Embodied listening and the music of Sigur Ros

In 1990 Susan McClary and Robert Walser appealed for a musicology which could account for the effects of rock, or as they put it: ‘a greater willingness to try to circumscribe an effect metaphorically, to bring one’s own experience as a human being to bear in unpacking musical gestures, to try to parallel in words something of how the music feels’ (McClary and Walser 1990, 288-9). McClary and Walser were arguing for attempts to validate ‘physically and emotionally oriented responses to music’ (287), which they saw as crucial to any understanding of rock, but uncomfortable modes of response for musicology to deal with. Around the time of the McClary/Walser article, musicologists were questioning the body’s exclusion from discourse, and theorising ways in which it might be better integrated into musicological thought (Leppert 1993, Walser 1991). Since that time much scholarly work has been produced which interrogates the role of the body in musicking, work represented for instance by an examination of the idea of gesture (Gritten and King 2006, Davidson 1993). The bodies under examination in this discourse have been those of performers, but increasing attention is being focused on how performers experience the production of music. Fred Everett Maus has recently termed this approach an ‘analytical somaesthetics’, following Richard Shusterman (Maus 2010). This article uses facets of embodiment theory to interrogate the music of Icelandic band Sigur Rós, a group who seem to affect audience and critics alike in a way that is highly unusual for rock music. One of the questions their music poses echoes one that McClary and Walser asked in 1990, namely how we might account for the expressive effect of rock music. I will begin by theorising embodied listening, and accounting for how it might apply to rock music, before presenting readings of two Sigur Rós songs premised on interrogating how the listener is afforded opportunities for embodied participation

The potential of the jazz record

It is often said there is no jazz without the record, or that the history of jazz is in fact the story of recordings. Such positions always recall the limits of the record, compared to the live experience. And yet, for many listeners, the most important jazz experience is that of hearing records, no matter what form. Peter Elsdon focuses on the example of a single artist, Keith Jarrett, to investigate the potential of the record in jazz and to show how records can give us an understanding of the different aesthetic conditions of this music. Concerning the album The Cologne Concert, Elsdon specifically examines the extent to which a record can be heard in different ways by the listeners, and how debates about aesthetics and musical value are often responsible for how we listen to music

An investigation of reduced size planer fed microstrip patch antennas

The primary goal of this research work is to investigate the use of slot loading in reduced size planar fed microstrip patch antennas and develop new antenna structures based on this technique. At present, little theoretical investigation or design methodology exists to support the design of compact structures and research in this field is largely empirical. Moreover, little work exists on the use of planar fed designs. This necessitates a primary requirement to firstly address this knowledge gap. To facilitate this, a mathematical modelling technique that can be applied to such structures is developed. This is based upon the segmentation and Green's function approach. Using this model, the performance of slot loaded structures in terms of circuit characteristics including resonant frequency, input impedance, and Q factor is determined. Using this knowledge, a design procedure is established and subsequently used to provide a framework for the design of novel slot loaded antennas for specific applications. Several new slot loaded patch antenna configurations are designed that produce size reduction whilst allowing the use of a planar feed. The validity of the designs are confirmed through the use of commercial full-wave modelling software package Ensemble. Three linear polarised antennas are presented which are shown to achieve size reduction of 12, 40 and 55% respectively. Several compact circular polarised antenna structures are successfully implemented producing size reduction of up to 43%. A novel design for a reduced size antenna with a dual frequency response is also presented with a tuneable frequency ratio of between 1.03 — 2.0. Prototypes of the aforementioned antennas are fabricated and tested, and practical results are shown

Interactive effects of temperature and salinity on otolith chemistry: challenges for determining environmental histories of fish

Copyright © 2002 NRC CanadaThe concentrations of elements and isotopes in fish otoliths may provide a method of reconstructing movements of fish by differentiating between water bodies of different temperatures and salinities. However, before otoliths can be used to reconstruct environmental histories of fish, it is necessary to assess the effects of seawater temperature and salinity on otolith microchemistry. Using controlled laboratory experiments, juvenile black bream, Acanthopagrus butcheri (family Sparidae), were reared for 50 days in aquaria of varying temperatures and salinities using three experimental designs: temperature x salinity, temperature only, and salinity only. Temperature and salinity interacted to significantly affect the elemental concentration ratios of Sr:Ca and Ba:Ca and the concentrations of isotopes 7delta;[sup13] C and δ[sup18] O in otoliths. The single-factor experiments showed that temperature significantly affected the concentration ratios of Sr:Ca and Ba:Ca and the concentrations of δ[sup13]C and δ[sup18]O in otoliths, whereas salinity alone did not affect the concen-tration ratios of any elements but did affect both isotopes. The concentration ratios of Mg:Ca and Mn:Ca varied considerably among fish within the same treatment level and showed little or no effects due to temperature and (or) salinity. The significant interactive effects of temperature and salinity on otolith microchemistry highlight the need for a multifactorial approach to testing hypotheses regarding the environmental histories of fish.Travis S. Elsdon and Bronwyn M. Gillander

