7,412 research outputs found
Birdsong in the music of Olivier Messiaen
The intention of this investigation is to formulate a chronological survey of Messiaen's treatment of birdsong, taking into account the species involved and the composer's evolving methods of motivic manipulation instrumentation in corporation of intrinsic characteristics and structure. The approach taken in this study is to survey selected works in turn, developing appropriate tabular forms with regard to Messiaen's use of 'style oiseau', identified bird vocalisations and even the frequent appearances of music that includes familiar characteristics of bird style, although not so labelled in the score. Due to the repetitive nature of so many motivic fragments in birdsong, it has become necessary to develop new terminology and incorporate derivations from other research findings. The 'motivic classification' tables, for instance present the essential motivic features in some very complex birdsong.
The study begins by establishing the importance of the unique musical procedures developed by Messiaen: these involve, for example questions of form, melody and rhythm. The problem of 'authenticity' - that is, the degree of accuracy with which Messiaen chooses to treat birdsong- is then examined. A chronological survey of Messiaen's use of birdsong in selected major works follows, demonstrating an evolution from the general term 'oiseau' to the precise attribution of particular material to particular birds.
In later periods the composer explores new Instrumentation and accompanying harmonies (or chordal complexities) to create as closely as possible the unique timbres and other idiosyncrasies of birds' vocalisations; at the same time, Messiaen begins to introduce a much larger variety of species in to his music using birdsong from all over the world. The representations of birdsong are much more 'authentic', or at least more colourful, than in previous works and perhaps, with the accompanying portrayal of landscape in (for example) Catalogue, greater verisimilitude is created.
The inclusion of so many exotic species in the scores of, for instance Sept Haikai and Chronochromie is a result of Messiaen's meticulous ornithological investigations and painstaking notations. More importantly, the monophonic bird style tends increasingly to be replaced by other textures such as two-voice homophony, homorhythm, hybrid forms and polyphony.
The most pertinent works of this final period are evaluated clearly displaying the many features of each birdsong and call, and their part in the structure of the pieces. Conclusions are drawn concerning the technical means by which the composer realises t he distinguishing features of each birdsong. The thesis is sustained by a close study of three elements governing Messiaen's treatment of birdsong (rhythm, .melody and structure), especially considering the close relationship between them.
There has not previously been a systematic attempt to analyse Messiaen's pieces in this way. This research provides a coherent structural overview of Messiaen's employment of birdsong, displaying recurring patterns found in the use of rhythm, melody and structure. Further, the recent publication of Messiaen's 'Trait de Rythme, de Couleur et d'Ornithologie' enables the research to be genuinely up-to-date, using the composer's personal comments on, and analyses of, birdsongs found frequently in his music
Mating Flights of \u3ci\u3eEphoron Album\u3c/i\u3e (Ephemeroptera: Polymitarcidae) in Michigan
Mating flights of the mayfly Ephoron album (Say) were observed on the Sturgeon River in Houghton County, Michigan, on five evenings between 16 and 22 August, 1977. Peak emergence occurred about 30 minutes befqre sunset on 19 August and the flight period lasted about two hours. Many more adult males than females were collected on three evenings, but on one evening females greatly outnumbered males collected
Campus & alumni news
Boston University Medicine was published by the Boston University Medical Campus, and presented stories on events and topics of interest to members of the BU Medical Campus community. It followed the discontinued publication Centerscope as Boston University Medicine from 1991-2005, and was continued as Campus & Alumni News from 2006-2013 before returning to the title Boston University Medicine from 2014-present
Investigation of peak shapes in the MIBETA experiment calibrations
In calorimetric neutrino mass experiments, where the shape of a beta decay
spectrum has to be precisely measured, the understanding of the detector
response function is a fundamental issue. In the MIBETA neutrino mass
experiment, the X-ray lines measured with external sources did not have
Gaussian shapes, but exhibited a pronounced shoulder towards lower energies. If
this shoulder were a general feature of the detector response function, it
would distort the beta decay spectrum and thus mimic a non-zero neutrino mass.
