An Examination of Conductors’ Leadership Skills

Through my experiences as a member of various large orchestral ensembles, I have been intrigued by how diverse my musical experiences were with different conductors. Some of these experiences have been thoroughly inspiring; I felt compelled to achieve higher levels of performance and convinced that I was a crucial part of creating something much larger than the notes on the page. Other experiences have been less musically fulfilling for me; I became disinterested and bored and felt little affective connection with the music. Reflecting on these different personal responses, I realized that the conductors in these experiences, in part, influenced such reactions. I trusted and admired these conductors for their confidence, musicality, and ability to lead a large group of people. In essence, these musical leaders possessed various leadership skills that contributed to their success, effectiveness, and appeal as conductors in my eyes. First, the successful conductors in my past experiences all possessed excellent musicianship in offering meaningful and powerful interpretations of the music and demonstrating complete knowledge of the score and its background. Second, these effective conductors maintained a sense of energy and momentum throughout their rehearsals that allowed me to stay focused and interested in music-making. They also presented musical concepts and ideas in ways that increased my understanding of the music. Lastly, I realized that these conductors’ verbal comments provided me with specific feedback and understandable instructions on how to improve my performance. These conductors were futher able to depict their musical interpretations through conducting gestures, facial expressions, and physical demeanors. Therefore, I identified musicianship, organization, and instructional strategies—both verbal and nonverbal—as three significant leadership skills that has improved the quality of my orchestral experiences. Reflections on my own experiences as a member of orchestral ensembles fueled my interest in honing my work as a developing conductor through an exploration of these three leadership skills. I am fully aware that the successes of the conductors in my past experiences also were attributed to other leadership skills. However, in this project, I sought an opportunity, as a developing conductor, to examine and self-reflect on these three specific leadership skills in order to generate my own style as a musician and leader. The purpose of this project was to examine how conductors’ leadership skills—musicianship, organization, and instructional strategies—impact the musical development of my project’s orchestral ensemble. This project involved my conducting of a volunteer, collegiate orchestra that I recruited. I conducted this orchestra for five rehearsals and a concert performance at my graduate recital. A crucial part of this project included my personal reflections on my leadership skills and their effects on the musical development of the orchestra I rehearsed

Reducing Self-Objectification: Are Dissonance-Based Methods a Possible Approach?

Background: Previous research has documented that self-objectification is associated with numerous negative outcomes including body shame, eating disorder (ED) pathology, and negative affect. This exploratory open study investigated whether or not an evidence-based body image improvement program that targets thin-ideal internalization in university women also reduces self-objectification. A second aim of the study was to determine if previous findings showing that body shame mediated the relationship between self-objectification and eating disorder pathology at a single time point (consistent with self-objectification theory) but did not mediate longitudinally (inconsistent with self-objectification theory) would be replicated in a new sample under novel conditions. Methods: Ninety-six university women completed a peer-led dissonance-based intervention, along with assessment measures at pre-, post-intervention, 8-week and 8-month follow-up. To address the open trial nature of this study, a planned manipulation check was included to make sure that peer-led dissonance decreased thin-ideal internalization, body dissatisfaction, eating disorder pathology, and negative affect with effect sizes being similar to past randomized controlled trials. We hypothesized that all three subscales of the Objectified Body Consciousness Scale (i.e., self-surveillance, body shame, and appearance control beliefs) would be reduced. In addition, we hypothesized that body shame would mediate the relationship between self-objectification (i.e., self-surveillance) and eating disorder pathology at a both at a single time point and longitudinally. Results: The planned manipulation check supported the interpretation that peer-led dissonance in this study largely yielded comparable changes to past controlled trials. In terms of changes in dependent variables, results supported all hypotheses with the exception of body shame, which remained unchanged. With regards to the mediation analyses, our first (cross-sectional) hypothesis but not our second (longitudinal) was supported. Conclusions: Findings provide preliminary support for the use of dissonance interventions in reducing self-surveillance and body control beliefs. Results for body shame and the mediation analyses suggest that greater scrutiny of the body shame construct is warranted

Ada : context-sensitive context-sensing on mobile devices

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2013.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 67-72).This thesis describes the design, implementation, and evaluation of Ada, a context-sensing service for mobile devices. Ada explores new points in the accuracy-energy-responsiveness design space for mobile context sensing. The service exports an API that allows a client to express interest in one or more context types (mode-of-movement, indoor/outdoor, and entry/exit to/from named regions), and subscribe to specific modes within each context (e.g., "walking" or "running", but not any other movement mode). Each context type in Ada can be in one of a set of mutually exclusive states. Each context has a detector that returns its estimate of the mode. To achieve high accuracy and low energy consumption, the detectors take both the existing context and the desired subscriptions into account, adjusting both the types of sensors and the sampling rates. To accurately determine the movement mode, Ada uses a new peak frequency feature from acceleration magnitudes, combining it with two other features. We present results from trace-driven experiments over carefully labeled data from real users, finding that our mode-of-movement detector achieves an accuracy of 93%, out-performing previous proposals like UCLA (55%), EEMSS (83%) and SociableSense (72%), while consuming between 2 and 3x less energy.by Yu-Han Chen.S.M

