Female Trombonists’ Experiences of Gender Bias

Abstract Female Trombonists’ Experiences of Gender Bias Em Poff and Dr. Alison Deadman, Department of Music, College of Arts and Sciences, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN. Compared with their male counterparts, female trombonists are underrepresented throughout the United States especially in collegiate teaching positions. Does this underrepresentation cause fewer females to pursue playing the trombone and does gender bias play a role? After discussing the historical roles and excepted musical instruments for women to play during the 19th century, this document makes note of many women who were able to surpass societal norms and make their own musical choices. The purpose of this study is to discover if gender bias towards female trombonists exists and if it is a relevant negative factor in the experiences of and musical opportunities open to female trombonists today. This study and the survey questions were inspired by Melissa Ewing’s dissertation, Examining the Under-Representation of Female Euphonium Players in the USA. In order to create a trombone-centered survey, I modified Ewing’s survey questions and added other questions to help gain useful information from female trombone students and trombone professors. I limited my study to 4-year universities in the United States. The names of trombone professors were collected from the College Music Society directory. These professors were surveyed and asked to provide their own gender identity as well as the gender ratio of their studio. In addition, they were asked to forward a survey focused on the college experience of female-identifying trombonists to their female-identifying students. My study will serve as a resource for future research on female-identifying trombonists and gender studies in general regarding musical instruments

Chinese medicine in the West 2009

In January 1985 The Journal of Chinese Medicine published an edited transcript of a discussion called ‘Acupuncture in the West’ between Peter Deadman, Ted Kaptchuk, Giovanni Maciocia and Felicity Moir. It was a particularly popular article and to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the JCM we decided to convene another discussion, in London in March 2009. Present this time were Peter Deadman (PD), Hugh MacPherson (HM), Daniel Maxwell (DM), Felicity Moir (FM) and Volker Scheid (VS). All are past or present practitioners of acupuncture and/or herbal medicine

Notes on the integration of numerical relativity waveforms

A primary goal of numerical relativity is to provide estimates of the wave strain, $h$, from strong gravitational wave sources, to be used in detector templates. The simulations, however, typically measure waves in terms of the Weyl curvature component, $\psi_4$. Assuming Bondi gauge, transforming to the strain $h$ reduces to integration of $\psi_4$ twice in time. Integrations performed in either the time or frequency domain, however, lead to secular non-linear drifts in the resulting strain $h$. These non-linear drifts are not explained by the two unknown integration constants which can at most result in linear drifts. We identify a number of fundamental difficulties which can arise from integrating finite length, discretely sampled and noisy data streams. These issues are an artifact of post-processing data. They are independent of the characteristics of the original simulation, such as gauge or numerical method used. We suggest, however, a simple procedure for integrating numerical waveforms in the frequency domain, which is effective at strongly reducing spurious secular non-linear drifts in the resulting strain.Comment: 23 pages, 10 figures, matches final published versio

The XMM Cluster Survey: The Stellar Mass Assembly of Fossil Galaxies

This paper presents both the result of a search for fossil systems (FSs) within the XMM Cluster Survey and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and the results of a study of the stellar mass assembly and stellar populations of their fossil galaxies. In total, 17 groups and clusters are identified at z < 0.25 with large magnitude gaps between the first and fourth brightest galaxies. All the information necessary to classify these systems as fossils is provided. For both groups and clusters, the total and fractional luminosity of the brightest galaxy is positively correlated with the magnitude gap. The brightest galaxies in FSs (called fossil galaxies) have stellar populations and star formation histories which are similar to normal brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs). However, at fixed group/cluster mass, the stellar masses of the fossil galaxies are larger compared to normal BCGs, a fact that holds true over a wide range of group/cluster masses. Moreover, the fossil galaxies are found to contain a significant fraction of the total optical luminosity of the group/cluster within 0.5R200, as much as 85%, compared to the non-fossils, which can have as little as 10%. Our results suggest that FSs formed early and in the highest density regions of the universe and that fossil galaxies represent the end products of galaxy mergers in groups and clusters. The online FS catalog can be found at http://www.astro.ljmu.ac.uk/~xcs/Harrison2012/XCSFSCat.html.Comment: 30 pages, 50 figures. ApJ published version, online FS catalog added: http://www.astro.ljmu.ac.uk/~xcs/Harrison2012/XCSFSCat.htm

In-vivo visualisation of the anatomical structures related to the acupuncture points Dai mai and Shen mai by MRI: A single-case pilot study

