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- Genre: Masters Thesis
Description
American Primitive is a composition written for wind ensemble with an instrumentation of flute, oboe, clarinet, bass clarinet, alto, tenor, and baritone saxophones, trumpet, horn, trombone, euphonium, tuba, piano, and percussion. The piece is approximately twelve minutes in duration and was written September - December 2013. American Primitive is absolute music (i.e. it does not follow a specific narrative) comprising blocks of distinct, contrasting gestures which bookend a central region of delicate textural layering and minimal gestural contrast. Though three gestures (a descending interval followed by a smaller ascending interval, a dynamic swell, and a chordal "chop") were consciously employed throughout, it is the first gesture of the three that creates a sense of unification and overall coherence to the work. Additionally, the work challenges listeners' expectations of traditional wind ensemble music by featuring the trumpet as a quasi-soloist whose material is predominately inspired by transcriptions of jazz solos. This jazz-inspired material is at times mimicked and further developed by the ensemble, also often in a soloistic manner while the trumpet maintains its role throughout. This interplay of dialogue between the "soloists" and the "ensemble" further skews listeners' conceptions of traditional wind ensemble music by featuring almost every instrument in the ensemble. Though the term "American Primitive" is usually associated with the "naïve art" movement, it bears no association to the music presented in this work. Instead, the term refers to the author's own compositional attitudes, education, and aesthetic interests.
ContributorsJandreau, Joshua (Composer) / Rockmaker, Jody D (Thesis advisor) / Rogers, Rodney I (Committee member) / Demars, James R (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
Phantom Sun is a ten-minute piece in three sections, and is composed for flute, clarinet in b-flat, violin, cello, and percussion. The three-part structure for this work is a representation of the atmospheric phenomenon after which the composition is named. A phantom sun, also called a parhelion or sundog, is a weather-related phenomenon caused by the horizontal refraction of sunlight in the upper atmosphere. This refraction creates the illusion of three suns above the horizon, and is often accompanied by a bright halo called the circumzenithal arc. The halo is caused by light bending at 22° as it passes through hexagonal ice crystals. Consequently, the numbers six and 22 are important figures, and have been encoded into this piece in various ways.
The first section, marked “With concentrated intensity,” is characterized by the juxtaposition of tonal ambiguity and tonal affirmation, as well as the use of polymetric counterpoint (often 7/8 against 4/4 or 7/8 against 3/4). The middle section, marked “Crystalline,” provides contrast in its use of unmetered sections and independent tempos. The refraction of light is represented in this movement by a 22-note row based on a hexachord (B-flat, F, C, G, A, E) introduced in measure 164 of the first section. The third section, marked “With frenetic energy,” begins without pause on an arresting entrance of the drums playing an additive rhythmic pattern. This pattern (5+7+9+1) amounts to 22 eighth-note pulses and informs much of the motivic and structural considerations for the remainder of the piece.
The first section, marked “With concentrated intensity,” is characterized by the juxtaposition of tonal ambiguity and tonal affirmation, as well as the use of polymetric counterpoint (often 7/8 against 4/4 or 7/8 against 3/4). The middle section, marked “Crystalline,” provides contrast in its use of unmetered sections and independent tempos. The refraction of light is represented in this movement by a 22-note row based on a hexachord (B-flat, F, C, G, A, E) introduced in measure 164 of the first section. The third section, marked “With frenetic energy,” begins without pause on an arresting entrance of the drums playing an additive rhythmic pattern. This pattern (5+7+9+1) amounts to 22 eighth-note pulses and informs much of the motivic and structural considerations for the remainder of the piece.
ContributorsMitton, Stephen LeRoy (Author) / DeMars, James (Thesis advisor) / Norton, Kay (Committee member) / Rogers, Rodney (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
This review aims to provide a comprehensive review of the most recent literature on adaptive therapy, a promising new approach to cancer treatment that leverages evolutionary theory to prolong tumor control1. By capitalizing on the competition between drug-sensitive and drug-resistant cells, adaptive therapy has led to a paradigm shift in oncology. Through mathematical and in silico models, researchers have examined key factors such as dose timing, cost of resistance, and spatial dynamics in tumor response to adaptive therapy. With a partial focus on preclinical experiments involving ovarian and breast cancer, this review will discuss the demonstrated effectiveness of adaptive therapy in improving progression free survival and tumor control. Through the review process, it was determined that dose modulation outperformed drug-vacation strategies, emphasizing the significance of tumor heterogeneity and spatial structure in accurately modeling adaptive therapy mechanisms. The potential of ongoing clinical trials to improve patient outcomes and long-term treatment efficacy is emphasized, while a thorough analysis of study methodologies shapes the future direction of adaptive therapy research.
