bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The New in Music
Authors: Balzer Jürgen
Published: February 2010

In the year 1601 there appeared in Florence a musical work entitled Le Nuove Musiche (The New Music). The composer was Giulio Caccini, one of the leading members of the circle associated with the noble dilettanti who in attempting to revive the Greek drama laid the foundations of a new branch of music—opera. Le Nuove Musiche contains a collection of songs for solo voice to harp or lute accompaniment, of the kind that Caccini, who was singer to the Tuscan Court, had been singing for many years. The work—called not New Music, but The New Music—was a contribution to a current controversy in which the opposing side supported the “old” manner of musical composition, the one in which two or more melodies are woven together to form an elaborate pattern. (This manner of composition is known as polyphony, and in modern times the style has been called after one of its greatest masters, Palestrina). Consequently, Le Nuove Musiche has a long preface in which Caccini expounds the meaning of his songs, declaring, among other things, that the new style considers its principal task to be to interpret the poetry, to give rightful scope to the words by careful enunciation, and to let the tune bring out the phrasing of the poem, an aspect which, in the modernists' view, had been singularly neglected in polyphonic compositions.
National Frontiers in Music
Authors: Keller Hans
Published: February 2010

When we honestly ask ourselves in what particular connections we most readily tend to use concepts of nationality, race, and so forth, on what occasions we feel inclined to talk or write of something as being typically German, English, Irish, American, or Jewish, we soon discover that in the frightening majority of instances, some strong (if not altogether conscious) motive in our mind prompts us to employ these alleged characterisations as terms of either favourable evaluation or devaluation, the latter tendency being perhaps the more frequent. The reasons for these irrational attitudes, which even the most sophisticated amongst us are likely to adopt, are twofold and, genetically speaking, primitive.
Wilhelm Furtwängler
Authors: Koegler Horst
Published: February 2010

Only one other death occurring in post-war Berlin has moved Germans and especially Berliners so deeply as the loss of Wilhelm Furtwängler—that of Ernst Reuter, Lord Mayor of this city during the years of suffering. It was as if a personal blow had struck not only the huge masses of regular concertgoers, but those people, too, who normally switch off their radios if a concert of classical music is announced. For both of them Furtwängler was more than just a great conductor, in him, they felt, the very essence of German music was embodied.
London Bach
Authors: Fisher Trevor
Published: February 2010

When Dr. Albert Schweitzer published his great study of J. S. Bach in 1908 and surveyed a century of progress in the revival (or rescue) of the greatest composer's music, he asked: “Where can we hear, except rarely, performances of the suites, the Well-tempered Clavichord (sic), the Italian Concerto, the Chromatic Fantasia, the piano concerto in A minor, the C major Concerto for two pianos? Where are the Brandenburg orchestral concertos and the orchestral suites securely fixed in our programmes? Where are Bach's secular cantatas regularly given?” And he added: “Statistics of Bach performances on our concert programmes … would show that there are not too many towns where the auditor can really get to know Bach.”
Walton's “Troilus and Cressida”
Authors: Reizenstein Franz
Published: February 2010

Admirers of William Walton's music, aware of the specifically dramatic qualities in his symphonic and choral works, have often wondered whether his strong dramatic impulse would one day be set in motion by a great story and he would write an opera. It may well be that scanty opportunities of operatic production here, in the past, have discouraged him as they have discouraged many other British composers. Nevertheless there has been a remarkable revival of English opera in recent years, and the season of 1954 must be unique in bringing before the public four new full-length operas by major British composers.
Beethoven: His Historical and Artistic Significance
Authors: Hertzmann Erich
Published: February 2010

Beethoven stands at the pinnacle of development in the history of music. Many lines lead up to him; many lead away from him. He absorbed the different trends of thought of the 18th century and brought them to completion. At the same time he struggled towards a new language in music which was to have a fundamental influence on the trends in style of the 19th century and which is still discernible in their development in the 20th century. Thus Beethoven occupies a position of the greatest significance in the history of music: he completes one epoch and begins another and the music historians of the 19th and 20th centuries unanimously acknowledge his double rôle.
The I.S.C.M. Festival at Baden-Baden
Authors: Reizenstein Franz
Published: February 2010

This year's I.S.C.M. Festival was held in June in Baden-Baden at the music studio of the Südwestfunk, an ultra-modern concert hall situated a little outside the town, surrounded by majestic woods and with a lovely view of soft hills. In such surroundings one's aesthetic sense tends to expect a fair measure of beauty from the music one has come to hear. There was, however, more beauty for the eye than for the ear, and with a few notable exceptions, the standard of works presented was of a deplorably low level.
Music Study: A Comparison Between America and Europe
Authors: Revelli William D.
Published: February 2010

