Nonverbal Communication in the Music Classroom

In this literature review, I examine the importance of using nonverbal communication in the music classroom. I first offer insights from the general literature on communication, which has highlighted how nonverbal skills help people to connect and communicate more effectively with others. I then make connections to music education, where we regularly implement nonverbal communication through various means, such as conducting gestures and facial expressions in ensemble contexts. I discuss the importance of finding an optimal balance between verbal and nonverbal instruction to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of musical rehearsals—particularly within culturally diverse populations in which linguistic differences may complicate traditional verbal communication efforts. I conclude by offering possibilities for further research that might provide greater insight into these findings

Actor-Transformers for Group Activity Recognition

This paper strives to recognize individual actions and group activities from videos. While existing solutions for this challenging problem explicitly model spatial and temporal relationships based on location of individual actors, we propose an actor-transformer model able to learn and selectively extract information relevant for group activity recognition. We feed the transformer with rich actor-specific static and dynamic representations expressed by features from a 2D pose network and 3D CNN, respectively. We empirically study different ways to combine these representations and show their complementary benefits. Experiments show what is important to transform and how it should be transformed. What is more, actor-transformers achieve state-of-the-art results on two publicly available benchmarks for group activity recognition, outperforming the previous best published results by a considerable margin.Comment: CVPR 202

Radon, From the Ground into Our Schools: Parent/Guardian Awareness of Radon Levels in Vermont Schools

Introduction. Radon is the leading cause of lung cancer among non-smokers. Ex- posure to radon in schools may be harmful to schoolchildren, faculty, and staff, but there is currently no legislation mandating testing or mitigation of radon levels in Vermont schools. Objectives. The goal of our study was to assess Vermont parents’ awareness of radon’s harmful effects, as well as awareness of and support for testing and mitigation of radon levels in their children’s schools. Methods. We distributed paper and online surveys to Vermont parents of children grades K-12. 126 surveys were received and quantitatively analyzed. We held a focus group of two Vermont parents to gather qualitative data. Results. Most surveyed parents demonstrated general knowledge of radon, but only 51% believed that radon affects the lungs. 8% were confident that their children’s schools had informed them about radon levels. 91.2% believe their children’s schools should take action to address elevated radon levels and 87% would support mandated mitigation. There is some concern and lack of knowledge about the financial implications of radon mitigation. Conclusions. Most Vermont parents of children grades K-12 are unaware that radon is a lung carcinogen and do not know their children’s school’s radon levels or mitigation status. However, most are in favor of legislation that would require testing and dis- closure of schools’ high radon levels. Educating parents about school radon levels and their association with lung cancer could be a foundation for community support of legislation that mandates testing and mitigation of radon in Vermont schools.https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/comphp_gallery/1252/thumbnail.jp

Policy Options to Attract Nurses to Rural Liberia : Evidence from a Discrete Choice Experiment

There is major geographic variation in nurse staffing levels in Liberia with the largest shortages in rural areas. A discrete choice experiment (DCE) was used to test how nurses and certified midwives in Liberia would respond to alternative policies being considered by the ministry of health and social welfare (MOHSW). The DCE methodology provides a quantitative estimate of how individuals value different aspects of their job. In Liberia we focused on six key job attributes: location, total pay, conditions of equipment, availability of transportation, availability of housing, and workload. Results were used to predict the share of nurses and certified midwives who would accept a job in a rural area under different schemes. Based on the DCE analysis there are four main actionable recommendations that emerge for improving recruitment and retention of nurses and certified midwives in rural areas of Liberia. First, the MOHSW should consider actively recruiting students from rural areas and exposing them to rural work conditions during their training. Second, the MOHSW should strongly consider increasing pay levels in rural areas as this is likely to be cost effective. Third, if for some reason financial bonuses are not feasible, the MOHSW should consider providing transportation to nurses and certified midwives in rural areas. Fourth, the MOHSW should reconsider its housing strategy. Providing newly constructed housing is not a cost effective policy according to the DCE study

Jaundice: an important, poorly recognized risk factor for diminished survival in patients with adenocarcinoma of the head of the pancreas

AbstractObjectivesJaundice impairs cellular immunity, an important defence against the dissemination of cancer. Jaundice is a common mode of presentation in pancreatic head adenocarcinoma. The purpose of this study was to determine whether there is an association between preoperative jaundice and survival in patients who have undergone resection of such tumours.MethodsThirty possible survival risk factors were evaluated in a database of over 400 resected patients. Univariate analysis was used to determine odds ratio for death. All factors for which a P‐value of <0.30 was obtained were entered into a multivariate analysis using the Cox model with backward selection.ResultsPreoperative jaundice, age, positive node status, poor differentiation and lymphatic invasion were significant indicators of poor outcome in multivariate analysis. Absence of jaundice was a highly favourable prognostic factor. Interaction emerged between jaundice and nodal status. The benefit conferred by the absence of jaundice was restricted to patients in whom negative node status was present. Five‐year overall survival in this group was 66%. Jaundiced patients who underwent preoperative stenting had a survival advantage.ConclusionsPreoperative jaundice is a negative risk factor in adenocarcinoma of the pancreas. Additional studies are required to determine the exact mechanism for this effect

Permeation of macromolecules into the renal glomerular basement membrane and capture by the tubules

Human kidneys contain ∼2 x 106 glomeruli that produce ∼180 L per day of primary filtrate. Downstream tubules reabsorb most of the water, salt, and desirable low-molecular weight substances, leaving 1 to 2 L per day of urine containing undesirable waste products. Currently, most investigators think that the primary filtrate is low in protein because fluid exiting the glomerulus passes through slits spanned by a diaphragm that acts as a low-porosity molecular sieve. Our experiments challenge this view; they show that size-dependent permeation into the glomerular basement membrane and into a gel-like coat that covers the slits, together with saturable tubular reabsorption, determines which macromolecules reach the urine. The slit diaphragm is essential for capillary structure but may not directly determine glomerular size selectivity

Thoughts on the future of artificial intelligence and transportation

In this concluding chapter of the Circular, we have asked members of our committee to share with the readers their personal thoughts on the future of AI and transportation. We are pleased herein to present select quotes from the committee members, organized alphabetically, on that topic