A conceptual study of spirituality in selected writings of Emile Jaques-Dalcroze

Several authors have noted that one of Émile Jaques-Dalcroze’s aims was to dissolve the mind–body dualism, typical of Cartesianism. However, there has been little research on the spirit–body connection, as it appears in Jaques-Dalcroze’s writings. The purpose of this document analysis is to understand how a hermeneutic phenomenological model for spirituality in music education can inform our understanding of spirituality in selected writings by Jaques-Dalcroze. In the adapted model holism, balance, aesthetic experience, and movement in time, space, and with energy emerged as core concepts. This gives us a much richer understanding of the Dalcroze approach than has hitherto been available and adds to a growing narrative about the spiritual as it pertains to Jaques-Dalcroze and the approach he initiated

High-Temperature Corrosion Testing of Uranium Silicide Surrogates

The corrosion resistance of cerium silicide, a surrogate of uranium silicide, is investigated to gain insight into the reaction of uranium silicide with water. As-received and proton-irradiated Ce3Si2, CeSi2, and CeSi1.x monolithic pellets are subjected to corrosion tests in water at 300°C and 9 MPa for up to 48 h. Results show that an oxide layer composed of Ce4.67 (SiO4)3O forms on the surface of all samples, and it grows thicker with extended exposure times. Irradiated samples corrode to a greater extent than their unirradiated counterparts, which is mainly a result of the existing post-irradiation cerium oxide and the presence of ion-induced defects. Most of the Ce3Si2 samples crack (as-received) or fracture (ion-irradiated) during testing, which is due to the brittleness of the samples and oxide erosion/spallation that occur during testing

Walking with Different Insoles Changes Lower-Limb Biomechanics Globally in Patients with Medial Knee Osteoarthritis.

Using insoles to modify walking biomechanics is of keen interest for the treatment of medial-compartment knee osteoarthritis. So far, insole interventions have focused on reducing the peak of the knee adduction moment (pKAM) and have led to inconsistent clinical outcomes. This study aimed to evaluate the changes in other gait variables related to knee osteoarthritis when patients walk with different insoles to provide insights into the necessity to enlarge the biomechanical analyses to other variables. Walking trials were recorded for 10 patients in four insole conditions. Changes among conditions were computed for six gait variables, including the pKAM. The associations between the changes in pKAM and the changes in the other variables were also assessed individually. Walking with different insoles had noticeable effects on the six gait variables, with high heterogeneity among patients. For all variables, at least 36.67% of the changes were of medium-to-large effect size. The associations with the changes in pKAM varied among variables and patients. In conclusion, this study showed that varying the insole could globally influence ambulatory biomechanics and that limiting measurement to the pKAM could lead to an important loss of information. Beyond the consideration of additional gait variables, this study also encourages personalized interventions to address inter-patient variability

Student teamwork: developing virtual support for team projects

In the 21st century team working increasingly requires online cooperative skills as well as more traditional skills associated with face to face team working. Virtual team working differs from face to face team working in a number of respects, such as interpreting the alternatives to visual cues, adapting to synchronous communication, developing trust and cohesion and cultural interpretations. However, co-located student teams working within higher education can only simulate team working as it might be experienced in organisations today. For example, students can learn from their mistakes in a non-threatening environment, colleagues tend to be established friends and assessing teamwork encourages behaviour such as “free-riding”. Using a prototyping approach, which involves students and tutors, a system has been designed to support learners engaged in team working. This system helps students to achieve to their full potential and appreciate issues surrounding virtual teamwork. The Guardian Agent system enables teams to allocate project tasks and agree ground rules for the team according to individuals’ preferences. Results from four cycles of its use are presented, together with modifications arising from iterations of testing. The results show that students find the system useful in preparing for team working, and have encouraged further development of the system

Integration of professional judgement and decision-making in high-level adventure sports coaching practice

This study examined the integration of professional judgement and decision-making processes in adventure sports coaching. The study utilised a thematic analysis approach to investigate the decision-making practices of a sample of high-level adventure sports coaches over a series of sessions. Results revealed that, in order to make judgements and decisions in practice, expert coaches employ a range of practical and pedagogic management strategies to create and opportunistically use time for decision-making. These approaches include span of control and time management strategies to facilitate the decision-making process regarding risk management, venue selection, aims, objectives, session content, and differentiation of the coaching process. The implication for coaches, coach education, and accreditation is the recognition and training of the approaches that“create time” for the judgements in practice, namely“creating space to think”. The paper concludes by offering a template for a more expertise-focused progression in adventure sports coachin

Hotspots of change in use of public transport to work: A geospatial mixed method study

Introduction: Several studies have supported the role of public transport in encouraging active transport through commuting. Investigating actual increases in public transport use within focussed local areas can help unravel what causes such increases. Methods: In this study, we investigated factors related to the increase in public transport use in focussed local areas (hotspots) through a geospatial mixed-method approach using data from South Western Sydney, Australia, spatial cluster detection, and local stakeholder interviews. We also examined areas with low levels of public transport use. Results: We found that while distance to train station is a significant predictor of usage, other important factors include the professional and socioeconomic profile of the neighbourhood around the train station, the train line's deemed attractiveness and parking availability. Conclusions: Thus, researchers and planners must consider a range of built environment factors when planning for changes that encourage public transport use. In addition, focusing on small local areas utilising geospatial mixed methods can provide important insights into the local drivers of public transport use

Genetically engineered mesenchymal stromal cells produce IL-3 and TPO to further improve human scaffold-based xenograft models

This work was supported by grants from the EU (FP7-PEOPLE-2010-ITN EuroCancer StemCell Training network) and European Research Council (ERC-2011-StG 281474-huLSCtargeting)

Architecture for animation of affective behaviors in pedagogical agents

This article introduces an open-source module responsible for the presentation of verbal (speech) and corporal (animation) behaviors of animated pedagogical agents. This module can be inserted into any learning environment regardless of application domain and platform, being executable under different operating systems. It was implemented in Java as a reactive agent (named Body agent) that communicates with the agent’s Mind through a language known as FIPA-ACL. Therefore, it may be inserted into any intelligent learning environment that is also capable to communicate using FIPA-ACL. Persistence of information is ensured by XML files, increasing the agent’s portability. The agent also includes a mechanism for automatically updating new behaviors and characters once available in the server. A simulation environment was conceived to test the proposed agent

Variation in the carotid bifurcation geometry of young versus older adults: Implications for geometric risk of atherosclerosis

Background and Purpose - Retrospective analysis of clinical data has demonstrated major variations in carotid bifurcation geometry, in support of the notion that an individual\u27s vascular anatomy or local hemodynamics may influence the development of atherosclerosis. On the other hand, anecdotal evidence suggests that vessel geometry is more homogenous in youth, which would tend to undermine this geometric risk hypothesis. The purpose of our study was to test whether the latter is indeed the case. Methods - Cross-sectional images of the carotid bifurcations of 25 young adults (24±4 years) and a control group of 25 older subjects (63±10 years) were acquired via MRI. Robust and objective techniques were developed to automatically characterize the 3D geometry of the bifurcation and the relative dimensions of the internal, external, and common carotid arteries (ICA, ECA, and CCA, respectively). Results - Young vessels exhibited significantly less interindividual variation in the following geometric parameters: bifurcation angle (48.5±6.3° versus 63.6±15.4°); ICA angle (21.6±6.7° versus 29.2±11.3°); CCA tortuosity (0.010±0.003 versus 0.014±0.011); ICA tortuosity (0.025±0.013 versus 0.086±0.105); ECA/CCA diameter ratio (0.81±0.06 versus 0.75±0.13), ICA/CCA (0.81 ±0.06 versus 0.77±0.12) diameter ratio, and bifurcation area ratio (1.32±0.15 versus 1.19±0.35). Conclusions - The finding of more modest interindividual variations in young adults suggests that, if there is a geometric risk for atherosclerosis, its early detection may prove challenging. Taken together with the major interindividual variations seen in older vessels, it suggests a more complex interrelationship between vascular geometry, local hemodynamics, vascular aging, and atherosclerosis, the elucidation of which now calls for prospective studies. © 2005 American Heart Association, Inc

Lower Extremity Amputation Rates in People With Diabetes Mellitus:A Retrospective Population Based Cohort Study in Zwolle Region, The Netherlands

OBJECTIVE: Lower extremity amputations are a major complication of diabetes mellitus (DM). In a previous Dutch study, the incident rate of major amputations was 89.2 per 100 000 person years. The primary aim of this study was to describe the lower extremity amputation rates in people with DM in the Zwolle region, where preventive and curative footcare is organised according to the guidelines of the International Working Group of the Diabetic Foot (IWGDF). The secondary aim was to evaluate outcomes and underlying characteristics of these people.METHODS: This was a retrospective regional population based cohort study. Data from all people with DM treated in primary and secondary care, living in the region Zwolle were collected. All amputations in the period 2017 to 2019 were analysed. Comparisons were made between those with and without an amputation.RESULTS: In the analysis 5 915 people with DM were included, with a mean age of 67.8 (IQR 57.9, 75.9) years. Of those people, 47% were women and the median HbA1c was 53 (IQR 47, 62) mmol/mol. Over the three year study period, a total of 68 amputations were performed in 59 people: 46 minor, 22 major. This translated into an average annual crude amputation incidence rate of non-traumatic major and minor amputations of 41.5 and 86.9 per 100 000 person years among people with diabetes. Compared with those not undergoing amputations, those who underwent an amputation were more often men, older, mainly had T2DM, were treated in secondary care, had higher diastolic blood pressure, worse diabetic footcare profile, longer DM duration and higher HbA1c. At the end of the follow up, 111 people died: 96 (1.6%) without and 15 (25.4%) with amputations (p &lt; .001).CONCLUSIONS: This retrospective study provides detailed insight into the rate of amputations in Dutch people with diabetes in the region Zwolle. Compared with previous Dutch estimates, these data suggest a considerable decrease in major amputation incidence rate.</p