During the past six months, it has been my privilege to observe and conduct many rehearsals and public concerts of the leading wind-bands of Continental Europe and England, and to study at first hand the instrumentation, repertory and standards of the musical organizations of these countries, which include Italy, France, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, and England. In addition to these interesting and unusual experiences, much valuable data and information was obtained by means of personal visits and conferences with hundreds of conductors, composers, artist performers, directors of state conservatoires and colleges of music, teachers, students, music publishers, and instrument manufacturers. Such worthy and varied sources and contacts naturally provided an abundance of information and materials for the evaluation and analysis of the organizations and colleges visited.
Prokofieff's “Three Oranges”: A Note on its Musical-Dramatic Organisation
Authors: Mitchell Donald
Published: February 2010

One of the most interesting of the events of this year's Holland Festival was a performance, by the Slovenian National Opera (Ljubljana), of Prokofieff's The Love of the Three Oranges, whose première took place at the Chicago Auditorium on 30th December, 1921. The opera was then sung in French, though the original text—Prokofieff's own adaptation of a comedy by Carlo Gozzi—was in Russian. This festival production, one of exceptional colour and vigour from both the dramatic and musical points of view, was done in the original language.
Festival at Tanglewood
Authors: Hawkes Ralph
Published: February 2010

The word “Tanglewood” evokes two vivid associations in the mind of the American public—firstly, with Nathaniel Hawthorne's Tanglewood Tales, secondly with the great summer music festival held there in recent years by Serge Koussevitzky.
New Music in London
Authors: Mason Colin , Chapman Ernest
Published: February 2010

Three new piano concertos stand at the head of this list of recent first performances. The first was Vaughan Williams's old one, re-arranged for two pianos and orchestra for the Daily Herald's St. Cecilia's Day concert at the Albert Hall, and played by Phyllis Sellick and Cyril Smith under Sir Adrian Boult. I am at a disadvantage in having never heard the first version, which is infrequently performed, but was constantly struck by what seemed to me a disinclination to utilize all the resources. Of concerto and living two-piano writing there was too little, of antiphony and expanded one-piano writing too much. I doubt whether the considerable beauty of the work is sufficient to ensure it a place in the concert repertory.
Mozart's Oboe Concerto
Authors: Paumgartner Bernhard
Published: February 2010

In about 1920 I found in the archives of the Mozarteum at Salzburg a bundle of papers most probably belonging to the so-called “Mozart Legacy” (i.e., a legacy of Mozart's son, including many pieces of the property of the master himself.) This contained manuscript parts of Viennese origin produced already in the 18th century, perhaps in the Offizin Lausch. The title of the envelope of the Bass part reads: “Concerto in C: oboe principale 2 violini 2 oboi 2 corni viola e basso Del Sigre W. A. Mozart.” It was immediately clear that these parts corresponded with the famous Flute Concerto in D Major. When, later on, I reconstructed the score from them, I noticed a number of apparently unimportant deviations from the flute version which, however, turned out to be most significant, as they convinced me that I had come across the original version of this Concerto.
Kodály's Later Orchestral Music (II)
Authors: Weissmann John S.
Published: February 2010

In the previous article reference was made to the two ways by which genuine Hungarian elements could be absorbed into a generally acceptable instrumental style; in the Concerto for Orchestra the elements of traditional instrumental practice are integrated, while Variations—the full title of the work being: FELSZÁLLOTT A PÁVA (freely translateable as ‘Peacock’) Variations on a Hungarian Folk-Song—constitutes a solution where vocal elements are assimilated into an orchestral idiom.
Herman Melville and “Billy Budd”
Authors: Mason Ronald
Published: February 2010

Melville's Billy Budd is the culmination of a lifetime's spiritual agony, and it is impossible to value this curious allegory at its true worth without studying it carefully in the light of its author's private despairs. It may be that the publicity that Britten's opera is sure to attract will focus the reluctant interest of the public at last upon a writer who for nearly a century (though he has been only sixty years dead) has been the dimmest of shadows for all but the occasional addict. In England his name is still the barest rumour. Moby Dick has had its boosts, Typee the popular reprintings owed to an entertaining travelogue; yet none of these temporary quirks of fortune has aroused more than the most cursory interest in the mind that created them. Projected into posterity as a crude adventurer who had lived among cannibals and hunted whales before turning these experiences into pleasurable adventure-stories, the richest and profoundest imagination in American literature still remains virtually unrecognised over half the English-speaking world. America is beginning to acknowledge him at last; but in this country indifference is still his lot. Some of his works, I am glad to say, are being reprinted and enjoyed again; but until he is accepted and appreciated as a coherent whole, the understanding given to isolated parts of his work will be at best partial and inadequate.
Billy Budd on the Stage
Authors: Coleman Basil , Piper John
Published: February 2010

Producer:The main problem seems to me to decide how far we are going to be realistic and how far not. For me the most realistic scene is the Battle, Act III, i., where the crew have very definite things to do, loading guns and firing them, stowing hammocks and so on. Then the mist descends again and they are cut off from the enemy. But the mist is as much a mist of doubt and fear in the mind of Vere when he is about to close with Claggart at the beginning and finally at the end of the scene. And these dual planes of action seem to me to run throughout the opera, as they do in Melville.
A Producer's Viewpoint: Notes on “Die Frau Ohne Schatten”
Authors: Beinl Stephan
Published: February 2010

Every producer approaches the staging of Die Frau ohne Schatten with awe. The demands which Richard Strauss and Hugo von Hofmannsthal make on the singing and acting ability of the performers, on the imagination of the stage designer and on the ingenuity of the stage staff are exceptional. It is by the way that the musical director, as well, takes the same view of his task! Our own production (Berne, Spring 1952), and reaction of the public to it, however, proved that with a certain combination of effort and a little luck thrown in, it is not impossible to offer a worthy presentation of this extraordinary work and to bring something of its beauty and significance home to an audience.
The 26th ISCM Festival at Salzburg
Authors: Keller Hans
Published: February 2010

“Thirty years ago, from Salzburg, the good ship ISCM set out on her maiden voyage” said Edward Clark, the President, in his introduction to the Festival. “We return in 1952 to our port of departure, with colours flying and a cargo of treasure as rich as ever was mined in any similar period.” This year's cargo, however, though possibly a record as far as quantity was concerned, turned out to be of pitiable quality. The vast majority of works performed (and often very badly performed) did not deserve a single hearing; again and again one had to listen to ‘com-positions‘ in the literal and rather unmusical sense of the word, sub-professional attempts to put together, more or (far) less successfully, completely undistinguished material. It is difficult to give the innocently curious reader an adequate picture of this orgy of incompetence; suffice it to say that any of the experimental evenings of our Society for the Promotion of New Music is likely to prove more fruitful than were most of these festive events.
Prokofieff's Seventh Symphony
Authors: Lockspeiser Edward
Published: February 2010

Prokofieff's seventh and last symphony presents a fluent, melodious aspect of the composer's many sided work: music that unfolds itself simply and naturally, individual certainly in its turn of phrase, but not provocative or challenging in the daring manner of Prokofieff's earlier works. The symphony thus represents a phase of Prokofieff's work, his last phase, and the curious fact here is that the many aesthetic and technical problems which this original composer raised in the Scythian Suite, The Gambler and the second symphony should have been resolved in music of such bland simplicity. If indeed one can refer to this work as a resolution of these problems at all. For the deliberately naiïve character of this last major work of Prokofieff, appealing as it is in its uncomplicated way, does not reflect that final triumph of serenity which one might have expected such a composer to have reached: it does not correspond to the other-worldly idealism of the late works of other composers of an adventurous turn of mind, such as Fauré and Vaughan Williams. Its conventionality, shot through with a sprightliness that is generally disciplined into polite musical behaviour but which nevertheless does occasionally assume the form of one of Prokofieff's ironic grimaces—this conventionality can only be interpreted as a surrender to the social demands which we know are from time to time re-imposed on Soviet composers.
Béla Bartók's Contributions to Music Education
Authors: Suchoff Benjamin
Published: February 2010

It was early in the first decade of this century that Béla Bartók reached an impasse in his attempt to create for himself a means of musical expression. This was a time when Hungarian public opinion, reflecting a new national movement, demanded Hungarianism in every field. Stylistic features of music such as Franz Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsodies seemed to point the way. Bartók, following in the fashion of the times, composed and performed in public his Second Fantasy for Piano in which the Lisztian influence is apparent.
Stravinsky's Final Cadence
Authors: Maconie Robin
Published: February 2010

Stravinsky's 1968 transcriptions of Wolf are extraordinarily moving, for the gesture of farewell has the effect of an empty stage. The music remains though the composer is gone; here however Stravinsky seems to have withdrawn even from the music. Of the signs and traits that reveal the man in his previous Tchaikovsky, Pergolesi or Gesualdo disguises, none remain. One is left only with his choice. What makes the work so deeply affecting is the fact that the choice alone still speaks to us as Stravinsky.
Conversations With Brecht and Dürrenmatt
Authors: von Einem Gottfried
Published: February 2010

It was in the summer of 1948—or was it '49?—that Brecht stayed with me in Salzburg. I meant to work with him on an opera. He outlined a plot, which I have forgotten. Or rather, my memory has jumbled it up with the story of The Threepenny Opera, which it strongly resembled. All that remains is the title: ‘Joys and sorrows of the pirates, great and small’.

Why did I never write the opera? On one point Brecht and I had always done battle, and did so again. Brecht was adamant that the public must clearly understand every single word. I argued that it was necessary only at points when the action moves on; everywhere else, one could rely on the singers' artistry, particularly since the music in any case takes over the text's function. Brecht was cross. Instead of an opera he wrote me a Passion text, Das Stundenlled. It is a choral work without soloists, so here the text is repeated often enough to become comprehensible. Many people were surprised that Brecht of all people should have written a Passion.
Britten's Fourth Creative Decade
Authors: Evans Peter
Published: February 2010

