This music score was submitted for the Kaleidoscope 2020 Call for Scores, an open access collaboration with the UCLA Music Library.

This music score was submitted for Resonate 2024: An Open Access Call for Scores by the UCLA Music Library.

Abstract: The Hyperloop pod is a vehicle that is set to revolutionize the technological advancement of transportation systems. Like the bullet train, it is meant to transverse from point A to B at a tremendous speed, making it convenient for people that rely on transportation systems for traveling and commuting. However, the Hyperloop pod is designed to travel through a vacuum tube to negate air friction so that the pod can achieve high accelerations. Ideally, the concept compensates the practical modes of transportation by being relatively inexpensive compared to airfares and fast compared to public transportation methods. The HyperXite team has been building scaled-down prototype pods for the past four years with this Hyperloop vision in mind. After determining that building a full prototype pod would not be feasible for the team this year given the state of the competition and budgetary constraints, the team decided to move forward with a scaled down version of the pod with design concepts that we wanted to test. We set a loose requirement of a 3-foot-long pod that would still be able to move along the I-beam track with the given dimensions from the 2019 SpaceX Hyperloop competition. The pod stands at 62.36 inches in length, 30.137 inches in width, 17.452 inches in height, and its current mass is approximately 120lbs. We moved forward with a dual motor design, friction brakes that are actuated by our pneumatic system, and an aluminum chassis. Not having SpaceX Competition design requirements to follow, gave our team the freedom to test different designs for each subsystem.

Plant traits-the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants-determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait-based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits-almost complete coverage for 'plant growth form'. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait-environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives.