Becoming an Artistic Entrepreneur: The Nuts and Bolts of Running a Successful Artistic Venture

The music industry is shifting away from the traditional concert in traditional venues. New and innovative concert experiences are beginning to be designed to continue to find ways to speak to new audiences. As a musician, entrepreneurial skills are becoming more and more mandatory in creating a long-lasting career. Despite the thousands of people who graduate around the country with a music degree each year, the number of traditional music jobs as a major symphony orchestra member or touring soloist are becoming more and more difficult to land, causing many graduates to have to find work in a different field in the interim or as a long-term solution. Unfortunately, a study done by the Strategic National Arts Alumni Project\u27s (SNAAP) 2017 Annual Report: Arts in Alumni in Their Communities identifies major gaps in music curriculum in teaching career-building skills for musicians to flourish in creating their own career. Astrid Baumgardner, Lecturer & Head of Office of Career Strategies at Yale University School of Music, said, Success in the music world today is not a linear process. Rather, it is highly creative and requires that musicians master a lot of skills on top of their musical talent. This project walks through business skills that musicians need to know in order create their own careers such as creating a business plan, developing an entrepreneurial mindset, financing a venture, forming a legal entity, and creating value for a targeted market. In addition to the information provided, there are also activities that students can participate in to further their knowledge and skill

Ancestral Analysis of the French Colonial Moran Cemetery, Biloxi, Mississippi

The Moran site (22HR511) in Biloxi, Mississippi, dates from 1719 to 1723 and is the earliest known French Colonial cemetery in the United States. Historical records suggest that those interred likely represent immigrants from Western Europe as well as Africa who were relocated in an effort to colonize the Louisiana Territory. Given the variety of cultural backgrounds at the site, an ancestral analysis of the 25 individuals uncovered has been conducted. Traditional markers such as cranial and tooth morphology and metrics, and enamel composition, were evaluated in all individuals, and DNA was analyzed in five. Stable isotope levels were also assessed to reconstruct diet. The sample consists of two infants, 21 males and three female adults aged 18 to 45. Results support that most individuals are of European ancestry with strong consensus among those markers employed. Cranial morphology and osteometrics did suggest the presence of two Africans and one possible African. One of these individuals was found with a rosary; the only grave good recovered which leads to the conclusion that slaves were more than likely being converted to Christianity. Thus, data gained from osteological observations, more recently developed analytical techniques, and presence of variant mortuary practices suggest that this French Colonial site exhibited a complex composition of ancestral backgrounds instead of a highly segregated population

Comparisons of physicochemical properties of watermelon juice treated with pulsed electric fields and thermal pasteurization

Pulsed electric field (PEF) treatment is a non-thermal and alternative pasteurization treatment for fruit juices. PEF applies short pulses of electricity to a liquid food sample which inactivates microorganisms and enzymes. Thermal pasteurization is commonly used to pasteurize juice in the fruit juice industry but the process tends to deteriorate color, nutrients, and overall juice appearance. The overall goal of this study was to determine the effects of PEF treatment (30 kv/cm for 57 ìs in bipolar 2 ìs pulses at 22°C) on color, lycopene content, vitamin C content, pH, °Brix, and microbial count when compared with the effects of thermal pasteurization (TP). Fresh watermelon juice was PEF-treated at the following flow rates (mL/min), 60, 80, 100, 120, 140, and 160, while the TP-treated juice was thermally pasteurized with the following conditions: 75°C at 15, 30, and 45 s; 80°C at 15, 30, and 45 s; 85°C at 15, 30, 45 s; 90°C at 15, 30, and 45 s. Vitamin C degradation was modeled and estimated for TP watermelon juice samples using Power Law and Arrhenius models. A fresh, untreated watermelon juice sample was used as the control for the TP treatments. Watermelon juice was passed through the PEF system without pulse application and used as a PEF-control. Triplicate experiments were conducted. For PEF treatments, lycopene content was significantly higher at the slowest flow rate of 60 mL/min. Vitamin C of watermelon juice was not significantly affected during PEF treatment regardless of the flow rate, while it significantly decreased (P \u3c 0.05) with intensity of TP treatments. The reaction rate constant (K) of watermelon juice for TP treatment at 75°C was significantly less than juice sample treated at 80, 85, and 90oC, which indicated that the Power law model worked well at higher temperature TP treatments. This model was more appropriate for predicting vitamin C concentration of watermelon juice during thermal pasteurization. The calculated activated energy for the vitamin C degradation for TP vii treatments was 5.54 (kJ/mol), which was lower than the reported values for other juices. TP-treated juice had higher b*values than PEF-treated juice which indicated TP juice was more yellow in color. PEF treatments did not affect the pH of the juice compared to TP treatments which increased pH. PEF-control and PEF-treated samples had similar °Brix values. TP treatments significantly affected °Brix values of watermelon juice. These results indicate that PEF treatment is a better option for pasteurizing watermelon juice over TP in terms of lycopene, vitamin C content and color