BACKGROUND: The concept of acupuncture point localisation in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is based on millenary practical experience. Modern imaging methods such as PET, MRI and SPECT have been used primary for the investigation of the mechanisms of action of acupuncture. In this pilot single-case study we have evaluated the technical possibilities for in-vivo imaging of the anatomical relations of acupuncture points using state of the art MRI. METHODS: Preliminary experiments relating to the quality of acupuncture needles under the setting of MRI were done both with stainless steel and gold needles. In a second step, in-vivo imaging was carried out. A licensed acupuncture practitioner (RM) chose two points belonging to the so-called extraordinary vessels. In 2 sequential, separate procedures, he inserted himself gold acupuncture needles using a neutral technique (known as Ping Bu Ping Xie) into the Dai mai and Shen mai points, i.e. gall bladder 26 and bladder 62. Imaging was done on a Siemens Magnetom Avanto MR scanner using a head array and body coil. Mainly T1-weighted imaging sequences, as routinely used for patient exams, were used to obtain multi-slice images. RESULTS: In the preliminary experiments only acupuncture needles made of gold showed enough stability in order to be used for further imaging procedures. Using an onion and a banana as an object, further studies showed that the gold needles produced a void defect that corresponds to the tip of the inserted needle, while at the same time an artefactually increased diameter was observed. The in-vivo experiments showed that the Dai mai point was in relation to the abdominal internal oblique muscle. The Shen mai point artefact showed up close to the longus and brevis peroneal tendons at the fibular malleolus. Side effects related to heating or burning were not observed. Improved anatomical recognition was obtained using 3D-volume rendering techniques. CONCLUSION: Through an adequate choice of acupuncture material (gold needles) as well as of ideal MRI imaging sequences it has been possible to visualize the anatomical characteristics at the acupuncture points Dai mai and Shen mai in-vivo. At the selected sites the needles showed a relation to tendino-fascial and muscular structures. These anatomical structures fit well into the recently described WOMED concept of lateral tension in which these acupuncture points play a regulatory role

Assessing a sustainable manufacturing route to lapatinib

A synthetic route to an anti-cancer drug, lapatinib, was devised to support the development of a sustainable manufacturing process in South Africa. Quantitative metrics were employed to evaluate the sustainability of the key steps of the reaction

Acupuncture for dyspnea in advanced cancer: a randomized, placebo-controlled pilot trial [ISRCTN89462491]

BACKGROUND: Dyspnea, or shortness of breath, is a common symptom in patients with advanced cancer. Pharmacologic management is of proven benefit, but it does not help all patients. Preliminary data suggest that acupuncture can relieve dyspnea in a variety of populations, including cancer patients. We conducted a pilot study (ISRCTN89462491) preparatory to a fully powered randomized, placebo-controlled trial to determine whether acupuncture reduces dyspnea in patients with lung or breast cancer. METHODS: The study sample was comprised of forty-seven patients with lung or breast cancer presenting with dyspnea. Patients receiving symptomatic treatments were not excluded as long as no changes in management were planned during the trial. Patients were randomized to receive a single session of true or placebo acupuncture in addition to their existing dyspnea treatments. Semi-permanent acupuncture "studs" were then inserted: patients applied pressure to these studs twice a day to provide ongoing stimulation to acupuncture points. The subjective sensation of dyspnea was assessed with a 0 – 10 numerical rating scale immediately before and after acupuncture treatment and daily for a week thereafter. RESULTS: All but two of 47 randomized patients provided follow-up data. Dyspnea scores were slightly higher for patients receiving true versus placebo acupuncture, for both the period immediately following acupuncture treatment and for the daily one week follow-up (differences between means of 0.34, 95% C.I. -0.33, 1.02 and 0.56, 95% C.I. -0.39, 1.51). The 95% confidence interval excludes the prespecified minimum clinically significant difference of a 20% greater improvement in dyspnea for patients receiving acupuncture. CONCLUSION: The acupuncture technique used in this trial is unlikely to have effects on dyspnea importantly larger than placebo for patients with advanced cancer

Magnetic field exposure and long-term survival among children with leukaemia

We examined the association between magnetic field (MF) exposure and survival among children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) treated at 51 Pediatric Oncology Group centres between 1996 and 2001. Of 1672 potentially eligible children under treatment, 482 (29%) participated and personal 24-h MF measurements were obtained from 412 participants. A total of 386 children with ALL and 361 with B-precursor ALL were included in the analysis of event-free survival (time from diagnosis to first treatment failure, relapse, secondary malignancy, or death) and overall survival. After adjustment for risk group and socioeconomic status, the event-free survival hazard ratio (HR) for children with measurements ⩾0.3 μT was 1.9 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.8, 4.9), compared to <0.1 μT. For survival, elevated HRs were found for children exposed to ⩾0.3 μT (multivariate HR=4.5, 95% CI 1.5–13.8) but based on only four deaths among 19 children. While risk was increased among children with exposures above 0.3 μT, the small numbers limited inferences for this finding

Patient-Perceived Changes in the System of Values After Cancer Diagnosis

A cross-sectional study investigated changes in patients’ value systems following a diagnosis of cancer. Fifty patients at 1 to 6 months following cancer diagnosis, were asked to compare their current values with their recollection of past values. Using the Rokeach Value Survey we obtained statistically significant results showing that twenty-seven out of thirty-six values changed their importance from the patients’ perspective: 16 values significantly increased, while 11 values significantly decreased in importance. Changes with respect to nine values were insignificant. We indentified clusters of values increasing in importance the most: Religious morality (Salvation, Forgiving, Helpful, Clean), Personal orientation (Self-Respect, True Friendship, Happiness), Self-constriction (Self-Controlled, Obedient, Honest), Family security (Family Security, Responsible), and Delayed gratification (Wisdom, Inner Harmony). We also observed that the following value clusters decreased in importance: Immediate gratification (An Exciting Life, Pleasure, A Comfortable Life); Self-expansion (Capable, Ambitious, Broadminded), Competence (A Sense of Accomplishment, Imaginative, Intellectual). The remaining values belonged to clusters that as a group changed slightly or not at all. Practical implications of the study are discussed