Gesture-vocal coupling in music performance: A kinematic-acoustic analysis of a south Indian vocal music corpus

In many musical styles worldwide, vocalists manually gesture while they sing. Coupling between gesture kinematics and vocalisation has been examined in speech contexts, but it is an open question how these couple in music making. We examine this in a corpus of South Indian vocal music in the Karnatak style, containing audio and motion-capture recordings. Through linear mixed regression and GAM modeling, we assessed whether peaks in vertical velocity, speed or acceleration were more strongly temporally predictive for changes in vocal acoustics, namely pitch and amplitude. Kinematic coupling was stronger for pitch change versus amplitude. An acceleration-based model was the most predictive for change in pitch and also had the most reliable magnitude coupling with vocal acoustics, showing a 1/3 power relation. That acceleration rather than other kinematics is maximally predictive for vocalization is interesting because accelerations entail that forces are produced onto the body. Thus force-transfer may prove to be salient for gesture-vocal synchrony in this context. As a theoretical contribution, we argue that gesturing in musical contexts should be understood in relation to the body’s tensegrity structure and also vocalists’ performance goals. We therefore propose that gesture-vocal coupling should be viewed as a neuro-bodily distributed aesthetic entanglement.

Neurovascular coupling (NVC) in newborns using processed EEG versus amplitude-EEG

There is a critical need for development of real time physiological biomarkers for birth asphyxia that constitutes a major global public health burden. Our recent study (Scientific Reports, V10:9183, 2020) established a novel non-invasive neurovascular coupling (NVC) assessment in newborns using dynamic wavelet transform coherence (WTC) analysis irrespective of different aEEG algorithms. As an extended study, the current paper examines whether the variability in processed EEG and amplitude-EEG (aEEG) outputs would impact the determination of NVC in newborns with encephalopathy. Concurrent processed EEG tracings and regional near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS)-based cerebral tissue oxygen saturation (SctO2) readings during a period of twenty hours in their first day of life were selected and processed in this study. After bandpass-filtered in 2–15 Hz, rectified, and down-sampled at 0.21 Hz, the processed EEG tracings along with NIRS-SctO2 (0.21 Hz) were used to perform WTC analysis, followed by comparison of WTC-metrics between SctO2-processed EEG coherence and SctO2-aEEG coherence using Bland–Altman statistics. Our results demonstrated high and significant correlation (R2 = 0.96, p < 0.001) between NVC assessments by SctO2-processed EEG and SctO2-aEEG coherence, confirming that band-passed, rectified, and down-sampled processed EEG, or aEEG, can be paired with NIRS-SctO2 to assess NVC in newborns with encephalopathy. Findings indicate the feasibility of a simpler approach to NVC in neonates by using directly processed EEG, instead of aEEG.

Stokes waves with constant vorticity: folds, gaps and fluid bubbles

The Stokes wave problem in a constant vorticity flow is formulated, by virtue of conformal mapping techniques, as a nonlinear pseudodifferential equation, involving the periodic Hilbert transform, which becomes the Babenko equation in the irrotational flow setting. The associated linearized operator is self-adjoint, whereby the modified Babenko equation is efficiently solved by the Newton-conjugate gradient method. For strong positive vorticity, a ‘fold’ appears in the wave speed versus amplitude plane, and a ‘gap’ as the vorticity strength increases, bounded by two touching waves, whose profile contacts with itself at the trough line, enclosing a bubble of air. More folds and gaps follow for stronger vorticity. Touching waves at the beginnings of the lowest gaps tend to the limiting Crapper wave as the vorticity strength increases indefinitely or, equivalently, gravitational acceleration vanishes, while the profile encloses a circular bubble of fluid in rigid body rotation at the ends of the gaps. Touching waves at the beginnings of the second gaps tend to the circular vortex wave on top of the limiting Crapper wave in the infinite vorticity limit, or the zero gravity limit, and the circular vortex wave on top of itself at the ends of the gaps. Touching waves for higher gaps accommodate more circular bubbles of fluid.

Analysis of Coupled Mass-Spring-Damper System by Changing Spring Constant, Mass, and Force

Mass-Spring-Damper System has been widely used in both structural and technological aspect. In thispaper a second degree of freedom mass-spring-damper forced system is used to study the effect ofchanging some parameters value (spring constant, mass and self-excitation force) to the systemstabilization. MATLAB program is part of the aiding tools to do the simulation of the whole system andresulting infrequency Response Graph, “Frequency versus Amplitude” and “Frequency versus Phase”.The mentioned three parameter value affects mostly the amplitude but little on the system phase.

Stochastic inversion of seismic PP and PS data for reservoir parameter estimation

We have investigated the value of isotropic seismic converted-wave (i.e., PS) data for reservoir parameter estimation using stochastic approaches based on a floating-grain rock-physics model. We first performed statistical analysis on a simple two-layer model built on actual borehole logs and compared the relative value of PS data versus amplitude-variation-with-offset (AVO) gradient data for estimating the floating-grain fraction. We found that PS data were significantly more informative than AVO gradient data in terms of likelihood functions, and the combination of PS and AVO gradient data together with PP data provided the maximal value for the reservoir parameter estimation. To evaluate the value of PS data under complex situations, we developed a hierarchical Bayesian model to combine seismic PP and PS data and their associated time registration. We extended a model-based Bayesian method developed previously for inverting seismic PP data only, by including PS responses and time registration as additional data and PS traveltime and reflectivity as additional variables. We applied the method to a synthetic six-layer model that closely mimics real field scenarios. We found that PS data provided more information than AVO gradient data for estimating the floating-grain fraction, porosity, net-to-gross, and layer thicknesses when their corresponding priors were weak.