Music as Time's Measure

1986 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manfred Clynes ◽  
Janice Walker

Repeated public performances including Beethoven Opus 130, 133, Haydn Opus 76, No. 5, Ravel Quartet, Janacek Quartet 2 by a well-known string quartet recorded live over a number of years in various cities and concert halls (a total of 170 entire movements) when analyzed show a striking long term ultrastability of timing; of the order of 0,2–0.6% for a number of fast and moderately fast movements. Stability was as good as that previously observed for single performers including Toscanini (Clynes & Walker, 1982; Clynes 1969). This indicates that shared musical concepts can be highly stable. Slower movements tend to be relatively less stable. Tempo compensation is often present so that if parts of a piece are played somewhat faster, other parts are correspondingly played slower to tend to maintain overall timing (as had been earlier found for single performances). Seven performances of Janacek's second quartet revealed what appeared as quantized small total duration changes. When examined for quantal tempo steps, 84 other performances of movements revealed apparent preferred tempo steps of 0.5% (0.48 ± 0.02). Performances of the first five movements of Beethoven's Opus 130 were all significantly slower when the Grosse Fuge was substituted for the finale. The high degree of stability otherwise observed indicates that environmental factors such as temperature, humidity, size of the hall, and variation of acoustics had little influence on the timing. The findings are significant in relation to the properties of the psychobiologic clocks involved; they show how musical concepts can precisely govern their long-term temporal realization, involving time spans of the order of 30 min., even when shared by four individuals; and further, that such shared concepts can remain stable over periods of several years.

Author(s):  
I. E. Kantserova ◽  
◽  
E. Yu. Anisimova ◽  

On the basis of long-term ethnographic field research, the religious features of the pagan and Orthodox Chuvash burials of the Tsilninsky district of the Ulyanovsk region are considered: the planning and maintenance of cemeteries, the design of graves and tombstones. A high degree of stability of the preservation of burial traditions among the Chuvash pagans, in contrast to the baptized, was revealed. Along with the significant differences identified, there are also similarities, which are reflected in the tradition of visiting a cemetery and commemorating departed ancestors.


2001 ◽  
Vol 664 ◽  
Author(s):  
S.J. Jones ◽  
R. Crucet ◽  
R. Capangpangan ◽  
M. Izu ◽  
A. Banerjee

ABSTRACTA microwave-based technique has been used to prepare microcrystalline Si (µc-Si) materials rates near 15 Å/s. The use of these materials as intrinsic layers (i-layers) for single and multi-junction devices has been assessed. Since the high deposition rates allow for fabrication of the required thicker µc-Si i-layers in a similar amount of time to that used for high quality a-SiGe i-layers (rates of 1-3 Å/s), the materials are attractive, low cost replacements for a-SiGe bottom cell i-layers in a-Si/a-SiGe and a-Si/a-SiGe/a-SiGe multi-junction cells. Single-junction nip, a-Si/µc-Si and a-Si/a-SiGe/µc-Si devices have been fabricated. For these devices, the doped and amorphous layers were deposited using conventional rf glow discharge processes and deposition equipment separate from that used to fabricate the µc-Si materials. 7.0% efficiencies have been achieved for single-junction devices while pre-light soaked 9.8 and 11.4% efficiencies have been achieved for the tandem and triple-junction devices, respectively. The single-junction devices exhibit a degradation of only 0-2% after long term (1000 hrs.) of light soaking demonstrating a high degree of stability. Based on the present status, the µc-Si material prepared at high rates qualifies as a reasonable candidate for the i-layer of a bottom cell of a triple-junction device. Improvements in the performance, particularly the FF, will be needed before use in single-junction and tandem devices can be considered.


Author(s):  
Detlef Pollack ◽  
Gergely Rosta

In recantation of his earlier approach, Peter L. Berger now claims: ‘The world today, with some exceptions […], is as furiously religious as it ever was, and in some places more so than ever.’ The most important exception that Berger refers to is Western Europe. The introduction to Part II provides an overview of the religious landscape in Western Europe. The data show that the current religious situation in the countries of Western Europe is in fact subject to considerable variation. It would therefore be erroneous to describe Western Europe as secularized. At the same time, the data reveal that there have been clear secularization tendencies over the last few decades. To grasp the diversity of religious tendencies, Part II deals with three cases: West Germany with moderate downward tendencies, Italy with a considerably high degree of stability, and the Netherlands displaying disproportionately strong secularizing tendencies.


