An Analysis of the Problems of Actor-Behavior in Educational Theater

PROBLEM: Drama is a unique art in that it uses people as its tools. No artist would be justified in practicing his art without a thorough knowledge of how his tools function. Actor behavior, then, becomes an important consideration for any director of educational theater. Although much information is available on what the actor should do, there have apparently been no studies attempting to determine how a director in educational theater can best get an actor to carry out his assignment if the actor\u27s behavior is maladjusted. This study, then, proposes to describe and to analyze problems in educational theater which arise from actor\u27s maladjusted behavior, and to suggest some psychologically sound solutions to these problems.SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION: If a director of educational theater is to justify his activity educationally, the welfare of the student actor must be of primary importance. Assisting the students to acquire adjustive behavioral habits can be a major contribution of this activity. Often the knowledge of what causes the actor to behave as he does will, in itself, indicate the remedy without further study. Understanding, patience, and confidence appear to be the traits most necessary for a director if he is to avoid mal-adjustive behavior by the actor. Although the study seems to have posed more questions than it answered, perhaps it has made some small contribution to this vast unexplored area of educational theater

Analysis of Veal Shoulder Muscles for Chemical Attributes

The value of wholesale veal cuts varies; the rack, loin, and leg demand a premium price, while the shoulder brings little more per pound than the live animal. This study characterized the chemical properties of muscles from the veal shoulder for the potential to upgrade their value. The m. infraspinatus and m. rhomboideus fell in the intermediate or desirable groups for all traits. All nine muscles show promise in the ability to increase value

Cow Muscle Profiling: A Comparison of Chemical and Physical Properties of 21 Muscles from Beef and Dairy Cow Carcasses

About 43% of the meat from cow carcasses is sold into the boxed beef trade. This research was conducted to compare muscles from beef and dairy cows in an effort to identify optimal uses for cow muscles. Twenty-one muscles from beef and dairy cow carcasses were analyzed for objective color, total heme-iron, total collagen, pH, expressible moisture and proximate composition. Wide variation was observed for all properties measured. Effects of breed type on all measured traits were minimal except in the case of percent moisture. These results indicate muscles from beef and dairy cows are similar in chemical and physical properties. Opportunities exist to upgrade the value of selected cow muscles

City of East Cleveland Visioning Project

The city of East Cleveland, a first-ring suburb on the east side of Cleveland, Ohio, has an estimated population of 17,000. The city was once a thriving bedroom community of 40,000 with a strong manufacturing job base that, in turn, supported a vibrant civic, social, and cultural life for many years. East Cleveland has seen steady decline over the last thirty years, the result of regional economic changes and demographic shifts. As Cleveland and the surrounding region revitalizes, East Cleveland boasts significant assets that put it in the path of opportunity and development. An excellent location, close to transportation and communication corridors, adjacency to University Circle’s major employment center and institutions, and abundant affordable space for development are among its locational advantages. Mayor Brandon L. King, elected in 2017, has fortified resident engagement through the development of neighborhood groups. These groups are empowered to help direct the way limited resources are distributed across the community. He has improved relationships with the city council and the East Cleveland school district, reduced municipal debt, and established important external relationships with the state, county, and federal government that are now yielding benefits for East Cleveland. This project seeks to build on this momentum by surveying a range of East Cleveland stakeholders, asking the central question, “what is the vision for East Cleveland?” now that political and administrative stakeholders are aligned and the development community is indicating keen interest in moving forward projects of scale. In the summer of 2019, Mayor King engaged the Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs at Cleveland State University to lead a visioning project that engages citizens and stakeholders in identifying opportunities and recommendations for East Cleveland’s rejuvenation. This document summarizes the findings of the project

Low-fat Wet Distillers Grains and Beef Quality

A low-fat (4.72%) wet distillers grain (LFWDG) diet was compared to a traditional wet distillers grain with solubles (WDGS) diet and a corn-based diet. All wet distillers diets increased polyunsaturated fatty acids in comparison to the control. The LFWDG diet caused greater oxidative rancidity and had a decreased shelf life; however, there was no change in sensory properties. The LFWDG diet evaluated in this study caused decreased oxidative stability of the muscle compared to the TWDGS and the control diets

Structural Equation Modeling and Whole-Genome Scans Uncover Chromosome Regions and Enriched Pathways for Carcass and Meat Quality in Beef

