64 research outputs found
Exploring Emptiness: An Investigation of MA and MU in My Sonic Composition Practice
No full textThe commentary investigates Japanese aesthetics of space, silence and emptiness - ma and mu - that informed my compositional practice during the research period 2012 - 2015. The portfolio comprises text compositions and sound installations in which forms of micro events and sustained events are employed. Throughout, the emphasis is on my personal engagement with, and manifestation of emptiness that concerns a particular model of listening and perception.
Chapter 1 discusses six primary research areas: ma and mu, material, text, form, listening and perception. Firstly, I introduce ma and mu by examining noh culture and Zeami's teaching of senu hima (where there is no-action) in the context of my personal approaches to music. The following subjects are then used to contextualise my PhD practice by means of examples from various composers and visual artists. Here, these particular and enigmatic concepts are explored through Japanese art as well as Western contemporary works by Alvin Lucier, Eliane Radigue and those of the Wandelweiser collective.
Part 2 provides contextual commentaries on selected compositions from the portfolio that mostly articulate my aesthetics in relation to the topics covered in Chapter 1. koso koso addresses my methodologies to investigate the essence of senu hima, followed by treow that discusses my approach to materials and the importance of space. I move on to grade two and grade two extended in order to examine text scores, and then, look into Espèces d'espaces 03 and 04 as examples of musical forms that I employ.
Finally, listening and perception are investigated through the compositions gnome and con.de.structuring. Throughout, I describe how my works explore emptiness as a result of my particular emphasis on listening over composing
Thinking without Language
No full textIt is not possible to know directly what animals think because they cannot speak to us about it. We must therefore infer their thought from their behavior. From a behavioral point of view, thinking is a problem solving behavior itself. What is the nature of animal thought without language? As an answer to this question, the behavior of identifying a stimulus has been investigated in matching-to-sample experiments. Pigeons can make a same-different judgement for a single stimulus in the transfer test of a matching-to-sample performance, but they cannot make the same-different judgement for the relation between stimuli in a pair. According to Premack (1983), a language trained chimpanzee (Sarah) was capable of doing this kind of same-different judgement while chimpanzees without language training were not. The author does not approve of his view that the success of relational judgement is due to language. Because animals may perceive a pair of stimuli as a symmetric or asymmetric pattern instead of as a same-different relation. Furthermore, he reported that Sarah was capable of solving analogy of stimulus relations (A/A'=B/?) while chimpanzees without language training were not. But these problems may be solved by functional generalization; that is, lower animals, such as rats and pigeons, may be able to solve such problems as well. Therefore, as far as the same-different judgement is concerned, qualitative difference can be found extremely little between primates and non primates in the previous data
Inhabiting a World of Numerical Things
No full textCet essai rapporte une visite à l’exposition inaugurale de Ryoji Ikeda à la HeK (Haus der elektronischen Künste) à Bâle (Suisse), en novembre 2014. Son objectif est d’insuffler une sensibilité à des oeuvres réalisées à partir de processus d’information dont le code constitue à la fois la texture matérielle et la légitimité conceptuelle. À travers la particularité de son récit, l’auteure considère d’un oeil critique sa propre expérience des oeuvres, en tant qu’environnement, concernant les idées d’Ikeda sur le sublime mathématique, et par comparaison avec le concept de sublime chez Emmanuel Kant. Elle réfléchit la pureté mathématique recherchée par l’oeuvre d’Ikeda relativement à la notion de Quentin Meillassoux d’un monde indépendant de la pensée. Plus particulièrement, elle s’intéresse au rapport entre la visualisation des données et leur composition sonore, un lien qu’elle perçoit comme une tension centrale de l’oeuvre à l’intérieur de laquelle elle place le mot-valise « égaliberté » d’Étienne Balibar, soit la réciprocité impossible entre égalité et liberté.This essay recounts a visit to Ryoji Ikeda’s inaugural exhibition at the HeK (Haus der elektronischen Künste) in Basel, Switzerland in November 2014. It aims to bring an inhabited sensibility to works made from information processes whose code is at once their material texture and conceptual legitimacy. Through the particularity of her recounting, the author critically engages with her experience of the works as environment in relation to Ikeda’s own ideas of a mathematical sublime put into contrast with Immanuel Kant’s notion of the sublime; and consider the mathematical purity Ikeda’s work pursues in relation to Quentin Meillassoux’s notion of a mind-independent world. Most particularly, the author engages in the relationship between the visualisation of data and its sonic composition, and recognises their connection as a central tension of the work into which she places Étienne Balibar’s portmanteau term “égaliberté,” the impossible reciprocity between equality and freedom
Genotypic differences in soybean yield responses to increasing temperature in a cool climate are related to maturity group
