The interconnection between musicality and classical ballet technique in Adagio and Allegro - 5th year I Escola Artística de Dança do Conservatório Nacional

Internship report submitted to the Escola Superior de dança in candidacy for the degree in Master of Dance EducationNa Técnica de Dança Clássica, os movimentos são executados em relação ao ritmo e à melodia da música que os acompanha (que acompanha os exercícios). Isto pode ser visto como uma aptidão natural, mas pode ser desenvolvido através de treino. A musicalidade incorpora ritmo, melodia e harmonia, permitindo que as frases sejam executadas com um movimento fluido, respondendo à música como um todo. Elaborado no âmbito do Curso de Mestrado em Ensino de Dança, ministrado pela Escola Superior de Dança, Instituto Politécnico de Lisboa, o presente Relatório de Estágio tem como título ‘A interligação entre a musicalidade e a Técnica de Dança Clássica no adagio e allegro no 5º ano Escola Artística de Dança do Conservatório Nacional. O Estágio, desenvolvido no ano letivo de 2021/22, com os alunos do 5º ano, teve por área de lecionação a Técnica da Dança Clássica. A turma em que se desenvolveu Estágio, foi a turma B, composta por 6 alunas, com idades compreendidas de 14 e 15 anos. Partindo da questão: De que forma a musicalidade influencia a técnica na aula de Técnica da Dança Clássica? O nosso objetivo foi estabelecer estratégias para o desenvolvimento da musicalidade de forma a melhorar a qualidade musical em exercícios de adagio e allegro, através da antecipação da transferência de peso e coordenação de port de bras na aula de TDC. De forma a suportar os objetivos delineados e a poder recolher dados que permitissem avaliar a prática, optou-se pela metodologia de Investigação ação e foram aplicados os seguintes instrumentos de recolha de dados: Grelhas de observação, diário de bordo, observação não participante, captação de imagens e questionários. As conclusões, a análise final e as reflexões baseadas nesta intervenção pedagógica prática na EADCN demonstraram que os alunos do 5º ano na EADCN apresentaram resultados de aprendizagem positivos. Uma compreensão mais profunda da importância da utilização da anacrusis da música e do movimento, antecipando a transferência de peso, e a coordenação de port de bras para melhorar a musicalidade na TDC foi claramente evidente. Concluímos que o nosso foco nos movimentos anteriores e ajustamentos necessários antes da execução de um movimento, é uma estratégia de ensino relevante para cultivar e desenvolver a musicalidade nos alunos.ABTRACT - In classical ballet technique movements are performed in relationship to the rhythm and melody of the accompanied music. This may be seen as a natural ability but may be developed through training. Classical ballet can be defined through the quality of grace in phrasing, fluidity, and harmony which are bound up with the dancers' reaction to music. Musicality incorporates rhythm, melody, and harmony allowing phrases to be performed with a flowing movement, responding to the music as a whole. The class planned for the development of this internship was the 5th year in Classical Ballet Technique. The students ranged between 14 and 15 years of age, frequenting the vocational dance training program at the National Dance Conservatory of Lisbon, Portugal, in the school year 2021/2022. Starting from the question: In what way musicality influences technique in a Classical Ballet Technique class? Our objective was to establish strategies for the development of musicality in order to improve the musical quality in adagio and allegro exercises, through the anticipation of weight transfer and coordination of port de bras in a CBT class. The basis of the methodology chosen was action-research, to meet the objectives of developing a better understanding of musicality in adagio and allegro. The research methodology uses the following data collection tools; observation tables, logbook, non-participant observation, image capturing and questionnaires. The conclusions, final analysis, and reflective thoughts based upon this practical teaching intervention at EADCN demonstrated that the students of the 5th year at EADCN presented positive learning outcomes. A deeper understanding of the importance of the use of the anacrusis of the music and movement, anticipating transfer of weight and coordination of port de bras to enhance musicality in Classical Ballet Technique was clearly evident. We conclude that our focus on the preceding movements and adjustments necessary prior to the execution of a movement, is an important teaching strategy relevant to nurture and develop musicality in students.N/