ContributorsRichker, Harley (Author) / Maley, Carlo C (Thesis advisor) / Compton, Carolyn (Committee member) / Wilson, Melisaa (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
Description
Adaptive therapy utilizes competitive interactions between resistant and sensitive cells by keeping some sensitive cells to control tumor burden with the aim of increasing overall survival and time to progression. The use of adaptive therapy to treat breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and pancreatic cancer in preclinical models has shown significant results in controlling tumor growth. The adaptive therapy model comes from the integrated pest management agricultural strategy, predator prey model, and the unique intra- and inter-tumor heterogeneity of tumors. The purpose of this thesis is to analyze and compare gemcitabine dose response on hormone refractory breast cancer cells retrieved from mice using an adaptive therapy strategy with standard therapy treatment. In this study, we compared intermittent (drug holiday) adaptive therapy with maximum tolerated dose therapy. The MCF7 resistant cell lines to both fulvestrant and palbociclib were injected into the mammary fat pads of 8 weeks old NOD/SCID gamma (NSG) mice which were then treated with gemcitabine. Tumor burden graphs were made to track tumor growth/decline during different treatments while Drug Dose Response (DDR) curves were made to test the sensitivity of the cell lines to the drug gemcitabine. The tumor burden graphs showed success in controlling the tumor burden with intermittent treatment. The DDR curves showed a positive result in using the adaptive therapy treatment method to treat mice with gemcitabine. Due to some fluctuating DDR results, the sensitivity of the cell lines to gemcitabine needs to be further studied by repeating the DDR experiment on the other mice cell lines for stronger results.
ContributorsConti, Aviona Christina (Author) / Maley, Carlo (Thesis advisor) / Blattman, Joseph (Committee member) / Anderson, Karen (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Description
A New Home is a multi-movement musical composition written for a chamber orchestra of flute, oboe, clarinet in B-flat, bassoon, horn in F, trumpet in C, trombone, bass trombone, percussion (1), pianoforte, and strings. The duration of the entire piece is approximately fourteen minutes (movement 1: four minutes; mvt. 2: four minutes and thirty seconds; mvt. 3: five minutes and thirty seconds). As an exercise in compositional experimentation, some of the musical techniques explored throughout the piece are harmonic planing or parallelism, ostinati, modality, chromatic dissonance, thematic transformation, mixed meter, and syncopation, as well as issues of orchestral blend, balance, and color.
The first movement, ironically titled “Don’t Panic,” highlights my initial anxieties on experimentation by creating hectic textures. The movement is structured around two main alternating sections of chromatic, chordal dissonance with more modal, melodic syncopation in addition to a developmental section, but a sense of rhythmic groove is prominent throughout. The second movement, “Still Here,” is a darker, more sensitive music as it explores various settings of its main thematic material interspersed with march-like episodes and a related secondary theme. The themes are organized around a diatonic scale that omits one pitch to comprise a six-note scale. The third movement, “Change of State,” recalls the modality and rhythmic liveliness of the first movement, and it bears a thematic relationship to the second movement. Much of the material also revolves around scales and mediant relationships to comprise an opening theme, a groove section, and an ethereal, glassy texture which ends the movement. Essentially, the piece closes with a calmer music in contrast to the brute force that opened the piece.
The first movement, ironically titled “Don’t Panic,” highlights my initial anxieties on experimentation by creating hectic textures. The movement is structured around two main alternating sections of chromatic, chordal dissonance with more modal, melodic syncopation in addition to a developmental section, but a sense of rhythmic groove is prominent throughout. The second movement, “Still Here,” is a darker, more sensitive music as it explores various settings of its main thematic material interspersed with march-like episodes and a related secondary theme. The themes are organized around a diatonic scale that omits one pitch to comprise a six-note scale. The third movement, “Change of State,” recalls the modality and rhythmic liveliness of the first movement, and it bears a thematic relationship to the second movement. Much of the material also revolves around scales and mediant relationships to comprise an opening theme, a groove section, and an ethereal, glassy texture which ends the movement. Essentially, the piece closes with a calmer music in contrast to the brute force that opened the piece.
