Classroom, concert hall, and career: A yearlong survey of the female choral conductor\u27s experience

Over the past thirty years, the presence of professional female conductors has visibly increased within the world of choral music and choral music education. Though pedagogical and societal challenges of gender bias and professional capacity remain evident, attitudes are shifting towards a focus on professional behaviors including competency and holistic personal development (Hansen 2009, 189-190). This document is a yearlong journal exploring the world of three career female music educators who emulate both artistic conducting and effective music pedagogy. This thesis outlines the experiences of female choral conductors and their strong desire for career-long success founded in positivity, sustainability and professional behaviors stemming from three distinct, yet interconnected research categories; the classroom: surveying aspects of teacher effectiveness, personal reflections and modeling; concert preparation: surveying aspects of rehearsal delivery and the history of women conductors in the concert hall; and career development. Questions explored in the document include society’s attitude towards women conductors and their development personally and professionally. Specific research questions include: What is the perception the academy and society at large hold about women conductors? What challenges do women conductors face? What advantages do they possess? Of what should the next generation be aware? A survey of literature pertaining to female choral conductors included topics of research within the three study categories. Research concerning female conductors in the classroom included teacher effectiveness and females working with adolescent male students. Research in the category of female conductors in the concert hall included score preparation, a history of women choral conductors on the podium and female choral conductors in the academy. Literature concerning the career of female conductors included personal interviews and a focus on conductors’ personal and organizational legacy in the context of music as a social force. Study data was gathered through a variety of methods including interviews of three highly successful career conductors and a summary from the pioneering book, Wit, Wisdom and Will, which provides an academic yet holistic picture of the microcosm of women conductors. Personal fieldwork teaching experiences were also utilized as supplementation to the literature and professional teaching experience. Finally, ten segments from personal fieldwork teaching experiences were assessed based on a rubric constructed to measure teacher effectiveness. In chronicling the history of the archetypal struggles, gender bias, and issues of professional competency for women in choral conducting, an attempt was made to represent the past and research the present, as well as herald the future. While the past represents gender as an integral part of identity, the present manifests gender and its role in identity formation. Potential future perspectives for female choral conductors are discussed

QUEER APPALACHIA: TOWARD GEOGRAPHIES OF POSSIBILITY

Stereotypes about Appalachia abound through dubious and reductive representations of the ‘hillbilly’ icon. Sexuality and how it functions in Appalachia is usually cast from the outside as wild, violent, bestial, incestuous and generally base. Movies such as Deliverance and television shows such as The Beverly Hillbillies and The Dukes of Hazard render images of Appalachian sexuality as hyper-sexual, both naive and violent. These images of Appalachian sexual ignorance and violence that permeate popular culture have had problematic and reductive implications for rural gay/trans Appalachian folk. Mainstream gay culture has often used the perceived meanings of these images to circumscribe and foreclose upon the possibility of rural queer life, rendering the rural as monolithically homophobic and impenetrable. This research attempts to destabilize this perspective and critique the impulse for mainstream gay culture to further marginalize rural gay/trans folk in Appalachia. The project reveals the possibility for rural queer life to exist in Appalachia to show not only its presence, but also its varying forms of visibility. To do this, experimental methodologies are employed, drawing on autoethnography that have located my body as an active participant and research object in one particular Appalachian queer geography. By actively participating in a rural queer network, the possibility for Appalachian queer geographies to exist in ways that surpass popular representations emerge in a way that force us to renegotiate our understandings of homophobia and what sets its conditions. This project begins to uncover and theorize the ways in which kinship as a ‘social technology’ mitigates social strangeness and operates as a means for social protection and intimacy within rural queer populations. This research is presented in a way that neither dismisses nor emphasizes homophobic violence, but rather argues the imperative for strong political advocacy that recognizes both the struggles and accomplishments of rural gay/trans folk. Three interlinked approaches are used to highlight these possibilities and foreclosures: the exterior representation of Appalachian sexuality in American metropolitan gay cultures and its politico-cultural effects on rural gay/trans folk, a more nuanced interpretation of homophobia in Appalachia, and how ‘place’ is made through the operation of rural queer networks

Human umbilical cord mesenchymal stromal cells in regenerative medicine

This is the published version. Copyright © 2013 BioMed Central Ltd.Cells of the human umbilical cord offer tremendous potential for improving human health. Cells from the Wharton’s jelly (umbilical cord stroma) in particular, referred to as human umbilical cord mesenchymal stromal cells (HUCMSCs), hold several advantages that make them appealing for translational research. In the previous issue of Stem Cell Research & Therapy, Chon and colleagues made an important contribution to the HUCMSC literature not only by presenting HUCMSCs as an emerging cell source for intervertebral disc regeneration in general and the nucleus pulposus in particular, but also by demonstrating that an extracellular matrix-based strategy might be preferred over the use of growth factors. By culturing HUCMSCs under hypoxia in serum-free conditions in the presence of Matrigel with laminin-111, they were able to achieve intense collagen II staining by 21 days without the addition of exogenous growth factors. There is tremendous translational significance here in that such raw materials may alleviate the need for the use of growth factors in some instances, and this may have important ramifications in reducing product cost and streamlining regulatory approval. Chon and colleagues provide a promising example of the potential of HUCMSCs, demonstrating the ability to guide HUCMSC differentiation even in the absence of serum and growth factors and supporting the use of HUCMSCs as a viable alternative in intervertebral disc regeneration

Chondrogenic differentiation of stem cells in human umbilical cord stroma with PGA and PLLA scaffolds

The stem cells in the umbilical cord stroma, or Wharton's jelly, are referred to as human umbilical cord mesenchymal stromal cells (hUCMSCs) and have been shown to differentiate along a chondrogenic lineage. The aim of this study was to evaluate the chondrogenic differentiation of hUCMSCs in either polyglycolic acid (PGA) or poly-L-lactic acid (PLLA) non-woven mesh scaffolds for cartilage tissue engineering. PGA is widely known to degrade faster than PLLA, and over longer time scales, and differences may be expected to emerge after extended culture periods. Therefore, the focus of this study was to evaluate differences over a shorter duration. After 21 days of culture in PLLA or PGA scaffolds, hUCMSC constructs were analyzed for biochemical content, histology, and gene expression. Overall, there were only minute differences between the two scaffold groups, with similar gene expression and biosynthesis. The most notable difference was a change in shape from cylindrical to spherical by the PGA, but not PLLA, scaffold group. The overall similar behavior of the groups may suggest that in vivo application of hUCMSC-seeded PLLA or PGA scaffolds, following a 21-day pre-culture period, may yield similar constructs at the time of implantation. However, differences may begin to become more apparent with in vivo performance following implantation, or with in vitro performance over longer time periods.We gratefully acknowledge Dr. Xinkun Wang for his guidance in performing the RT-PCR. We also thank Dr. Limin Wang for his RT-PCR assistance, and Lauren Byers for her assistance in proofreading the manuscript. This study was supported by NIH R21 grant DE017673-01, Arthritis Foundation (National and Kansas Chapters), and the State of Kansas

Human umbilical cord mesenchymal stromal cells in a sandwich approach for osteochondral tissue engineering

Cell sources and tissue integration between cartilage and bone regions are critical to successful osteochondral regeneration. In this study, human umbilical cord mesenchymal stromal cells (hUCMSCs), derived from Wharton's jelly, were introduced to the field of osteochondral tissue engineering and a new strategy for osteochondral integration was developed by sandwiching a layer of cells between chondrogenic and osteogenic constructs before suturing them together. Specifically, hUCMSCs were cultured in biodegradable poly‐ L ‐lactic acid scaffolds for 3 weeks in either chondrogenic or osteogenic medium to differentiate cells toward cartilage or bone lineages, respectively. A highly concentrated cell solution containing undifferentiated hUCMSCs was pasted onto the surface of the bone layer at week 3 and the two layers were then sutured together to form an osteochondral composite for another 3 week culture period. Chondrogenic and osteogenic differentiation was initiated during the first 3 weeks, as evidenced by the expression of type II collagen and runt‐related transcription factor 2 genes, respectively, and continued with the increase of extracellular matrix during the last 3 weeks. Histological and immunohistochemical staining, such as for glycosaminoglycans, type I collagen and calcium, revealed better integration and transition of these matrices between two layers in the composite group containing sandwiched cells compared to other control composites. These results suggest that hUCMSCs may be a suitable cell source for osteochondral regeneration, and the strategy of sandwiching cells between two layers may facilitate scaffold and tissue integration. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/87014/1/370_ftp.pd

Human umbilical cord mesenchymal stromal cells in a sandwich approach for osteochondral tissue engineering

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Wang, L., Zhao, L., & Detamore, M. S. (2011). Human umbilical cord mesenchymal stromal cells in a sandwich approach for osteochondral tissue engineering. Journal of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, 5(9), 712–721. http://doi.org/10.1002/term.370, which has been published in final form at http://doi.org/10.1002/term.370. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.Cell sources and tissue integration between cartilage and bone regions are critical to successful osteochondral regeneration. In this study, human umbilical cord mesenchymal stromal cells (hUCMSCs), derived from Wharton’s jelly, were introduced to the field of osteochondral tissue engineering and a new strategy for osteochondral integration was developed by sandwiching a layer of cells between chondrogenic and osteogenic constructs before suturing them together. Specifically, hUCMSCs were cultured in biodegradable poly-l-lactic acid scaffolds for 3 weeks in either chondrogenic or osteogenic medium to differentiate cells toward cartilage or bone lineages, respectively. A highly concentrated cell solution containing undifferentiated hUCMSCs was pasted onto the surface of the bone layer at week 3 and the two layers were then sutured together to form an osteochondral composite for another 3 week culture period. Chondrogenic and osteogenic differentiation was initiated during the first 3 weeks, as evidenced by the expression of type II collagen and runt-related transcription factor 2 genes, respectively, and continued with the increase of extracellular matrix during the last 3 weeks. Histological and immunohistochemical staining, such as for glycosaminoglycans, type I collagen and calcium, revealed better integration and transition of these matrices between two layers in the composite group containing sandwiched cells compared to other control composites. These results suggest that hUCMSCs may be a suitable cell source for osteochondral regeneration, and the strategy of sandwiching cells between two layers may facilitate scaffold and tissue integration

TMJ tissue engineering : From the disc to condyle

The field of TMJ tissue engineering is blossoming, a field that was onnce far behind orthopaedic tissue engineering is rapidly gaining ground. Both TMJ disc and TMJ condyle tissue engineering efforts present unique challenges and will ultimiately be necessary to regenerate TMJs for patients suffering form severe disorders. The TMJ disc is a fibrocartilaginous structure with complex attachments, where tensile mechanical integrity is a crucial design requirement. The TMJ condyle presents the challenge of engineering both bone and cartilage. Its cartilage is a fibrocartilage with four distinct zones, and the design requirement for mechanical integrity is the ability to resist compression and shear. We are focusing our efforts in all three areas of the tissue engineering triad: cell source, scaffold selection, and chemical signals. With regard to cell source, we are interested in comparing a traditional source of cartilage cells with an exciting new source in human umbilical cord matrix(HUCM) stem cells for engineering cartilage. The HUCM stem cells have shown promise in their ability to synthesize GAGs and collagen on poly(glycolic acid) scaffolds. Moreover, we have initial data to suggest that HUCM stem cells will be strong candidates for bone tissue engineering as well. Regarding scaffold selection, we are currently investigating new hydrogels and novel approaches to designing poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) scaffolds. Our research in chemical signals has focused on the use of glucosamine, and on the use of proteglycans along with growth factors. Our results have suggested that glucosamine may have a beneficial effect on TMJ condylar cartilage cells in culture, and effective concentration ranges are currently being investigated