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We provide evidence that the roughness of chords – a psychoacoustic property resulting from unresolved frequency components – is associated with perceived dissonance (operationalized as stability) in participants with differing levels and types of exposure to Western or Western-like music. Three groups of participants were tested in a remote cloud forest region of Papua New Guinea (PNG), and two groups in Sydney, Australia (musicians and non-musicians). We find a negative relationship between roughness and musical stability in every group including the PNG community with minimal experience of musical harmony. The effect of roughness is stronger for the Sydney participants, particularly musicians. We find an effect of harmonicity – a psychoacoustic property resulting from chords having a spectral structure resembling a single pitched tone (such as produced by human vowel sounds) – only in the Sydney musician group, which indicates this feature’s effect is medi- ated via a culture-dependent mechanism. In sum, these results underline the importance of both universal and cultural mechanisms in music cognition, and they suggest powerful implications for understanding the origin of pitch structures in Western tonal music as well as on possibilities for new musical forms that align with humans’ perceptual and cognitive biases.

Music is a vital part of most cultures and has a strong impact on emotions [1–5]. In Western cultures, emotive valence is strongly influenced by major and minor melodies and harmony (chords and their progressions) [6–13]. Yet, how pitch and harmony affect our emotions, and to what extent these effects are culturally mediated or universal, is hotly debated [2, 5, 14–20]. Here, we report an experiment conducted in a remote cloud forest region of Papua New Guinea, across several communities with similar traditional music but differing levels of exposure to Western-influenced tonal music. One hundred and seventy participants were presented with pairs of major and minor cadences (chord progressions) and melodies, and chose which of them made them happier. The experiment was repeated by 60 non-musicians and 19 musicians in Sydney, Australia. Bayesian analyses show that, for cadences, there is strong evidence that greater happiness was reported for major than minor in every community except one: the community with minimal exposure to Western-like music. For melodies, there is strong evidence that greater happiness was reported for those with higher mean pitch (major melodies) than those with lower mean pitch (minor melodies) in only one of the three PNG communities and in both Sydney groups. The results show that the emotive valence of major and minor is strongly associated with exposure to Western-influenced music and culture, although we cannot exclude the possibility of universality.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, many cultural and artistic programs for older adults have been put on hold, despite the numerous physical, social, and emotional well-being benefits continued participation may bring. This article details a cross-section of participants ( n = 13) in the Active Minds Music Ensemble—a longitudinal Australian-based research project that provides 12 months of group music instrument lessons to healthy older adult novices—who transitioned from face-to-face (F2F) to an online format. Research questions include the benefits and challenges for older adults as they cope with the technological demands of “going online,” perceived effects on teaching and older adults’ musical learning, as well as perceived effects on group learning benefits. Qualitative data were collected from three different perspectives: i) a frequently asked questions (FAQ) report from the research team documenting technological issues, ii) individual semi-structured interviews with the participants, and iii) a reflective report from the teacher. The findings confirm that online group music instrument lessons are viable for and valued by older adults, with appreciation of continued technical support. Teaching and learning changed as a result of the online format, primarily in the reduction of individual feedback and less interplay between participants; this was mitigated by use of various functions such as chat, whiteboards, and breakout rooms. Implications for older adult online music instrument lessons include providing continued technical support to learners and helping them maintain confidence with technology. Social opportunities for informal “side-chatter” may also help them to empathize with and encourage each other during music learning activities.

Algorithmic music appears to be at a turning point in its history, with many new systems and communities of practice developing together, as vibrant musical culture. This handbook brings together dozens of leading researchers and practitioners in the field, blending technical, artistic, cultural and scientific viewpoints into a whole that considers the making of algorithmic music as a rich, and essentially human activity. The book is organised into four sections, the first grounding the topic in the history, philosophy and psychology of algorithmic music. The second section asks 'what can algorithms in music do?', finding answers in computer science, mathematics, machine learning, bio-inspired computation, manipulation of pattern, computational creativity, and live coding. The third section focuses on the music maker, and the role of algorithms in supporting network music, sonification, music interface design, music in computer games, and spatialisation. The final section opens out to culture at large, and considers algorithmic music in terms of its audience reception, sociology, education, politics and the potential for mass consumption. Perhaps just as importantly, these sections are interleaved with reflective pieces from leading practitioners in the field, allowing us to to grasp the pragmatics of making music with algorithms. Combined, these diverse standpoints provide an absorbing, authoritative survey of research and practice from across the algorithmic music field.

