White Crane Spreads its Wings and Snow Rabbit Digs the Earth: Kinetograms of Contrasting Styles within Chinese Martial and Meditative Arts of Taijiquan (T’ai Chi Ch’uan, 太极拳) and Qigong (Chi Gong, 气功)

Taijiquan is a Chinese martial art that developed in the 17th century from a base of traditional forms from earlier centuries. Now widely practiced internationally, it is promoted as gentle exercise, as self-defense and as movement meditation with significant health benefits. Qigong, consisting of similar movement but intended entirely as a health benefit, has been practiced for considerably longer. This paper discusses the advantages of having Taijiquan sequences or forms recorded with Kinetography Laban/Labanotation over other various memory aids for learning the martial art. It explains the basic principles of Taijiquan and how these can be best captured in the notation system, addressing some major challenges and providing excerpts of the Yang Style 24 Hand Form. It also covers the five family styles of Taijiquan (Chen, Yang, Wu (Hao), Wu and Sun) and how Kinetography Laban/Labanotation can be used for the comparison of these styles. It mentions identifying variation in different practitioners of the same style or form and recording Qigong into movement notation

White Crane Spreads its Wings and Snow Rabbit Digs the Earth: Kinetograms of Contrasting Styles within Chinese Martial and Meditative Arts of Taijiquan (T’ai Chi Ch’uan, 太极拳) and Qigong (Chi Gong, 气功)

Taijiquan is a Chinese martial art that developed in the 17th century from a base of traditional forms from earlier centuries. Now widely practiced internationally, it is promoted as gentle exercise, as self-defense and as movement meditation with significant health benefits. Qigong, consisting of similar movement but intended entirely as a health benefit, has been practiced for considerably longer. This paper discusses the advantages of having Taijiquan sequences or forms recorded with Kinetography Laban/Labanotation over other various memory aids for learning the martial art. It explains the basic principles of Taijiquan and how these can be best captured in the notation system, addressing some major challenges and providing excerpts of the Yang Style 24 Hand Form. It also covers the five family styles of Taijiquan (Chen, Yang, Wu (Hao), Wu and Sun) and how Kinetography Laban/Labanotation can be used for the comparison of these styles. It mentions identifying variation in different practitioners of the same style or form and recording Qigong into movement notation

Delivering Culturally Competent Care to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Population

Purpose: To this day, the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) communities still experience negative health outcomes due to social stigma and discrimination. Additionally, nursing has lagged behind other health professions in the promotion of culturally competent care to members of this minority group. Several national authorities on LGBT health have proposed guidelines for providing such care to the LGBT population; however, many nursing schools are not integrating these recommendations into their curricula. Methods: Using these national guidelines, an educational program was developed for BSN students at a large south Florida university to improve competency in providing care for LGBT individuals. The goal was to improve nursing providers’ attitudes, knowledge and skills in the care of the LGBT community. 120 BSN students completed online modules regarding LGBT health disparities and a disaster simulation requiring the placement of a transgender individual in proper emergency housing. Participants were surveyed pre- and post- intervention as well as one month after to assess if any changes observed had persisted. Results: Overall cultural competence scores increased significantly from baseline to post-test and did not decline significantly at one month follow-up. Notable improvements in the instrument sub-scales (knowledge, skills, and awareness) were also noted. Finally, both the presenter and the program received positive ratings regarding the usefulness of the program and its applicability to nursing practice. Conclusion: Educational content focused on providing culturally competent care for LGBT individuals may lead to improvements in providers’ awareness, skills, and knowledge about the unique needs of the LGBT population

Starting and Operating a Woman-Owned Mechanical Engineering Consulting Firm in Kansas: Business and Operations Plan