Author(s):  
Hadi Nobari ◽  
Sara Mahmoudzadeh Khalili ◽  
Rafael Oliveira ◽  
Alfonso Castillo-Rodríguez ◽  
Jorge Pérez-Gómez ◽  
...  

Soccer is a popular team sport and highly demanding activity that requires high effort and long-term training plans. The goals of this study were to compare the accelerations, decelerations and metabolic power between official and friendly full matches, between the first and second halves of the matches, and between both halves of official and friendly matches. Twelve professional soccer players (age, 28.6 ± 2.7 years; height, 182.1 ± 8.6 cm; body mass, 75.3 ± 8.2 kg; BMI, 22.6 ± 0.7 kg/m2) participated in this study. A total of 33 official and 10 friendly matches were analyzed from the Iranian Premier League. All matches were monitored using GPSPORTS systems Pty Ltd. The following variables were selected: total duration of the matches, metabolic power, accelerations Zone1 (<2 m·s−2) (AccZ1), accelerations Zone2 (2 to 4 m·s−2) (AccZ2), accelerations Zone3 (>4 m·s−2) (AccZ3), decelerations Zone1 (<−2 m·s−2) (DecZ1), decelerations Zone2 (−2 to −4 m·s−2) (DecZ2) and decelerations Zone3 (>−4 m·s−2) (DecZ3). The major finding was shown in metabolic power, where higher values occurred in friendly matches (p < 0.05 with small effect size). Furthermore, total duration, AccZ3, DecZ1, DecZ2, and DecZ3 were revealed to be higher in official matches, while AccZ1 and AccZ2 were higher in friendly matches. The second half of the official matches revealed higher values for total duration compared to friendly matches (p < 0.05, moderate effect size). In conclusion, this study observed higher values of metabolic power in friendly matches compared to official matches. AccZ3, DecZ1, DecZ2, and DecZ3 were higher in official matches, while AccZ1 and AccZ2 were higher in friendly matches.


Author(s):  
Alyssa T Brooks ◽  
Hannah K Allen ◽  
Louise Thornton ◽  
Tracy Trevorrow

Abstract Health behavior researchers should refocus and retool as it becomes increasingly clear that the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic surpass the direct effects of COVID-19 and include unique, drastic, and ubiquitous consequences for health behavior. The circumstances of the pandemic have created a natural experiment, allowing researchers focusing on a wide range of health behaviors and populations with the opportunity to use previously collected and future data to study: (a) changes in health behavior prepandemic and postpandemic, (b) health behavior prevalence and needs amidst the pandemic, and (c) the effects of the pandemic on short- and long-term health behavior. Our field is particularly challenged as we attempt to consider biopsychosocial, political, and environmental factors that affect health and health behavior. These realities, while daunting, should call us to action to refocus and retool our research, prevention, and intervention efforts


2021 ◽  
pp. 088626052098781
Author(s):  
Marin R. Wenger ◽  
Brendan Lantz

Prior research suggests that many crime types are spatially concentrated and stable over time. Hate crime, however, is a unique crime type that is etiologically distinct from others. As such, examination of hate crime from a spatial and temporal perspective offers an opportunity to understand hate crime and the spatial concentration of crime more generally. The current study examines the spatial stability of hate crimes reported to the police in Washington, D.C., from 2012 through 2018 using street segments, intersections, and block groups as units of analysis. Findings reveal that hate crime is spatially concentrated, with less than 4% of street segments and intersections experiencing hate crime over the study period. Results reveal a high degree of spatial stability, both year-to-year and over the long term even when restricting the analysis to units that experienced at least one hate crime.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 903 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivan Trifonov ◽  
Dmitry Trukhan ◽  
Yury Koshlich ◽  
Valeriy Prasolov ◽  
Beata Ślusarczyk

In this study we aimed to determine the extent to which changes in the share of renewable energy sources, their structural complex, and the level of energy security in Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia (EECCA) countries in the medium- and long-term are interconnected. The study was performed through modeling and determination of the structural characteristics of energy security in the countries. The methodology of the approach to modeling was based on solving the problem of nonlinear optimization by selecting a certain scenario. For the study, the data of EECCA countries were used. The ability of EECCA countries to benefit from long-term indirect and induced advantages of the transformation period depends on the extent to which their domestic supply chains facilitate the deployment of energy transformation and induced economic activity. This study provides an opportunity to assess the degree of influence of renewable energy sources on the level of energy security of countries in the context of energy resource diversification. The high degree of influence of renewable energy sources on energy security in the EECCA countries has been proven in the implementation of the developed scenarios for its increase. Energy security is growing. At the same time, its level depends not only on an increase in the share of renewable sources but also on the structure of energy resources complex of countries, and the development of various renewable energy sources. Therefore, today the EECCA countries are forced not only to increase the share of renewable energy sources but also to attach strategic importance to the structural content of their energy complex.