Fundamental issues in antenna design for microwave medical imaging applications

This paper surveys the development of microwave medical imaging and the fundamental challenges associated with microwave antennas design for medical imaging applications. Different microwave antennas used in medical imaging applications such as monopoles, bow-tie, vivaldi and pyramidal horn antennas are discussed. The challenges faced when the latter used in medical imaging environment are detailed. The paper provides the possible solutions for the challenges at hand and also provides insight into the modelling work which will help the microwave engineering community to understand the behaviour of the microwave antennas in coupling media

Breast cancer detection using microwave holography

Breast cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer in women. X-ray mammography is the most widely used technique for early detection but has limitations. In this paper, an alternative approach for breast cancer detection using microwave imaging is presented. This is based upon microwave indirect holographic approach, central to which is the use of a synthetic reference beam. This approach has benefits in terms of simplicity and expense. Experimental results using a simple breast phantom are included to demonstrate the potential of this approach

A novel simplified mathematical model for antennas used in medical imaging applications

In this paper a new technique is proposed to model the current across a monopole antenna and thereby the radiation fields of the antenna can be calculated. Generally, the Method of Moments (MOM) technique is used for this purpose whereby the integral equations are discretised to find the fields of an antenna. The proposed model requires only the knowledge of three parameters (Initial Current I0, Damping coefficient a and the radial parameter ?) and hence considerably reduces the computational time and space as its results do not depend on the number of functions involved. The new technique is also developed to take account of the conductivity property of the surrounding medium. Hence this technique can be used in field prediction for antennas employed in medical imaging applications. Initial results obtained from the new technique show good correlation in comparison with the MOM technique

Dynamic Carbon-Constrained EPEC Model for Strategic Generation Investment Incentives with the Aim of Reducing CO2 Emissions

According to the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme, energy system planners are encouraged to consider the effects of greenhouse gases such as CO 2 in their short-term and long-term planning. A decrease in the carbon emissions produced by the power plant will result in a tax decrease. In view of this, the Dynamic carbon-constrained Equilibrium programming equilibrium constraints (DCC-EPEC) Framework is suggested to explore the effects of distinct market models on generation development planning (GEP) on electricity markets over a multi-period horizon. The investment incentives included in our model are the firm contract and capacity payment. The investment issue, which is regarded as a set of dominant producers in the oligopolistic market, is developed as an EPEC optimization problem to reduce carbon emissions. In the suggested DCC-EPEC model, the sum of the carbon emission tax and true social welfare are assumed as the objective function. Investment decisions and the strategic behavior of producers are included at the first level so as to maximize the overall profit of the investor over the scheduling period. The second-level issue is market-clearing, which is resolved by an independent system operator (ISO) to maximize social welfare. A real power network, as a case study, is provided to assess the suggested carbon-constrained EPEC framework. Simulations indicate that firm contracts and capacity payments can initiate the capacity expansion of different technologies to improve the long-term stability of the electricity market

Framing jazz: thoughts on representation and embodiment

Abstract: Audiovisual representations of jazz performances provide us with more information than audio recordings. The camera not only allows us access to music performances, it also constructs vantage points by framing its subjects in specific ways. This chapter explores aspects of representation and embodiment in jazz performance on film. By looking at filmic technique through shot composition, levels of close-up, focus, and so on, the chapter examines how filmic representation works to mediate the way in which viewers are directed to gaze at and understand performances. Beginning with some examples of Hollywood “Soundies” (including a film of the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra) and moving to documentary-style films of jazz performance (including examples by Chet Baker and Jim Hall), this chapter shows how filmic techniques and production can serve to highlight musical hierarchies and relationships, providing a kind of commentary on the music