Venture Description: The proposed business is a mechanical engineering consulting business that designs heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC), plumbing and fire protection systems for commercial and industrial buildings. The proposed business is a woman-owned firm, and seeks out design projects requiring women and minority business participation. The proposed business is currently in the start-up phase of operations. The owner of the proposed business is a licensed professional engineer. The engineer will stamp all design documents, which includes plans and specifications. Venture Organization and Structure: The proposed business is a Limited Liability Company (LLC), owned and operated by Elle McEwing. She has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Architectural Engineering from Kansas State University, 10 years of mechanical engineering design and management experience, and is a licensed professional engineer. Elle McEwing will handle all engineering design, drawings, specifications, and client correspondence. An attorney and an accountant will be hired as needed for legal and tax expertise. Venture Market: Buildings for commercial and industrial use are continually being built and/or renovated. Engineering services are in constant demand for all of these projects. In general, large architecture and engineering firms are hired for large design projects, and they often seek small businesses to handle some portion of their work. This is commonly due to fulfilling the minority and women-owned business goals for government work. There are 15 to 20 large firms and many small firms in the Kansas City area that are potential customers of the proposed business. The proposed business is one of very few businesses that can provide this service and business classification in the Kansas City Area. Most of the marketing for the proposed business will consist of networking and telephone correspondence with known individuals in the engineering industry. The proposed business will seek subcontractor roles for government contracts where the woman-owned status will aid in securing contracts. The marketing strategy will be to register on SBA’s PRO-Net database (http://pro-net.sba.gov). PRO-Net is a searchable research database of small businesses that is used by both government buyers and small businesses. Government contracting officers and prime contractors use the database to identify small businesses that have the capability to provide the products or services they need. Small businesses can use it as a marketing tool and for researching their competition. The proposed business will network to secure relationships with large local Architectural/Engineering firms to provide support roles and to help meet the goals for subcontracting with small businesses, small disadvantaged businesses and woman-owned small businesses for government contracts. Venture Operations: The proposed business will have very low operating costs. Services for customers will be billed by the hour, with an anticipated billing of $75,000 to$100,000 annually. This is based upon billing an average of 20 hours per week. This number of hours could increase in the future if the Owner wishes to spend additional time working. Expansion in terms of hiring additional employees is not anticipated. Venture Financing: The company will be started with very little initial cost; approximately $5000. A home office will be used for operations. The Owner already has a computer, printer and software needed for the business. An additional phone line and fax machine will be purchased, along with business cards and office supplies. State licensing fees, liability insurance and trade association memberships will be maintained annually. The initial money required for start-up will be obtained from personal savings

Is the Dance Still in the Music? Chaconne Compositions from the Seventeenth to the Twentieth Century

This thesis looks at the relationship of dance to the music with which it is performed, and how consideration of the dance component in the music, whether literal or implied, can influence and even inspire a musical performance today. As a contemporary point of reference, the introduction briefly describes Douglas Lilburn's Chaconne (1946) for piano, and the composer's inspiration of walking the west coast of New Zealand's South Island. After describing the history of the chaconne - its Spanish introduction to Europe as a peasant dance, to Italy and the commedia dell'arte, to France where it was adopted by the court, and then the rest of Europe - chapter one discusses the general inter-relationship of dance and music. The arts of dance and music were considered equal in Europe prior to the eighteenth century. Continuing with defining the term "dance music," the chapter then considers other Baroque dance-types, illustrating how the chaconne is representative of the genre. It further defines the chaconne as describing a journey, thus providing a basis for a comparison of chaconnes written through the centuries and around the world. The chaconne's role, and dance generally, in the theatre of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries is discussed in chapter two. The fifteen extant Baroque dances for which notations are available are discussed in chapter three, with four of them being analysed in detail using seventeenth-century rhetorical theories of Bary and Lamy, as defined and applied in twentieth-century analyses of Baroque dance by Ranum, Maher, and Schwartz. Three chaconne dances for the commedia dell'arte character, Harlequin are also discussed. Chapter four looks at the music of the chaconne, analyses the corresponding music for the four dances studied in chapter three, and then considers the interaction between these dance and music examples. Chapter five concludes with a discussion of modern performance practices for dance and music, and the current contrasting trends of careful consideration being given to performance of Baroque music, but the general lack of equivalent sensitivity to any dance that is deemed "old." A study of two contrasting recordings of Lilburn's Chaconne follows: one dance-spirited, the other with an intellectual approach. A similarly detailed examination of Jose Limon's choreography Chaconne (1942) demonstrates a careful consideration of the music on a par with the Baroque dances discussed. Several appendices are included. After a brief introduction, Beauchamp-Feuillet Notation and How to Read It, fifteen notated Baroque-chaconnes in this notation schema are included, with a brief description preceding each one. This is followed by a selective list of twentieth-century choreographies either titled chaconne or to chaconne music, and selective lists of chaconne music, separated into before and after 1800. In addition to the written thesis, live performance of the noble dance Chacone of Amadis and the grotesque Chacoon for a Harlequin was undertaken as an integral part of the study. A DVD recording of this event is included with this volume