Town Center Vision

In December 2010, City Council passed Resolution 2261 which directed the City’s Committee for Citizen Involvement (CCI) to prepare a more formal action plan for smart growth and sustainability. Emerald Solutions, a team of Portland State Master’s students, was tasked with furthering these efforts by completing a Sustainability and Smart Growth Pilot Plan for the Town Center Pilot Area (TCPA). The plan works to develop a complete concept, structure, and community outreach process that will guide the City in the creation of a broader, citywide plan. This project was conducted under the supervision of Sumner Sharpe and Ellen Bassett

A Flexible, Low-Cost Hydroponic Co-Cultivation System for Studying Arbuscular Mycorrhiza Symbiosis

Arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) is a widespread symbiosis between plant roots and fungi of the Glomeromycotina, which improves nutrient uptake by plants. The molecular mechanisms underlying development and function of the symbiosis are subject to increasing research activity. Since AM occurs in the soil, most studies targeting a molecular understanding of AM development and function, use solid substrates for co-cultivating plants and AM fungi. However, for some experiments very clean roots, highly controlled nutrient conditions or applications of defined concentrations of signaling molecules (such as hormones) or other small chemicals (such as synthetic inhibitors or signaling agonists) are needed. To this end, hydroponics has been widely used in research on mechanisms of plant nutrition and some hydroponic systems were developed for AM fungal spore amplification. Here, we present a hydroponics set-up, which can be successfully utilized for experimental root colonization assays. We established a "tip-wick" system based on pipette tips and rock wool wicks for co-cultivation of AM fungi with small model plants such as Lotus japonicus. A larger "Falcon-wick" system using Falcon tubes and rockwool wicks was developed for larger model plants such as rice. The hydroponic system can also be employed for growing L. japonicus hairy roots after transformation by Agrobacterium rhizogenes, thus circumventing the laborious cultivation on agar medium-containing Petri dishes during hairy root development. The tip-wick and Falcon-wick systems are easy to use and can be built with low cost, conventional and reusable lab plastic ware and a simple aquarium pump

Flux balance analysis reveals acetate metabolism modulates cyclic electron flow and alternative glycolytic pathways in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

Cells of the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii cultured in the presence of acetate perform mixotrophic growth, involving both photosynthesis and organic carbon assimilation. Under such conditions, cells exhibit a reduced capacity for photosynthesis but a higher growth rate, compared to phototrophic cultures. Better understanding of the downregulation of photosynthesis would enable more efficient conversion of carbon into valuable products like biofuels. In this study, Flux Balance Analysis (FBA) and Flux Variability Analysis (FVA) have been used with a genome scale model of C. reinhardtii to examine changes in intracellular flux distribution in order to explain their changing physiology. Additionally, a reaction essentiality analysis was performed to identify which reaction subsets are essential for a given growth condition. Our results suggest that exogenous acetate feeds into a modified tricarboxylic acid cycle, which bypasses the CO2 evolution steps, explaining increases in biomass, consistent with experimental data. In addition, reactions of the oxidative pentose phosphate and glycolysis pathways, inactive under phototrophic conditions, show substantial flux under mixotrophic conditions. Importantly, acetate addition leads to an increased flux through cyclic electron flow (CEF), but results in a repression of CO2 fixation via Rubisco, explaining the down regulation of photosynthesis. However, although CEF enhances growth on acetate, it is not essential – impairment of CEF results in alternative metabolic pathways being increased. We have demonstrated how the reactions of photosynthesis interconnect with carbon metabolism on a global scale, and how systems approaches play a viable tool in understanding complex relationships at the scale of the organism

Stepparents’ Attachment Orientation, Parental Gatekeeping, and Stepparents’ Affinity‐Seeking with Stepchildren

