The Modern Idea of Creativity and its Influence on Music Therapy

This is the final version of the article. Available from the publisher via the link in this record.In recent years, improvisation has been recognized as one of the most important tools for music therapy. Several accounts have been made concerning the importance of improvisation, each from a particular music therapists point of view. In this essay, my objective is to consider how modern, Western ideas concerning improvisation have informed the practices and philosophies of music therapy. I begin with a comparison of traditional Japanese ideas concerning creativity and modern Western conceptions of creativity and improvisation, focusing in particular on the influence of reflexive modernity. Next I consider the influence of reflexive modernity on improvisation within contemporary music therapy, discussing the psychologized tendencies of modern music and music therapy. I conclude by invoking Deleuze and Guattaris concept of line of fight to advocate for a model of music therapy that connects the music and the individual to something outside as in The Otoasobi Project in Japan and in various non-Western healing traditions

Hybrid system of communication and radio determination using two geostationary satellites

A new hybrid satellite system which can provide both communications and positioning services in one system using two geostationary satellites is discussed. The distinctive feature is that location information can be provided by transmitting and receiving ranging signals over the same channel as communications through two geostationary satellites

Similarity Measure among Structures of Local Government Statute Books based on Tree Edit Distance

A similarity measure between statute books of local governments that can help reveal suggestive similarities is proposed. The regulations of a local government are stored in a statute book, and they are categorized in a layered structure. The layered structure can be described as an ordered tree in computer science, and we define the similarity of statute books as the tree edit distance between two trees. We have calculated the similarities among statute books of the 47 Japanese prefectures and plotted them on a plane using multi-dimensional scaling. The results visually indicate the relationships of similarities among them, and there are several outlier prefectures and clusters. This will help find local governments with similar regulations, which will facilitate the writing or revision of statutes, especially in small local governments, which are typically short staffed

Differential activation of STATs 3 and 5 during mammary gland development

AbstractWe have investigated the activity of STAT family members throughout a mammary developmental cycle. Transcripts for Stat 5 were upregulated during pregnancy whilst STAT1 and STAT3 mRNAs were expressed at constant levels. DNA binding complexes containing both STAT5a and 5b showed differing affinities for two naturally occurring STAT5 binding sites. In the involuting mammary gland STAT5 activity decreased whereas STAT3 was specifically activated. These observations reveal a complex pattern of activation of STAT factors during mammary growth, differentiation and remodelling and provide the first evidence for the involvement of STAT3 in development of the mammary gland

Pointed Hopf superalgebras of dimension up to 10

By utilizing the technique introduced in our previous work to construct Hopf superalgebras by an inverse procedure of the Radford-Majid bosonization, we classify non-semisimple pointed Hopf superalgebras of dimension up to 10 over an algebraically closed field of characteristic zero.Comment: 26 page

A Clinical Examination and Electromyographic Evaluation in Edentulous Patient with MPD Syndrome

It is not easy to establish the proper maxillo-mandibular relations and occlusion in order to construct complete dentures for edentulous patients who have lost all their natural teeth and surrounding structures. For this reason, many practitioners have studied the accurate procedures for jaw measurement. However, if edentulous patients have an improper measurement of occlusal vertical dimension and/or maxillo-mandibular relations in prosthetic treatment, they often complain of functional disorder of the masticatory system and the interaction between the muscles, the joints and occlusion. In these patients the functional demand exceeds the adaptive capacity of the neuromusculature. As a result, these patients exhibit muscle pain, deviation of the mandible on opening, joint noises, limited opening of the jaws, or other symptoms associated with the syndrome. In complete denture wearers with myofascial pain-dysfunction (MPD) syndrome, symptoms disappeared after improvement of the occlusal vertical dimension with the lower treatment denture. There were clear differences between before and after prosthetic treatment with electromyographic (EMG) activity of the masseter muscles

Influence of lumbar kyphosis and back muscle strength on the symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux disease in middle-aged and elderly people

OBJECTIVE: The objectives of this study was to clarify the relationship between kyphosis and Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) by evaluation of spinal alignment, obesity, osteoporosis, back muscle strength, intake of oral drugs, and smoking and alcohol history in screening of a community population to determine the factors related to GERD symptoms. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: GERD increases with age and is estimated to occur in about 30% of people. Risk factors for GERD include aging, male gender, obesity, oral medicines, smoking, and alcohol intake. It has also been suggested that kyphosis may influence the frequency of GERD, but the relationship between kyphosis and GERD is unclear. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: We examined 245 subjects (100 males and 145 females; average age 66.7 years old) in a health checkup that included evaluation of sagittal balance and spinal mobility with SpinalMouse(®), GERD symptoms using the Frequency Scale for Symptoms of GERD (FSSG) questionnaire, body mass index, osteoporosis, back muscle strength, number of oral drugs taken per day, intake of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), intake of bisphosphonates, and smoking and alcohol intake. RESULTS: Multivariate logistic regression analysis including all the variables showed that lumbar lordosis angle, sagittal balance, number of oral drugs taken per day, and back muscle strength had significant effects on the presence of GERD (OR, 1.10, 1.11, 1.09 and 1.03; 95%CI, 1.03–1.17, 1.02–1.20, 1.01–1.18 and 1.01–1.04; p = 0.003, 0.015, 0.031 and 0.038, respectively). The other factors showed no association with GERD. CONCLUSION: This study is the first to show that lumbar kyphosis, poor sagittal balance; increased number of oral drugs taken per day, and decreased back muscle strength are important risk factors for the development of GERD symptoms. Thus, orthopedic surgeons and physicians should pay attention to GERD in elderly patients with spinal deformity