Is the Dance Still in the Music? Chaconne Compositions from the Seventeenth to the Twentieth Century

This thesis looks at the relationship of dance to the music with which it is performed, and how consideration of the dance component in the music, whether literal or implied, can influence and even inspire a musical performance today. As a contemporary point of reference, the introduction briefly describes Douglas Lilburn's Chaconne (1946) for piano, and the composer's inspiration of walking the west coast of New Zealand's South Island. After describing the history of the chaconne - its Spanish introduction to Europe as a peasant dance, to Italy and the commedia dell'arte, to France where it was adopted by the court, and then the rest of Europe - chapter one discusses the general inter-relationship of dance and music. The arts of dance and music were considered equal in Europe prior to the eighteenth century. Continuing with defining the term "dance music," the chapter then considers other Baroque dance-types, illustrating how the chaconne is representative of the genre. It further defines the chaconne as describing a journey, thus providing a basis for a comparison of chaconnes written through the centuries and around the world. The chaconne's role, and dance generally, in the theatre of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries is discussed in chapter two. The fifteen extant Baroque dances for which notations are available are discussed in chapter three, with four of them being analysed in detail using seventeenth-century rhetorical theories of Bary and Lamy, as defined and applied in twentieth-century analyses of Baroque dance by Ranum, Maher, and Schwartz. Three chaconne dances for the commedia dell'arte character, Harlequin are also discussed. Chapter four looks at the music of the chaconne, analyses the corresponding music for the four dances studied in chapter three, and then considers the interaction between these dance and music examples. Chapter five concludes with a discussion of modern performance practices for dance and music, and the current contrasting trends of careful consideration being given to performance of Baroque music, but the general lack of equivalent sensitivity to any dance that is deemed "old." A study of two contrasting recordings of Lilburn's Chaconne follows: one dance-spirited, the other with an intellectual approach. A similarly detailed examination of Jose Limon's choreography Chaconne (1942) demonstrates a careful consideration of the music on a par with the Baroque dances discussed. Several appendices are included. After a brief introduction, Beauchamp-Feuillet Notation and How to Read It, fifteen notated Baroque-chaconnes in this notation schema are included, with a brief description preceding each one. This is followed by a selective list of twentieth-century choreographies either titled chaconne or to chaconne music, and selective lists of chaconne music, separated into before and after 1800. In addition to the written thesis, live performance of the noble dance Chacone of Amadis and the grotesque Chacoon for a Harlequin was undertaken as an integral part of the study. A DVD recording of this event is included with this volume

Incidences of School-based Anti-gay and Gender-related Bullying: Differences across Levels of Education

