Drafts

Over the course of the last week, I had the opportunity to listen to 3 different pieces from different composers and players in class for the last assignment in the Music 100 course. Before the performances I assumed we’d be listening to similar styles that we heard during class from the composers we studied. However, I did not expect the songs to be nearly as unique or individualized as they turned out to be so it was a very interesting experience to say the least.
The first song the class heard was composed by Jazer Giles. It was titled, Piece for Live Electronics (2017). What stood out about this in particular was that there was no instrumentation involved. It was solely comprised by videos transcoded into music through complex algorithms. This varying frequencies were not pre recorded or rehearsed at all. I enjoyed the fact that there was chance for error because Giles explained that no two performances were the same. This was very innovative. In terms of parameters, the pitch slowly increased and was very monotone for the beginning. What I found interesting was that the pitch and duration reinforced each other to create a bubbling effect during the piece. The dynamics were mostly stable as there was not much variation in softness or loudness. I assumed the tonality would be minor if it did have a “tone.” Lastly, the mood of the piece resembled an outer space, dream like state.This effect was meant to be exciting but not jarring. The message was to get people asking questions about what was taking place within the composition of the music.
Next, was titled Unfolding, for Solo Saxophone (2017), by Victor Zheng. Right off the bat, the mood of the piece was clear. I felt an almost ominous feeling of walking through a mysterious dark forest while listening to the saxophone player. The pitch was all over the place, and unpredictable. There were moments of softness and jumps into louder part during the performance. Similarly to the other piece, the tempo was irregular. I would compare this to a recitative because it was difficult to follow or hum along to. As far as the instrumentation goes, this thin textural tune had a lot of repetition for effect and pauses in the song as well. Overall, this piece differed from the last greatly, even though they both were unique in their own ways.
Lastly, was a more traditional set up, or so I thought. Titled Wind Quartet by Dominick Mrakovich, was a lineup of woodwind instruments (flute, oboe, bassoon), and brass (french horn). I was ready to listen to a piece that was more like the ones we have heard in class. Again, the performance took me by storm quite literally when the players began the song by blowing air into the instruments to create a “wind” effect. This helped set the mood to yet another very unique piece. The theme of minor tonality and free meter like in the others, was in this performance as well. Many dissonances filled the song as the instruments clustered each others’ sounds in both call and response and in a thick texture. I was surprised to see something that looked so typical be so creative.
This was a great opportunity to be exposed to the infinite different styles, techniques, and shapes that music can take. I’ve never heard anything like the performances I saw this week, and was a very different experience than the concert I went to a few weeks prior for the report. This classroom premiere showed me how music does not always have to fall within a category. As a composer and as a player, you have the liberty to transform music into a way you see fit, so I was very surprised by the expressivity in these 3 pieces because it was much different from my expectation of what the premiere was going to be like. Nonetheless, it was different in a great way.. This premiere and the music class in general gave me the ability to explore, and I will definitely remember this in the years to come.

Ponds contribute more to biodiversity and ecological processes than any other small aquatic ecosystems. Research has shown that they house the most species, the most unique species, and the most rare species of all small aquatic ecosystem types. This information has only recently become available, so there is a need for further research into pond biodiversity. Scientists have suggested from early research that these small aquatic ecosystems are havens for high biodiversity and ecosystem use.

Without further research into ponds, we risk losing the opportunity to study these oases of species diversity which are responsible for high levels of biodiversity. If we do not study these environments and how to conserve them, we risk losing these ecosystems altogether. This loss could be detrimental to species diversity on both a local and global scale. With this in mind, we aim to determine the health of local pond ecosystems that have yet to be studied and make suggestions on what kinds of foreign plants could be introduced in order to prevent catastrophic loss.

Our final project for Writing in biology fall 2019 was chosen to be: Lichen as bioindicators of air pollution in Amherst, Massachusetts
Lichens can be used as bioindicators of airborne pollution either via morphological changes based on pollutant accumulation or by the diversity of lichens in an area. Measures of air pollution using lichens as bioindicators have yet to be done in Amherst, Massachusetts. We aim to compare air pollution levels in Amherst by comparing the number of lichen species in 4 x 4 m plots around two spots on the University of Massachusetts, Amherst campus: the more urbanised Campus Pond and the less urbanised Sylvan woods.

Materials:
2 measuring tapes, plastic flags, a clipboard with a piece of paper, a pencil, a compass and a metal grid and push pins.
2 predetermined locations near campus where lichen was found: Sylvan and campus pond
We used photos of specific lichen to aid in identification: Crustose, foliose, fruticose

Methods:
We marked a 4x4 meter plot of trees in the less urbanized sylvan area and the more urbanized campus pond. We estimated the plots with 4 plastic flags and a meter measuring tape. Once plotted, we used the 100 metal grid plot and recorded the amount of lichen species present on the north-facing side of included trees, 1 meter up from the bottom of the trees. We used a push pin as a placeholder for the 1 meter mark, and recorded the number of species on the clipboard for each trial with the grid until we reached the top of the meter.

The presence of artificial light in particular, during the dark sequence of the biological rhythm, has suggested a negative relationship between exposure of light and effect on our sensory input, which in turn, directly affects behavior. In diurnal vertebrates such as human beings, constant illumination throughout sleep, (the least physically active time of the 24 hour cycle) inhibits the production of melatonin, potentially leading to cognitive dysfunction and behavioral changes due to stress, and ultimately anxiety from failure to reorient to the change in the environment.