Though it is with the best of intentions that we mark off each decade of an artist's life as the signal for a special renewal of interest in his work, we ought not to expect him to relish so artificial a process, still less to reflect it in the chief phases of his creative activity. Yet, assuming that this has not become merely repetitive, a decade can serve well enough in the measurement of stylistic developments. And in Britten's case we can, without stretching points too implausibly, find a fairly workable correspondence to divisions that emerge from an examination of his aims and methods. Obviously, the very eventful decade from his op. 1 (of 1932) onwards needs to be much subdivided in any intelligible account; but from, say, the Serenade of 1943 (his 30th year), we can pick on certain of his works at roughly ten-year intervals which, notable achievements in themselves, also provide revealing clues to the series that were to follow: The Turn of the Screw in 1954 and Curlew Riverin 1964 can be assigned such key positions. It may be that we shall come to see Death in Venice of 1972/3 as another, but I propose to regard it as the culminating work of the decade initiated by the first of the church parables.
Colin McPhee's Music: (I) From West to East
Authors: Young Douglas
Published: February 2010

It was the title that made me stop: A House in Bali by Colin McPhee, 1947, first edition, 5p. At that price it was irresistible; but what was such a recondite book doing in a junk shop in Camberwell—who was the author, and what was the significance of the ‘house’ in the title? As I looked through the book it became apparent that McPhee was a composer. I had never heard a note of his music, but one thing in particular fascinated me: inside the book cover was an announcement:

Three of the author's transcriptions for two pianos of Balinese gamelan music have been published by G. Schirmer of New York. Under the title ‘Balinese Ceremonial Music…’.
Strauss Oboe Concerto: A re-examination of the available sources and editions
Authors: Del Mar Jonathan
Published: February 2010

It is always frustrating, in these days of necessarily limited rehearsals, when the all-too-short time that one has allocated to a piece becomes beset by boring textual problems. Valuable minutes can slip away, while the point under discussion may make no appreciable difference whatever to the actual performance; and it is all the more galling when (as often in the present work) dissection eventually reveals the score to be more likely at fault, the parts probably correct, and therefore the dissection itself to have been an entire red herring.
Britten's Piano Concerto: The Original Version
Authors: Roseberry Eric
Published: February 2010

Benjamin Britten's revision of the original (1938) version of his ‘First’ Piano Concerto (he wrote no other) was undertaken in 1945. There had been discussions of a revival of the work between the composer and his friend, the pianist Clifford Curzon, who had encouraged Britten to replace the original third movement, entitled ‘Recitative and Aria’, and was delighted with the substituted ‘Impromptu’. As Curzon wrote to Britten on 1 September, 1946:

It has arrived and is exquisite. I can't tell you how delighted I am…
Reply to Harnad
Authors: Skinner B. F.
Published: February 2010

A. What is the current status of theory in radical behaviorism? Radical behaviorism is antitheoretical in the sense that it attacks and rejects traditional explanations of behavior in terms of internal initiating causes. It is anti-creationist. It turns instead, as Darwin did, to the selection of presumably random variations by contingencies of survival (ethology) and contingencies of reinforcement (the experimental analysis of behavior). In that analysis, rate of responding is taken as a basic datum and studied as a function of many contingencies of reinforcement. The results are factual, not theoretical. The analysis has “matured” by successfully analyzing more and more complex arrangements of variables. If rate of responding is taken as a measure of probability of response, an element of theory no doubt arises, and theory may be necessary in interpreting facts about behavior which are out of reach of precise prediction and control. As in modern astronomy, a laboratory science of behavior will continue, I believe, to give the best possible explanation of facts beyond experimental control – events in the world at large in the case of behavior, the waves and particles reaching the earth from outer space in the case of astronomy. The depth and breadth of both fields depend not upon improvements in theory but upon success in the analysis of presumably similar phenomena where some degree of prediction and control is possible.
From simple associations to systematic reasoning: A connectionist representation of rules, variables and dynamic bindings using temporal synchrony
Authors: Shastri Lokendra , Ajjanagadde Venkat
Published: February 2010

Human agents draw a variety of inferences effortlessly, spontaneously, and with remarkable efficiency – as though these inferences were a reflexive response of their cognitive apparatus. Furthermore, these inferences are drawn with reference to a large body of background knowledge. This remarkable human ability seems paradoxical given the complexity of reasoning reported by researchers in artificial intelligence. It also poses a challenge for cognitive science and computational neuroscience: How can a system of simple and slow neuronlike elements represent a large body of systemic knowledge and perform a range of inferences with such speed? We describe a computational model that takes a step toward addressing the cognitive science challenge and resolving the artificial intelligence paradox. We show how a connectionist network can encode millions of facts and rules involvingn-ary predicates and variables and perform a class of inferences in a few hundred milliseconds. Efficient reasoning requires the rapid representation and propagation of dynamic bindings. Our model (which we refer to as SHRUTI) achieves this by representing (1) dynamic bindings as the synchronous firing of appropriate nodes, (2) rules as interconnection patterns that direct the propagation of rhythmic activity, and (3) long-term facts as temporal pattern-matching subnetworks. The model is consistent with recent neurophysiological evidence that synchronous activity occurs in the brain and may play a representational role in neural information processing. The model also makes specific psychologically significant predictions about the nature of reflexive reasoning. It identifies constraints on the form of rules that may participate in such reasoning and relates the capacity of the working memory underlying reflexive reasoning to biological parameters such as the lowest frequency at which nodes can sustain synchronous oscillations and the coarseness of synchronization.
Toward a theory of human memory: Data structures and access processes
Authors: Humphreys Michael S. , Wiles Janet , Dennis Simon
Published: February 2010

