Tele-improvisation : a multimodal analysis of intercultural improvisation in networked music performance

University of Technology, Sydney. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.This thesis presents an interdisciplinary, practice-led framework for the analysis of intercultural musical interaction in tele-improvisation (musical improvisation via telecommunication systems). Recent developments in network technology and high-speed broadband have created unprecedented opportunities for hitherto improbable meetings between musicians of different cultures to improvise with one another across global distances. While network technology eliminates distance in geographical space, signifiers of presence such as co-located acoustics, gesture, facial expression and body language are not available to mediate this experience. Video streaming of dispersed locations and collaborators cannot replace the essential nuances of co-located performative interaction. Most research in this field has focused on improving technical and interactive network music performance, highlighting the need for an evaluative framework and language for revealing musicians creative and strategic thought-processes. This thesis examines the approaches and strategies that musicians develop to perform with unknown and geographically dispersed collaborators through its analysis of three case studies that feature musicians improvising in the telematic music system eJamming. The analysis employs a social semiotic analytical framework combining multimodal discourse analysis (MDA), and ideas from the related field of cognitive linguistics (CL). This multimodal approach employs MDA to analyse music, sound, gesture and transcripts of networked musicians’ reflective experiences of tele-improvised musical interaction. These transcripts are examined through an interpretive framework of conceptual metaphor theory that enables an understanding of the ways in which musicians perceive and structure their interaction. The innovation of the proposed framework provides a pedagogical model for musicians and researchers to learn about cross-cultural musicians’ interaction in the rapidly growing field of Networked Music Performance (NMP). The main contributions of this thesis are: • A framework for the analysis of interaction in intercultural tele-improvisation; • An evaluation of cross-cultural musicians’ approaches and strategies to tele-improvisation; and • A theory of intercultural interaction in tele-improvisation

Dislocated Sound: A Survey of Improvisation in Networked Audio Platforms

The evolution of networked audio technologies has created unprecedented opportunities for musicians to improvise with instrumentalists from a diverse range of cultures and disciplines. As network speeds increase and latency is consigned to history, tele-musical collaboration, and in particular improvisation will be shaped by new methodologies that respond to this potential. While networked technologies eliminate distance in physical space, for the remote improviser, this creates a liminality of experience through which their performance is mediated. As a first step in understanding the conditions arising from collaboration in networked audio platforms, this paper will examine selected case studies of improvisation in a variety of networked interfaces. The author will examine how platform characteristics and network conditions influence the process of collective improvisation and the methodologies musicians are employing to negotiate their networked experiences

Flight Of the Sea Swallow: A CrossReality Telematic Performance

Flight of the Sea Swallow is a cross-reality telematic performance project developed by the multimedia group blackhole factory. Live data from distributed heat, light and movement sensors is visualised within the virtual and real-world performance spaces, with the aim of increasing tele-presence for performers and audiences. This article describes the background of the project, as well as its design and implementation over several iterative performances

A reconnaissance of pollution of the King River in the Comstock-Crotty area, west Tasmania

In November 1974 ,an investigation was made of the King River through the stretch from just above its junction with Comstock Creek to just above its junction with the Governor River. Sampling stations were selected at nine sites, six on the King River, one on Linda Creek, one on Comstock Creek and one on the Governor River. At each station, samples were taken of the water, of the sediments and of the benthic macro­invertebrates. Analysis of the sediment samples provided good evidence that the King River is polluted from Comstock Creek downstream, with copper and, to a lesser extent, lead and zinc. This pollution is clearly indicated in the distribution of the riffle-­dwelling macroinvertebrates and of trout. The Governor River and the King River up­stream of Comstock Creek are not polluted. A 24-hour sampling of the drift fauna in the King River just above and just below the entry of Comstock Creek showed a surprising drop in the abundance of the drift with the entry of pollution. The results of the survey are discussed in the light of overseas work on stream sediments and Australian and overseas work on the effects of metal pollution on stream fauna. The pollution, even if steps are made to abate it, is likely to persist for a very long time

African Challenges to the International Criminal Court: An Example of Populism?