Anti-gay and gender-related bullying and harassment are pervasive public health problems found in schools and are correlated with negative mental health and educational outcomes for students. This study examines the differences in the forms and prevalence of anti-gay and gender-related bullying with students from middle school, secondary, and post-secondary institutions. This information can assist researchers and practitioners in better understanding the prevalence of anti-gay verbal versus physical harassment at particular education levels. The sample comprised 7,007 participants. Multivariate analysis of variance was used to examine differences across levels of education, race/ethnicity, and gender on the 9-item Gender and Orientation Attitudes Scale. We found that middle school students were least comfortable with others perceived as gay or transgender and least likely to speak up against anti-gay bullying. Both middle school and high school students were most likely to use anti-gay and gender-related verbal slurs. Middle school students reported the greatest prevalence of physical harassment towards peers based on perceived gender and orientation. Implications of these results for public health are discussed

Response of CO₂ and CH₄ emissions from Arctic tundra soils to a multifactorial manipulation of water table, temperature and thaw depth

Significant uncertainties persist concerning how Arctic soil tundra carbon emission responds to environmental changes. In this study, 24 cores were sampled from drier (high centre polygons and rims) and wetter (low centre polygons and troughs) permafrost tundra ecosystems. We examined how soil CO2 and CH4 fluxes responded to laboratory-based manipulations of soil temperature (and associated thaw depth) and water table depth, representing current and projected conditions in the Arctic. Similar soil CO2 respiration rates occurred in both the drier and the wetter sites, suggesting that a significant proportion of soil CO2 emission occurs via anaerobic respiration under water-saturated conditions in these Arctic tundra ecosystems. In the absence of vegetation, soil CO2 respiration rates decreased sharply within the first 7 weeks of the experiment, while CH4 emissions remained stable for the entire 26 weeks of the experiment. These patterns suggest that soil CO2 emission is more related to plant input than CH4 production and emission. The stable and substantial CH4 emission observed over the entire course of the experiment suggests that temperature limitations, rather than labile carbon limitations, play a predominant role in CH4 production in deeper soil layers. This is likely due to the presence of a substantial source of labile carbon in these carbon-rich soils. The small soil temperature difference (a median difference of 1 ◦C) and a more substantial thaw depth difference (a median difference of 6 cm) between the high and low temperature treatments resulted in a non-significant difference between soil CO2 and CH4 emissions. Although hydrology continued to be the primary factor influencing CH4 emissions, these emissions remained low in the drier ecosystem, even with a water table at the surface. This result suggests the potential absence of a methanogenic microbial community in high-centre polygon and rim ecosystems. Overall, our results suggest that the temperature increases reported for these Arctic regions are not responsible for increases in carbon losses. Instead, it is the changes in hydrology that exert significant control over soil CO2 and CH4 emissions

Improving cost-efficiency of faecal genotyping:new tools for elephant species

Despite the critical need for non-invasive tools to improve monitoring of wildlife populations, especially for endangered and elusive species, faecal genetic sampling has not been adopted as regular practice, largely because of the associated technical challenges and cost. Substantial work needs to be undertaken to refine sample collection and preparation methods in order to improve sample set quality and provide cost-efficient tools that can effectively support wildlife management. In this study, we collected an extensive set of forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis) faecal samples throughout Gabon, Central Africa, and prepared them for genotyping using 107 single-nucleotide polymorphism assays. We developed a new quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay targeting a 130-bp nuclear DNA fragment and demonstrated its suitability for degraded samples in all three elephant species. Using this assay to compare the efficacy of two sampling methods for faecal DNA recovery, we found that sampling the whole surface of a dung pile with a swab stored in a small tube of lysis buffer was a convenient method producing high extraction success and DNA yield. We modelled the influence of faecal quality and storage time on DNA concentration in order to provide recommendations for optimized collection and storage. The maximum storage time to ensure 75% success was two months for samples collected within 24 hours after defecation and extended to four months for samples collected within one hour. Lastly, the real-time quantitative PCR assay allowed us to predict genotyping success and pre-screen DNA samples, thus further increasing the cost-efficiency of our approach. We recommend combining the validation of an efficient sampling method, the build of in-country DNA extraction capacity for reduced storage time and the development of species-specific quantitative PCR assays in order to increase the cost-efficiency of routine non-invasive DNA analyses and expand the use of next-generation markers to non-invasive samples