Towards a Virtual-Acoustic String Instrument

In acoustic instruments, the controller and the sound producing system often are one and the same object. If virtualacoustic instruments are to be designed to not only simulate the vibrational behaviour of a real-world counterpart but also to inherit much of its interface dynamics, it would make sense that the physical form of the controller is similar to that of the emulated instrument. The specific physical model configuration discussed here reconnects a (silent) string controller with a modal synthesis string resonator across the real and virtual domains by direct routing of excitation signals and model parameters. The excitation signals are estimated in their original force-like form via careful calibration of the sensor, making use of adaptive filtering techniques to design an appropriate inverse filter. In addition, the excitation position is estimated from sensors mounted under the legs of the bridges on either end of the prototype string controller. The proposed methodology is explained and exemplified with preliminary results obtained with a number of off-line experiments.

How valuable is web 2.0 to music criticism? An investigation into the role of web 2.0 and social media in the reception of Benjamin Britten's operas

The internet is deeply integrated with many people's day to day lives, including that of musicians and musicologists. In this thesis, the impact of the internet on classical music criticism in the Web 2.0 age is examined. Using the examples of Britten's operas, Gloriana and Peter Grimes, an overview of their critical reception is examined, using printed reviews found in The Times since their premières, internet based reviews of two specific performances, and the reactions to these performances on Twitter. Theories of media behaviour including de Mul's view of the 'ludic self' are used in order to explain the content found in reviews in conjunction with citizen journalism, of which blogging is an extension. While there are some consistencies between the print reviews and those online, there are stylistic differences, and wider repercussions for the world of criticism in the wake of the democratisation of culture, as critics find their previously regarded authority obsolete to some. Music criticism is no longer the reserve of the musicologists

As percepções de alunos, professores e encarregados de educação sobre a disciplina de educação musical: Um estudo de caso no âmbito do 2º ciclo do ensino básico

Este estudo teve como grande finalidade conhecer as percepções de alunos do 2° Ciclo do Ensino Básico de uma escola da periferia de Lisboa e dos respectivos professores e encarregados de educação, relativamente à disciplina de Educação Musical. No estudo foi utilizado um desenho metodológico de cariz naturalista, com aproximação ao estudo de caso, em que a técnica de recolha de dados de suporte foi o inquérito por questionário, aplicado aos três elementos da comunidade educativa antes referidos. Os principais objectivos do estudo foram, entre outros, os seguintes: #) Conhecer a importância que é dada à Educação Musical, enquanto disciplina integrante do currículo escolar, por alunos, professores e encarregados de educação; #) Contribuir para uma tomada de consciência, por parte da comunidade educativa em geral, sobre a importância da Educação Musical na formação integral do cidadão. A análise dos resultados obtidos permitiu chegar a diversas inferências e conclusões, destacando-se, entre outras, as seguintes: - Em relação aos alunos, a Educação Musical foi por eles considerada uma disciplina razoavelmente importante para a sua formação face à qual afirmaram nutrir algum interesse, sobretudo quando nela são promovidas actividades práticas; - No que diz respeito aos professores, estes consideraram, na sua maioria, que a disciplina, apesar das suas potencialidades formativas, acaba por não ser aproveitada na sua plenitude; - Os encarregados de educação tenderam a considerá-la uma disciplina importante, parecendo estar informados sobre as actividades e as funções a ela associadas. A música pareceu, além disso, fazer parte da vida da maior parte dos inquiridos dos três grupos participantes no estudo, tendo os mesmos indicado que ouviam música todos os dias e que já haviam assistido a, pelo menos, um concerto ao vivo. ABSTRACT; The aim of this study was to acknowledge the perceptions of students of the fifth and sixth grades of a Basic school in Lisbon periphery, their parents and teachers, about the subject of Musical Education. ln that purpose, we are in front of a naturalist investigation, approaching the case study, were the support instrument of data collecting was the questionnaire, applied to the three members of the educative community we have already referred to. This study had, as main goals, the following, among others: #) To know the importance that is given to Musical Education, as a subject which is part of the school curriculum, by students, parents and teachers; #) To contribute for the acknowledgement, by the general educative community, of the importance of Musical Education, for the growth and formation of the individuals. The analisys of the results allowed us to reach, among others, several conclusions and inferences: - Concerning the students, musical education was considered a subject of reasonable importance for their formation, and by which they showed some interest, especially when teachers promote practical activities; - The majority of the teachers considered that the subject was very important for the formation of the individual. However, and in spite of its formative potentialities, musical education is not applied and used as much as it should be; - Parents seem to consider it an important subject and also seem to be well informed about the activities and functions associated to it; Music seemed to be part of the lives of all the inquiries, who revealed listening to music every day and, in the majority of cases, have already been to a live concert.