Designing a Context-Sensitive Context Detection Service for Mobile Devices

This paper describes the design, implementation, and evaluation of Amoeba, a context-sensitive context detection service for mobile devices. Amoeba exports an API that allows a client to express interest in one or more context types (activity, indoor/outdoor, and entry/exit to/from named regions), subscribe to specific modes within each context (e.g., "walking" or "running", but no other activity), and specify a response latency (i.e., how often the client is notified). Each context has a detector that returns its estimate of the mode. The detectors take both the desired subscriptions and the current context detection into account, adjusting both the types of sensors and the sampling rates to achieve high accuracy and low energy consumption. We have implemented Amoeba on Android. Experiments with Amoeba on 45+ hours of data show that our activity detector achieves an accuracy between 92% and 99%, outperforming previous proposals like UCLA* (59%), EEMSS (82%) and SociableSense (72%), while consuming 4 to 6× less energy

Effectiveness of Ledipasvir/Sofosbuvir with/without Ribavarin in Liver Transplant Recipients with Hepatitis C.

Background and Aims: Recurrent infection of hepatitis C virus (HCV) in liver transplant (LT) recipients is universal and associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Methods: We retrospectively evaluated the safety and efficacy of ledipasvir/sofosbuvir with and without ribavirin in LT recipients with recurrent genotype 1 hepatitis C. Results: Eighty-five LT recipients were treated for recurrent HCV with ledipasvir/sofosbuvirwith and without ribavirin for 12 or 24 weeks. The mean (± standard deviation [SD]) time from LT to treatment initiation was 68 (±71) months. The mean (± SD) age of the cohort was 63 (±8.6) years old. Most recipients were male (70%). Baseline alanine transaminase, total bilirubin, and HCV ribonucleic acid (RNA) values (± SD) were 76.8 (±126) mg/dL, 0.8 (±1.3) U/L, and 8,010,421.9 (±12,420,985) IU/mL, respectively. Five of 43 recipients who were treated with ribavirin required drug cessation due to side effects, with 4 of those being anemia complications. No recipient discontinued the ledipasvir/sofosbuvir. Eighty-one percent of recipients had undetectable viral levels at 4 weeks after starting therapy, and all recipients had complete viral suppression at the end of therapy. The sustained viral response at 12 weeks after completion of therapy was 94%. Conclusion : Ledipasvir and sofosbuvir with and without ribavirin therapy is an effective and well-tolerated interferon-free treatment for recurrent HCV infection after LT. Anemia is not uncommon in LT recipients receiving ribavirin

Association between monosodium glutamate intake and sleep-disordered breathing among Chinese adults with normal body weight

ObjectiveTo assess whether monosodium glutamate (MSG) intake is associated with sleep-disordered breathing (SDB).MethodsData from 1227 Chinese subjects who participated in the Jiangsu Nutrition Study were analyzed. All the participants were examined at two time points (baseline in 2002 and follow-up in 2007). The MSG intake was assessed quantitatively in 2002 and a sleep questionnaire was used to assess snoring and to construct an SDB probability score in 2007. Those within the fifth quintile of the score (highest) were defined as having a high probability of SDB.ResultsThe MSG intake was positively associated with snoring and a high probability of SDB in participants who had a normal body weight but in those who were overweight. A comparison of the extreme quartiles of MSG intake in subjects with a body mass index lower than 23 kg/m² showed an odds ratio of 2.02 (95% confidence interval 1.02-4.00) for snoring and an odds ratio of 3.11 (95% confidence interval 1.10-8.84) for a high probability of SDB. There was a joint effect between MSG and overweight in relation to SDB.ConclusionThe intake of MSG may increase the risk of SDB in Chinese adults with a normal body weight.Zumin Shi, Gary A. Wittert, Baojun Yuan, Yue Dai, Tiffany K. Gill, Gang Hu, Robert Adams, Hui Zuo, Anne W. Taylo

Signaling by AWC Olfactory Neurons Is Necessary for Caenorhabditis elegans' Response to Prenol, an Odor Associated with Nematode-Infected Insects

Chemosensation plays a role in the behaviors and life cycles of numerous organisms, including nematodes. Many guilds of nematodes exist, ranging from the free-living Caenorhabditis elegans to various parasitic species such as entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs), which are parasites of insects. Despite ecological differences, previous research has shown that both EPNs and C. elegans respond to prenol (3-methyl-2-buten-1-ol), an odor associated with EPN infections. However, it is unclear how C. elegans responds to prenol. By utilizing natural variation and genetic neuron ablation to investigate the response of C. elegans to prenol, we found that the AWC neurons are involved in the detection of prenol and that several genes (including dcap-1, dcap-2, and clec-39) influence response to this odorant. Furthermore, we identified that the response to prenol is mediated by the canonically proposed pathway required for other AWC-sensed attractants. However, upon testing genetically diverse isolates, we found that the response of some strains to prenol differed from their response to isoamyl alcohol, suggesting that the pathways mediating response to these two odorants may be genetically distinct. Further, evaluations leveraging natural variation and genome wide association revealed specific genes that influence nematode behavior and provide a foundation for future studies to better understand the role of prenol in nematode behavioral ecology