Closing the Opportunity Gap in Mathematics Education

Shifting our attention from the achievement gap (standardized test results) to the opportunity gap (unequal opportunities and experiences among students of differing socioeconomic and racial backgrounds) is necessary to shrink gaps in the American educational system. Although previous studies have focused on the achievement gap in terms of students’ success on standardized tests, there has been limited research on the missed opportunities experienced by Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) in high school mathematics classrooms. This qualitative study revealed the lived experiences of BIPOC students as participating in college and career mathematics readiness activities in a single high school in a southern state during the 2021-2022 school year. The researcher conducted 12 individual interviews in a reserved area in Hope High School. The participants were freshmen and sophomores whose ages ranged between 13- 16 years old. A seven-question instrument was used as guiding questions and each session was recorded via Zoom for transcription purposes. The researcher generated and analyzed data from student interviews as well as a reflection journal. Results of the study presented factors identified by BIPOC students as encouraging or hindering their participation in college and career mathematics readiness activities. Further, the study showed students’ relationships with their teachers, relationships with the content, and relationships with their peers significantly influenced their participation and success in college and career mathematics readiness activities

Financing the Low-Carbon City: Can Local Government Leverage Public Finance to Facilitate Equitable Decarbonisation?

As decarbonisation interventions proliferate within cities, local governments setting ambitious targets are increasingly engaged in complex financial relations. Recognising the necessary cost of renewable and energy efficient infrastructures, and the ever-present constraints on public funds, this paper argues that finance is a critical node through which local governments advance decarbonisation in urban localities. While local decarbonisation strategies have been viewed cautiously for their potential to overburden individuals at the expense of more systematic and organisational change, this paper reveals a more complex picture. Drawing on decarbonisation initiatives in two Melbourne municipalities-Moreland and Darebin-it identifies four ways in which local governments are using public finance to achieve their sustainability objectives. Local governments are brokering bulk product purchases for residents; lending upfront capital for solar PV via local property taxes; purchasing energy efficient products and funding innovative technology pilots; and procuring renewable energy supply through multi-stakeholder power purchase agreements. By targeting lower income households and pooling resources with other organisations, the paper shows that local governments can address socio-economic inequality and facilitate extra-local change towards a low-carbon city. However, these incremental achievements emphasise the need for co-ordination and state engagement to realise decarbonisation at a meaningful scale

Facilitating Better Learning for Student-Athletes: A Competency-Based Needs Assessment in an Academic Services Unit

A capstone submitted in partial fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in the College of Education at Morehead State University by Jonene L. Cook and Nicole D. Jones on February 12, 2016

Mothers Who Kill: Number of Victims, Sexism, and a Just World

High profile cases, such as those of Susan Smith and Andrea Yates, have drawn the attention of the public and scholars to the act of filicide, the killing of a child by his/her parent. Although relatively rare, filicide has occurred throughout history. Most experts agree mental illness is frequently an underlying factor when mothers kill their children. After giving birth women are at greater risk for psychiatric illness, specifically postpartum depression. Symptoms of postpartum depression include abrupt mood swings, suicidal thoughts, and thinking about hurting their new born child (Davidson, 2000). Postpartum depression occurs in only one woman out of 200 and full-blown postpartum psychosis develops in only .2% of these women. Infanticide, the killing of a child less than one year of age, is frequently occasioned by postpartum psychosis (Meyer & Oberman, 2001).Society perceives mothers who kill their children as unique cases different from other people accused of crimes. “Mothers who murder their children evoke sympathy, confusion, and abhorrence…Society is torn between wanting to protect the helpless child and recognizing that perhaps the very act of child murder suggests that the mother was severely ill or demented and therefore deserving of sympathetic sentencing (Manchester, 2003, p. 714).