Assessing caries status according to the CAST instrument and WHO criterion in epidemiological studies

ABSTRACT: Background: The Caries Assessment Spectrum and Treatment (CAST) is a new epidemiological instrument for detection and treatment of dental caries. Worldwide, the WHO criterion constitutes the epidemiological tool most commonly used for caries detection. The objective of the present study is to determine the levels of similarity and difference between the CAST instrument and WHO criterion on the basis of caries prevalence, dmf/DMF counts, examination time and reporting of results. Methods: An epidemiological survey was carried out in Brazil among 6-11-year-old schoolchildren. Time of examinations was recorded. dmft, dmfs, DMFT and DMFS counts and dental caries prevalence were obtained according to the WHO criterion and the CAST instrument, as well the correlation coefficient between the two instruments. Results: Four hundred nineteen children were examined. dmft and dmfs counts were 1.92 and 5.31 (CAST), 1.99 and 5.34 (WHO) with correlation coefficients (r) of 0.95 and 0.93, respectively. DMFT and DMFS counts were 0.20 and 0.33 (CAST), 0.19 and 0.30 (WHO), with r = 0.78 and r=0.72, respectively. Kappa coefficient values for intra-examiner consistency were CAST = 0.91-0.92; WHO = 0.95-0.96 and those for inter-examiner consistency were CAST = 0.90-0.96; WHO = 0.94-1.00. Mean time spent on applying CAST and WHO were 66.3 and 64.7 sec, respectively p = 0.26. The prevalence of dental caries using CAST (codes 2, 5-8) and the WHO criterion for the primary dentition were 63.0% and 65.9%, respectively, and for the permanent dentition they were 12.7% and 12.8%, respectively. Conclusions: The CAST instrument provided similar prevalence of dental caries values and dmf/DMF counts as the WHO criterion in this age group. Time spent on examining children was identical for both caries assessment methods. Presentation of results from use of the CAST instrument, in comparison to WHO criterion, allowed a more detailed reporting of stages of dental caries, which will be useful for oral health planners.

Evolution of classifiers for pitch estimation of piano music using cartesian genetic programming