This chapter discusses the contrasting creative experiences of the two editors of this volume on algorithmic music, two complementary people from very different generations and musical backgrounds. One is an experienced instrumentalist with conventional musical training, who has run an international intermedia creative ensemble for several decades. He came to algorithms so as to extend his musical practice, in part by listening. The other is primarily a computer musician, with more training in computation than instrumental performance, and who conversely came to music to extend his algorithmic practice, in part by listening. The contrast, described historically, embraces many aspects of algorithmic music, from live algorithms to live coding.

Considerable evidence from studies with group-specific proteinase inhibitors, in particular pepstatin, the aspartic proteinase inhibitor, implicates lysosomes in turnover of endogenous cellular proteins. Recent experiments using a new group-specific inhibitor of thiol (cysteine) proteinases, Z-Phe-Ala-diazomethyl ketone, are described. Lysosomal participation is most clearly established for the degradation of long half-life proteins in situations in which turnover is accelerated because of nutritional or hormonal deficiencies. Some evidence indicating their involvement in 'basal' proteolysis is also discussed. Whether lysosomal proteolysis is selective remains to be established, and possible approaches to this question are outlined.

In the Chatwall district, Shropshire, western England, the Ordovician strata comprise the Harnage shales and the Chatwall group, which includes the lower and upper Chatwall sandstones and the overlying Alternata limestone. Recent mapping has now made possible a detailed section and faunal succession, and several changes in the nomenclature are suggested. The Harnage shales should be used in a broad sense, for they probably also include the Glenburrell beds. The overlying beds are the Chatwall or Glyptocrinus flags, while the term Chatwall sandstone should be restricted to the beds of the lower Longvillian stage, and the Alternata limestone applied to the upper Longvillian.

Remapping of the area east of Pontesford hill, Shropshire, western England, has revealed that the Precambrian rocks at Lyd Hole are faulted and that the Ordovician shales form two outcrops separated by faulting rather than a single one. The sheet of so-called rhyolite which has been postulated to occur between the Precambrian and the Pontesford shales is reexamined, but no undisputed exposures have been found. It is suggested that the basal conglomerate of the Pontesford shales contains boulders of rhyolite, of which partial exposure might suggest a rhyolite sheet. If the rhyolite does not exist as a sheet, a hypothetical phase of Ordovician volcanic activity is no longer necessary in the interpretation of the area. The graptolite and shelly faunas (particularly trilobites) of the Pontesford shales are described.

Evidence from studies on mouse peritoneal macrophages using the inhibitor pepstatin confirms lysosomal involvement in basal protein degradation, and extends its relevance to degradation of long half-life and analogue containing proteins. Studies on the ability of MRC-5 (a limited life-span fibroblast line) cells to selectively degrade analogue-containing proteins are described. These indicate that this capacity is retained even in very old cells; indeed such cells show an increased proportion of rapidly-degradable proteins. Analogue containing proteins bind preferentially to lysosomal membranes, and like liver cytosol proteins of short half-life, are selectively endocytosed and degraded by certain cells in culture. Thus membrane binding allowing selective entry to the lysosomal system may be important in controlling rate of degradation of both intracellular and extracellular protein. A method potentially allowing for determination of the rate of autophagy in cells, is described. This should enable further assessment of the quantitative involvement of lysosomes in protein degradation.

The general characteristics of proteolysis of endogenous proteins and its regulation are outlined, with particular reference to studies with cultured cells. The distinction between 'basal' (in nutritionally complete conditions) and 'accelerated' (in conditions deficient in certain nutrients or hormones) degradation is discussed. Evidence substantiating lysosomal participation in accelerated proteolysis is summarized. It is argued that basal proteolysis may also involve lysosomes, and new evidence on basal degradation in mouse peritoneal macrophages is presented. This work has utilized a new group specific inhibitor of thiol proteinases, synthesized by Dr. Elliot Shaw, carbobenzoxycarbonyl-L-phenylalanyl-L-alanine-D-dizaomethane (Z-Phe-Ala-CHN2). The inhibitor produces a correlated dose-dependent inhibition of cellular cathepsin B and of ongoing proteolysis. There is a lag before it is effective that has been shown to be due to its slow entry (probably by pinocytosis) into the cells. Possible mechanisms of selectivity of degradation, and the relative roles of nonlysosomal and lysosomal degradative routes, are discussed briefly.

Prionocheilus and Polyeres are valid trilobite genera created in 1847 by M. Rouault, based on faunas in the Rennes district of France. Hawle and Corda, in the same year, set up the genera Pharostoma and Selenopeltis, which have been considered congeneric with the first-mentioned genera. It has recently been ascertained that Rouault9s paper was published in April 1847, thereby antedating Hawle and Corda by three months. Consequently, Prionocheilus and Polyeres have priority. The subfamily names remain as Pharostomatinae and Selenopeltinae.