Remarried stepfamilies are a sizable portion of American families; in a 2011 Pew Center survey, 42% of respondents reported at least one stepfamily member. Family clinicians and researchers suggest that stepparents’ ability to develop close bonds with stepchildren may be critical to the well‐being of couple and family relationships. Using actor‐partner interdependence models to analyze dyadic data from 291 heterosexual remarried stepfamily couples, we explored factors related to stepparents’ efforts to befriend their stepchildren. Specifically, we evaluated how remarried parents’ gatekeeping and stepparents’ perceptions of their attachment orientations were associated with their own and their spouse's perceptions of stepparents’ affinity‐seeking behaviors. Securely attached stepparents and stepparents with anxious attachment orientations engaged more frequently in affinity behaviors than did stepparents with avoidant attachment orientations; there was no difference between securely attached and anxious stepparents. Stepparents’ reports of parents’ restrictive gatekeeping were strongly and negatively associated with both stepparents’ and parents’ reports of stepparent affinity‐seeking (actor and partner effects). Parents’ reports of their own restrictive gatekeeping were also negatively (but more weakly) associated with parents’ reports of stepparent affinity‐seeking. Implications for families, clinicians, and relationship researchers and theorists are discussed

The Role of p53 in Human Epidermal Keratinocyte Terminal Maturation

Two cell lines, SCC12F and SCC12B were derived from the same squamous cell carcinoma of the facial epidermis and shown to display different phenotypes. SCC12B is more resistant to the induction of terminal differentiation and also more tumorigenic than SCC12F. The aim of this thesis was to investigate any genetic differences between SCC12B and SCC12F that could be responsible for their different phenotypes and therefore possibly be an important genetic event in the progression of squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck (SCC-HN). Microsatellite analysis of SCC12B and SCC12F revealed no differences in loss of heterozygosity (LOH) at the loci investigated on chromosome 3p and 9 which have previously been reported to show frequent LOH in SCC-HN. No overexpression of cyclin D1 was observed in the two cell lines and others have reported the absence of any H-ras mutations or abnormalities in Rb-1. Analysis of the tumour suppressor gene p53 however revealed different levels of the protein between the two cell lines. SCC12B was shown to express much higher levels of p53 protein than SCC12F. Sequencing of p53 revealed a novel heterozygous mutation at codon 216, a T→G transversion substituting a valine for a glycine. Interestingly, whilst the mutant allele was visible in both cell lines SCC12B appeared to express much more mutant p53 than SCC12F which mostly retained wild-type p53 expression. Dot blot analysis suggested that mutant p53 expression in SCC12B was double that of SCC12F. Investigations were then undertaken to investigate whether the variations in this mutant to wild-type gene dosage could explain the different abilities of SCC12F and SCC12B to undergo suspension induced terminal differentiation. A clone of SCC12F, clone 19, expressing low levels of p53 and therefore presumably expressing a more normal phenotype was used as a target for alterations in mutant p53 expression. The use of this clone had the advantage that it retained a related genetic background to SCC12F and SCC12B and therefore is a more relevant target cell for investigating the effects of increased mutant p53216 on terminal differentiation. The results in this thesis show that increasing the mutant p53216 dosage in clone 19 decreased the cells ability to express involucrin and form cornified envelopes and increased cell survival in response to suspension induced terminal maturation. An increase in tumorigenicity was however not observed. Taken together these results therefore suggest that the acquisition of a p53 mutation is an early event in this SCC and its accumulation leads to a dramatic progression of this cancer. Inactivation of p53 appears to inhibit the cells ability to terminally differentiate and the possible roles of p53 in tumour progression are discussed

Up-regulation of genes involved in the Insulin signaling pathway (IGF1, PTEN and IGFBP1) in the endometrium may link Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome and endometrial cancer