An investigation was performed to understand the origin of the shoulder and its
potential influence on the beta spectrum. First, the peaks were fitted with an
analytic function in order to determine quantitatively the amount of events
contributing to the shoulder, also depending on the energy of the calibration
X-rays. In a second step, Montecarlo simulations were performed to reproduce
the experimental spectrum and to understand the origin of its shape. We
conclude that at least part of the observed shoulder can be attributed to a
surface effect
Diffraction of a Bose-Einstein condensate from a Magnetic Lattice on a Micro Chip
We experimentally study the diffraction of a Bose-Einstein condensate from a
magnetic lattice, realized by a set of 372 parallel gold conductors which are
micro fabricated on a silicon substrate. The conductors generate a periodic
potential for the atoms with a lattice constant of 4 microns. After exposing
the condensate to the lattice for several milliseconds we observe diffraction
up to 5th order by standard time of flight imaging techniques. The experimental
data can be quantitatively interpreted with a simple phase imprinting model.
The demonstrated diffraction grating offers promising perspectives for the
construction of an integrated atom interferometer.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
WATCAT: a tale of wide-angle tailed radio galaxies
We present a catalog of 47 wide-angle tailed radio galaxies (WATs), the
WATCAT; these galaxies were selected by combining observations from the
National Radio Astronomy Observatory/Very Large Array Sky Survey (NVSS), the
Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters (FIRST), and the Sloan
Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), and mainly built including a radio morphological
classification. We included in the catalog only radio sources showing two-sided
jets with two clear "warmspots" (i.e., jet knots as bright as 20% of the
nucleus) lying on the opposite side of the radio core, and having classical
extended emission resembling a plume beyond them. The catalog is limited to
redshifts z 0.15, and lists only sources with radio emission extended
beyond 30 kpc from the host galaxy. We found that host galaxies of WATCAT
sources are all luminous (-20.5 Mr -23.7), red early-type
galaxies with black hole masses in the range M M. The spectroscopic classification indicates that they
are all low-excitation galaxies (LEGs). Comparing WAT multifrequency properties
with those of FRI and FRII radio galaxies at the same redshifts, we conclude
that WATs show multifrequency properties remarkably similar to FRI radio
galaxies, having radio power of typical FRIIs
Development of a decision analytic model to support decision making and risk communication about thrombolytic treatment
Background
Individualised prediction of outcomes can support clinical and shared decision making. This paper describes the building of such a model to predict outcomes with and without intravenous thrombolysis treatment following ischaemic stroke.
Methods
A decision analytic model (DAM) was constructed to establish the likely balance of benefits and risks of treating acute ischaemic stroke with thrombolysis. Probability of independence, (modified Rankin score mRS ≤ 2), dependence (mRS 3 to 5) and death at three months post-stroke was based on a calibrated version of the Stroke-Thrombolytic Predictive Instrument using data from routinely treated stroke patients in the Safe Implementation of Treatments in Stroke (SITS-UK) registry. Predictions in untreated patients were validated using data from the Virtual International Stroke Trials Archive (VISTA). The probability of symptomatic intracerebral haemorrhage in treated patients was incorporated using a scoring model from Safe Implementation of Thrombolysis in Stroke-Monitoring Study (SITS-MOST) data.
Results
The model predicts probabilities of haemorrhage, death, independence and dependence at 3-months, with and without thrombolysis, as a function of 13 patient characteristics. Calibration (and inclusion of additional predictors) of the Stroke-Thrombolytic Predictive Instrument (S-TPI) addressed issues of under and over prediction. Validation with VISTA data confirmed that assumptions about treatment effect were just. The C-statistics for independence and death in treated patients in the DAM were 0.793 and 0.771 respectively, and 0.776 for independence in untreated patients from VISTA.
Conclusions
We have produced a DAM that provides an estimation of the likely benefits and risks of thrombolysis for individual patients, which has subsequently been embedded in a computerised decision aid to support better decision-making and informed consent
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