Senior Recital:Allen Legutki, Trumpet

Kemp Recital Hall Saturday Afternoon April 10, 1999 12:30p.m

Competitive comparison in music: influences upon self-efficacy beliefs by gender

This study profiles gender differences in instrumental performance self-efficacy perceptions of high school students (N = 87) over the course of a three-day orchestra festival in which students competed against one another for rank-based seating and then rehearsed and performed as a group. Reported self-beliefs rose significantly for the sample over the course of the festival. Self-efficacy beliefs of females were significantly lower than those of males before the seating audition and first rehearsal, but were no longer different by the midpoint of the festival. Survey free-response data were coded according to Bandura's (1997 Bandura, A. 1997. Self-efficacy: The Exercise of Control. New York: W. H. Freeman.) four sources of self-efficacy. A 52% drop in the frequency of student comments regarding competitive comparison appeared at the same point in which female self-efficacy beliefs were no longer different from those of males. Results support past research to suggest that males and females may respond differently to rank-based competition versus social support

Graduate Recital:Al Legutki, Trumpet

Kemp Recital Hall Saturday Afternoon November 9, 2002 3:30p.m

Highly heterogenous humoral immune response in Lyme disease patients revealed by broad machine learning-assisted antibody binding profiling with random peptide arrays

IntroductionLyme disease (LD), a rapidly growing public health problem in the US, represents a formidable challenge due to the lack of detailed understanding about how the human immune system responds to its pathogen, the Borrelia burgdorferi bacterium. Despite significant advances in gaining deeper insight into mechanisms the pathogen uses to evade immune response, substantial gaps remain. As a result, molecular tools for the disease diagnosis are lacking with the currently available tests showing poor performance. High interpersonal variability in immune response combined with the ability of the pathogen to use a number of immune evasive tactics have been implicated as underlying factors for the limited test performance.MethodsThis study was designed to perform a broad profiling of the entire repertoire of circulating antibodies in human sera at the single-individual level using planar arrays of short linear peptides with random sequences. The peptides sample sparsely, but uniformly the entire combinatorial sequence space of the same length peptides for profiling the humoral immune response to a B.burg. infection and compare them with other diseases with etiology similar to LD and healthy controls.ResultsThe study revealed substantial variability in antibody binding profiles between individual LD patients even to the same antigen (VlsE protein) and strong similarity between individuals diagnosed with Lyme disease and healthy controls from the areas endemic to LD suggesting a high prevalence of seropositivity in endemic healthy control.DiscussionThis work demonstrates the utility of the approach as a valuable analytical tool for agnostic profiling of humoral immune response to a pathogen

Madrigal Brass Quintet

Kemp Recital Hall Monday Evening November 1, 1999 8:00 P.M

Segmentation and intensity estimation for microarray images with saturated pixels

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Microarray image analysis processes scanned digital images of hybridized arrays to produce the input spot-level data for downstream analysis, so it can have a potentially large impact on those and subsequent analysis. Signal saturation is an optical effect that occurs when some pixel values for highly expressed genes or peptides exceed the upper detection threshold of the scanner software (2¹⁶- 1 = 65, 535 for 16-bit images). In practice, spots with a sizable number of saturated pixels are often flagged and discarded. Alternatively, the saturated values are used without adjustments for estimating spot intensities. The resulting expression data tend to be biased downwards and can distort high-level analysis that relies on these data. Hence, it is crucial to effectively correct for signal saturation.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We developed a flexible mixture model-based segmentation and spot intensity estimation procedure that accounts for saturated pixels by incorporating a censored component in the mixture model. As demonstrated with biological data and simulation, our method extends the dynamic range of expression data beyond the saturation threshold and is effective in correcting saturation-induced bias when the lost information is not tremendous. We further illustrate the impact of image processing on downstream classification, showing that the proposed method can increase diagnostic accuracy using data from a lymphoma cancer diagnosis study.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The presented method adjusts for signal saturation at the segmentation stage that identifies a pixel as part of the foreground, background or other. The cluster membership of a pixel can be altered versus treating saturated values as truly observed. Thus, the resulting spot intensity estimates may be more accurate than those obtained from existing methods that correct for saturation based on already segmented data. As a model-based segmentation method, our procedure is able to identify inner holes, fuzzy edges and blank spots that are common in microarray images. The approach is independent of microarray platform and applicable to both single- and dual-channel microarrays.</p

Melioidosis Vaccines: A Systematic Review and Appraisal of the Potential to Exploit Biodefense Vaccines for Public Health Purposes

The designation of Burkholderia pseudomallei as a category B select agent has resulted in considerable research funding to develop a protective vaccine. This bacterium also causes a naturally occurring disease (melioidosis), an important cause of death in many countries including Thailand and Australia. In this study, we explored whether a vaccine could be used to provide protection from melioidosis. An economic evaluation based on its use in Thailand indicated that a vaccine could be a cost-effective intervention if used in high-risk populations such as diabetics and those with chronic kidney or lung disease. A literature search of vaccine studies in animal models identified the current candidates, but noted that models failed to take account of the common routes of infection in natural melioidosis and major risk factors for infection, primarily diabetes. This review highlights important areas for future research if biodefence-driven vaccines are to play a role in reducing the global incidence of melioidosis

Self-determined music participation: the role of psychological needs satisfaction, intrinsic motivation, and self-regulation in the high school band experience

Many decades of research on achievement in schools has shown that motivation is a key ingredient for student success. As most band directors might testify, this is true in the study of music. However, there are many ways in which band directors conceive of and try to affect the motivation of their students as they strive to inculcate a sense of commitment, high levels of musical participation, and personal growth through learning an instrument. In this study, self-determination theory (SDT) was used to explore motivation in band, and answer questions about the type, in addition to the amount, of motivation that is evident in students who are enrolled in high school band programs. SDT offers an approach to motivation, which couples the concept of control with perceived satisfaction of psychological needs, to explain the types of support mechanisms that result in intrinsic motivation and autonomous regulation. Questionnaire and interview data were collected to examine key factor relationships, determine if students??? characteristics or enhancement opportunities were related to aspects of their motivation profiles, and better understand how those factors are experienced through the eyes of high school band students. In order to facilitate this inquiry, a sequential mixed-method study was developed. A methodology was formulated based on a review of the literature, the development and implementation of questionnaire scales from previous research, as well as interviews of students with characteristic motivation profiles. Multiple regression analysis assisted in determining the linear relationships that existed among the self-determination theory constructs and in the creation of a summary model of significant factor interactions in the high school band context. Key findings demonstrated positive relationships between student perceptions of (a) components of psychological needs satisfaction and intrinsic motivation, (b) low amounts of pressure and psychological needs satisfaction, (c) intrinsic motivation and attitudes about future engagement in music activities, and (d) between high levels of engagement in enhancement opportunities and the variables of autonomous regulation and attitudes about future engagement. The results suggest that teachers can better prepare students for meaningful, lifelong engagement with music by focusing on more student-centered approaches that provide support for psychological needs and intrinsic motivation