BACKGROUND Endometrial cancer (EC) is the most common gynaecological cancer amongst women in the UK. Although previous studies have found that women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) have at least a three-fold increase in endometrial cancer (EC) risk compared to women without PCOS, the precise molecular mechanisms which link between PCOS and EC remain unclear. It has been suggested that insulin resistance may contribute to the increased risk of EC in PCOS. The specific expression of genes related to the insulin-signalling pathway including the IGF system in the endometrium of women with PCOS has however never been measured and compared to that in women with EC without PCOS and control women without EC or PCOS. . OBJECTIVES To test the hypothesis that insulin signaling plays a key role in the development of EC in women with PCOS by measuring and comparing the expression of three key genes involved in the insulin signaling pathway (IGF1, PTEN and IGFBP1) in endometrial tissue obtained from three groups of women; PCOS without EC, women with EC without PCOS and non-PCOS women without EC (controls). We also aimed to determine the correlation between the gene expressions to various clinical variables among participants. METHODS This was a cross-sectional study of 102 women in 3 groups (PCOS, EC and controls) at a University teaching hospital in the United Kingdom. Clinical assessment (blood pressure, body mass index (BMI) and waist-hip-circumference ratio), venepuntures (fasting blood sugar, insulin, lipid profile, hormones) and endometrial tissue biopsies were taken in all participants. Endometrial tissue RNA extraction was performed before real time polymerase-chain-reaction for the genes of interest (IGF1, IGFBP1 and PTEN) was carried out. To compare the baseline characteristics of the study population, One-Way-ANOVA test or the Independent t-test was used. For variables that were not normally distributed, the Spearman correlation test was used to calculate the r value. A "p" value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS IGF1, IGFBP1 and PTEN gene expression were significantly up-regulated in the endometrium of PCOS and EC women compared to controls. However there was no significant difference in the expression of these genes in PCOS compared to EC endometrium. The BMI of women with PCOS and controls, were not significantly different (29.28 (±2.91) vs 28.58 (±2.62) kg/m(2)) respectively, women with EC however had a higher mean BMI (32.22 (±5.70) kg/m(2)). PCOS women were younger (31.8 (±5.97) years) than women with EC (63.44 (±10.07) years) and controls (43.68 (±13.12) years). The changes in gene expression were independent of BMI, waist hip ratio, estradiol and androgen levels. Protein validation test in the serum samples in the three groups were consistent with the gene findings. CONCLUSION Women with PCOS and EC have an increased endometrial expression of genes (IGF1, IGFBP1 and PTEN) involved in the insulin signaling pathway compared with control women. This may explain the increased risk of EC in PCOS women. This study provides a strong basis for clinical trials aiming to prevent EC in women with PCOS by investigating drugs targeting the insulin signaling pathway. This panel of genes may also serve as clinically useful early biomarkers which predict which women with PCOS will go on to develop EC