ContributorsJones, Zachary William (Author) / Rogers, Rodney (Thesis advisor) / Feisst, Sabine (Committee member) / Rockmaker, Jody (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
Efforts to treat prostate cancer have seen an uptick, as the world’s most commoncancer in men continues to have increasing global incidence. Clinically, metastatic
prostate cancer is most commonly treated with hormonal therapy. The idea behind
hormonal therapy is to reduce androgen production, which prostate cancer cells
require for growth. Recently, the exploration of the synergistic effects of the drugs
used in hormonal therapy has begun. The aim was to build off of these recent
advancements and further refine the synergistic drug model. The advancements I
implement come by addressing biological shortcomings and improving the model’s
internal mechanistic structure. The drug families being modeled, anti-androgens,
and gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogs, interact with androgen production in a
way that is not completely understood in the scientific community. Thus the models
representing the drugs show progress through their ability to capture their effect
on serum androgen. Prostate-specific antigen is the primary biomarker for prostate
cancer and is generally how population models on the subject are validated. Fitting
the model to clinical data and comparing it to other clinical models through the
ability to fit and forecast prostate-specific antigen and serum androgen is how this
improved model achieves validation. The improved model results further suggest that
the drugs’ dynamics should be considered in adaptive therapy for prostate cancer.
prostate cancer is most commonly treated with hormonal therapy. The idea behind
hormonal therapy is to reduce androgen production, which prostate cancer cells
require for growth. Recently, the exploration of the synergistic effects of the drugs
used in hormonal therapy has begun. The aim was to build off of these recent
advancements and further refine the synergistic drug model. The advancements I
implement come by addressing biological shortcomings and improving the model’s
internal mechanistic structure. The drug families being modeled, anti-androgens,
and gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogs, interact with androgen production in a
way that is not completely understood in the scientific community. Thus the models
representing the drugs show progress through their ability to capture their effect
on serum androgen. Prostate-specific antigen is the primary biomarker for prostate
cancer and is generally how population models on the subject are validated. Fitting
the model to clinical data and comparing it to other clinical models through the
ability to fit and forecast prostate-specific antigen and serum androgen is how this
improved model achieves validation. The improved model results further suggest that
the drugs’ dynamics should be considered in adaptive therapy for prostate cancer.
ContributorsReckell, Trevor (Author) / Kostelich, Eric (Thesis advisor) / Kuang, Yang (Committee member) / Mahalov, Alex (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020
Modeling Spatial Competition and Adaptive Therapy Protocols in Three-Dimensional Vascularized Tumors
Description
In contrast to traditional chemotherapy for cancer which fails to address tumor heterogeneity, raises patients’ levels of toxicity, and selects for drug-resistant cells, adaptive therapy applies ideas from cancer ecology in employing low-dose drugs to encourage competition between cancerous cells, reducing toxicity and potentially prolonging disease progression. Despite promising results in some clinical trials, optimizing adaptive therapy routines involves navigating a vast space of combina- torial possibilities, including the number of drugs, drug holiday duration, and drug dosages. Computational models can serve as precursors to efficiently explore this space, narrowing the scope of possibilities for in-vivo and in-vitro experiments which are time-consuming, expensive, and specific to tumor types. Among the existing modeling techniques, agent-based models are particularly suited for studying the spatial inter- actions critical to successful adaptive therapy. In this thesis, I introduce CancerSim, a three-dimensional agent-based model fully implemented in C++ that is designed to simulate tumorigenesis, angiogenesis, drug resistance, and resource competition within a tissue. Additionally, the model is equipped to assess the effectiveness of various adaptive therapy regimens. The thesis provides detailed insights into the biological motivation and calibration of different model parameters. Lastly, I propose a series of research questions and experiments for adaptive therapy that CancerSim can address in the pursuit of advancing cancer treatment strategies.
ContributorsShah, Sanjana Saurin (Author) / Daymude, Joshua J (Thesis advisor) / Forrest, Stephanie (Committee member) / Maley, Carlo C (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023