Pitch Estimation, also known as Fundamental Frequency (F0) estimation, has been a popular research topic for many years, and is still investigated nowadays. The goal of Pitch Estimation is to find the pitch or fundamental frequency of a digital recording of a speech or musical notes. It plays an important role, because it is the key to identify which notes are being played and at what time. Pitch Estimation of real instruments is a very hard task to address. Each instrument has its own physical characteristics, which reflects in different spectral characteristics. Furthermore, the recording conditions can vary from studio to studio and background noises must be considered. This dissertation presents a novel approach to the problem of Pitch Estimation, using Cartesian Genetic Programming (CGP).We take advantage of evolutionary algorithms, in particular CGP, to explore and evolve complex mathematical functions that act as classifiers. These classifiers are used to identify piano notes pitches in an audio signal. To help us with the codification of the problem, we built a highly flexible CGP Toolbox, generic enough to encode different kind of programs. The encoded evolutionary algorithm is the one known as 1 + , and we can choose the value for . The toolbox is very simple to use. Settings such as the mutation probability, number of runs and generations are configurable. The cartesian representation of CGP can take multiple forms and it is able to encode function parameters. It is prepared to handle with different type of fitness functions: minimization of f(x) and maximization of f(x) and has a useful system of callbacks. We trained 61 classifiers corresponding to 61 piano notes. A training set of audio signals was used for each of the classifiers: half were signals with the same pitch as the classifier (true positive signals) and the other half were signals with different pitches (true negative signals). F-measure was used for the fitness function. Signals with the same pitch of the classifier that were correctly identified by the classifier, count as a true positives. Signals with the same pitch of the classifier that were not correctly identified by the classifier, count as a false negatives. Signals with different pitch of the classifier that were not identified by the classifier, count as a true negatives. Signals with different pitch of the classifier that were identified by the classifier, count as a false positives. Our first approach was to evolve classifiers for identifying artifical signals, created by mathematical functions: sine, sawtooth and square waves. Our function set is basically composed by filtering operations on vectors and by arithmetic operations with constants and vectors. All the classifiers correctly identified true positive signals and did not identify true negative signals. We then moved to real audio recordings. For testing the classifiers, we picked different audio signals from the ones used during the training phase. For a first approach, the obtained results were very promising, but could be improved. We have made slight changes to our approach and the number of false positives reduced 33%, compared to the first approach. We then applied the evolved classifiers to polyphonic audio signals, and the results indicate that our approach is a good starting point for addressing the problem of Pitch Estimation.

Human-Computer interaction methodologies applied in the evaluation of haptic digital musical instruments

Recent developments in interactive technologies have seen major changes in the manner in which artists, performers, and creative individuals interact with digital music technology; this is due to the increasing variety of interactive technologies that are readily available today. Digital Musical Instruments (DMIs) present musicians with performance challenges that are unique to this form of computer music. One of the most significant deviations from conventional acoustic musical instruments is the level of physical feedback conveyed by the instrument to the user. Currently, new interfaces for musical expression are not designed to be as physically communicative as acoustic instruments. Specifically, DMIs are often void of haptic feedback and therefore lack the ability to impart important performance information to the user. Moreover, there currently is no standardised way to measure the effect of this lack of physical feedback. Best practice would expect that there should be a set of methods to effectively, repeatedly, and quantifiably evaluate the functionality, usability, and user experience of DMIs. Earlier theoretical and technological applications of haptics have tried to address device performance issues associated with the lack of feedback in DMI designs and it has been argued that the level of haptic feedback presented to a user can significantly affect the user’s overall emotive feeling towards a musical device. The outcome of the investigations contained within this thesis are intended to inform new haptic interface.

2016 Concerto Competition Keyboard Division November 18, 2016

Concert Program

Music of Today Series presents Newband featuring the Harry Partch Instrument Collection November 7, 2012

Concert Program

Assessment of Health-Related Quality of Life using the EQ-5D-3L in Individuals with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

The daily experience with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) has significant adverse effects on health-related quality of life (HRQoL). HRQoL assessment is essential for measuring the impact of the disease on the patient and selecting individualized strategies. Generic measures for assessing HRQoL are very useful because, unlike specific measurement instruments, they allow for the comparison with other instruments. The EQ-5D-3L is a generic measure and it describes HRQoL in five dimensions; mobility, self-care, usual activities, pain/discomfort and anxiety/depression, with three levels each. In Portugal, studies using the EQ-5D-3L as a generic measure to assess HRQoL in diabetic patients are scarce. Objective: To assess HRQoL in individuals with T2DM using the Portuguese version of the EQ-5D-3L. Methodology: An accidental sample of patients with T2DM (n=437) was selected at Family Health Units and healthcare centers in Coimbra, Portugal, between January 2013 and January 2014. The EQ-5D-3L was applied in interviews. The EQ-5D-3L score was calculated based on the answers to the five dimensions and the value system for the Portuguese population. Results: In this sample, 100% of the participants answered the EQ-5D-3L. The HRQoL score was 0.6772 in the EQ-5D-3L and 64.85 in the EQ-VAS. The most frequent answers to the five dimensions were no problems or some problems. The mean score of the EQ-5D-3L was significantly associated with age, male gender, high level of education, having an occupation, practicing physical activity, being single and having been diagnosed with T2DM for less time. The Cronbach alpha's value was 0.674, confirming an acceptable internal consistency. Conclusion: HRQoL levels in individuals with T2DM are lower than the national average and vary depending on sociodemographic and clinical characteristics. The EQ-5D-3L is a reliable instrument that can be used to assess the quality of life of diabetic patients and contribute to assess the patients' overall health status, adding data from the subjective dimension of self-care management.

Neonatal palliative care attitude scale : development of an instrument to measure the barriers to and facilitators of palliative care in neonatal nursing

OBJECTIVE The aim of this research project was to obtain an understanding of the barriers to and facilitators of providing palliative care in neonatal nursing. This article reports the first phase of this research: to develop and administer an instrument to measure the attitudes of neonatal nurses to palliative care. METHODS The instrument developed for this research (the Neonatal Palliative Care Attitude Scale) underwent face and content validity testing with an expert panel and was pilot tested to establish temporal stability. It was then administered to a population sample of 1285 neonatal nurses in Australian NICUs, with a response rate of 50% (N 645). Exploratory factor-analysis techniques were conducted to identify scales and subscales of the instrument. RESULTS Data-reduction techniques using principal components analysis were used. Using the criteria of eigenvalues being 1, the items in the Neonatal Palliative Care Attitude Scale extracted 6 factors, which accounted for 48.1% of the variance among the items. By further examining the questions within each factor and the Cronbach’s of items loading on each factor, factors were accepted or rejected. This resulted in acceptance of 3 factors indicating the barriers to and facilitators of palliative care practice. The constructs represented by these factors indicated barriers to and facilitators of palliative care practice relating to (1) the organization in which the nurse practices, (2) the available resources to support a palliative model of care, and (3) the technological imperatives and parental demands. CONCLUSIONS The subscales identified by this analysis identified items that measured both barriers to and facilitators of palliative care practice in neonatal nursing. While establishing preliminary reliability of the instrument by using exploratory factor-analysis techniques, further testing of this instrument with different samples of neonatal nurses is necessary using a confirmatory factor-analysis approach.

Music purchase behaviour : the effect of emotional loyalty on intention to purchase.

This paper explores the influence of emotional loyalty on music purchase behaviour. Specifically, it examines whether emotional attachment to an artist's music influences loyalty to that artist, and how emotional loyalty influences a consumer's decision to purchase music. Data collection involved fifteen semi-structured interviews with young (18-30) subjects recruited through non-probability convenience sampling. Findings show that consumers who are emotionally loyal to an artistes) are more inclined to purchase the music rather than download free of charge.

Operationalizing the resource based view for nascent and young firms : developing scales for resource advantages and disadvantages