Starting from Marr's ideas about levels of explanation, a theory of the data structures and access processes in human memory is demonstrated on 10 tasks. Functional characteristics of human memory are captured implementation-independently. Our theory generates a multidimensional task classification subsuming existing classifications such as the distinction between tasks that are implicit versus explicit, data driven versus conceptually driven, and simple associative (two-way bindings) versus higher order (threeway bindings), providing a broad basis for new experiments. The formal language clarifies the binding problem in episodic memory, the role of input pathways in both episodic and semantic (lexical) memory, the importance of the input set in episodic memory, and the ubiquitous calculation of an intersection in theories of episodic and lexical access.
Does language arise from a calculus of dominance?
Authors: Thompson Nicholas S.
Published: February 2010

Robin Dunbar's hypothesis that language capacity in response to the demands of maintaining large groups suggests a more specific hypothesis that language arose from a cognitive calculus by which animals could predict their status in complex dominance situations.
On correspondence, accuracy, and truth
Authors: Begg Ian Maynard
Published: February 2010

Koriat & Goldsmith raise important questions about memory, but there is need for caution: first, if we define accuracy by output measures, there is a danger that a perfectly accurate memory can be nearly useless. Second, when we focus on correspondence, there is a danger that syntactic correspondence will be mistaken for historical truth.
What do memories correspond to?
Authors: Conway Martin A.
Published: February 2010

Neither the storehouse nor the correspondence metaphor is an appropriate conceptual framework for memory research. Instead a meaning-based account of human memory is required. The correspondence metaphor is an advance over previous suggestions but entails an oversimple view of “accuracy.” Freud's account of memory may provide a more fruitful approach to memory and meaning.
The real-life/laboratory controversy as viewed from the cognitive neurobiology of animal learning and memory
Authors: Eichenbaum Howard
Published: February 2010

Parallel to Koriat & Goldsmith's accounting of human memory, there are two distinct approaches in animal learning. Behaviorist approaches focus on quantitative aspects of conditioned response probability, whereas cognitive and ethological approaches focus on qualitative aspects of how memory is used in real life. Moreover, in animal research these distinguishable measures of memory are dissociated in experimental amnesia.
Implications of output-bound measures for laboratory and field research in memory
Authors: Fisher Ronald P.
Published: February 2010

Everyday memory tasks often require that researchers focus on output-bound measures of memory. As a result, nonmemorial processes (e.g., report option and grain size) may influence recall accuracy. These nonmemorial processes, usually eliminated by laboratory researchers, have the potential to explain some anomalous results and may even be useful to enhance everyday recollection.
The phenomenal object of memory and control processes
Authors: Mazzoni Giuliana
Published: February 2010

This commentary deals with criteria for assigning truth values to memory contents. A parallel with perception shows how truth values can be assigned by considering subjects' beliefs about the truth state of the memory content. This topic is also relevant to the study of processes of control over retrieval.
Metacognition, metaphors, and the measurement of human memory
Authors: Nelson Thomas O.
Published: February 2010

Investigations of metacognition – and also the application of the storehouse and correspondence metaphors – seem as appropriate for laboratory research as for naturalistic research. In terms of measurement, the only quantitative difference between the “input-bound percent correct” and “output-bound percent correct” is the inclusion versus exclusion (respectively) of omission errors in the denominator of the percentages.
Beyond the correspondence metaphor: When accuracy cannot be assessed
Authors: Newby Ian R. , Ross Michael
Published: February 2010

Koriat & Goldsmith propose that the correspondence metaphor captures the essence of everyday memory research. We suggest that correspondence is often not at issue because objective assessments of everyday events are frequently lacking. In these cases, other questions arise, such as how individuals evaluate the validity of memories and the significance they attach to those evaluations.
Hypothesis testing in experimental and naturalistic memory research
Authors: Wright Daniel B.
Published: February 2010

Koriat & Goldsmith's distinction between the correspondence and storehouse metaphors is valuable for both memory theory and methodology. It is questionable, however, whether this distinction underlies the heated debate about so called “everyday memory” research. The distinction between experimental and naturalistic methodologies better characterizes this debate. I compare these distinctions and discuss how the methodological distinction, between experimental and naturalistic designs, could give rise to different theoretical approaches.
Group selection or categorical perception?
Authors: Palmer Craig T. , Fredrickson B. Eric , Tilley Christopher F.
Published: February 2010

Humans appear to be possible candidates for group selection because they are often said to live in bands, clans, and tribes. These terms, however, are only names for conceptual categories of people. They do not designate enduring bounded gatherings of people that might be “vehicles of selection.” Hence, group selection has probably not been a major force in human evolution.
Non-degeneracy of least-energy solutions for an elliptic problem with nearly critical nonlinearity
Authors: Takahashi Futoshi
Published: February 2010

