Coaching and feedback in the exercise periods of advanced studio voice lessons

The aim of this paper is to characterise the interaction between teacher and student as they engage in vocal teaching and learning in the exercise periods of advanced studio lessons. An expert voice teacher was observed in one-to-one lessons with six undergraduate students, and films of their lessons are described and interpreted in terms of collaborative behaviour, with special reference to coaching and feedback. The findings describe procedures that are highly instructive, with the teacher dominating verbal dialogue and directing the students’ activity, along with multimodal procedures in which the teacher draws on verbal, vocal and gestural communication to scaffold student learning. It is argued that the complex and challenging nature of advanced vocal studies gives rise to specialist practices that should be approached and understood on their own terms.O objetivo deste trabalho é caracterizar a interação entre professor e aluno no ensino e aprendizagem vocal durante os exercícios iniciais em aulas de voz de nível avançado. Um professor especialista de canto foi observado em aulas individuais com seis estudantes de graduação e gravações em vídeo das aulas são descritas e interpretadas em termos de comportamento colaborativo, com especial referência ao coaching e ao feedback. Os resultados apontam para procedimentos de natureza instrutiva, ou seja, com o professor dominando o diálogo verbal e direcionando a atividade dos alunos juntamente com procedimentos multimodais nos quais o professor baseia-se nas comunicações verbal, vocal e gestual para dar suporte ao aprendizado do aluno. Argumenta-se que a natureza complexa e desafiadora do aprendizado e do ensino de voz de nível avançado dá origem a práticas especializadas que devem ser abordadas e compreendidas no seu contexto específico

Coaching and feedback in the exercise periods of advanced studio voice lessons

Abstract The aim of this paper is to characterise the interaction between teacher and student as they engage in vocal teaching and learning in the exercise periods of advanced studio lessons.  An expert voice teacher was observed in one-to-one lessons with six undergraduate students, and films of their lessons are described and interpreted in terms of collaborative behaviour, with special reference to coaching and feedback.  The findings describe procedures that are highly instructive, with the teacher dominating verbal dialogue and directing the students’ activity, along with multimodal procedures in which the teacher draws on verbal, vocal and gestural communication to scaffold student learning.  It is argued that the complex and challenging nature of advanced vocal studies give rise to specialist practices that should be approached and understood on their own terms.        Keywords One-to-one lesson behaviour, vocal and instrumental teaching and learning, higher music education   Abstrato O objetivo deste trabalho é caracterizar a interação entre professor e aluno no ensino e aprendizagem vocal durante os exercícios iniciais de aulas de voz de nível avançado.  Um professor especialista de canto foi observado em aulas individuais com seis estudantes de graduação e os gravação em vídeo de suas aulas são descritos e interpretados em termos de comportamento colaborativo, com especial referência ao coaching (treinamento) e ao feedback. Os resultados apontam procedimentos que são muito instrutivos, com o professor dominando o diálogo verbal e direcionando a atividade dos alunos, juntamente com procedimentos multimodais nos quais o professor baseia-se na comunicação verbal, vocal e gestual para dar suporte ao aprendizado do aluno. Argumenta-se que a natureza complexa e desafiadora dos aprendizado e ensino de voz de nível avançado dá origem a práticas especializadas que devem ser abordadas e compreendidas no seu contexto específico. Palavras-chave                    Comportamento de aula individual, ensino e aprendizagem vocal e instrumental, educação musical de ensino superio

Teachers' approaches to music performance anxiety management: a systematic review

Performance anxiety is a widespread issue that can affect musicians across their education and career. It can develop in musicians from a young age leading to short-term and long-term impacts on not only their performance, but also their wellbeing. There is potentially a significant role that music educators hold in the development of their students and how they handle performance anxiety, though it is not clear how, or how often, teachers support their students in this way. Through a PRISMA-based systematic review, this paper explores what is known about the strategies used by music educators to help manage their students' performance anxiety. The paper also discusses the role that instrumental/vocal tutors and school classroom teachers might hold in this area. The findings show that music educators are implementing multiple strategies to assist their students with MPA, with the most common being simulated performance, positive outlook, preparation and breathing. It was found that there is a role for teachers to address MPA management with their students. While some students prefer to receive MPA support from experts in the field of psychology, students still expressed a need to have this support come from their teacher. Though many teachers felt a need for additional training for them to help their students cope with MPA, many of the strategies were found to be multifunctional and embedded into the regular teaching practices or teaching styles of the educator. Although these strategies might be implicit rather than explicit, the findings suggest that music educators could represent a valuable source of support for MPA management

Mitigating Detrimental Effect of Self‐Doping Near the Anode in Highly Efficient Organic Solar Cells

Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) has been one of the most established hole transport layers (HTL) in organic solar cells (OSCs) for several decades. However, the presence of PSS− ions is known to deteriorate device performance via a number of mechanisms including diffusion to the HTL-active layer interface and unwanted local chemical reactions. In this study, it is shown that PSS− ions can also result in local p-doping in the high efficiency donor:non-fullerene acceptor blends – resulting in photocurrent loss. To address these issues, a facile and effective approach is reported to improve the OSC performance through a two-component hole transport layer (HTL) consisting of a self-assembled monolayer of 2PACz ([2-(9H-Carbazol-9-yl)ethyl]phosphonic acid) and PEDOT:PSS. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 17.1% using devices with PEDOT:PSS HTL improved to 17.7% when the PEDOT:PSS/2PACz two-component HTL is used. The improved performance is attributed to the overlaid 2PACz layer preventing the formation of an intermixed p-doped PSS− ion rich region (≈5–10 nm) at the bulk heterojunction-HTL contact interface, resulting in decreased recombination losses and improved stability. Moreover, the 2PACz monolayer is also found to reduce electrical shunts that ultimately yield improved performance in large area devices with PCE enhanced from 12.3% to 13.3% in 1 cm2 cells

Mitigating Detrimental Effect of Self‐Doping Near the Anode in Highly Efficient Organic Solar Cells

Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) has been one of the most established hole transport layers (HTL) in organic solar cells (OSCs) for several decades. However, the presence of PSS− ions is known to deteriorate device performance via a number of mechanisms including diffusion to the HTL-active layer interface and unwanted local chemical reactions. In this study, it is shown that PSS− ions can also result in local p-doping in the high efficiency donor:non-fullerene acceptor blends – resulting in photocurrent loss. To address these issues, a facile and effective approach is reported to improve the OSC performance through a two-component hole transport layer (HTL) consisting of a self-assembled monolayer of 2PACz ([2-(9H-Carbazol-9-yl)ethyl]phosphonic acid) and PEDOT:PSS. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 17.1% using devices with PEDOT:PSS HTL improved to 17.7% when the PEDOT:PSS/2PACz two-component HTL is used. The improved performance is attributed to the overlaid 2PACz layer preventing the formation of an intermixed p-doped PSS− ion rich region (≈5–10 nm) at the bulk heterojunction-HTL contact interface, resulting in decreased recombination losses and improved stability. Moreover, the 2PACz monolayer is also found to reduce electrical shunts that ultimately yield improved performance in large area devices with PCE enhanced from 12.3% to 13.3% in 1 cm2 cells

Disambiguation of Similar Object-Place Paired Associations and the Roles of the Brain Structures in the Medial Temporal Lobe

Amnesic patients who have damage in the hippocampus and in associated areas in the medial temporal lobe suffer from remembering specific events that may or may not share similar objects and locations. Computational models, behavioral studies, and physiological findings all suggest that neural circuits in the hippocampus are suitable for representing seemingly similar events as distinctively different individual event memories. This article offers a selective review on this particular function of the hippocampus and its associates areas such as the perirhinal cortex, mostly centering upon lesion studies and physiological studies using animals. We also present recent experimental results showing that the dentate gyrus subfield of the hippocampus and perirhinal cortex are particularly important for discriminating similar paired associates between same objects and different locations, or vice versa

Remineralization of demineralized dentin using a dual analog system.