No full textTo adapt soybean production to climate change, a thorough understanding of its response to high temperature is required. Modeling studies have predicted that high temperature would shorten the growth period and hence lower seed yield of less day length-sensitive (early-maturing) soybean cultivars, whereas the magnitude of yield reduction by high temperature would be smaller in cultivars with higher day length sensitivity (late-maturing), suggesting that late-maturing cultivars would benefit from a future high-temperature environment. Current mean growing season temperature ranges from 19.4 to 22.6 degrees C in the northern, cool regions of Japan, which is near or below the reported optimum temperature (22-24 degrees C) for seed yield. We tested the hypothesis that adaptation by growing late-maturing cultivars will be successful in maintaining seed yield under a cool climate when temperature is increased during 21st century. We used three Japanese soybean cultivars, early-maturing Yukihomare and late-maturing cultivars Ryuhou and Enrei. Plants were grown over 3 years from June to September (a conventional season) under three temperature regimes, T1 (ambient), T2 (1.8-3.6 degrees C above ambient), T3 (4.8-5.7 degrees C above ambient), in a sunlit temperature gradient chamber. The leaf area at the full expansion stage, pod and seed numbers, and seed yield increased at elevated temperature in the late-maturing cultivars but not in the early-maturing one. The photosynthetic rate and effective quantum yield of photosystem II at the flowering stage increased at elevated temperature in all three cultivars. The period from sowing to the beginning of flowering (R1) decreased in all three cultivars at elevated temperature, whereas the period from R1 to the beginning of pod addition and the flowering period were prolonged in the late-maturing cultivars, but not in the early-maturing one. The differential response in post-flowering development in different maturity groups is probably related to the differences in the day length requirements of these cultivars. Our data clearly demonstrate that yield enhancement by increasing temperature in the late-maturing cultivars resulted from both the improvement in sources (leaf area and leaf photosynthesis) and the increase in sink size (number of flowers, pods and seeds) due to the longer flowering period. We conclude that the yield of the late-maturing cultivars sown during the conventional season in the cool regions of Japan will increase during the 21st century. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved
Litter Decomposition Rates in a Post-mined Peatland: Determining Factors Studied in Litterbag Experiments
No full textThe litter decomposition process is one of the keys to restoring wetlands after peat mining, because litter decomposition largely determines peat regeneration. We monitored the process on a post-mined peatland in northern Japan from 2020 to 2021 with litter species and the environments (surface temperature, shade and moisture). Litterbag experiments were conducted by two litter species, Moliniopsis japonica and Sphagnum papillosum because the succession was replaced from M. japonica grassland (MJ) to Sphagnum mat (SP). Three environments were developed: unshaded control, black shear net and white net. %C, %N, delta 13C and delta 15N in the litter were measured with litter mass remaining. Black nets showed lower mean temperatures with smaller variations than white nets. SP showed lower water level and peat moisture than MJ. Litter decomposition was faster in the black nets than in the white nets. These results indicated that litter decomposition was regulated by temperature fluctuation and its related factors, rather than mean temperature. Sphagnum showed a home-field advantage in decomposition, whereas M. japonica did not. delta 13C and delta 15N were lower and higher in Sphagnum litter than in M. japonica litter, respectively, showing that N and C components differed between litter species. The high delta 15N in Sphagnum litter indicated that intracellular N2 fixers contributed to N in the litter. In conclusion, litter decomposition was not faster at higher temperatures and was determined primarily by litter species. Higher temperature did not increase litter decomposition rates in the post-mined wetlands.Home field advantage was dependent on litter species.Ecological succession should be considered to understand litter decomposition processes
Atypical hypoadrenocorticism with intact zona glomerulosa of the adrenal cortex after long-term observation: a case report of a dog
No full textJournal of Veterinary Medical Science. 2023, 85 (1), P.9-1
Part 2. On differences of blood stream influencing upon growth of cancer
No full textRabbits were used for this experiment. One of the neighbouring arteries of the stomach was ligated and cut. Thus the distubance of bloodcirculation was made. Then the same amount of suspension of Brown-Pearce tumor was injected into the injured and the other intact part. In the former with local circulating a bigger tumor was built, which grew strongly. From this fact the author believes that, as one one the reason why the stomach cancer is more malignant in the lesser curvaure than in the greater curvature, the stasm of the stomach wall is Playing an important role
Mesenteric lymph node abscesses due to Escherichia coli in a cat
No full textVeterinary Medicine and Science. 2022, 8 (4), P.1611-161
Case Report: Detection of Transferrin in a Dog Suspected of Having Cerebrospinal Fluid Rhinorrhea
No full textA 12-year-old Yorkshire terrier was referred for epileptic seizures and nasal discharge. The fluid was clear and serous. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) rhinorrhea was suspected, based on clinical signs and MRI findings. In humans, analysis of nasal secretions to determine the concentration of glucose and brain-type transferrin has been widely used clinically in order to confirm the presence of CSF rhinorrhea. The glucose concentration in the nasal discharge was 74 mg/dL. Serum-type and brain-type isoforms of transferrin were detectable in the nasal sample. The concentration of glucose and brain-type transferrin could be useful for diagnosing CSF rhinorrhea.journal articl
Letter from residents requesting prisoner release, February 18, 1944
No full textLetter from residents requesting the release of two incarerees: Wataru Obara, and Hiroichi Shimamura, detained in army stockades at Tule Lake Camp.The Willard Schmidt collection, documents some of the administrative duties of Willard Schmidt, the Chief of Internal Security for the War Relocation Authority and the Tule Lake incarceration/segregation camp. This collection contains administrative records and photos documenting the Tule Lake camp, the largest incarceration camp with a peak population of 18,789 and with the most turbulent history. In 1943, the camp was turned into a segregation center to house "disloyal" Japanese Americans relocated from other camps based on their answers to a confusing loyalty questionnaire. The camp endured martial law from November 1943- Jan 1944 after escalating protests and unrest. The hostile environment of the camp lead to many incarcerees renouncing their American citizenship upon the end of incarceration, a process which took 14 years to reverse if they did not wish to be deported to Japan
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