Author(s):  
Behnam Jahangiri ◽  
Punyaslok Rath ◽  
Hamed Majidifard ◽  
William G. Buttlar

Various agencies have begun to research and introduce performance-related specifications (PRS) for the design of modern asphalt paving mixtures. The focus of most recent studies has been directed toward simplified cracking test development and evaluation. In some cases, development and validation of PRS has been performed, building on these new tests, often by comparison of test values to accelerated pavement test studies and/or to limited field data. This study describes the findings of a comprehensive research project conducted at Illinois Tollway, leading to a PRS for the design of mainline and shoulder asphalt mixtures. A novel approach was developed, involving the systematic establishment of specification requirements based on: 1) selection of baseline values based on minimally acceptable field performance thresholds; 2) elevation of thresholds to account for differences between short-term lab aging and expected long-term field aging; 3) further elevation of thresholds to account for variability in lab testing, plus variability in the testing of field cores; and 4) final adjustment and rounding of thresholds based on a consensus process. After a thorough evaluation of different candidate cracking tests in the course of the project, the Disk-shaped Compact Tension—DC(T)—test was chosen to be retained in the Illinois Tollway PRS and to be presented in this study for the design of crack-resistant mixtures. The DC(T) test was selected because of its high degree of correlation with field results and its excellent repeatability. Tailored Hamburg rut depth and stripping inflection point thresholds were also established for mainline and shoulder mixes.


Diagnostics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 1289
Author(s):  
Volodymyr Gavrysyuk ◽  
Ievgenia Merenkova ◽  
Yaroslav Dziublyk ◽  
Nataliia Morska ◽  
Nataliia Pendalchuk ◽  
...  

Background: There is insufficient information in the literature on the comparative efficacy and tolerability of methotrexate (MTX) and methylprednisolone (MP) in patients with pulmonary sarcoidosis in assessing primary outcomes and the relapse rate. Purpose: The aim of our study was to evaluate primary and long-term outcomes of using MTX and MP in patients with pulmonary sarcoidosis. Methods: A total of 143 patients with newly diagnosed pulmonary sarcoidosis, verified by high-resolution computed tomography (CT) data, were examined. Corticosteroid (CS) therapy was used in 97 patients using MP at a dose of 0.4 mg/kg body weight for 4 weeks, followed by a dose reduction to 0.1 mg/kg by the end of the sixth month. The total duration of CS therapy was 12 months on average. Forty-six patients were treated with MTX at a dose of 10 mg/week (28) and 15 mg/week (18) per os for 6 to 12 months. The study of the relapse rate was conducted within 12 months after the CT data normalization in 60 patients after CS therapy and in 24 after MTX treatment. Results: MP treatment was successfully completed in 68 (70.1%), and MTX in 29 (60.4%) patients. In five MP patients (5.2%) and in five (10.9%) MTX, treatment was discontinued due to serious side effects. In seven (7.2%) MP patients and ten (21.7%) MTX patients, treatment required additional therapy due to the lack of efficacy. Progression with MP treatment (17–17.5%) was more common than with MTX (2–4.3%; Chi square = 4.703, p = 0.031). Relapses after MP therapy were observed in 26 (43.3%) patients, and after MTX therapy in 2 (8.3%; Chi square = 9.450, p = 0.003). Conclusion: In patients with pulmonary sarcoidosis, MTX monotherapy does not differ significantly from MP monotherapy in terms of the level of efficacy and the rate of serious side effects. Increasing the MTX dose from 10 to 15 mg/week accelerates the rate of regression of sarcoidosis, improves treatment efficacy, and does not affect the rate of serious side effects. When using MTX, there is a significant decrease in the incidence of treatment resistance and the relapse rate.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document