Corporate brand rehab: Diagnosing trust repair mechanisms in the service sectors

Purpose and objectives In recent times, a number of spectacular organizational transgressions have damaged consumers trust towards corporate brands. To survive, these damaged brands must ‘spend some time in the trust rehabilitation clinic’ to repair and regain trust. Trust repair is a complex brand-specific rehabilitation process. According to Bachmann, Gillespie and Priem (2015), a combination of multiple approaches is required for trust rehabilitation across levels. In 2017 Bozic has called for new studies to adopt an interpretivist perspective to empirically explore consumer trust repair process. In this paper, we respond to Bozic’s call and our research purpose is to evaluate consumer responses to trust repair mechanisms adopted by corporate brands. We address the research purpose by exploring the following research objectives: (1) to evaluate consumer understanding of trust; (2) to evaluate trust damage; (3) to identify the mechanisms which contribute to consumer trust repair. Originality The present study examines an important gap in the literature. On the one hand, there is an established body of theoretical work around trust repair mechanisms within the organizational context (Bachmann et al., 2015). On the other hand there is a paucity of empirical research addressing how consumers respond to trust repair strategies adopted by corporate brands. Our research addressed the latter gap by integrating theoretical ideas of Bachmann et al. (2015) to evaluate consumer responses to trust repair mechanisms adopted by corporate brands. Research methodology This study opts for an interpretivist approach to address three research objectives. We employed the focus group discussion method. This decision was driven by two rationales: the cases under investigation are high profile (misspelling of Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) policies, HR issues in Sports Direct and safety issues in Alton Towers) and have had wide coverage across varied mass and social media. This study comprised a total of six focus groups, with two focus groups per case. In total, 48 participants, with roughly equal gender distribution with ages ranging from 18 years to over 75 years agreed to participate in this study. Analysis of the focus group data employed the template analysis approach and procedure. Focus group transcriptions were imported into the NVivo interface. Findings and discussion Discussion of the findings is organised around the three objectives of the research. Firstly, in line with existing research (Schoorman, Mayer & Davis, 2007; Dietz & Gillespie 2012) when defining consumer trust, participants in this study have mostly discussed the trustworthiness of corporate brands and what shapes the trustworthiness. Participants across all groups primarily defined consumer trust in terms of competence and integrity. We also know that trust is context specific (Bozic, 2017). Our results, however, suggest that the trust dimensions may change as a result of trust damage, whereby those dimensions that most closely match the cause of the trust damage shape consumers’ trusting behaviour. Secondly, the transgressions appear to have caused the greatest impact on cognitive trust. Consumers tend to continue relationships with corporate brands where trust erosion impacted others (i.e. employees) or where consumer choice is limited due to an unconditional trust in competences of financial brands (i.e. PPI case) or due to market-based manipulations of service elements (i.e. low price in the Sports Direct case). So far, it has been theoretically discussed in the context of healthcare services only (Fotaki, 2014). Thirdly, we found that despite severity of trust damage, our research illustrates that corporate brands can recover. However, in line with existing research (Bozic 2017; Bachmann et al. 2015), our findings suggest that not all trust repair mechanisms are equally applicable to all service contexts. Hence, context specific nature of trust affects choice of trust repair mechanisms. We also found that corporate brands in the service sectors should focus on sense-making, relational approaches and transparency. Conclusion Evaluation of consumer responses to trust repair mechanisms adopted by corporate brands in the service sectors confirms previous theoretical work in that consumer trust varies by context. Transgressions may however change consumers’ perception of trust as they reflect on the incident. To our knowledge, no studies suggest that corporate brand rehabilitation of consumer trust requires careful examination of what trustworthiness components consumers expressed before and after the trust erosion incident. In doing so, effective diagnosis of trust repair mechanisms against trust damage is most likely to guarantee a successful rehabilitation. Our results also suggest that trust erosion mainly impacts cognitive consumer trust. Theoretical and practical implications We have illustrated that it is important to reconsider conceptual models of trust repair process and integrate post-transgression consumer research that investigates general trustworthiness components in a particular corporate brand situation. With our empirical research we also evidenced that there is a complex relationship between consumer choice and consumer trust: it also raises quite important theoretical question on whether consumer choice can replace consumer trust. Research limitations Although this study provides a better understanding of consumer responses to trust repair mechanisms adopted by corporate brands, findings need to be interpreted with caution. Our findings are limited and applicable to specific service sector cases we examined. Brand crisis and trust damage, as a result of it, is not restricted to the service sector as the Samsung phone incident and labor violation of Apple’s suppliers in developing countries have demonstrated. There is therefore scope to extend our work into other industry sectors

Service brand rehab: Diagnosing trust repair mechanisms

This paper aims to understand consumers’ response to the trust repair mechanisms adopted by corporate brands in a service sector context following prominent trust damaging organizational transgressions. Adopting a qualitative approach, six focus group discussions are employed to investigate three high profile consumer trust erosion cases within the service sector. Consumer trust varies by context. Despite the severity of trust damage, corporate brands can recover trust towards their brands amongst consumers not directly affected by transgressions. Not all trust repair mechanisms are equally applicable to all service contexts and re-branding could be used as a trust repair mechanism. Corporate brands in the service sector should focus on sense-making, relational approaches and transparency. Orchestration of trust repair mechanisms needs to be integrated within the trust rehabilitation processes. This study illustrates it is important to reconsider trust repair processes to accommodate context and integrate post-transgression consumer research. Successful corporate brand rehabilitation of consumer trust requires examination of the trustworthiness dimensions consumers express before and after the transgression to select the most appropriate trust repair mechanisms. Findings suggest organizations also have preventative trust repair management programs. This research is the first to empirically apply the conceptual framework of Bachmann et al. (2015) to explore consumer responses to the trust repair mechanisms adopted by corporate brands by context