This information posed the pressing question of whether organisms on the opposite side of the spectrum, nocturnal invertebrates, are also disturbed by the essence of light during the evening: where they are most active. Increasing evidence suggests that they are, specifically in crickets, where levels of overall activity decreased with lifetime subjection to light pollution. For this reason, house crickets, or Acheta domesticus, were the focal point of this study, with the objective to continue analysis on whether artificial light during the dark cycle affects activity, this time in shorter periods, to test the frequency of mating behaviors.

Artificial light, or light pollution, is a major topic of concern for a variety of species, especially those who are nocturnal, and spend most of their time in the dark. As earth becomes more and more populated by humans, many things are changing, including habitats, ecosystems, and overall activity of so many animals. A key physiological process found in many animals, humans, and even plants that can be affected by changes in light, is the circadian rhythm. Circadian rhythms are the internal clocks that regulate both physiological and behavioral responses to the environment. Productivity in both humans and animal is heavily influenced by these rhythms, and sort of disruption of rhythm, say, from artificial light, could affect an animal’s ability to function, which would have negative impacts on behavior (Moore-Ede et al.,1982).

The tobacco industry also lobbies and hijacks legislative processes, to make sure they will not be at risk of getting sued by any buyer. The industries uses front groups  to gain access to policy makers and provide ready to use legislative proposals, causing them barely any issues with the law. In an example in 2017, the United Kingdom Fraud Office opened an investigation to British American Tobacco involvement in bribing policymakers in at least 4 African Countries; Burundi, Comoros, Kenya and Rwandaonce these legislations are passed, the industry may or may not disobey the rules, in the illicit cigarette trade, through illegal channels, but it is hard to confirm this.. Lastly, they manipulate public relations to make buyers think that they are good Samaritans by thinking about society, when really they only care about what is entering the company’s pocket. For example, when new tobacco control policies are on the agenda, the image of a good “corporate citizen” redirects attention away from the dire consequences of smoking

There is a new drug developed by a therapeutical company that targets sickle cell disease. This new drug, that will be sold under the name of Oxybryta, will cost $125,000 a year. Oxybryta will be the first drug to specifically target the root cause of the sickling cell. Sickle cell disease originated in Africa that prematurely kills 50-90% of the millions born with this disease. Hemoglobin in people with this disease aggregate to from rock hard rods that give them the sickle shape. These sickle cells then block blood vessels and triggers intense pain. The sickle cells are also prone to shattering. These problems lead to kidney failure and often early death. 

In the United States, there is a high prevelance of breast cancer among women.  What makes women in the United States so vunerable to breast cancer.  Evolutionary medicine has been studying the correlation between the number of menstral cycles with incidence of breast cancer in the population.  Since our early ancestors are not around to see how many times they menstrated, hunting and gathering tribes are used as a modern example of out EEA population.  In these societies, the women only menstrate and average of 92 times in their life while women in the United States will menstrate on average over 400 times in their life.  Breast tissue is not fully matured until a women become pregant.  As part of menstral cycle, the breast tissue will divide via mitosis and expand in the hope the women gets pregant and the breasts will fully mature.  When the women menstrates, the breasts go back to the premature state.  It is theorized that since women in the United States menstrate more, the cells in their breasts will divide more and leave them more vunerable to developing cancerous cells later in life as the more a cell divides, the greater the risk of mutation is.  Women in the hunting and gathering tribes have a later first menarche, longer menstral intervals and longer lactation periods, all of which factor into menstrating less in their life.  In the United States, birth control is used by a majority of women to prevent pregancy as well as regulate their menstral cycle.  Despite the risks associated with birth control, it is still being used therefore it may be beneficial to use birth control to regulate periods and allow for women to menstrate less.  This would lead to less divisions in the breast tissue and possibly less incidence of breast cancer.

In the United States, there is a high prevelance of breast cancer among women.  What makes women in the United States so vunerable to breast cancer.  Evolutionary medicine has been studying the correlation between the number of menstral cycles with incidence of breast cancer in the population.  Since our early ancestors are not around to see how many times they menstrated, hunting and gathering tribes are used as a modern example of out EEA population.  In these societies, the women only menstrate and average of 92 times in their life while women in the United States will menstrate on average over 400 times in their life.  Breast tissue is not fully matured until a women become pregant.  As part of menstral cycle, the breast tissue will divide via mitosis and expand in the hope the women gets pregant and the breasts will fully mature.  When the women menstrates, the breasts go back to the premature state.  It is theorized that since women in the United States menstrate more, the cells in their breasts will divide more and leave them more vunerable to developing cancerous cells later in life as the more a cell divides, the greater the risk of mutation is.  Women in the hunting and gathering tribes have a later first menarche, longer menstral intervals and longer lactation periods, all of which factor into menstrating less in their life.  In the United States, birth control is used by a majority of women to prevent pregancy as well as regulate their menstral cycle.  Despite the risks associated with birth control, it is still being used therefore it may be beneficial to use birth control to regulate periods and allow for women to menstrate less.  This would lead to less divisions in the breast tissue and possibly less incidence of breast cancer.