Principal Topic: It is well known that most new ventures suffer from a significant lack of resources, which increases the risk of failure (Shepherd, Douglas and Shanley, 2000) and makes it difficult to attract stakeholders and financing for the venture (Bhide & Stevenson, 1999). The Resource-Based View (RBV) (Barney, 1991; Wernerfelt, 1984) is a dominant theoretical base increasingly drawn on within Strategic Management. While theoretical contributions applying RBV in the domain of entrepreneurship can arguably be traced back to Penrose (1959), there has been renewed attention recently (e.g. Alvarez & Busenitz, 2001; Alvarez & Barney, 2004). This said, empirical work is in its infancy. In part, this may be due to a lack of well developed measuring instruments for testing ideas derived from RBV. The purpose of this study is to develop a measurement scales that can serve to assist such empirical investigations. In so doing we will try to overcome three deficiencies in current empirical measures used for the application of RBV to the entrepreneurship arena. First, measures for resource characteristics and configurations associated with typical competitive advantages found in entrepreneurial firms need to be developed. These include such things as alertness and industry knowledge (Kirzner, 1973), flexibility (Ebben & Johnson, 2005), strong networks (Lee et al., 2001) and within knowledge intensive contexts, unique technical expertise (Wiklund and Shepard, 2003). Second, the RBV has the important limitations of being relatively static and modelled on large, established firms. In that context, traditional RBV focuses on competitive advantages. However, newly established firms often face disadvantages, especially those associated with the liabilities of newness (Aldrich & Auster, 1986). It is therefore important in entrepreneurial contexts to expand to an investigation of responses to competitive disadvantage through an RBV lens. Conversely, recent research has suggested that resource constraints actually have a positive effect on firm growth and performance under some circumstances (e.g., George, 2005; Katila & Shane, 2005; Mishina et al., 2004; Mosakowski, 2002; cf. also Baker & Nelson, 2005). Third, current empirical applications of RBV measured levels or amounts of particular resources available to a firm. They infer that these resources deliver firms competitive advantage by establishing a relationship between these resource levels and performance (e.g. via regression on profitability). However, there is the opportunity to directly measure the characteristics of resource configurations that deliver competitive advantage, such as Barney´s well known VRIO (Valuable, Rare, Inimitable and Organized) framework (Barney, 1997). Key Propositions and Methods: The aim of our study is to develop and test scales for measuring resource advantages (and disadvantages) and inimitability for entrepreneurial firms. The study proceeds in three stages. The first stage developed our initial scales based on earlier literature. Where possible, we adapt scales based on previous work. The first block of the scales related to the level of resource advantages and disadvantages. Respondents were asked the degree to which each resource category represented an advantage or disadvantage relative to other businesses in their industry on a 5 point response scale: Major Disadvantage, Slight Disadvantage, No Advantage or Disadvantage, Slight Advantage and Major Advantage. Items were developed as follows. Network capabilities (3 items) were adapted from (Madsen, Alsos, Borch, Ljunggren & Brastad, 2006). Knowledge resources marketing expertise / customer service (3 items) and technical expertise (3 items) were adapted from Wiklund and Shepard (2003). flexibility (2 items), costs (4 items) were adapted from JIBS B97. New scales were developed for industry knowledge / alertness (3 items) and product / service advantages. The second block asked the respondent to nominate the most important resource advantage (and disadvantage) of the firm. For the advantage, they were then asked four questions to determine how easy it would be for other firms to imitate and/or substitute this resource on a 5 point likert scale. For the disadvantage, they were asked corresponding questions related to overcoming this disadvantage. The second stage involved two pre-tests of the instrument to refine the scales. The first was an on-line convenience sample of 38 respondents. The second pre-test was a telephone interview with a random sample of 31 Nascent firms and 47 Young firms (< 3 years in operation) generated using a PSED method of randomly calling households (Gartner et al. 2004). Several items were dropped or reworded based on the pre-tests. The third stage (currently in progress) is part of Wave 1 of CAUSEE (Nascent Firms) and FEDP (Young Firms), a PSED type study being conducted in Australia. The scales will be tested and analysed with a random sample of approximately 700 Nascent and Young firms respectively. In addition, a judgement sample of approximately 100 high potential businesses in each category will be included. Findings and Implications: The paper will report the results of the main study (stage 3 – currently data collection is in progress) will allow comparison of the level of resource advantage / disadvantage across various sub-groups of the population. Of particular interest will be a comparison of the high potential firms with the random sample. Based on the smaller pre-tests (N=38 and N=78) the factor structure of the items confirmed the distinctiveness of the constructs. The reliabilities are within an acceptable range: Cronbach alpha ranged from 0.701 to 0.927. The study will provide an opportunity for researchers to better operationalize RBV theory in studies within the domain of entrepreneurship. This is a fundamental requirement for the ability to test hypotheses derived from RBV in systematic, large scale research studies.