Pedagogical techniques and student outcomes in applied instrumental lessons taught by experienced and pre-service American music teachers.

The purpose of the study was to examine the effect of teacher experience on student progress and performance quality in an introductory applied lesson. Nine experienced teachers and 15 pre-service teachers taught an adult beginner to play ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb’ on a wind instrument. The lessons were videotaped for subsequent analysis of teaching behaviors and performance achievement. Following instruction, a random sample of teachers was interviewed about their perceptions of the lesson. A panel of adjudicators rated final pupil performances. No significant difference was found between pupils taught by experienced and pre-service teachers in the quality of their final performance. Systematic observation of the videotaped lessons showed that participant teachers provided relatively frequent and highly positive reinforcement during the lessons. Pupils of experienced teachers talked significantly more during the lessons than did pupils of pre-service teachers. Pre-service teachers modeled significantly more on their instruments than did experienced teachers.

Oxotremorine Delays and Scopolamine Accelerates Sexual Exhaustion When Applied to the Preoptic Area in Male Hamsters

Acetylcholine (ACh) has not been tested for a role in the development of sexual exhaustion in males. However, male hamsters receiving infusions into the medial preoptic area (MPOA) of the muscarinic agonist oxotremorine (OXO) or antagonist scopolamine (SCO) show changes in the postejaculatory interval, one of the measures that changes most consistently as exhaustion approaches. In addition, central SCO treatments cause changes in the patterning of intromissions that resemble those signaling exhaustion. To extend these observations and more thoroughly test the dependence of sexual exhaustion on ACh, male hamsters received MPOA treatments of OXO, SCO or the combination of the two before mating to exhaustion. Relative to placebo, OXO infusions caused small but consistent increases in ejaculation frequency and long intromission latency, delaying the appearance of exhaustion. Scopolamine treatments did the reverse, dramatically accelerating the development of exhaustion. Consistent with and possibly responsible for these changes were effects on the quality of performance prior to exhaustion. These included differences in overall copulatory efficiency (e.g., ejaculations/intromission), which was increased by OXO and decreased by SCO. They also extended to several standard measures of copulatory behavior, including intromission frequency, ejaculation latency and the postejaculatory interval: Most of these were increased by SCO and decreased by OXO. Finally, whereas most or all effects of OXO were counteracted by SCO, most or all of the responses to SCO resisted change by added OXO. This asymmetry in the responses to combined treatment raises the possibility that the effects of these drugs on sexual exhaustion and other elements of male behavior are mediated by distinct muscarinic receptors. Copyright 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Correcting mortality for loss to follow-up: a nomogram applied to antiretroviral treatment programmes in sub-Saharan Africa

Background The World Health Organization estimates that in sub-Saharan Africa about 4 million HIV-infected patients had started antiretroviral therapy (ART) by the end of 2008. Loss of patients to follow-up and care is an important problem for treatment programmes in this region. As mortality is high in these patients compared to patients remaining in care, ART programmes with high rates of loss to follow-up may substantially underestimate mortality of all patients starting ART. Methods and Findings We developed a nomogram to correct mortality estimates for loss to follow-up, based on the fact that mortality of all patients starting ART in a treatment programme is a weighted average of mortality among patients lost to follow-up and patients remaining in care. The nomogram gives a correction factor based on the percentage of patients lost to follow-up at a given point in time, and the estimated ratio of mortality between patients lost and not lost to follow-up. The mortality observed among patients retained in care is then multiplied by the correction factor to obtain an estimate of programme-level mortality that takes all deaths into account. A web calculator directly calculates the corrected, programme-level mortality with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). We applied the method to 11 ART programmes in sub-Saharan Africa. Patients retained in care had a mortality at 1 year of 1.4% to 12.0%; loss to follow-up ranged from 2.8% to 28.7%; and the correction factor from 1.2 to 8.0. The absolute difference between uncorrected and corrected mortality at 1 year ranged from 1.6% to 9.8%, and was above 5% in four programmes. The largest difference in mortality was in a programme with 28.7% of patients lost to follow-up at 1 year. Conclusions The amount of bias in mortality estimates can be large in ART programmes with substantial loss to follow-up. Programmes should routinely report mortality among patients retained in care and the proportion of patients lost. A simple nomogram can then be used to estimate mortality among all patients who started ART, for a range of plausible mortality rates among patients lost to follow-up.

High interstitial fluid pressure is associated with low tumour penetration of diagnostic monoclonal antibodies applied for molecular imaging purposes

The human epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) is highly expressed in a variety of clinical tumour entities. Although an antibody against EpCAM has successfully been used as an adjuvant therapy in colon cancer, this therapy has never gained wide-spread use. We have therefore investigated the possibilities and limitations for EpCAM as possible molecular imaging target using a panel of preclinical cancer models. Twelve human cancer cell lines representing six tumour entities were tested for their EpCAM expression by qPCR, flow cytometry analysis and immunocytochemistry. In addition, EpCAM expression was analyzed in vivo in xenograft models for tumours derived from these cells. Except for melanoma, all cell lines expressed EpCAM mRNA and protein when grown in vitro. Although they exhibited different mRNA levels, all cell lines showed similar EpCAM protein levels upon detection with monoclonal antibodies. When grown in vivo, the EpCAM expression was unaffected compared to in vitro except for the pancreatic carcinoma cell line 5072 which lost its EpCAM expression in vivo. Intravenously applied radio-labelled anti EpCAM MOC31 antibody was enriched in HT29 primary tumour xenografts indicating that EpCAM binding sites are accessible in vivo. However, bound antibody could only be immunohistochemically detected in the vicinity of perfused blood vessels. Investigation of the fine structure of the HT29 tumour blood vessels showed that they were immature and prone for higher fluid flux into the interstitial space. Consistent with this hypothesis, a higher interstitial fluid pressure of about 12 mbar was measured in the HT29 primary tumour via "wick-in-needle" technique which could explain the limited diffusion of the antibody into the tumour observed by immunohistochemistry.

