2,317 research outputs found
Musical Drama in Monteverdi\u27s L\u27Orfeo: How Aria, Recitative, and Ritornello Shape Drama
Composers of early operas faced the unique challenge of using their music as a dramatic form of entertainment. This idea of drama linked with music was relatively new, so these composers had to develop entirely original concepts. One such composer was Claudio Monteverdi, who built the foundation of modern operaâs three main musical forms: aria, recitative, and ritornello. An early example of the dramatic use of these musical forms can be seen in Monteverdiâs LâOrfeo. In this opera, Monteverdi used the aria to convey emotions, the recitative to transmit information, and the ritornello to unify the plot
Sensitive and specific detection of E. coli using biomimetic receptors in combination with a modified heat-transfer method
We report on a novel biomimetic sensor that allows sensitive and specific detection of Escherichia colt (E. coli) bacteria in a broad concentration range from 10(2) up to 10(6) CFU/mL in both buffer fluids and relevant food samples (i.e. apple juice). The receptors are surface-imprinted polyurethane layers deposited on stainless-steel chips. Regarding the transducer principle, the sensor measures the increase in thermal resistance between the chip and the liquid due to the presence of bacteria captured on the receptor surface. The low noise level that enables the low detection limit originates from a planar meander element that serves as both a heater and a temperature sensor. Furthermore, the experiments show that the presence of bacteria in a liquid enhances the thermal conductivity of the liquid itself. Reference tests with a set of other representative species of Enterobacteriaceae, closely related to E. coli, indicate a very low cross-sensitivity with a sensor response at or below the noise level
Preparing FMHC Students For Life After Graduation
The pages you have before you are a complete chronicle of our journey through the design thinking process. We were asked a pressing question: âhow can Honors students better prepare for life after graduation?â This question launched a four-month journey, for which we were given the map of the design thinking process. This map was unique in that it told us what terrain we would be navigating, but not how to get to the next destination. Not directly, anyway. Every section of terrain had many paths, and plenty of open space to forge our own.
From the rolling moors of defining, the treacherous ocean of empathizing, and the jagged cliffs of redefiningâto the plentiful woodlands of ideating, the uncharted wilderness of prototyping, and finally, the open plains of testing, we wound our way through the problem, and came out on the other side with a solution. Afterwards, we compiled all our newly-forged maps into a portfolio of our innovation. We are proud to share our progressâhow we went from standing before a real-world question to creating the concept of a Laker Legend web application.
Thank you for taking the time to explore our journeyâperhaps our insights can help you in some exploration of your own
The effect of scale-free topology on the robustness and evolvability of genetic regulatory networks
We investigate how scale-free (SF) and Erdos-Renyi (ER) topologies affect the
interplay between evolvability and robustness of model gene regulatory networks
with Boolean threshold dynamics. In agreement with Oikonomou and Cluzel (2006)
we find that networks with SFin topologies, that is SF topology for incoming
nodes and ER topology for outgoing nodes, are significantly more evolvable
towards specific oscillatory targets than networks with ER topology for both
incoming and outgoing nodes. Similar results are found for networks with SFboth
and SFout topologies. The functionality of the SFout topology, which most
closely resembles the structure of biological gene networks (Babu et al.,
2004), is compared to the ER topology in further detail through an extension to
multiple target outputs, with either an oscillatory or a non-oscillatory
nature. For multiple oscillatory targets of the same length, the differences
between SFout and ER networks are enhanced, but for non-oscillatory targets
both types of networks show fairly similar evolvability. We find that SF
networks generate oscillations much more easily than ER networks do, and this
may explain why SF networks are more evolvable than ER networks are for
oscillatory phenotypes. In spite of their greater evolvability, we find that
networks with SFout topologies are also more robust to mutations than ER
networks. Furthermore, the SFout topologies are more robust to changes in
initial conditions (environmental robustness). For both topologies, we find
that once a population of networks has reached the target state, further
neutral evolution can lead to an increase in both the mutational robustness and
the environmental robustness to changes in initial conditions.Comment: 16 pages, 15 figure
Brain activity response to visual cues for gait impairment in Parkinsonâs disease: an EEG study
Background: Gait impairments are common in Parkinsonâs disease (PD) and increase falls risk. Visual cues can improve gait in PD, particularly freezing of gait (FOG), but mechanisms involved in visual cue response are unknown. This study aimed to examine brain activity in response to visual cues in people with PD who do (PD+FOG) and donât report FOG (PD-FOG), and explore relationships between attention, brain activity and gait.