We consider the problem −Δu = c0K(x)upε, u > 0 in Ω, u = 0 on δΩ, where Ω is a smooth, bounded domain in ℝN, N ≥ 3, c0 = N(N − 2), pε = (N + 2)/(N − 2) − ε and K is a smooth, positive function on . We prove that least-energy solutions of the above problem are non-degenerate for small ε > 0 under some assumptions on the coefficient function K. This is a generalization of the recent result by Grossi for K ≡ 1, and needs precise estimates and a new argument.
Tree-functors, determinacy and bisimulations
Authors: DE NICOLA ROCCO , GORLA DANIELE , LABELLA ANNA
Published: February 2010

We study the functorial characterisation of bisimulation-based equivalences over a categorical model of labelled trees. We show that in a setting where all labels are visible, strong bisimilarity can be characterised in terms of enriched functors by relying on the reflection of paths with their factorisations. For an enriched functor F, this notion requires that a path (an internal morphism in our framework) π going from F(A) to C corresponds to a path p going from A to K, with F(K) = C, such that every possible factorisation of π can be lifted in an appropriate factorisation of p. This last property corresponds to a Conduché property for enriched functors, and a very rigid formulation of it has been used by Lawvere to characterise the determinacy of physical systems. We also consider the setting where some labels are not visible, and provide characterisations for weak and branching bisimilarity. Both equivalences are still characterised in terms of enriched functors that reflect paths with their factorisations: for branching bisimilarity, the property is the same as the one used to characterise strong bisimilarity when all labels are visible; for weak bisimilarity, a weaker form of path factorisation lifting is needed. This fact can be seen as evidence that strong and branching bisimilarity are strictly related and that, unlike weak bisimilarity, they preserve process determinacy in the sense of Milner.
Family functioning and emotional state two and five years after traumatic brain injury
Authors: PONSFORD JENNIE , SCHÖNBERGER MICHAEL
Published: February 2010

Previous studies have documented poor family functioning, anxiety, and depression in relatives of individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI). However, few studies have examined family functioning over extended periods after injury. The present study aimed to investigate family functioning and relatives’ emotional state 2 and 5 years following TBI, predictive factors, and their interrelationships. Participants were individuals with TBI and their relatives, with 301 seen at 2 years and 266 at 5 years post-injury. Measures included a Structured Outcome Questionnaire, Family Assessment Device (FAD), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and the Craig Handicap Assessment and Reporting Technique. Results showed that while the group did not differ greatly in family functioning from a normative group, a significant proportion showed unhealthy functioning across most FAD subscales. Both TBI participants and their relatives showed elevated rates of anxiety and depression. There was little difference between family functioning or relatives’ anxiety or depression levels at 2 and 5 years post-injury. Path analysis indicated that neurobehavioral changes in the injured individual have an impact on family functioning and distress in relatives even at 5 years post-injury. These findings indicate the need for long-term support of families with a brain-injured member. (JINS, 2010,16, 306–317.)
How do the satellite glia cells of the dorsal root ganglia respond to stressed neurons? – nitric oxide saga from embryonic development to axonal injury in adulthood
Authors: Bradman Matthew J.G. , Arora Daleep K. , Morris Richard , Thippeswamy Thimmasettappa
Published: February 2010

Dorsal root ganglia (DRG) respond to peripheral nerve injury by up-regulating nitric oxide (NO) production by neurons and glia in addition to local fibroblasts, endothelium and macrophages. We hypothesise that NO produced from these cells has specific roles. We have shown that when neuronal NO synthase (nNOS) is blocked in axotomised DRG, neurons undergo degenerative changes (Thippeswamyet al., 2001, 2007a). Further, we demonstrated that increased neuronal NO production, in response to axotomy/growth factor-deprivation in vitro, signals glial cells to produce trophic factors to support neuronal survival (Thippeswamyet al., 2005a). Recently, we found that treating satellite glia–neuron co-cultures with nNOS inhibitor, 7-nitroindazole (7NI), decreases the number of nestin+cells that show neuron-like morphology. Cultured/axotomised DRG also upregulate inducible NOS (iNOS) in non-neuronal cells. Therefore, it is plausible that degenerative changes following nNOS inhibition are also due to iNOS-mediated excessive NO production by non-neuronal cells, which indeed is cytotoxic. NG-nitro-l-arginine methylester (L-NAME), the pan NOS inhibitor did not significantly change nNOS+neuron number in axotomised DRG compared to 7NI suggesting that iNOS-mediated NO contributes to the degenerative process. In this paper, these findings from our and others' past work on NO-mediated neuron–glia signalling in axotomised DRG are discussed.
Eliminating drug price differentials across government programmes in the USA
Authors: Chalkidou Kalipso , Anderson Gerard F , Faden Ruth
Published: February 2010