Double Take Project: Using Applied Theatre For Campus Climate Change

Despite research gathered in the Campus Climate Report, I believe that it underrepresented the student experience of the social scene. The document primarily served as an identification tool for four major problems on campus: binge drinking, sexual assault, diversity, and disengagement in the classroom. Double Take Project also identifies similar issues however, this project uses theatrical techniques to gather the anecdotal reality of the student perspective. Double Take Project expands beyond the Campus Climate Report to inspire dialogue in a variety of student-to-student interactions and, more importantly, the project seeks action and solution plans. The social scene dominates our culture and its many issues result in concern for the safety, self-identity, and development of Bucknell students into thriving adults. Double Take Project is rooted in the belief that theatre is a palpable tool for social change. Over the course of many events, Double Take Project has utilized facets of theatre to provide opportunities to voice discontent, widen perception of normalcy on campus, and inspire confidence to act on personal beliefs. The Double Take Project uses many Applied Theatre methods to impact the social scene. For example, I conducted 36 student interviews and transformed the stories into a one-woman show, Rage Behind Curtains, which I performed at multiple venues across campus. I also used interviews to create a radio show airing one story per day. I conducted ten workshops with student groups, Fraternities and Sororities, and in the classroom utilizing Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed (TO) techniques. I also created a “social scene confessional” where I stood outside the Elaine Langone Center with a sign that read, “Tell me a story about the social scene” from a wide variety of Bucknell students. Finally, I have assembled a Forum Theatre Company based on Augusto Boal’s method of the spect-actor, utilizing participants as both actors and spectators in the theatre piece. All of the names indicated in this paper have been altered to protect the identity of the participants. While planning events and conducting various theatrical experiences, I learned that there are a series of internal and external issues contributing to our social environment. Internally, students are conflicted with personal beliefs while battling outward social pressure. Whether they are on the outskirts or center of the social scene determines their response to this conflict. For example, I have discovered that students on the borders of the social culture respond with criticism because they feel excluded, whereas the student’s centrally involved critique the culture in private and while their persona appears to not want change. Externally, there are many structural issues that contribute to the current social climate such as without Fraternity meal plans, Cafeteria space is not sufficient to feed all of the students, exclusive party culture, and gendered housing. Through meetings with Deans and staff, I have learned there are also problems between administration and students, resulting in resentment and blame. Although addressing structural issues would instigate immediate change, in my opinion, internal student conflicts are the primary cause for the current negative social atmosphere. I believe that pressure to conform is rooted in lack of personal identity. Because students simply do not know themselves, they form strong social groups that become the definition of themselves. Without confident self-awareness, large and powerful groups coerce students to accept social norms resulting in the individual’s outward distaste for change, yet internal discomfort.

Corrosion Characteristics And Mechanical Properties Of Aluminum Coatings Applied By The Cold Spray Process

Aluminum coatings were applied to 2024-T3 and 7075-T6 aluminum alloys via the Cold Spray process. The coatings were applied to substrateswith various surface preparation and Cold Spray carrier gas combinations. Some samples were coated with an additional sealant with and without a chromate conversion layer. An exhaustive corrosion analysis was then performed which utilized a number of long termand accelerated tests in order to characterize the corrosion protection of the coatings.

Linking Research and Practice: The Fellowship Program in Applied Gerontology

The Gerontological Society of America encourages policymakers and program directors in the field of aging to make policy and program decisions based on applied research. To aid in achieving this goal, the Society conducts the Fellowship Program in Applied Gerontology (FPAG), which places postdoctoral academic gerontologists for 3 months in agencies and organizations that plan or deliver services to older people. The program's history and accomplishments are described and up-dated.

Applied Developmental Psychology as an Implementation of the Life-Span View of Human Development

Application of knowledge about psychological development should, ideally, be theory based. As such, these applications represent “natural ontogenetic experiments”; the results of the evaluation of such interventions feed back to the theory, helping to support, falsify, or refine the ideas from the theory which led to the particular application. Such applied developmental intervention research is central within a currently popular perspective of life-span human development. Thus, applied developmental intervention research provides critical tests of such key concepts within this life-span perspective as: plasticity; multidirectionality; the synthesis of continuous and discontinuous processes across ontogeny; contextual embeddedness; and the role of individuals as agents in their own development. This paper elucidates some of the major features of the dynamic linkage between applied developmental psychology and this view of life-span human development. Key elements of this life-span perspective and the facts of developmental intervention, as seen from this perspective, are specified. Finally, the doctoral training program at the authors' institution is presented as one example of how this link may be institutionalized in the form of graduate education.