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Operation Swing Phase 2: Music Personalities in World War II
No full textBesides the musical contributions of popular bandleaders and their famous jazz bands, bands of regular soldiers entertained their regiments while off duty during World War II. This past summer I researched the stories of such World War II veterans through the digital collections of the Library of Congress Veterans History Project, Grand Valley State University, and the National World War II Museum. The work I conducted was a further step in my research on the role of jazz music in World War II and was sponsored by the summer fellowship program of the Mellon Scholars Program. The central argument of my Mellon project is that jazz music contributed to the success of the Allied war effort by helping to sustain the morale of soldiers and citizens who listened to jazz on a regular basis, by contributing financially to the effort through its performance at war bond fundraising concerts, and by personifying the American spirit of freedom. This past summer I listened to the stories of veterans to find out just how important the music was to them and if they were involved in service bands during their tours of duty. As part of the digital component of my project, I created a website to showcase this research and named the site after the name of my project: operationswing.com. Currently, the site contains the stories of four veterans who were particularly involved in jazz bands or affected by the performance of jazz during the war: Raymond Gill, Harold Fritzsche, Carl Henn, Jr. and Harry Connick, Sr. I will be continuing to add to the website, so stay tuned for more about the greatest generation and the greatest music of their time
From Canvas to Stage: Matisse and Picasso as Costume Designers for the Ballet Russes
No full textIn 1909, Sergei Diaghilev arrived in Paris with a troupe of dancers that would soon take the city by storm. This company, The Ballet Russes, would later revolutionize the world of dance, music, and art. Between 1909 and 1929 the company would dance in Paris, as well as across Europe in countries such as Spain, and in both North and South America. Diaghilev employed only the finest dancers, choreographers, and designers, including, between the years 1917 and 1920, the celebrated painters Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse. Picasso and Matisse have long been considered pioneers in the art world and the fathers of distinct movements in painting, namely Cubism and Fauvism. Although the lives and works of Picasso and Matisse have both been the subjects of extensive research, little scholarship has been dedicated to analyzing the relationship between their paintings and their work in the performing arts. Through my research I hope to not only construct a scholarly and artistic analysis of their costume designs, but also begin to bridge the gap in understanding how their work for a ballet company fit into the longer story of their ever evolving painting styles. With the resources I have accumulated, in particular the photographic and textual sources that I was able to study in the research library housed in the Paris Opera House (a branch of the National French Library), I have begun to articulate an analysis of how the two-dimensional painting styles of Picasso and Matisse translated into three dimensional costumes
Trinuclear Ruthenium Acetate Clusters as Structural Disruptors for A(1-42)
No full textAlzheimer’s Disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that affects more than 5 million Americans, and is currently the 6th leading cause of death in the United States. The A(1-42) amyloid protein is implicated in memory loss and degeneration of the brain in AD patients. The misfolding of this protein can cause it to oligomerize, form insoluble plaques, and interfere with normal neuronal activities in the brain. Previous researchers have shown that the short peptide KLVFFA inhibits the oligomerization of A(1-42). We have designed a trinuclear ruthenium complex to incorporate a KLVFFAH ligand to target A(1- 42) and interfere with oligomerization. We have prepared several clusters of the formula Ru3O(OAc)6(L3)+, where L is a series of N-heterocycles. Further, previous work has found that insulin aggregates in a manner analogous to the A(1-42) protein. We have investigated the effects of Ru3O(L)3 compounds on aggregation of insulin fibrils
Making a Decision to Forgive
No full textProminent models and interventions designed to promote forgiveness have distinguished one\u27s decision to forgive from achieving forgiveness as an end state, but because of a lack of a strong measure, there is a weak research base on making a decision to forgive. Thus, in three studies, the authors developed the Decision to Forgive Scale (DTFS) and examined evidence for its reliability and construct validity. The article focused on distinguishing making a decision to forgive from achieved level of forgiveness. Scores on the DTFS showed evidence of reliability, with Cronbach\u27s alpha coefficients ranging from .92 to .94, and a 1-week temporal stability coefficient of .68. Using several strategies, the authors demonstrated that the DTFS is empirically distinct from the Transgression-Related Interpersonal Motivations scale (TRIM McCullough et al., 1998). Namely, a 3-factor confirmatory factor analysis that included the DTFS and the 2 TRIM subscales showed excellent fit, suggesting these instruments assess 3 different constructs. The DTFS was only moderately related to the TRIM subscales, was more strongly related to stage of change than the TRIM, and predicted subsequent TRIM scores in a cross-lagged model. Finally, although decisions to forgive generally suggested greater forgiveness, these constructs interacted to predict existential distress. Namely, as decisional forgiveness increased, revenge was more strongly related to existential distress. Overall, the DTFS shows considerable promise for further clinical and basic research applications
The Mod 2 Hopf Ring for Connective Morava K-Theory
No full textThis paper examines the mod 2 homology of the spaces in the Omega-spectrum for connective Morava K-theory, i.e., the mod 2 Hopf ring for connective Morava K-theory. A natural set of generators for this Hopf ring arising from the homology and homotopy of the connective Morava K-theory spectrum is calculated and the non-trivial circle product relations among the generators arising from homology and homotopy are determined. This Hopf ring calculation is accomplished using Dieudonné ring theory and Adams spectral sequences for the connective Morava K-theory of Brown–Gitler spectra
Global Exposure and Global Perceptions: A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Students in China, Japan, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, and the USA
Get PDFThis study compares the global perceptions and exposure of students who have come to age in the era of global communication, across ideologically and economically different nations: China, Japan, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, and the USA. To examine the type and level of their global exposure and the impact of type and level of global exposure on perceptions of global communication, 21 global exposure items and 31 global communication impact items were used to comprise scales for a survey, which was administered to 1360 college students in six countries. The results show significant differences by country in all five types of Global Exposure: Intercultural Curiosity, International Internet, Global Engagement, International Travel, and International Immersion. The results also reveal significant relationships between level and type of Global Exposure and perceptions of threat, prosperity, and justice. Threat perceptions appear to be fueled by higher international internet use, lower overall intercultural curiosity, and less travel experience. With the exception of students from Saudi Arabia, respondents perceive that global communication promotes prosperity. Students from China and the USA are highly optimistic about the impact of global communication on issues of world justice
The Influence of Building Size and Window Characteristics on the Frequency of Bird Fatalities at Hope College
No full textUrban landscapes have drastically altered natural environments. One consequence of these changes is the increase in avian mortality due to collision with human structures such as wind turbines and skyscrapers. Bird-building collisions may be responsible for up to one billion avian deaths per year in the United States. As a part of the Ecological Research as Education Network (EREN) Bird-Window Collision project, we investigated the effect of building size, window area, and the orientation of a building on the frequency of bird window collisions (BWCs). Bird carcasses were collected from six buildings on the Hope College campus in Holland, Michigan over 21 consecutive days during the fall migration in 2014. More collisions occurred at campus buildings with greater total floor space and at those with greater window area. The date, building side orientation (N, S, E, W), and bird species all had insignificant effects on the number of bird window collisions. However, half of the carcasses collected were found under north facing windows, suggesting a larger sample size might allow demonstration of a significant effect of the building side orientation. We also noticed a high frequency of Ruby-Throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris) fatalities which might indicate a greater susceptibility of this species to window collisions. It is our hope that this study will supplement current bird window collision research as well as inform policy makers of the impact of bird window collisions, and how those impacts may be reduced
Gene Expression Patterns in the Notochord of Ciona intestinalis
No full textThe notochord is a hallmark organ of all chordates and plays key roles in early chordate development. The ascidian Ciona intestinalis is a useful model for studying notochord morphogenesis because it has a simple notochord of only 40 cells that can be visualized with subcellular detail in a single microscope image. RNA-seq studies in the Veeman lab have identified a large number of genes likely to be transcriptionally upregulated in the developing notochord. Here we report expression patterns by in situ hybridization for 20 of these putative notochord transcripts. 12/20 were confirmed to be strongly upregulated in the notochord, broadly validating the RNA-seq results. We identified 4 of these genes as being regionally expressed in the notochord, supporting our hypothesis that the notochord may contain functionally distinct cell identities
Response of Neotyphodium in Culture to Plant Hormones and Physical Damage
No full textNeotyphodium coenophialum is a fungal symbiont of Lolium arundinaceum (tall fescue) that is thought to increase the herbivore resistance of grasses it infects by producing defensive chemicals such as alkaloids. The production of alkaloids such as lolines by the fungus is an inducible response to herbivore damage, but it is not understood how the fungus “knows” when the plant is being damaged. In an effort to discover whether the fungus is responding to plant hormones or damage to its own hyphae, I cultured N. coenophialum in vitro and exposed it to physical damage to its hyphae or to an application of salicylic acid, methyl jasmonate, 3-indoleacetic acid, gibberellic acid, or water. I collected samples from these cultures before the treatments, 1, 3 and 10 days after treatments. I analyzed the amount of mRNA from the lolC1 gene (for lolines) in these samples using RT-PCR. I found that the lolC1 gene is not expressed in culture. Thus, I plan to explore the other 7 genes involved in loline biosynthesis to see if any of them are expressed in culture
Exploring the Role of xCT in Neuroregeneration through Laser Ablation of Zebrafish Neurons
No full textSystem xc– is a heterodimeric amino acid transporter comprised of a light chain unit, xCT, which confers the transport specificity, and a heavy chain unit, 4F2HC, and has been shown to facilitate the exchange of intracellular glutamate for extracellular cystine. Within the cell, cystine is rapidly reduced to cysteine, the rate limiting reagent for glutathione (GSH) production. GSH is an endogenous reducing reagent that is an important in mitigating the oxidative stress that can develop within cells which, untreated, can trigger cell death. It has been shown that system xc– is strongly expressed in the central nervous system, particularly in activated neuroprotective cells such as astrocytes and glia. It is believed that relief of oxidative stress in the environment of neurons and their protective counterparts is critical in processes such as neuroregeneration, an ability unique to teleost fish, including zebrafish. Using this information, the thrust of the current study is to identify the role that xCT plays in neuroregeneration in vivo. To initiate neuroregeneration, we will use a femtosecond laser to perform ablation on zebrafish neurons. Confocal microscopy will be used to observe the trafficking of an xCT:GFP fusion protein during the neuroregeneration process