Federal agencies in the USA pay significantly different prices for the same prescription drugs because each agency uses a different approach to derive the payment rate. Because we do not identify any economic rationale or socially accepted moral reasoning that would justify the current level of price variation, we suggest that the federal government should pay a uniform price for each drug. Laws and regulations that give certain federal agencies the ability to earn rebates, use formularies, or permit other special arrangements would need to be eliminated in order to have a single payment rate. This could make some government agencies worse off than others; however, a uniform payment rate would not need to affect beneficiaries’ current financial contributions, access to drugs, benefits or overall public expenditures. At the same time, having a single rate would permit the government to adopt a more effective approach to purchasing drugs and send a consistent message to pharmaceutical companies concerning which types of drugs the government wants them to develop for government beneficiaries. How this single price would be derived and how it would compare with the lowest or highest prices currently achieved by government agencies would depend on a variety of policy issues including the government’s desire to encourage pharmaceutical research and development and the need to control health care spending.
Seismic evidence for dilatational source deformations accompanying the 2004–2008 Yellowstone accelerated uplift episode
Authors: Taira T. , Smith R. B. , Chang W.‐L.
Published: February 2010

Dilatational source deformations associated with two unusual M 3+ earthquakes in the area of the 2004–2008 Yellowstone, WY, accelerated uplift episode were identified through detailed analysis of moment tensor inversions. Pressurized hydrothermal fluids are suggested to be associated with the dilatational source processes of these unusual earthquakes, which is consistent with the mechanism of the GPS‐InSAR derived deformation signal of the uplift modeled as intrusion of a near horizontal magmatic sill at ∼10 km depth beneath the Yellowstone caldera. One unusual earthquake, the 5 November 2007 Mw 3.3 earthquake, occurred in a volume of expected crustal expansion above the inflating magmatic sill. A notable 60% isotropic expansion component was determined for this earthquake with a 3.2 cm opening across an area of 0.12 km2. We propose that the inflation of the magmatic sill activates a high‐pressurized fluid migration upward which in turn triggers dilatational deformation inducing this earthquake. Another dilatational deformation earthquake, the 9 January 2008 Mw 3.8 earthquake, occurred on the northern rim of the caldera. The moment tensor solution for this earthquake shows that the source mechanism had a 30% of the energy associated with tensile dislocation corresponding to a 3.3 cm opening crack over an area of 0.58 km2. We suggest that stress changes produced by a collocated Mw 3.4 earthquake may have increased the fracture permeability promoting fluid migration and thus encouraging the dilatational dislocation. These dilatational source earthquakes are the first non–double couple earthquakes to be documented unambiguously in the 35 year recording period of the Yellowstone seismic network.
Application of partial least squares regression to the diagnosis of year‐to‐year variations in Pacific Northwest snowpack and Atlantic hurricanes
Authors: Smoliak Brian V. , Wallace John M. , Stoelinga Mark T. , Mitchell Todd P.
Published: February 2010

Application of the method of partial least squares (PLS) regression to geophysical data is illustrated with two cases: (1) finding sea level pressure patterns over the North Pacific associated with dynamically‐induced winter‐to‐winter variations in snowpack in the Cascade mountains of western Washington state and (2) finding patterns of sea surface temperature over the tropical oceans that modulate Atlantic hurricane activity on a year‐to‐year basis. In both examples two robust patterns in the “predictor field” are identified that, in combination, account for over half the variance in the target time series.
Constraints on an intrusive system beneath the Soufriére Hills Volcano, Montserrat, from finite difference modeling of a controlled source seismic experiment
Authors: Paulatto M. , Minshull T. A. , Henstock T. J.
Published: February 2010

The SEA‐CALIPSO wide‐angle seismic experiment revealed a high velocity region beneath the island of Montserrat. Field recordings show a decrease in the amplitude of seismic signals crossing this high velocity region. We constrain the geometry and nature of this attenuating body, by forward modeling of the seismic wave field with a viscoelastic finite‐difference method. We interpret the attenuation observed as caused by a scattering region, which we model as a stochastic perturbation of the velocity field with characteristic length scale of 0.4 km. The scattering region approximately coincides with the top part of the high velocity region and is estimated to have a volume of about 800 km3. We argue that the scattering is caused by geological heterogeneities corresponding to a system of dikes and sills and to the complex structure of the volcanic edifice.
Comparisons of total currents based on storm location, polarity, and flash rates derived from high‐altitude aircraft overflights
Authors: Mach Douglas M. , Blakeslee Richard J. , Bateman Monte G. , Bailey Jeffrey C.
Published: February 2010

