The Persistence of Ethnicity in African American Popular Music: A Theology of Rap Music

The racial oppression of black people in many ways has fueled and shaped black musical forms in America. One example is the blues which originated in the rural South among poor, nonliterate, agrarian African Americans.[1] In the North the music became more formalized, and singers such as Gertrude Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Mamie Smith, Ida Cox, and Sarah Martin became known as the queens of the classic blues. Another musical genre is jazz, which was largely based on the twelve-bar blues harmonic structure and phrasing. It was more polished than the earlier New Orleans jazz at the turn of the century, and its major influences came from New York City, Chicago, and Kansas City. Finally, on the religious front, gospel music was in its early stages of development around the time early blues was evolving. Influenced by blues and jazz, gospel was revolutionary (and controversial) in its combination of drums and fast, rocking rhythms

Learning under uncertainty in the young and older human brain: Common and distinct mechanisms of different attentional and intentional systems

The human brain is able to infer the probability of future events by combining information of past observations with current sensory input. Naturally, we are surrounded by more stimuli than we can pay attention to, so selection of relevant input is crucial. The present thesis aimed at identifying common and distinct neural correlates engaged in predictive processing in spatial attention (selection of attended locations) and motor intention (selection of prepared motor responses). Secondly, age-related influences on probabilistic inference in spatial-attention, feature-based attention (selection of attended color) and motor intention, and the impact of task difficulty were considered. Orienting attention during goal-directed behavior can be supported by visual cues, whereas reorienting to unexpected events following misguiding information is linked to behavioral costs and updating of predictions. These processes can be investigated with a cueing paradigm in which differences in reaction time (RT) between valid and invalidly cued trials increase with higher cue validity (%CV) (Posner, 1980). Bayesian models can describe the experience-dependent learning effects of inferring %CV, following novel events (Vossel et al., 2014c; Vossel, Mathys, Stephan & Friston, 2015). The principle aim of the first experiment was to identify and compare the neural correlates involved in inferring probabilities in the spatial attentional and motor intentional domain. Cues indicated either the possible location or prepared the motor response associated with the target. Instead of a fixed probability context, participants were exposed to a volatile environment, in which the validity of the cue information changed unpredictably over time. Combining functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data with behavioral estimates derived from a Bayesian learning model (Mathys, Daunizeau, Friston & Stephan, 2011) unveiled domain-specific predictability-dependent responses within the right temporoparietal junction (TPJ) for spatial attention and the left angular gyrus (ANG) and anterior cingulate (ACC) in the motor intention task. The blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) amplitude particularly increased in accord with violations of cue predictability in high cue validity contexts (i.e. when invalid trials were least expected). Valid trials however, induced no (TPJ and ANG) or decreased modulation (ACC). A further aim was to examine possible commonalities in the neural signatures of predictability-dependent processing. Connectivity analysis uncovered common coupling of all three seed regions involved in predictability-dependent processing with the right anterior hippocampus. Since cognitive functions undergo substantial changes in healthy ageing, a second behavioral study was conducted to test whether age differentially influences probabilistic inference in different attentional subsystems, and how task difficulty impacts on learning performance. Thus, following up on the first experiment, similar tasks and the same computational model was used to assess updating behavior in healthy aging. Older and younger adults performed two separate experiments with different difficulty levels. Each experiment included three versions of a cueing task, entailing predictive spatial- (i.e. location), feature- (i.e. color of target) and motor intention cues (i.e. prepare response). Results of the easier version demonstrated a preserved ability of older adults to generate predictions and profit from all cue types. Interestingly, increased task demand uncovered a reduced ability to use motor intention cues to update predictions in older compared to younger adults. In conclusion, the results provide evidence for a segregated functional anatomy of probabilistic inference in spatial attention and motor intention. Nonetheless a common connectivity profile with the hippocampus also points at commonalities. Finally age seems to differentially impact the efficiency of learning behavior in the motor intention system, supporting the notion of independence of the attentional- and intentional subsystems