Effects of Simulated Altitude on Maximal Oxygen Uptake and Inspiratory Fitness

International Journal of Exercise Science 10(1): 128-136, 2017 Aerobic exercise at altitude has shown an increase in maximal oxygen uptake. Similar effects have been replicated by way of simulated altitude training, which have influenced various advances in the field of exercise science. Elevation Training Masks© (ETM) claim to stimulate cardiorespiratory fitness improvements similar to training at altitude, however, there is little research to support this claim. The purpose of this study was to research the effect that a hypoxia-inducing mask would have on cardiorespiratory fitness and pulmonary function through the use of a high intensity interval training (HIIT) running program. Seventeen subjects were randomized into either the control group, without the mask, or experimental group, with the mask, and participated in a 6-week HIIT protocol of 4 sessions per week. Each session included a warm up, followed by intervals of running at 80% of their heart rate reserve (HRR) for 90 seconds and followed by 3 minutes of active rest at 50-60% of HRR. A total of 6 intervals were completed per session. Within subjects, there was a significant increase in predicted VO2max (F(1,17)=7.376, P\u3c.05). However, there was no significant difference in predicted VO2max between the control and experimental groups (F(1, 17)=3.669, p= .075). Forced inspiratory vital capacity demonstrated no significant difference within subjects (F(1, 17)= .073, p \u3e .05), or between the two groups (F(1, 17)= 3.724, p= .073). Similar to the VO2max results, forced vital capacity demonstrated a significant increase within subjects (F(1, 17)=6.201, p\u3c.05), but there was no significant difference between the control and experimental groups (F(1,17)=3.562, p= .079). Although the between groups data was not significant, there was a greater increase in the experimental group wearing the ETM compared to the control group not wearing the mask for all 3 variables. Data suggest that HIIT training can be a viable method of improving VO2max and pulmonary function however, training masks such as the ETM may not lead to greater overall improvements

Successful use of neck snares to live-capture red foxes

Box traps and foot-hold snares are common methods to live-capture study animals. However, these methods are frequently ineffective due to factors such as weather constraints, food availability, and target animal behavior. During a study of red fox (Vulpes vulpes) behavior, we examined the use of neck snares to live-trap study animals. We modified the neck snare using swivel cam-locks, deer stops to minimize damage to the animal. Additionally, we utilized our knowledge of red-fox behavior to set traps in a way that would reduce trauma to the captured animals. We snared 21 red foxes during the 3-year study with only 2 fatal injuries. Sixteen of these animals were followed with radio-telemetry for 3 to 28 months. With the data we collected during the radio-telemetry, we calculated home ranges. Home range size estimates calculated during the first few months for each fox were not different than those collected during the rest of the season. Most of the estimated home ranges for these red foxes did not encompass the snare location, suggesting either avoidance of the trap location or that the foxes were caught while investigating the status of another territory. Because captured red foxes were active the evening immediately after capture and all captured females reared young that spring, we determined that neck snares did not greatly affect their behavior. Thus, this method is a successful alternative way to live-capture red foxes for radio-telemetry studies

Protein Time Machine: Creating an Ancestral Voltage Gated Sodium Channel of \u3ci\u3eThamnophis sirtalis\u3c/i\u3e

A central goal of evolutionary genetics is to understand how contingency and constraint shape evolutionary trajectories of protein evolution. There is considerable evidence that the fitness consequences of mutations are dependent on the genetic background in which they occur. This context dependence means that understanding the effects of putatively adaptive mutations as well as the evolutionary history of novel protein function can be difficult. An ideal approach might be a “protein time machine” in which mutations of interest are inserted into ancient ancestral gene sequences and their effects quantified. When multiple mutations are thought to be important, the order of these mutations can be tested to replicate the actual evolutionary history of the protein in question. Here we report our construction of a “protein time machine” to study the evolution of adaptive TTX resistance in garter snake predators. These snakes have evolved extreme resistance to TTX because of coevolution with TTX-bearing salamanders. Our work uses ancestral sequence reconstruction to predict the sequence of a voltage-gated sodium channel (the target of TTX) that was present in the ancestor of modern resistant snakes (rough 50,000 YA). We used protein modelling to estimate the TTX binding energy of this VGSC and to test whether the channel forms hydrogen bonds with TTX. Finally, we constructed a synthetic expression vector that includes the coding sequence of this VGSC coupled with regulatory and promotor sequences that will be used to express this protein in a Xenopus oocyte expression system to replicate the last 50,000 years of evolution in this protein