We determined total conduction (Wilson) currents and flash rates for 850 overflights of electrified clouds spanning regions including the southeastern United States, the western Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, Central America and adjacent oceans, central Brazil, and the South Pacific. The overflights included storms over land and ocean, with and without lightning, and with positive (i.e., upward directed) and negative Wilson currents. The mean current for oceanic storms with lightning was 1.6 A whereas the mean current for land storms with lightning was 1.0 A. The mean current for oceanic storms without lightning was 0.39 A, and the mean current for land storms without lightning was 0.13 A. On average, land storms with or without lightning had about half the mean current as their corresponding oceanic storm counterparts, while ocean (land) storms with lightning produced 4.1 (7.7) times the mean current as storms without lightning. About 78% of the land storms had detectable lightning, while only 43% of the oceanic storms did. When only lightning storms are considered, land storms had 2.8 times the mean flash rate as oceanic storms (2.2 versus 0.8 flashes min−1, respectively). Approximately 7% (56) of the overflights had negative (or downward directed) Wilson currents. The mean and median total Wilson currents for negative polarity storms were −0.30 and −0.26 A whereas the mean and median currents for positive polarity storms were 1.0 and 0.35 A. We found no significant regional‐ or latitudinal‐based patterns in our total Wilson currents. At 20 km altitude, the full width at half maximum in the electric field profile varied between 12 and 16 km. At 15 km altitude, the full width at half maximum in the electric field profile varied between 1.7 and 3.5 km. Our results indicate that simple scaling laws between cloud top height and lightning flash rates or total storm current output may not be universally applicable. Our results also indicate that some clouds without lightning also contribute to the global electric circuit.
Lost in translation
Authors: Minogue Kristen , Wolinsky Howard
Published: February 2010

The public increasingly expect that the research they pay for will produce tangible results. The resultant emphasis on translational research may come at the expense of funding for basic research, which continues to worry many scientists.
Developmental microbial ecology of the crop of the folivorous hoatzin
Authors: Godoy-Vitorino Filipa , Goldfarb Katherine C , Brodie Eoin L , Garcia-Amado Maria A , Michelangeli Fabian , Domínguez-Bello Maria G
Published: February 2010

The hoatzin (Opisthocomus hoazin) is a South American strict folivorous bird, with a crop microbial ecosystem that ferments dietary plants. Chicks progressively become independent from the adult-fed regurgitated crop liquids, and we hypothesized that the crop bacterial ecosystem develops through ecological succession mechanisms, as they grow into adults. The aim of this work was to compare the crop bacterial community in hoatzins from three age groups: newly hatched chicks, juveniles and adults by sequencing 16S rRNA genes and using the G2 PhyloChip. Cloning yielded a total of 2123 nearly full-length sequences binned into 294 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) (with <97% homology) belonging to 7 phyla, with 91% of novel OTUs. The microarray identified a diverse bacterial community dominated by Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes, with ∼1400 taxa grouped in 40 phyla that included those detected by cloning. In comparison with the adult, the hoatzin chick crop had a greater abundance of Flavobacteriaceae, Clostridiaceae and Lachnospiraceae but lacked phyla DSS1, Deferribacteres and Termite group 1, which were mostly present in adults. The overall community structure of the crop of the hoatzin changes with age in a complex manner, probably responding to new niches made available through dietary changes related to the transition from dependent to independent feeding.
Hypobaric Hypoxia Causes Body Weight Reduction in Obese Subjects
Authors: Lippl Florian J. , Neubauer Sonja , Schipfer Susanne , Lichter Nicole , Tufman Amanda , Otto Bärbel , Fischer Rainald
Published: February 2010

The reason for weight loss at high altitudes is largely unknown. To date, studies have been unable to differentiate between weight loss due to hypobaric hypoxia and that related to increased physical exercise. The aim of our study was to examine the effect of hypobaric hypoxia on body weight at high altitude in obese subjects. We investigated 20 male obese subjects (age 55.7 ± 4.1 years, BMI 33.7 ± 1.0 kg/m2). Body weight, waist circumference, basal metabolic rate (BMR), nutrition protocols, and objective activity parameters as well as metabolic and cardiovascular parameters, blood gas analysis, leptin, and ghrelin were determined at low altitude (LA) (Munich 530 m, D1), at the beginning and at the end of a 1‐week stay at high altitude (2,650 m, D7 and D14) and 4 weeks after returning to LA (D42). Although daily pace counting remained stable at high altitude, at D14 and D42, participants weighed significantly less and had higher BMRs than at D1. Food intake was decreased at D7. Basal leptin levels increased significantly at high altitude despite the reduction in body weight. Diastolic blood pressure was significantly lower at D7, D14, and D42 compared to D1. This study shows that obese subjects lose weight at high altitudes. This may be due to a higher metabolic rate and reduced food intake. Interestingly, leptin levels rise in high altitude despite reduced body weight. Hypobaric hypoxia seems to play a major role, although the physiological mechanisms remain unclear. Weight loss at high altitudes was associated with clinically relevant improvements in diastolic blood pressure.
Self-assembly of an amyloid peptide fragment–PEG conjugate: lyotropic phase formation and influence of PEG crystallization
Authors: Castelletto V. , Newby G. E. , Hermida Merino D. , Hamley I. W. , Liu D. , Noirez L.
Published: February 2010

The self-assembly of polymer–peptide conjugates containing a modified amyloid peptide sequence is studied. Lyotropic liquid crystal phases are observed in water, and PEG crystallization is probed.