The symbiosis of improvised and rehearsed elements in the creation of contemporary jazz ensemble music

This research investigates the symbiotic relationship between composition and improvisation and the notion of improvisation itself. With a specific interest in developing, extending and experimenting with the relationship of improvisation within predetermined structures, the creative work component of this research involved composing six new works with varying approaches for The Andrea Keller Quartet and guest improvisers, for performance on a National Australian tour. This is documented in the CD recording Galumphing Round the Nation - Collaborations Tour 2009. The exegesis component is intended to run alongside the creative work and discusses the central issues surrounding improvisation in an ensemble context and the subject of composing for improvisers. Specifically, it questions the notion that when music emphasises a higher ratio of spontaneous to pre-determined elements, and is exposed to the many variables of a performance context, particularly through its incorporation of visitant improvisers, the resultant music should potentially be measurably altered with each performance. This practice-led research demonstrates the effect of concepts such as individuality, variability within context, and the interactive qualities of contemporary jazz ensemble music. Through the analysis and comparison of the treatment of the six pieces over thirteen performances with varying personnel, this exegesis proposes that, despite the expected potential for spontaneity in contemporary jazz music, the presence of established patterns, the desire for familiarity and the intuitive tendency towards accepted protocols ensure that the music which emerges is not as mutable as initially anticipated.

Evaluating parent-child group music therapy programmes: challenges and successes for Sing & Grow

Sing & Grow is an early intervention music therapy programme for families with children from birth to 3 years of age, who are socially, economically, or physically disadvantaged. It aims to improve parenting skills and confidence, promote positive parent–child interactions, stimulate child development, and provide social networking opportunities. Music and song activities are used in a therapeutic context to enhance parenting skills, improve parent–child interactions, provide essential developmental stimulation for children, promote social support for parenting, and strengthen links between parents and community services.

Funding and employment conditions : critical issues for Australian music therapy beyond 2009

As the Australian Journal of Music Therapy celebrates its 20th year of publication, it is evident that the profession of music therapy in Australia, has made substantial progress over these last 20 years. Jobs are regularly advertised on the website, there is a greater public awareness of what music therapy is, there are government recognised salary awards applicable in several states of the country, working conditions have generally improved, and many Australian music therapists are recognised on the international stage as leaders in their field of expertise. You can even go to a party and tell someone you are a music therapist and there is a good chance they will say 'oh yeah, I know someone who does that at the hospital / school / community centre / nursing home' instead of saying 'oh, so like, a what?'. Despite the impressive leaps and bounds that have been made, and the success of many programs in Australia to date, there is still a great deal of room for improvement. What are the critical issues ahead for the development of music therapy in Australia? In particular, how do music therapists develop going forward and secure funding for clinical initiatives? In reflecting on this question, this article identifies two key areas, amongst the many, that can be addressed by music therapists over the next 20 years: funding and employment conditions. Examples from the national early intervention music therapy program 'Sing and Grow' are used to illustrate the potential impact of addressing these two issues on the positive development of the profession into the future.

Early intervention music therapy : reporting on a 3-year project to address needs with at-risk families

Sing & Grow is an early intervention music therapy project presented to families with additional needs, or those at risk of experiencing disadvantage due to social and/or economic circumstances that may impact on their parenting experiences. The aim of the project is to provide short term music therapy programs to families in communities where access to such services may be limited. The program is strengths-based and focuses on building upon a parent’s capacity to relate to and respond to their child’s emotional and developmental needs.

Sing & Grow : the co-existence of evaluation research and clinical practice in an early intervention music therapy project

Sing & Grow is a short term early intervention music therapy program for at risk families. Sing & Grow uses music to strengthen parent-child relationships by increasing positive parent-child interactions, assisting parents to bond with their children, and extending the repertoire of parents’ skills in relating to their child through interactive . Both the Australian and New Zealand governments are looking for evidence based research to highlight the effectiveness of funded programs in early childhood. As a government funded program, independent evaluation is a requirement of the delivery of the service. This paper explains the process involved in setting up and managing this large scale evaluation from engaging the evaluators and designing the project, to the data gathering stage. It describes the various challenges encountered and concludes that a highly collaborative and communicative partnership bet en researchers and clinicians is essential to ensure data can be gathered with minimal disturbance to clinical music therapy practice.

Action inquiry into the use of standardized evaluation tools for music therapy : a real life journey within a parent-child community program

Sing & Grow is an early intervention music therapy project that provides community group music therapy programs to families with young children who encounter risk factors that may impact on parenting and optimal child develop variety of evaluation tools were devised and used over the first 3 years of the project. Upon the subsequent funding and expansion of the project at the end of this period, it was necessary to find, test and devise more rigorous, valid and reliable measures to withstand the scrutiny of researchers, and to combat the concerns and criticisms associated with the previous methods of data collection. An action inquiry project was therefore undertaken with two groups of project participants to trial the use of the Parenting Stress Index and Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scales, both recommended by leading psychologists. Key findings that will be discussed include the friction between the deficit-focussed nature of many psychometric tools and the strengths-based approach taken in service delivery, the level of difficulty in terms of literacy and comprehension for vulnerable respondents, and the lack of one tool with the ability to comprehensively measure all aspects of a broad scoping program. Keywords: music therapy, evaluation, PSI, DASS, action inquiry.

Reflections on music therapy with Indigenous families : cultural learning put into practice

This paper will describe the process of learning and development that occurred when the Sing & Grow prevention and early intervention project began to provide services to Indigenous families, a relatively new area or music therapy, particularly in Brisbane. The first attempt at establishing a weekly group music therapy program for Indigenous families was not as successful as anticipated; however through analysis of the contributing factors, guidelines were developed and implemented in the following program, which resulted in a positive learning experience for the families and therapists involved.

Demonstration of cellulosic ethanol production from sugarcane bagasse in Australia : the Mackay Renewable Biocommodities Pilot Plant

The ready availability of sugarcane bagasse at an existing industrial facility and the potential availability of extra fibre through trash collection make sugarcane fibre the best candidate for early stage commercialisation of cellulosic ethanol technologies. The commercialisation of cellulosic ethanol technologies in the sugar industry requires both development of novel technologies and the assessment of these technologies at a pre-commercial scale. In 2007, the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) received funding from the Australian and Queensland Governments to construct a pilot research and development facility for the production of bioethanol and other renewable biocommodities from biomass including sugarcane bagasse. This facility has been built on the site of the Racecourse Sugar Mill in Mackay, Queensland and is known as the Mackay Renewable Biocommodities Pilot Plant (MRBPP). This research facility is capable of processing cellulosic biomass by a variety of pretreatment technologies and includes equipment for enzymatic saccharification, fermentation and distillation to produce ethanol. Lignin and fermentation co-products can also be produced in the pilot facility.

Accurately simulating the production of radiotherapy portal images using non-zero beam angles

In this study, the delivery and portal imaging of one square-field and one conformal radiotherapy treatment was simulated using the Monte Carlo codes BEAMnrc and DOSXYZnrc. The treatment fields were delivered to a humanoid phantom from different angles by a 6 MV photon beam linear accelerator, with an amorphous-silicon electronic portal imaging device (a-Si EPID) used to provide images of the phantom generated by each field. The virtual phantom preparation code CTCombine was used to combine a computed-tomography-derived model of the irradiated phantom with a simple, rectilinear model of the a-Si EPID, at each beam angle used in the treatment. Comparison of the resulting experimental and simulated a-Si EPID images showed good agreement, within \[gamma](3%, 3 mm), indicating that this method may be useful in providing accurate Monte Carlo predictions of clinical a-Si EPID images, for use in the verification of complex radiotherapy treatments.

Development of a high-level gene expression system for the production of bioplastics in sugarcane

Despite various approaches, the production of biodegradable plastics such as polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) in transgenic plants has met with limited success due largely to low expression levels. Even in the few instances where high levels of protein expression have been reported, the transgenic plants have been stunted indicating PHB is phytotoxic (Poirier 2002). This PhD describes the application of a novel virus-based gene expression technology, termed InPAct („In Plant Activation.), for the production of PHB in tobacco and sugarcane. InPAct is based on the rolling circle replication mechanism by which circular ssDNA viruses replicate and provides a system for controlled, high-level gene expression. Based on these features, InPAct was thought to represent an ideal system to enable the controlled, high-level expression of the three phb genes (phbA, phbB and phbC) required for PHB production in sugarcane at a preferred stage of plant growth. A Tobacco yellow dwarf virus (TbYDV)-based InPAct-phbA vector, as well as linear vectors constitutively expressing phbB and phbC were constructed and different combinations were used to transform tobacco leaf discs. A total of four, eight, three and three phenotypically normal tobacco lines were generated from discs transformed with InPAct-phbA, InPAct-phbA + p1300-TaBV P-phbB/phbC- 35S T, p1300-35S P-phbA-NOS T + p1300-TaBV P-phbB/phbC-35S T and InPAct-GUS, respectively. To determine whether the InPAct cassette could be activated in the presence of the TbYDV Rep, leaf samples from the eight InPActphbA + p1300-TaBV P-phbB/phbC-35S T plants were agroinfiltrated with p1300- TbYDV-Rep/RepA. Three days later, successful activation was indicated by the detection of episomes using both PCR and Southern analysis. Leaf discs from the eight InPAct-phbA + p1300-TaBV P-phbB/phbC-35S T transgenic plant lines were agroinfiltrated with p1300-TbYDV-Rep/RepA and leaf tissue was collected ten days post-infiltration and examined for the presence of PHB granules. Confocal microscopy and TEM revealed the presence of typical PHB granules in five of the eight lines, thus demonstrating the functionality of InPActbased PHB production in tobacco. However, analysis of leaf extracts by HPLC failed to detect the presence of PHB suggesting only very low level expression levels. Subsequent molecular analysis of three lines revealed low levels of correctly processed mRNA from the catalase intron contained within the InPAct cassette and also the presence of cryptic splice sites within the intron. In an attempt to increase expression levels, new InPAct-phb cassettes were generated in which the castorbean catalase intron was replaced with a synthetic intron (syntron). Further, in an attempt to both increase and better control Rep/RepA-mediated activation of InPAct cassettes, Rep/RepA expression was placed under the control of a stably integrated alc switch. Leaf discs from a transgenic tobacco line (Alc ML) containing 35S P-AlcR-AlcA P-Rep/RepA were supertransformed with InPAct-phbAsyn or InPAct-GUSsyn using Agrobacterium and three plants (lines) were regenerated for each construct. Analysis of the RNA processing of the InPAct-phbAsyn cassette revealed highly efficient and correct splicing of the syntron, thus supporting its inclusion within the InPAct system. To determine the efficiency of the alc switch to activate InPAct, leaf material from the three Alc ML + InPAct-phbAsyn lines was either agroinfiltrated with 35S P-Rep/RepA or treated with ethanol. Unexpectedly, episomes were detected not only in the infiltrated and ethanol treated samples, but also in non-treated samples. Subsequent analysis of transgenic Alc ML + InPAct-GUS lines, confirmed that the alc switch was leaky in tissue culture. Although this was shown to be reversible once plants were removed from the tissue culture environment, it made the regeneration of Alc ML + InPAct-phbsyn plant lines extremely difficult, due to unintentional Rep expression and therefore high levels of phb expression and phytotoxic PHB production. Two Alc ML + InPAct-phbAsyn + p1300-TaBV P-phbB/phbC-35S T transgenic lines were able to be regenerated, and these were acclimatised, alcohol-treated and analysed. Although episome formation was detected as late as 21 days post activation, no PHB was detected in the leaves of any plants using either microscopy or HPLC, suggesting the presence of a corrupt InPAct-phbA cassette in both lines. The final component of this thesis involved the application of both the alc switch and the InPAct systems to sugarcane in an attempt to produce PHB. Initial experiments using transgenic Alc ML + InPAct-GUS lines indicated that the alc system was not functional in sugarcane under the conditions tested. The functionality of the InPAct system, independent of the alc gene switch, was subsequently examined by bombarding the 35S Rep/RepA cassette into leaf and immature leaf whorl cells derived from InPAct-GUS transgenic sugarcane plants. No GUS expression was observed in leaf tissue, whereas weak and irregular GUS expression was observed in immature leaf whorl tissue derived from two InPAct- GUS lines and two InPAct-GUS + 35S P-AlcR-AlcA P-GUS lines. The most plausible reason to explain the inconsistent and low levels of GUS expression in leaf whorls is a combination of low numbers of sugarcane cells in the DNA replication-conducive S-phase and the irregular and random nature of sugarcane cells bombarded with Rep/RepA. This study details the first report to develop a TbYDV-based InPAct system under control of the alc switch to produce PHB in tobacco and sugarcane. Despite the inability to detect quantifiable levels of PHB levels in either tobacco or sugarcane, the findings of this study should nevertheless assist in the further development of both the InPAct system and the alc system, particularly for sugarcane and ultimately lead to an ethanol-inducible InPAct gene expression system for the production of bioplastics and other proteins of commercial value in plants.

Aggravation of ADAMTS and MMP production and ERK1/2 pathway in the interaction of osteoarthritic subchondral bone osteoblasts and articular cartilage chondrocytes : a possible pathogenic role in osteoarthritis

Introduction: Degradative enzymes, such as A disintegrin and metalloproteinase with thrombospondin motifs (ADAMTS) and matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), play key roles in osteoarthritis (OA) development. The aim of the present study was to investigate if cross-talk between subchondral bone osteoblasts (SBOs) and articular cartilage chondrocytes (ACCs) in OA alters the expression and regulation of ADAMTS5, ADAMTS4, MMP-1, MMP-2, MMP-3, MMP-8, MMP-9 and MMP-13, and also to test the possible involvement of mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway during this process. Methods: ACCs and SBOs were isolated from normal and OA patients. An in vitro co-culture model was developed to study the regulation of ADAMTS and MMPs under normal and OA joint cross-talk conditions. MAPK-ERK inhibitor, PD98059 was applied to delineate the involvement of specific pathway during this interaction process. Results: Indirect co-culture of OA SBOs with normal ACCs resulted in significantly increased expression of ADAMTS5, ADAMTS4, MMP-2, MMP-3 and MMP-9 in ACCs, whereas co-culture of OA ACCs led to increased MMP-1 and MMP-2 expression in normal SBOs. The upregulation of ADAMTS and MMPs under these conditions was correlated with activation of the MAPK-ERK1/2 signaling pathway and the addition of the MAPK-ERK inhibitor, PD98059, reversed the overexpression of ADAMTS and MMPs in co-cultures. Conclusion: In summary, we believe, these results add to the evidence that in human OA, altered bi-directional signals transmitted between SBOs and ACCs significantly impacts the critical features of both cartilage and bone by producing abnormal levels of ADAMTS and MMPs. Furthermore, we have demonstrated for the first time that this altered cross-talk was mediated by the phosphorylation of MAPK-ERK1/2 signaling pathway.

The HarmonyGrid : music, space and performance in grid music systems

This research explores music in space, as experienced through performing and music-making with interactive systems. It explores how musical parameters may be presented spatially and displayed visually with a view to their exploration by a musician during performance. Spatial arrangements of musical components, especially pitches and harmonies, have been widely studied in the literature, but the current capabilities of interactive systems allow the improvisational exploration of these musical spaces as part of a performance practice. This research focuses on quantised spatial organisation of musical parameters that can be categorised as grid music systems (GMSs), and interactive music systems based on them. The research explores and surveys existing and historical uses of GMSs, and develops and demonstrates the use of a novel grid music system designed for whole body interaction. Grid music systems provide plotting of spatialised input to construct patterned music on a two-dimensional grid layout. GMSs are navigated to construct a sequence of parametric steps, for example a series of pitches, rhythmic values, a chord sequence, or terraced dynamic steps. While they are conceptually simple when only controlling one musical dimension, grid systems may be layered to enable complex and satisfying musical results. These systems have proved a viable, effective, accessible and engaging means of music-making for the general user as well as the musician. GMSs have been widely used in electronic and digital music technologies, where they have generally been applied to small portable devices and software systems such as step sequencers and drum machines. This research shows that by scaling up a grid music system, music-making and musical improvisation are enhanced, gaining several advantages: (1) Full body location becomes the spatial input to the grid. The system becomes a partially immersive one in four related ways: spatially, graphically, sonically and musically. (2) Detection of body location by tracking enables hands-free operation, thereby allowing the playing of a musical instrument in addition to “playing” the grid system. (3) Visual information regarding musical parameters may be enhanced so that the performer may fully engage with existing spatial knowledge of musical materials. The result is that existing spatial knowledge is overlaid on, and combined with, music-space. Music-space is a new concept produced by the research, and is similar to notions of other musical spaces including soundscape, acoustic space, Smalley's “circumspace” and “immersive space” (2007, 48-52), and Lotis's “ambiophony” (2003), but is rather more textural and “alive”—and therefore very conducive to interaction. Music-space is that space occupied by music, set within normal space, which may be perceived by a person located within, or moving around in that space. Music-space has a perceivable “texture” made of tensions and relaxations, and contains spatial patterns of these formed by musical elements such as notes, harmonies, and sounds, changing over time. The music may be performed by live musicians, created electronically, or be prerecorded. Large-scale GMSs have the capability not only to interactively display musical information as music representative space, but to allow music-space to co-exist with it. Moving around the grid, the performer may interact in real time with musical materials in music-space, as they form over squares or move in paths. Additionally he/she may sense the textural matrix of the music-space while being immersed in surround sound covering the grid. The HarmonyGrid is a new computer-based interactive performance system developed during this research that provides a generative music-making system intended to accompany, or play along with, an improvising musician. This large-scale GMS employs full-body motion tracking over a projected grid. Playing with the system creates an enhanced performance employing live interactive music, along with graphical and spatial activity. Although one other experimental system provides certain aspects of immersive music-making, currently only the HarmonyGrid provides an environment to explore and experience music-space in a GMS.

Competition and innovation : independent production in the Chinese TV industry

Independent television production is recognised for its capacity to generate new kinds of program content, as well as deliver innovation in formats. Globally, the television industry is entering into the post-broadcasting era where audiences are fragmented and content is distributed across multiple platforms. The effects of this convergence are now being felt in China, as it both challenges old statist models and presents new opportunities for content innovation. This thesis discusses the status of independent production in China, making relevant comparisons with independent production in other countries. Independent television production has become an important element in the reform of broadcasting in China in the past decade. The first independent TV production company was registered officially in 1994. While there are now over 4000 independent companies, the term „independent. does not necessarily constitute autonomy. The question the thesis addresses is: what is the status and nature of independence in China? Is it an appropriate term to use to describe the changing environment, or is it a misnomer? The thesis argues that Chinese independents operate alongside the mainstream state-owned system; they are „dependent. on the mainstream. Therefore independent television in China is a relative term. By looking at several companies in Beijing, mainly in entertainment, TV drama and animation, the thesis shows how the sector is injecting fresh ideas into the marketplace and how it plays an important role in improving innovation in many aspects of the television industry. The thesis shows how independent television companies in China are looking to protect their property rights. It demonstrates that far from being at the cutting edge, independents are reliant on a system that has many inbuilt structural problems. The thesis outlines many of the challenges facing 'independents'.

Analysis of productive performance of crop and animal production systems : an integrated analytical framework

This article presents a two-stage analytical framework that integrates ecological crop (animal) growth and economic frontier production models to analyse the productive efficiency of crop (animal) production systems. The ecological crop (animal) growth model estimates "potential" output levels given the genetic characteristics of crops (animals) and the physical conditions of locations where the crops (animals) are grown (reared). The economic frontier production model estimates "best practice" production levels, taking into account economic, institutional and social factors that cause farm and spatial heterogeneity. In the first stage, both ecological crop growth and economic frontier production models are estimated to calculate three measures of productive efficiency: (1) technical efficiency, as the ratio of actual to "best practice" output levels; (2) agronomic efficiency, as the ratio of actual to "potential" output levels; and (3) agro-economic efficiency, as the ratio of "best practice" to "potential" output levels. Also in the first stage, the economic frontier production model identifies factors that determine technical efficiency. In the second stage, agro-economic efficiency is analysed econometrically in relation to economic, institutional and social factors that cause farm and spatial heterogeneity. The proposed framework has several important advantages in comparison with existing proposals. Firstly, it allows the systematic incorporation of all physical, economic, institutional and social factors that cause farm and spatial heterogeneity in analysing the productive performance of crop and animal production systems. Secondly, the location-specific physical factors are not modelled symmetrically as other economic inputs of production. Thirdly, climate change and technological advancements in crop and animal sciences can be modelled in a "forward-looking" manner. Fourthly, knowledge in agronomy and data from experimental studies can be utilised for socio-economic policy analysis. The proposed framework can be easily applied in empirical studies due to the current availability of ecological crop (animal) growth models, farm or secondary data, and econometric software packages. The article highlights several directions of empirical studies that researchers may pursue in the future.