Recent global efforts of the United States and England to withdraw from international institutions, along with recent challenges to human rights courts from Poland and Hungary, have been described as part of a growing global populist backlash against the liberal international order. Several scholars have even identified the recent threat of mass withdrawal of African states from the International Criminal Court (ICC) as part of this global populist backlash. Are the African challenges to the ICC part of a global populist movement developing in Africa? More fundamentally, how are the African challenges to the ICC examples of populism, if at all? In this paper, I show that, while there is considerable overlap between the strategies used by particular African leaders to challenge the ICC and those typically considered populist, as well as a discernible thin populist ideology to sustain them, there is insufficient evidence of a larger anti-ICC populist movement in Africa. Although Africa is not as united against the ICC as the populist narrative suggests, the recent challenges to the Court from Africa pose a significant challenge to the Court, as the institution is still in the early stages of building its legitimacy

Malaria eradication: the economic, financial and institutional challenge

Malaria eradication raises many economic, financial and institutional challenges. This paper reviews these challenges, drawing on evidence from previous efforts to eradicate malaria, with a special focus on resource-poor settings; summarizes more recent evidence on the challenges, drawing on the literature on the difficulties of scaling-up malaria control and strengthening health systems more broadly; and explores the implications of these bodies of evidence for the current call for elimination and intensified control

The Chemistry Mechanism in the Community Earth System Model Version 2 (CESM2)

The Community Earth System Model version 2 (CESM2) includes a detailed representation of chemistry throughout the atmosphere in the Community Atmosphere Model with chemistry and Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model configurations. These model configurations use the Model for Ozone and Related chemical Tracers (MOZART) family of chemical mechanisms, covering the troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, and lower thermosphere. The new MOZART tropospheric chemistry scheme (T1) has a number of updates over the previous version (MOZART‐4) in CESM, including improvements to the oxidation of isoprene and terpenes, organic nitrate speciation, and aromatic speciation and oxidation and thus improved representation of ozone and secondary organic aerosol precursors. An evaluation of the present‐day simulations of CESM2 being provided for Climate Model Intercomparison Project round 6 (CMIP6) is presented. These simulations, using the anthropogenic and biomass burning emissions from the inventories specified for CMIP6, as well as online calculation of emissions of biogenic compounds, lightning NO, dust, and sea salt, indicate an underestimate of anthropogenic emissions of a variety of compounds, including carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons. The simulation of surface ozone in the southeast United States is improved over previous model versions, largely due to the improved representation of reactive nitrogen and organic nitrate compounds resulting in a lower ozone production rate than in CESM1 but still overestimates observations in summer. The simulation of tropospheric ozone agrees well with ozonesonde observations in many parts of the globe. The comparison of NOx and PAN to aircraft observations indicates the model simulates the nitrogen budget well

Extragalactic Radio Continuum Surveys and the Transformation of Radio Astronomy

Next-generation radio surveys are about to transform radio astronomy by discovering and studying tens of millions of previously unknown radio sources. These surveys will provide new insights to understand the evolution of galaxies, measuring the evolution of the cosmic star formation rate, and rivalling traditional techniques in the measurement of fundamental cosmological parameters. By observing a new volume of observational parameter space, they are also likely to discover unexpected new phenomena. This review traces the evolution of extragalactic radio continuum surveys from the earliest days of radio astronomy to the present, and identifies the challenges that must be overcome to achieve this transformational change.Comment: To be published in Nature Astronomy 18 Sept 201

Characteristics of transposable element exonization within human and mouse

Insertion of transposed elements within mammalian genes is thought to be an important contributor to mammalian evolution and speciation. Insertion of transposed elements into introns can lead to their activation as alternatively spliced cassette exons, an event called exonization. Elucidation of the evolutionary constraints that have shaped fixation of transposed elements within human and mouse protein coding genes and subsequent exonization is important for understanding of how the exonization process has affected transcriptome and proteome complexities. Here we show that exonization of transposed elements is biased towards the beginning of the coding sequence in both human and mouse genes. Analysis of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) revealed that exonization of transposed elements can be population-specific, implying that exonizations may enhance divergence and lead to speciation. SNP density analysis revealed differences between Alu and other transposed elements. Finally, we identified cases of primate-specific Alu elements that depend on RNA editing for their exonization. These results shed light on TE fixation and the exonization process within human and mouse genes.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure