and total acid-leachable iron (TaLFe) were measured in
the upper 150 m at 16 of these stations (both coastal and pelagic waters) to
better resolve the factors limiting primary production in this area and in
downstream waters of the Scotia Sea. The concentrations of DFe and TaLFe in
the upper mixed layer (UML) were relatively high in Weddell Sea Shelf Waters
(~0.6 nM and 15 nM, respectively) and low in Drake Passage waters
(~0.2 nM and 0.9 nM, respectively). In the Bransfield
Strait, representing a mixture of waters from the Weddell Sea and the
Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC), concentrations of DFe were ~0.4 nM
and of TaLFe ~1.7 nM. The highest concentrations of DFe and TaLFe
in the UML were found at shallow coastal stations close to Livingston Island
(~1.6 nM and 100 nM, respectively). The ratio of TaLFe:DFe varied
with the distance to land: ~45 at the shallow coastal stations, ~15
in the high-salinity waters of Bransfield Strait, and ~4 in ACC
waters. Concentrations of DFe increased slightly with depth in the water
column, while that of TaLFe did not show any consistent trend with depth.
Our Fe data are discussed in regard to the hydrography and water circulation
patterns in the study area, and with the hypothesis that the relatively high
rates of primary production in the central regions of the Scotia Sea are
partially sustained by natural iron enrichment resulting
from a northeasterly flow of iron-rich coastal waters originating in
the South Shetland Islands-Antarctic Peninsula region
The promotion of local wellbeing: A primer for policymakers
There is growing interest among policymakers in the promotion of wellbeing as an
objective of public policy. In particular, local authorities have been given powers to
undertake action to promote wellbeing in their area. Recent advances in the academic
literature on wellbeing are giving rise to an increasingly detailed picture of the factors
that determine people’s subjective wellbeing (how they think and feel about their lives).
However, the concept of subjective wellbeing is poorly understood within local
government and much of the evidence base is extremely recent. I therefore review the
literature on the definition, measurement, and determinants of wellbeing, and discuss
some of its implications for local public policy
Experiment Simulation Configurations Used in DUNE CDR
The LBNF/DUNE CDR describes the proposed physics program and experimental
design at the conceptual design phase. Volume 2, entitled The Physics Program
for DUNE at LBNF, outlines the scientific objectives and describes the physics
studies that the DUNE collaboration will perform to address these objectives.
The long-baseline physics sensitivity calculations presented in the DUNE CDR
rely upon simulation of the neutrino beam line, simulation of neutrino
interactions in the far detector, and a parameterized analysis of detector
performance and systematic uncertainty. The purpose of this posting is to
provide the results of these simulations to the community to facilitate
phenomenological studies of long-baseline oscillation at LBNF/DUNE.
Additionally, this posting includes GDML of the DUNE single-phase far detector
for use in simulations. DUNE welcomes those interested in performing this work
as members of the collaboration, but also recognizes the benefit of making
these configurations readily available to the wider community.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, configurations in ancillary file
Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed at Risk: Report #59
The Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed at Risk (CRESPAR) was established in 1994 and continued until 2004. It was a collaboration between Johns Hopkins University and Howard University. CRESPAR’s mission was to conduct research, development, evaluation, and dissemination of replicable strategies designed to transform schooling for students who were placed at risk due to inadequate institutional responses to such factors as poverty, ethnic minority status, and non-English-speaking home background.In this meta-analysis, we review the research on the achievement effects of the nationally disseminated and externally developed school improvement programs known as “whole-school” or “comprehensive” reforms. In addition to reviewing the overall achievement effects of comprehensive school reform (CSR), we study the specific effects of 29 of the most widely implemented models. We also assess how various CSR components, contextual factors, and methodological factors associated with the studies mediate the effects of CSR. We conclude that CSR is still an evolving field and that there are limitations on the overall quantity and quality of the research base. The overall effects of CSR, though, appear promising and the combined quantity, quality, and statistical significance of evidence from three of the models, in particular, set them apart from the rest.Grant (No. R-117-D40005) from the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI), U.S. Department of Educatio
Meox2 Haploinsufficiency Accelerates Axonal Degeneration in DBA/2J Glaucoma.
Purpose: Glaucoma is a complex disease with major risk factors including advancing age and increased intraocular pressure (IOP). Dissecting these earliest events will likely identify new avenues for therapeutics. Previously, we performed transcriptional profiling in DBA/2J (D2) mice, a widely used mouse model relevant to glaucoma. Here, we use these data to identify and test regulators of early gene expression changes in DBA/2J glaucoma.
Methods: Upstream regulator analysis (URA) in Ingenuity Pathway Analysis was performed to identify potential master regulators of differentially expressed genes. The function of one putative regulator, mesenchyme homeobox 2 (Meox2), was tested using a combination of genetic, biochemical, and immunofluorescence approaches.
Results: URA identified Meox2 as a potential regulator of early gene expression changes in the optic nerve head (ONH) of DBA/2J mice. Meox2 haploinsufficiency did not affect the characteristic diseases of the iris or IOP elevation seen in DBA/2J mice but did cause a significant increase in the numbers of eyes with axon damage compared to controls. While young mice appeared normal, aged Meox2 haploinsufficient DBA/2J mice showed a 44% reduction in MEOX2 protein levels. This correlated with modulation of age- and disease-specific vascular and myeloid alterations.
Conclusions: Our data support a model whereby Meox2 controls IOP-dependent vascular remodeling and neuroinflammation to promote axon survival. Promoting these earliest responses prior to IOP elevation may be a viable neuroprotective strategy to delay or prevent human glaucoma
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