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1. A Computational Exploration of Musical Timbre

   https://doi.org/10.1109/CCECE59415.2024.10667275  

   Voegeli, Nichole; Heise, David (August 2024, IEEE)

   This extended abstract describes an investigation into musical timbre and the automatic discrimination of musical instrument sources. Arising from the first author’s undergraduate honors thesis, this research begins with exploration of fundamental concepts before investigating perceptual correlates of timbre. The work described showcases how one might approach the problem of musical instrument classification through computational analysis. It is hoped that this work may lend ideas to others interested in exploring musical timbre, or likewise inspire others to explore a topic of interest in an unfamiliar domain. 

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2. Akan tone encoding across musical modalities

   https://doi.org/10.32473/sal.52.1and2.133067  

   McPherson, Laura; Obiri-Yeboah, Michael (April 2024, Studies in African Linguistics)

   Musical surrogate languages like talking drums remain understudied in the linguistics literature, despite their close connection with the phonetics and phonology of the spoken language. African surrogate languages tend to be based on tone, making them a unique angle for studying a language’s tonal system. This paper looks at the encoding of Akan tone in three instrumental surrogate languages: the atumpan drums, the seperewa harp, and the abɛntia horn trumpet. Each instrument presents different organological constraints that could shape how the tone system is transposed to musical form. Drawing on novel data elicited with musicians in Ghana, we show that all three systems are built on a two-tone foundation mirroring the Akan tone system, but with subtle differences in the treatment of downstep and intonational effects like phrase-final lowering and lax question intonation. 

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3. Book Chapter Active Learning Exercises Involving Building and Design

   https://doi.org/10.1021/bk-2022-1409  

   Díaz-Vázquez, L.M. (July 2022, ACS symposium series)

   Wenzel, T. (Ed.)

   Chemical analysis relies on calibrated glassware and sophisticated instrumentation. This chapter describes three approaches to student-built models of these tools. In the first, students participate in a semester-long activity to develop quantitative chemical containers (QCCs) to allow those with autism spectrum disorder to work in a laboratory setting. Students determine accuracy, precision, and uncertainty for each container and create technical specifications documents that describe the prototype and its ability to maintain its structure and its volume. Students pitch their designs, use Tinkercad and other software to create their QCCs, print the prototypes on 3D printers, and troubleshoot the robustness of their container. In the second approach, students receive a parts kit for a home-built spectrophotometer. The kit allows for construction of different instruments at varying degrees of sophistication. After design and construction, students characterize the performance of their instrument and/or demonstrate its applicability in an analysis problem. In the third approach, students develop, evaluate, and revise scientific models to explain and predict physical-chemical phenomena in instrumental analysis. The activity promotes understanding at the macroscopic and molecular levels. Different strategies to implement model-based learning are presented, including hand-made models, animated videos, and do-it-yourself instrument prototypes. The flexible activities presented in this chapter may be implemented in classroom or laboratory sections, using different levels of inquiry according to the time and resources available. Additionally, these strategies actively engage students in group work and social interactions that improve motivation and appreciation for the chemical sciences. 

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4. Modeling Rhythm in Speech as in Music: Towards a Unified Cognitive Representation

   Li, Ruolan; Schatz, Thomas; Feldman, Naomi H. (August 2022, Proceedings of the Conference on Cognitive Computational Neuroscience)

   Rhythm plays an important role in language perception and learning, with infants perceiving rhythmic differences across languages at birth. While the mechanisms underlying rhythm perception in speech remain unclear, one interesting possibility is that these mechanisms are similar to those involved in the perception of musical rhythm. In this work, we adopt a model originally designed for musical rhythm to simulate speech rhythm perception. We show that this model replicates the behavioral results of language discrimination in newborns, and outperforms an existing model of infant language discrimination. We also find that percussives — fast-changing components in the acoustics — are necessary for distinguishing languages of different rhythms, which suggests that percussives are essential for rhythm perception. Our music-inspired model of speech rhythm may be seen as a first step towards a unified theory of how rhythm is represented in speech and music. 

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5. Implementing the Elements of Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) in a First-Year Undergraduate Chemistry Laboratory with Bioremediation Relevance

   https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.2c00360  

   Silsby, Carson; McCormack, Roslyn; Roll, Mark F.; Moberly, James G.; Waynant, Kristopher V. (July 2022, Journal of Chemical Education)

   General chemistry laboratories are a core requirement for nearly all STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) majors and have the greatest breadth in disciplines and audience of any STEM course at a university. A bioremediation Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) for first-year undergraduate students was developed to capture and engage student interest for this diverse group. In this multiweek laboratory exercise, students joined an NSF-funded research project designed to enhance the bioremediation of chlorinated aliphatic hydrocarbons. Students explored various biocompatible polymer blends and cross-linkers for encapsulation to create protection for bioremediation microbes. In this “guided research” model, students constructed the measurement apparatus, made hydrogel blends, and then monitored the diffusion of acid via pH measurements using a custom instrument. Herein, we describe how CURE elements were implemented within the bioremediation research experience culminating in student teams presenting posters at our university’s undergraduate research symposium. An open-laboratory format facilitated an active research group experience and recitation “group meeting” provided flexibility and needed time for reflection and discussion. Student survey data and course evaluations indicated that students saw value in this genuine research experience and enjoyed the freedom and time to practice and hone skills as both a scientist and teammate in a laboratory setting. 

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