Race, Hegemony, and the Birth of Rock & Roll

The Blues Had a Baby and They Named it Rock & Roll On his Grammy winning album, Hard Again, McKinley Morganfield (a.k.a. “Muddy Waters”) sings his song The Blues Had a Baby and They Named it Rock & Roll.1 What are the racial and social implications of this rebirth? In this study, I will argue that the cultural context during the birth of Rock & Roll was such that Blues music had to be “reborn” in order to enter into the predominantly white mainstream. From the perspective of a Blues musician, Morganfield’s use of the idea of rebirth is a subtle apology for the Blues, preserving the filiation and downplaying the issue of racial division. However, a more critical analysis of the situation questions the aptitude of rebirth as a metaphor for the process of change that was required of (Rhythm &) Blues music before it could be embraced as a mainstream art form. Contemporary scholarship suggests a range of terms as more accurate descriptors of this transformative process, including appropriation, assimilation, blanching, and subsumption.2 We can add terms like “translation” and “renaming” to this list, each bringing a slightly different perspective to the issue.3 By attempting to recognize a convergence of unseen or “behind the scenes” forces that cause this transformation to take place, the current study seeks to demonstrate their consequences not simply with respect to the development of popular music, but with respect to the larger relationship between popular culture and race in the latter half of the twentieth century

Factors Affecting Abundance of Adult Karner Blues (\u3ci\u3eLycaeides Melissa Samuelis\u3c/i\u3e) (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) in Wisconsin Surveys 1987-95

At 141 pine-oak barrens in central and northwestern Wisconsin, 3,702 Karner blues (Lycaeides melissa samuelis Nabokov) were found in 81.1 hr of transect surveys during spring and 6,094 individuals in 116.6 hr during sum­mer. Adults offive other closely related lycaenids occurred with Karner blues. The percentage of Karner blue males (of sexed individuals) correlated nega- tively with advancing date within brood, exceeded 50% on peak date within brood, but showed wide variability on a given date. Karner blues occasionally occurred up to 800 m from the nearest larval host, or in tiny, isolated host stands. However, all individuals were within 3-5 km of other larger Karner blue populations. Karner blue abundance significantly increased with decreasing latitude, increasing temperature, nearness to midpoint within brood, decreasing site canopy, increasing larval host abundance, and in summer compared to spring. Long-term monitoring sites showed dramatic but relatively similar fluctuations among broods (median of 2.8-fold change among ten brood pairs) that apparently varied by individual brood rather than season or year. Extensive dense host patches and dense Karner blues were in sites rep- resenting a diversity of management histories

Bootstrap Blues

Meet David*. In mid-January, he came to the small town Iowa elementary school where I work. David has attended more schools in the two years since he started school than I have in my lifetime. In fact, the school he just moved from only has four days of attendance listed on his record. David moves so often because he’s homeless. His situation is not what we may stereotypically think of as “homeless”—you wouldn’t see him on the streets or even in soup kitchens. Instead, David stays with his mother, and they couch surf from one home to another from week to week. David and his mother are part of a mounting statistic that tells us that 41 percent of the homeless population includes families

EFEKTIFITAS Guided Imagery and Music (GIM) TERHADAP KADAR HORMON KORTISOL PADA IBU POST PARTUM BLUES DI WILAYAH KOTA SEMARANG