Structural equation models involving latent variables are useful tools for formulating hypothesized models defined by theoretical variables and causal links between these variables. The objectives of this study were: (1) to identify latent variables underlying carcass and meat quality traits and (2) to perform whole-genome scans for these latent variables in order to identify genomic regions and individual genes with both direct and indirect effects. A total of 726 steers from an Angus-Brahman multibreed population with records for 22 phenotypes were used. A total of 480 animals were genotyped with the GGP Bovine F-250. The single-step genomic best linear unbiased prediction method was used to estimate the amount of genetic variance explained for each latent variable by chromosome regions of 20 adjacent SNP-windows across the genome. Three types of genetic effects were considered: (1) direct effects on a single latent phenotype; (2) direct effects on two latent phenotypes simultaneously; and (3) indirect effects. The final structural model included carcass quality as an independent latent variable and meat quality as a dependent latent variable. Carcass quality was defined by quality grade, fat over the ribeye and marbling, while the meat quality was described by juiciness, tenderness and connective tissue, all of them measured through a taste panel. From 571 associated genomic regions (643 genes), each one explaining at least 0.05% of the additive variance, 159 regions (179 genes) were associated with carcass quality, 106 regions (114 genes) were associated with both carcass and meat quality, 242 regions (266 genes) were associated with meat quality, and 64 regions (84 genes) were associated with carcass quality, having an indirect effect on meat quality. Three biological mechanisms emerged from these findings: postmortem proteolysis of structural proteins and cellular compartmentalization, cellular proliferation and differentiation of adipocytes, and fat deposition

Increased Incidence of Vestibular Disorders in Patients With SARS-CoV-2

OBJECTIVE: Determine the incidence of vestibular disorders in patients with SARS-CoV-2 compared to the control population. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective. SETTING: Clinical data in the National COVID Cohort Collaborative database (N3C). METHODS: Deidentified patient data from the National COVID Cohort Collaborative database (N3C) were queried based on variant peak prevalence (untyped, alpha, delta, omicron 21K, and omicron 23A) from covariants.org to retrospectively analyze the incidence of vestibular disorders in patients with SARS-CoV-2 compared to control population, consisting of patients without documented evidence of COVID infection during the same period. RESULTS: Patients testing positive for COVID-19 were significantly more likely to have a vestibular disorder compared to the control population. Compared to control patients, the odds ratio of vestibular disorders was significantly elevated in patients with untyped (odds ratio [OR], 2.39; confidence intervals [CI], 2.29-2.50; CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of vestibular disorders differed between COVID-19 variants and was significantly elevated in COVID-19-positive patients compared to the control population. These findings have implications for patient counseling and further research is needed to discern the long-term effects of these findings

Effects of Aging on Veal Shoulder Muscles

Six muscles were attained from 36 paired veal shoulders and each pair was assigned to one of six aging comparisons. After aging, muscles were cooked and evaluated using Warmer Bratzler shear force. The largest decline in shear force occurred during comparison of 3 and 10 days aging with additional improvements found up to 24 days. The m. infraspinatus was the most tender muscle; the m. supraspinatus was the toughest. The m. serratus ventralis had the greatest response to aging and the m. pectoralis profundus (brisket) had the least

Benchmarking the Differences Between Cow and Beef Muscles

Some muscles from the different populations of cows evaluated have similar chemical and physical properties to muscles from A-maturity, USDA Select grade cattle. Perhaps those muscles from cows could be utilized in a manner that would increase their value. Fifteen carcasses were selected from five populations (fed beef cows, non-fed beef cows, fed dairy cows, non-fed dairy cows, and Select grade beef) and nine muscles per carcass were characterized. Most muscles from cows were darker in color, had higher pH values, and had greater heme iron content than muscles from younger cattle, which may be undesirable to consumers. Supplemental technology may be needed to upgrade muscles from cow carcasses

Quantifying Attitudes and Knowledge Change About the Meat-Animal Industry via a Massive Open Online Course

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) offer a unique platform through which Extension can provide valuable education. We explored The Meat We Eat, a MOOC designed to create a more informed meat consumer and increase perceptions of transparency surrounding meat production. Compared to pretest respondents (n = 490), students who completed the posttest (n = 226) had an improved attitude toward meat and slaughter, an improved perception of the meat industry’s transparency, and increased knowledge. These findings suggest the relevance and value of MOOCs as Extension activities for improving knowledge and attitudes toward animal agriculture and other topics