Methods: Mobile EEG measured brain activity during gait in 20 healthy older adults and 43 PD participants (n=22 PD+FOG, n=21 PD-FOG). Participants walked for two-minutes with and without visual cues (transverse lines to step over). We report power spectral density (PSD) in Delta (1â4Hz), Theta (4â7Hz), Alpha (8â12Hz), Beta (14â24Hz) and Gamma (30â50Hz) bands within clusters of similarly brain localized independent component sources.
Results: PSDs within the parietal and occipital lobes were altered when walking with visual cues in PD, particularly in PD+FOG. Between group, differences suggested that parietal sources in PD, particularly with PD+FOG, had larger activity compared to healthy older adults when walking. Within group, visual cues altered brain activity in PD, particularly in PD+FOG, within visual processing brain regions. In PD participants, brain activity differences with cues correlated with gait improvements, and in PD+FOG those with worse attention required more visual attentional processing (reduced alpha PSD) in the occipital lobe.
Conclusions: Visual cues improve gait and influence brain activity during walking in PD, particularly in PD+FOG. Findings may allow development of more effective therapeutics
Women and children living in areas of armed conflict in Africa: a geospatial analysis of mortality and orphanhood
Background: The population effects of armed conflict on non-combatant vulnerable populations are incompletely understood. We aimed to study the effects of conflict on mortality among women of childbearing age (15â49 years) and on orphanhood among children younger than 15 years in Africa. Methods: We tested the extent to which mortality among women aged 15â49 years, and orphanhood among children younger than 15 years, increased in response to nearby armed conflict in Africa. Data on location, timing, and intensity of armed conflicts were obtained from the Uppsala Conflict Data Program, and data on the location, timing, and outcomes of women and children from Demographic and Health Surveys done in 35 African countries from 1990 to 2016. Mortality among women was obtained from sibling survival data. We used cluster-area fixed-effects regression models to compare survival of women during periods of nearby conflict (within 50 km) to survival of women in the same area during times without conflict. We used similar methods to examine the extent to which children living near armed conflicts are at increased risk of becoming orphans. We examined the effects of varying conflict intensity using number of direct battle deaths and duration of consecutive conflict exposure. Findings: We analysed data on 1 629 352 women (19286387 person-years), of which 103011 (6·3%) died (534·1 deaths per 100000 women-years), and 2 354 041 children younger than 15 years, of which 204276 (8·7%) had lost a parent. On average, conflict within 50 km increased womenâs mortality by 112 deaths per 100 000 person-years (95% CI 97â128; a 21% increase above baseline), and the probability that a child has lost at least one parent by 6·0% (95% CI 3â8). This effect was driven by high-intensity conflicts: exposure to the highest (tenth) decile conflict in terms of conflict-related deaths increased the probability of female mortality by 202% (187â218) and increased the likelihood of orphanhood by 42% compared with a conflict-free period. Among the conflict-attributed deaths, 10% were due to maternal mortality. Interpretation: African women of childbearing age are at a substantially increased risk of death from nearby highintensity armed conflicts. Children exposed to conflict are analogously at increased risk of becoming orphans. This work fills gaps in literature on the harmful effects of armed conflict on non-combatants and highlights the need for humanitarian interventions to protect vulnerable populations. Funding: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to the BRANCH Consortium
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