Postpartum blues (PPB) atau sering juga disebut Maternity blues atau Baby blues dimengerti sebagai suatu sindroma gangguan efek ringan yang sering tampak dalam minggu pertama setelah persalinan dan memuncak pada hari ke tiga sampai kelima dan menyerang dalam rentang waktu 14 hari terhitung setelah persalinan. Untuk mengantisipasi ibu postpartum yang mengalami post partum blues perlu diadakan penelitian dengan tujuan untuk mengidentifikasi efektifitas Guided Imagery and Music (GIM) terhadap kadar hormon kortisol pada ibu postpartum blues di Wilayah Kota Semarang. Penelitian ini menggunakan Quasi Experimental atau eksperimental semu dengan rancangan penelitian Pre and post test with control group design. Lokasi penelitian dilaksanakan di wilayah Kota Semarang. Waktu penelitian dilaksanakan bulan Desember 2015- Juni 2016. Sampel penelitian ibu postpartum baik primipara maupun multipara yang mengalami postpartum blues berada di wilayah kerja kota Semarang yang terbagi menjadi 3 bagian, yaitu kelompok kontrol, kelompok musik alam, dan kelompok musik Kenny G dengan masing-masing terdiri atas 12 responden dengan total 36 responden. Hasil penelitian dianalisis menggunakan uji one way anova dan analisis regresi linier. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa tidak ada perbedaan paritas (p value = 0,441), pendidikan (p value = 0,586), pekerjaan (p value = 0,837), dan dukungan sosial (p value = 0,877) antara kelompok intervensi musik GIM (Guided Imagey and Music) di BPM Wilayah Kota Semarang. Terapi musik GIM Kenny G adalah yang paling efektif menurunkan hormon kortisol. kelompok GIM Kenny G dapat menurunkan skor EPDS sebesar 2,37 dan menurunkan skor post kortisol sebesar 28,95 dibandingkan dengan kelompok kontrol. Sedangkan setiap kenaikan 1 poin skor EPDS maka akan meningkatkan 0,53 skor post EPDS. Selain itu setiap kenaikan 1 skor pre kortisol maka akan meningkatkan 0,75 skor post kortisol. Untuk pre kortisol dan pre EPDS menjadi tidak bermakna terhadap post kortisol dan post EPDS. Kata kunci : paritas, pekerjaan, pendidikan, dukungan sosial, Guided Imagery and Music (GIM) Postpartum blues (PPB) or Maternity Baby blues known as a mild syndrome disorder effects that sometime appears in the first week after delivery and peaked on third or fifth day, and the symptom occur in the span of 14 days after delivery. Based on number of postpartum mothers who experienced post partum blues, there need a study to identify the effectiveness of Guided Imagery and Music (GIM) toward cortisol hormone levels of postpartum blues mother in the city of Semarang. The study used Quasi Experimental or quasi-experimental research design with pre and post-test with control group design. the research conducted in the city of Semarang, on December 2015 to June 2016. The research samples are postpartum mothers both primiparous and multiparous who experienced postpartum blues in BPM Region Semarang and divided into 3 groups, namely a control group, a group of natural music, and music groups Kenny G. Each group consists of 12 respondents with 36 respondents totaly. The results of the study was analyzed using one-way anova test and multiple linear regression analysis. The results showed that there was no difference in parity (p value = 0.441), education (p value = 0.586), occupation (p value = 0.837), and social support (p value = 0.877) between the intervention group music GIM (Guided Imagey and Music ) in BPM Region Semarang. The GIM - Kenny G Music therapy was the most effective lowering cortisol hormone level. The GIM – Kenny G can lowered EPDS score of 2.37 and lowered cortisol post a score of 28.95 compared with the control group. While every increasing of 1 point EPDS score will increase post EPDS score of 0.53. Moreover, any increasing in of 1 point of pre cortisol will increase cortisol post score of 0.75. The pre cortisol and pre EPDS is meaningless towads post cortisol and post EPDS. Keywords : parity, employment, education, social support, Guided Imagery and Music (GIM

The Spirituals and the Blues

Cone, James H. The Spirituals and Blues. New York: Seabury Press, 197

Did Blue Cross and Blue Shield Suffer from Adverse Selection? Evidence from the 1950s

This paper uses a unique data set from 1957 to examine whether or not Blue Cross and Blue Shield suffered from an adverse selection death spiral after for-profit commercial insurance companies entered the market for health insurance. Results suggest that moving to experience rating may have helped the Blues counteract adverse selection in the group health insurance market. Adverse selection posed a greater problem for the Blues in the market for individual health insurance, possibly because of differences in the way the Blues screened potential enrollees relative to commercial insurance companies.

Jazz Lab Ensembles Concert, December 9, 1993

This is the concert program of the Jazz Lab Ensembles Concert performance on Thursday, December 9, 1993 at 8:00 p.m., at the Concert Hall, 855 Commonwealth Avenue. Works performed were Concerto for Piano and Jazz Combo, Op. 1 by Radhika Murali, Harlem Nocturne by Earle Hagen (arr. Mike Cifarelli), Strawberry Jam by Oscar Peterson (arr. Lori Ziegler), Autumn Leaves by Joseph Kosma, Satin Doll by Duke Ellington (arr. Mark Cantrell), Basement Blues by Heather Madeira, Hurry Up! by Arah Vogel, Song for my Father by Horace Silver, Basin Street Blues arranged by Spencer Williams, Amy's Tune by Amy Mulcahy, All Blues by Miles Davis, Ode to Monk by Dawn Lambeth, Syrinx in Blue by Melissa Lindon, and Tubby Goes Flying by Drew Gamet. Digitization for Boston University Concert Programs was supported by the Boston University Humanities Library Endowed Fund

The Jazz Combo, March 19, 1993

This is the concert program of the The Jazz Combo performance on Friday, March 19, 1993 at 6:00 p.m., at the COncert Hall, 855 Commonwealth Avenue. Works performed were Bag's Groove by Milt Jackson, All Blues by Miles Davis, Baba Ghanouj (w/Hot Sauce) by Charles R. Brubeck, Jr., So What by Miles Davis, I See My Window by Paul Smith, and T. E.'s Blues by Daniel I. Smith. Digitization for Boston University Concert Programs was supported by the Boston University Humanities Library Endowed Fund