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Musical performance anxiety (MPA) occurs throughout musicians’ careers. The existing literature on coping with MPA is underdeveloped in its understanding of how college musicians develop their own coping strategies. This article explores the ways in which MPA is self-managed by college musicians, drawing on qualitative data from the local context of Taiwan. A ‘performance diary’ for managing MPA was prepared and semi-structured interviews were carried out with 53 undergraduate students (from Year 1 to Year 4) from a university’s music department. The findings show that college musicians have developed at least nine self-management strategies, which they implement throughout a specific timeline leading up to a performance, from 4 weeks before right up to the performance (concert, exam and recital) itself. These strategies are products of musicians’ self-regulated learning process of developing their own expertise and building up their self-efficacy. The findings also reveal that providing information about psychological strategies in a performance diary could help musicians to become aware of MPA and develop their metacognition of coping strategies. Highlighting the importance of the specific time periods, types of performance and performance environments, this article has implications for college musicians, teachers and institutions that are looking to develop MPA-management strategies.

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Abstract. Ecological models are effective tools for simulating the distribution of global carbon sources and sinks. However, these models often suffer from substantial biases due to inaccurate simulations of complex ecological processes. We introduce a set of scaling factors (parameters) to an ecological model on the basis of plant functional type (PFT) and latitudes. A global carbon assimilation system (GCAS-DOM) is developed by employing a dual optimization method (DOM) to invert the time-dependent ecological model parameter state and the net carbon flux state simultaneously. We use GCAS-DOM to estimate the global distribution of the CO 2 flux on 1 • × 1 • grid cells for the period from 2001 to 2007. Results show that land and ocean absorb −3.63 ± 0.50 and −1.82 ± 0.16 Pg C yr −1 , respectively. North America, Europe and China contribute −0.98 ± 0.15, −0.42 ± 0.08 and −0.20 ± 0.29 Pg C yr −1 , respectively. The uncertainties in the flux after optimization by GCAS-DOM have been remarkably reduced by more than 60 %. Through parameter optimization, GCAS-DOM can provide improved estimates of the carbon flux for each PFT. Coniferous forest (−0.97 ± 0.27 Pg C yr −1 ) is the largest contributor to the global carbon sink. Fluxes of once-dominant deciduous forest generated by the Boreal Ecosystems Productivity Simulator (BEPS) are reduced to −0.78 ± 0.23 Pg C yr −1 , the third largest carbon sink.

This article focuses on the educational quality of the newly emerged quasi-state schools for rural migrant children in urban China. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 19 government officers, school leaders, teachers and migrant parents in Shanghai. Adopting a theoretical perspective of policy as a temporary settlement of interests, the article deconstructs the power relations that constructed the disadvantaged positionality of these schools in the local school system. What can be identified from the empirical data is the emergence of an “interim quasi-state school system” with three interrelated features: it belongs to the state sector, offers quasi-state education and has an interim nature. Under the local government’s low-cost and inferior schooling approach, the whole system is treated as an emergency mechanism for solving the floating children’s schooling problem, rather than as regular schools offering high quality education. While realising the children’s right to education, this system does not guarantee them a “good” education.

Objectives Obesity is a risk factor for acute and chronic pain. Research on obesity and pain sensitivity (PS) and tolerance (PT) has produced mixed results. We examined the association of body weight (BW), fat mass (FM) and weight status (WS; BMI 18.5 – 24.9 or ≥25 kg/m2) with pre- and post-exercise PS and PT to better understand these relationships. Methods This was a cross-sectional analysis (N = 120, 18 - 60 years, BMI ≥18.5 kg/m2) of data obtained during a single session. First, BW, FM were measured and BMI calculated. Dolorimetry measured PS and PT before and after a moderate exercise session (elliptical trainer; 2.5 – 3 mph, ≤42 mins.). Dolorimeter applied non-damaging pressure on the middle finger; PS is the pressure when the subject first reports pain, PT is the pressure when the subject is too uncomfortable to tolerate further. We performed multiple linear regression to determine the association of outcome variables (pre- and post- PS and PT and change of PS and PT) with predictor variables (BW, FM, and WS) using relevant covariates (age, sex). We conducted backwards stepwise model selection and reported the best models according to the Bayesian Information Criterion. Results None of the full models explained > 9% of the outcome variation, across all outcomes. Pre- and post- PT were positively associated with BW (r = .262, P = .003; r = .185, P = .047). The association of BW with pre- and post- PS, and changes in PS and PT were not significant. FM and age had no significant associations with outcome variables. The only linear models with significant predictors after backwards selection modeled pre-PT, and differed depending on whether or not BW was included directly or dichotomized as WS: The model with WS devolved to one with only FM and age, where higher FM is associated with more pre-PT (+51 gf/cm2 per kg, P = .024) and men have more pre-PT than women (1296 gf/cm2, P = .013). The model that instead began with BW devolved to one with only BW, where higher BW is associated with more pre-PT (+38 gf/cm2 per kg, P = .004). Conclusions People with higher BW had higher PT at baseline. However, pre-PS and changes in PS and PT following exertion were not significantly affected by our covariates of interest. Whether the observed relationship between BW and pre-PT is trying to capture FM and/or sex differences is unclear, as these are all strongly co-linear. Funding Sources Texas Tech University.

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