Abstract:Numerous processes may instigate bank retreat and the consequent collection of failed cohesive materials at the bank toe. Cohesion between the failed material and the substrate can provide additional strength to resist direct fluvial entrainment. Failed, cohesive material can act as a form of natural bank-toe protection by consuming and diverting flow energy that may otherwise be used to further scour the basal zone of incising channels.Investigations in Goodwin Creek, Mississippi, have revealed the existence of apparent cohesion between failed, cohesive blocks and their underlying surface. The method used to assess this cohesion involved a pulley system mounted on a tripod and supporting a load cell. Mean and maximum apparent-cohesion values of 1Ð08 kPa and 2Ð65 kPa, respectively, were measured in this way, identifying a source that bonds blocks to the underlying surface. Cohesion values and types vary spatially and temporally. Tensiometric tests beneath blocks suggest that cohesion resulting from matric suction alone may be as much as 3Ð5 kPa in summer and 1Ð8 kPa in winter.Apparent cohesion is believed to have been sufficient to help prevent removal of the largest blocks by a peak flow of 66Ð4 m 3 /s on 23 September 1997. Maximum excess shear stress required to entrain a D 75 block can be augmented by as much as 97% by the presence of apparent cohesion at the block-substrate interface when compared with a condition with zero apparent cohesion at the block underside. Given these findings, it is no longer sufficient to estimate block entrainment in the basal area from block size or bed roughness alone, as in a Shields-type approach. Copyright

Part 1 of this article explored the development of Alan Lomax’s theory of expressive style and culture in terms of his family background, temperament, cultural surroundings, influences, intellectual growth, and the nature and impact of his field experiences, the primary source of his ideas. It described the program of research established by Lomax and anthropologist Conrad Arensberg, codirector of the project, and set out its areas of investigation. Part 2 describes the project’s hypotheses, methodology, and results; reviews its criticisms; and takes a personal, reflexive look at Lomax’s personality, public persona, and presentational style as factors in the reception of his work. Finally, it touches upon the potential of a comparativist, cross-cultural approach to the current study of expressive culture.

Standardized cross-cultural databases of the arts are critical to a balanced scientific understanding of the performing arts, and their role in other domains of human society. This paper introduces the Global Jukebox as a resource for comparative and cross-cultural study of the performing arts and culture. The Global Jukebox adds an extensive and detailed global database of the performing arts that enlarges our understanding of human cultural diversity. Initially prototyped by Alan Lomax in the 1980s, its core is the Cantometrics dataset, encompassing standardized codings on 37 aspects of musical style for 5,776 traditional songs from 1,026 societies. The Cantometrics dataset has been cleaned and checked for reliability and accuracy, and includes a full coding guide with audio training examples (https://theglobaljukebox.org/?songsofearth). Also being released are seven additional datasets coding and describing instrumentation, conversation, popular music, vowel and consonant placement, breath management, social factors, and societies. For the first time, all digitized Global Jukebox data are being made available in open-access, downloadable format (https://github.com/theglobaljukebox), linked with streaming audio recordings (theglobaljukebox.org) to the maximum extent allowed while respecting copyright and the wishes of culture-bearers. The data are cross-indexed with the Database of Peoples, Languages, and Cultures (D-PLACE) to allow researchers to test hypotheses about worldwide coevolution of aesthetic patterns and traditions. As an example, we analyze the global relationship between song style and societal complexity, showing that they are robustly related, in contrast to previous critiques claiming that these proposed relationships were an artifact of autocorrelation (though causal mechanisms remain unresolved).

Abstract. This article takes us on a journey into the origins of Cantometrics and other interdisciplinary studies of expressive style undertaken by Alan Lomax (1915–2002) in collaboration with Conrad Arensberg (1910–97), Victor Grauer, Forrestine Paulay, Edith Trager, Norman Markel, and others. Using archival sources, it traces their theoretical development, influences, methodologies, and outcomes as accretions of knowledge, observation, and converging streams of thought. It documents the trail of Lomax’s discourse with a wide range of authorities and collaborators. I render a candidly critical portrait of Lomax (my father) in relation to his work, collaborations, and rhetorical style.