6,427 research outputs found
Audiomobiles, Sculptures and Conundrums
No full textRoberto Gerhard was a pioneer of electronic music in England creating a number of substantial concert, theatre and radio works from as early as 1954. Gerhard’s electronic music is one of the richest repositories for understanding the development of the composer’s late compositional technique. Apart from the Symphony no.3, ‘Collages’, none of Gerhard’s electronic music is published. This paper will discuss aspects of Gerhard’s electronic music, focusing on Audiomobiles (1958-59) and Sculptures (1963)
Sunscreen Products Increase Virus Production through Prophage Induction in Marine Bacterioplankton
No full textRoberto Gerhard’s Sound Compositions: A Historical-Philological Perspective. Archive, Process, Intent and reenactment
No full textThis research advances the current state of knowledge in the field of early tape music both empirically and methodologically. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact that the electronic medium exerted in the musical thinking of Roberto Gerhard, one of the most outspoken, prolific and influential composers in the Spanish diaspora whose musical legacy, for the most part unknown, is a major landmark in the early history of electroacoustic music. Gerhard’s personal tape collection, one of the largest historical archives of its kind reported in the literature, is exceptional for both its antiquity (50+-year-old tapes) and its abundance of production materials. Through the digitisation and analysis of the composer’s tape collection this research argues that the empirical study of audio documents sets out a basis for a broader understanding of textual processes. More specifically, the research demonstrates that the reconstruction of works based on magnetic tape sketches is a powerful method to advance the understanding of early tape music. This research also examines Gerhard’s sound compositions in relation to the post-war context in which they were composed. Finally, this research presents performance documentation that proposes an approach to the electroacoustic music repertoire in which creativity is not at odds with rigor and critical discernment demonstrating that archival study can be closely aligned to the concept of re-enactment
Viral infections stimulate the metabolism and shape prokaryotic assemblages in submarine mud volcanoes
No full textMud volcanoes are geological structures in the oceans that have key roles in the functioning of the global ecosystem. Information on the dynamics of benthic viruses and their interactions with prokaryotes in mud volcano ecosystems is still completely lacking. We investigated the impact of viral infection on the mortality and assemblage structure of benthic prokaryotes of five mud volcanoes in the Mediterranean Sea. Mud volcano sediments promote high rates of viral production (1.65-7.89 × 109 viruses g-1 d-1), viral-induced prokaryotic mortality (33% cells killed per day) and heterotrophic prokaryotic production (3.0-8.3 μgC g-1 d-1 ) when compared with sediments outside 10 the mud volcano area. The viral shunt (i.e., the microbial biomass converted into dissolved organic matter as a result of viral infection, and thus diverted away from higher trophic levels) provides 49 mgC m-2 d-1, thus fuelling the metabolism of uninfected prokaryotes and contributing to the total C budget. Bacteria are the dominant components of prokaryotic assemblages in surface sediments of mud volcanoes, whereas archaea dominate the subsurface sediment layers. Multivariate multiple regression analyses show that prokaryotic assemblage composition is not only dependent on the geochemical features and processes of mud volcano ecosystems, but also on synergistic interactions between bottom-up (i.e., trophic resources) and top-down (i.e., viral-induced prokaryotic mortality) controlling factors. Overall, these findings highlight the significant role of the viral shunt in sustaining the metabolism of prokaryotes and shaping their assemblage structure in mud volcano sediments, and they provide new clues for our understanding of the functioning of cold-seep ecosystems
Virus decomposition provides an important contribution to benthic deep-sea ecosystem functioning
No full textVirus decomposition provides an important contribution to benthic deep-sea ecosystem functionin
Assessing the eco-compatibility of new generation sunscreen products through a combined microscopic-molecular approach
No full textThere is now unequivocal evidence that sunscreen can severely affect marine ecosystems. However, so far, most studies have focused on the impact of single sunscreen ingredients rather than on the whole sunscreen products, which are released into the marine environment. In the present work, we investigated the ecological impact of six formulations, which represent the "new generation" organic UV filters such as diethylamino hydroxybenzoyl hexyl benzoate (DHHB), methylene bis-benzotriazolyl tetramethylbutylphenol (MBBT), ethylhexyl triazone (EHT), and bis-ethylhexyloxyphenol methoxyphenyl triazine (BEMT), which are progressively replacing the "old generation" organic UV filters (e.g., oxybenzone, octinoxate) banned in several countries of the world. The six formulations tested were characterized by a different combination of ingredients, on a model species particularly sensitive to environmental alterations: the sea urchin, Paracentrotus lividus. We investigated the sea urchin re-sponses both in terms of gene expression and anomalies in embryonic development. We found that all sunscreen products containing only MBBT, DHHB, BEMT, and EHT as UV filters, are more eco-compatible than those also containing also ES, or other ingredients such as emollients and texturizing compounds, which may act syner-gistically causing molecular stress, morphological anomalies, and ultimately possible death. Overall, the results presented here provide new insights on the effects of sunscreen products based on "new generation" UV filters, and highlights the urgency of testing complete formulations, rather than just specific UV filters to ascertain the eco-compatibility of sunscreen products, to effectively minimize their impact on marine ecosystems
Simultaneous recovery of extracellular and intracellular DNA suitable for molecular studies from marine sediments
No full text- …