ObjectiveImproved methods are needed to remineralize dentin caries in order to promote conservation of dentin tissue and minimize the surgical interventions that are currently required for clinical treatment. Here, we test the hypothesis that bulk substrates can be effectively mineralized via a dual analog system proposed by others, using a tripolyphosphate (TPP) "templating analog" and a poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) or poly(aspartic acid) (pAsp) "sequestration analog," the latter of which generates the polymer-induced liquid-precursor (PILP) mineralization process studied in our laboratory.Material & methodsDemineralized human dentin slices were remineralized with and without pre-treatment with TPP, using either PAA or pAsp as the PILP process-directing agent. A control experiment with no polymer present was used for comparison.ResultsNo mineralization was observed in any of the PAA groups. In both the pAsp and no polymer groups, TPP inhibited mineralization on the surfaces of the specimens but promoted mineralization within the interiors. Pre-treatment with TPP enhanced overall mineralization of the pAsp group. However, when analysed via TEM, regions with little mineral were still present.ConclusionPoly(acrylic acid) was unable to remineralize demineralized dentin slices under the conditions employed, even when pre-treated with TPP. However, pre-treatment with TPP enhanced overall mineralization of specimens that were PILP-remineralized using pAsp

Skeletal immaturity, rostral sparing, and disparate hip morphologies as biomechanical causes for Legg-Calvé-Perthes’ disease

Legg-Calvé-Perthes' (Perthes') disease is a developmental disease of the hip joint that may result in numerous short and long term problems. The etiology of the disease remains largely unknown, but the mechanism is believed to be vascular and/or biomechanical in nature. There are several anatomical characteristics that tend to be prevalent in children with Perthes' disease, namely: skeletal immaturity, reduced height, and rostral sparing. We present an overview of the literature, summarizing the current understanding of the pathogenesis, particularly related to how the formation of the vasculature to the femoral epiphysis places children aged 5–8 at a higher risk for Perthes' disease, how skeletal immaturity and rostral sparing could increase the probability of developing Perthes' disease, and how animal models have aided our understanding of the disease. In doing so, we also explore why Perthes' disease is correlated to latitude, with populations at higher latitudes having higher incidence rates than populations closer to the Equator. Finally, we present five hypotheses detailing how Perthes' disease could have a biomechanical cause. Clin. Anat. 29:759–772, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc

Assessment of the centre of pressure pattern and moments about S2 in scoliotic subjects during normal walking

Background Context: Research employing gait measurements indicate asymmetries in ground reaction forces and suggest relationships between these asymmetries, neurological dysfunction and spinal deformity. Although, studies have documented the use of centre of pressure (CoP) and net joint moments in gait assessment and have assessed centre of mass (CoM)-CoP distance relationships in clinical conditions, there is a paucity of information relating to the moments about CoM. It is commonly considered that CoM is situated around S2 vertebra in normal upright posture and hence this study uses S2 vertebral prominence as reference point relative to CoM. Purpose: To assess and establish asymmetry in the CoP pattern and moments about S2 vertebral prominence during level walking and its relationship to spinal deformity in adolescents with scoliosis. Patient sample: Nine Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis subjects (8 females and 1 male with varying curve magnitudes and laterality) scheduled for surgery within 2-3 days after data collection, took part in this study. Outcome measures: Kinetic and Kinematic Gait assessment was performed with an aim to estimate the CoP displacement and the moments generated by the ground reaction force about the S2 vertebral prominence during left and right stance during normal walking. Methods: The study employed a strain gauge force platform to estimate the medio-lateral and anterior-posterior displacement of COP and a six camera motion analysis system to track the reflective markers to assess the kinematics. The data were recorded simultaneously. Results: Results indicate wide variations in the medio lateral direction CoP, which could be related to the laterality of both the main and compensation curves. This variation is not evident in the anterior-posterior direction. Similar results were recorded for moments about S2 vertebral prominence. Subjects with higher left compensation curve had greater displacement to the left. Conclusion: Although further longitudinal studies are needed, results indicate that the variables identified in this study are applicable to initial screening and surgical evaluation of scoliosis. © 2008 Chockalingam et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd