The purpose of the present study was to assess if combining the two frameworks would account for more variance in PTSS than could be accounted for using the frameworks separately. An online community sample from Amazon.com's Mechanical Turk (N = 437), who reported experiencing a prior traumatic event, completed measures that reflected the constructs of narrative centrality, negative affectivity, and death concerns, along with a measure of PTSS. PTSS was regressed on the latent variables of death concerns, narrative centrality, and negative affectivity, along with the latent variable interactions between narrative centrality*death concerns and narrative centrality*negative affectivity. Death concerns was not be predictive of PTSS, whereas narrative centrality and negative affectivity were found to uniquely and interactively account for 77% of the variance in PTSS. Death concerns was found to be a separate construct from negative affectivity. The implications of these findings for the two frameworks are discussed along with future directions. By considering aspects of narrative centrality and negative affectivity, substantial portions of PTSS can be accounted for.

This dissertation examines the significance of the Kansas Tort Claims Act of 1979 on state of Kansas court decisions in litigation against Kansas school districts and their employees. Through providing a historical perspective of the adoption and abolishment of the doctrine of sovereign immunity in the United States, which subsequently led to the enactment of the Federal Tort Claims Act, and ultimately led to the Kansas Tort Claims Act, the researcher analyzes pertinent case law and scholarly commentary pertaining to school negligence litigation. The goal of the analysis is to answer the following research question: How have Kansas state courts interpreted the Kansas Tort Claims Act in litigation against state school districts and their employees? Although the KTCA provides citizens with a vehicle for redress against governmental entities by virtue of tort claims, the KTCA also provides immunities from liability for governmental entities and their employees under exceptions to the KTCA. Most notably, the discretionary function exception and the recreational use exception are two exceptions to liability applied in a significant number of tort cases against Kansas school districts and employees. The case law analysis provides explanations for the types of actions of negligence that Kansas courts have qualified for …

This dissertation examines a university faculty (n = 41) and diverse students (n = 93) including students with disability (n = 44), students without disability (n = 21), and international students (n = 28) regarding their attitudes toward and actions associated with inclusive instruction based on the universal design for learning (UDL) principles and practices. Two online surveys, the Inclusive Teaching Strategies Inventory (ITSI) and the Inclusive Teaching Strategies Inventory-Student (ITSI-S), were administered at a large, public Southwest university (N = 134). The ITSI and ITSI-S contain seven subscales representing the following constructs: (a) accommodations, (b) accessible course materials, (c) course modifications, (d) inclusive lecture strategies, (e) inclusive classroom, (f) inclusive assessment, and (g) disability laws and concepts. A series of multivariate analyses of variances (MANOVAs) measured the overall of attitude subscales and overall action subscales, and an independent-samples test (t-test) compared mean scores on the seven Attitude subscales and seven Action subscales to identify predictors of these attitudes and actions among faculty and students. The main findings were (a) significant differences among diverse students, where students with disability responded negatively on the Action subscales and (b) significant differences between faculty and diverse students where international students had a positive …

A common goal of instructional techniques is to teach skills effectively and efficiently. Matrix training techniques are both effective and efficient as they allow for the emergence of untrained responding to novel stimulus arrangements, a phenomenon known as recombinative generalization. However, it is unclear which type of matrix arrangement best promotes recombinative generalization. The current study compared two common matrix training approaches, an overlapping (OV) design and a non-overlapping (NOV) design, with respect to arranging relations targeted for training. We conducted a replication evaluation of a Wilshire and Toussaint study, and taught two typically-developing preschoolers compound object-action labels in Spanish and used either an OV or NOV matrix training design. Results from both studies demonstrated the participant trained with an OV design produced recombinative generalization and participants trained with a NOV design produced significantly low levels of emergence or none at all. These results suggest that an OV matrix design facilitates recombinative generalization more effectively than a NOV design. Implications for instructional arrangements are discussed.

Psychological assessment relies on accurate and forthright reporting to determine valid clinical presentations. However, it has long been recognized that examinees may be motivated to present a "better picture" through Positive Impression Management (PIM). Within the PIM domain, two distinct motivations (i.e., defensiveness and social desirability) emerge that have not been clearly differentiated in empirical literature. This thesis addressed the research gap for detecting PIM distortion of personality pathology, utilizing the Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5). In this investigation, 106 psychiatric inpatients were recruited from the adult Co-Occurring Disorders and Trauma Programs at University Behavioral Health. Using a mixed within- and between-subjects design, participants engaged in simulation via scenarios to be considered for a highly valued rehabilitation program (defensiveness) or employment (social desirability). As expected, inpatients showed elevated levels of problematic personality traits when reporting genuinely, but suppressed them under PIM conditions. These findings highlight that the PID-5, like all multiscale inventories, is highly vulnerable to intentional PIM distortion. Interestingly, respondents in the social desirability condition generally engaged in more total denial than those in the defensiveness condition. Empirically- and theoretically-based validity scales were developed to identify simulators and differentiate between conditions. Besides PIM, higher levels of experienced stigma were …

Leo Ornstein's most significant piano oeuvre, the Seventeen Waltzes, stand out as a unique example of a pianism as a foundation for the composer's musical thoughts. The purpose of this document is to provide musical and technical suggestions based on Ornstein's pianistic patterns, which will help pianists understand the composer's complex writing and form a coherent interpretation. The guide covers the main avant-garde musical devices used by Ornstein such as tone clusters, polymeter, and polyrhythm. A comparison process within the collection will help performers to address Ornstein's unmarked waltzes by underlining the composer's similar ideas and traits.

For applied teachers of the bel canto method of singing, classical musical theatre repertoire provides an abundant resource of material for teaching the undergraduate baritone voice. Select classic musical theatre repertoire, fitting within the parameters of suitable range, tessitura, duration, and thematic material for an undergraduate baritone, will be used to demonstrate the application of bel canto techniques such as: glottal onsets, the connection between the speaking voice and singing voice, suitable vowels in building the upper range, and teaching sostenuto and legato. This dissertation serves as a guide for teaching sound vocalism through classic musical theatre repertoire.

Johann Paul von Westhoff's (1656-1705) solo violin works, consisting of Suite pour le violon sans basse continue published in 1683 and Six Suites for Violin Solo in 1696, feature extensive use of multiple stops, which represents a German polyphonic style of the seventeenth-century instrumental music. However, the Six Suites had escaped the public's attention for nearly three hundred years until its rediscovery by the musicologist Peter Várnai in the late twentieth century. This project will focus on polyphonic writing featured in the solo violin works by von Westhoff. In order to fully understand the stylistic traits of this less well-known collection, a brief summary of the composer, Johann Paul Westhoff, and an overview of the historical background of his time will be included in this document. I will analyze these works, including a comparison between the works of Westhoff and those of other composers during his time, to prove that Westhoff's solo works establish multiple stops as a central factor of German violin playing of the time, and, thus, to promote Westhoff's works as a complement to the extant repertoire of unaccompanied violin music written in the Baroque era before Johann Sebastian Bach's solo violin works and Georg Philipp Telemann's …

Virtual Stage is a project to use Virtual Reality (VR) technology as an audiovisual performance interface. The depth of control, modularity of design, and user immersion aim to solve some of the representational problems in interactive audiovisual art and the control problems in digital musical instruments. Creating feedback between interaction and perception, the VR environment references the viewer's behavioral intuition developed in the real world, facilitating clarity in the understanding of artistic representation. The critical essay discusses of interactive behavior, game mechanics, interface implementations, and technical developments to express the structures and performance possibilities. This discussion uses Virtual Stage as an example with specific aesthetic and technical solutions, but addresses archetypal concerns in interactive audiovisual art. The creative documentation lists the interactive functions present in Virtual Stage as well as code reproductions of selected technical solutions. The included code excerpts document novel approaches to virtual reality implementation and acoustic physical modeling of musical instruments.

The United States Military Academy Band, also known as the West Point Band is the oldest active band in the United States Army and the oldest unit at the United States Military Academy, and is considered to be one of the finest military musical organizations in the world. The band has also been instrumental in facilitating the creation of new works for wind band.As the commissioning of new music has been essential to the expansion of the wind band's repertoire, several major commissioning projects were undertaken in the mid-twentieth century by various organizations, including the West Point Band, the Goldman Band in conjunction with the League of Composers and later the American Bandmasters Association, Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma, the American Wind Symphony, and the College Band Directors National Association. These commissioning projects and many others have contributed hosts of new quality works to the repertoire of the wind band. The West Point Band's 1952 commissioning project celebrating the Sesquicentennial of the United States Military Academy was among the first of these mid-twentieth century commissioning projects to seek out prominent composers of the day and have them write works for wind band. The project contributed several seminal pieces …

The purpose of this document is threefold. First, it demonstrates what Grieg contributes to the musical text compared with the original Peters edition, particularly, those additions that refer to expression, interpretation, and style. Second, this document focuses on presenting Grainger's changes that were approved by Grieg. Third, the document evaluates Grainger's own suggestions for pedaling, hand redistribution and fingering, addition of notes, tempo markings, and other performance guidelines.

This paper discusses several compositions that use the computer screen to present music notation to performers. Three of these compositions, Law of Fives (2015), Polytera II (2016), and Terraformation (2016–17), employ strategies that allow the notation to change during the performance of the work as the product of composer-regulated algorithmic generation and performer interaction. New methodologies, implemented using Cycling74's Max software, facilitate performance of these works by allowing effective control of generation and on-screen display of notation; these include an application called VizScore, which delivers notation and conducts through it in real-time, and a development environment for real-time notation using the Bach extensions and graphical overlays around them. These tools support a concept of cartographic composition, in which a composer maps a range of potential behaviors that are mediated by human or algorithmic systems or some combination of the two. Notational variation in performance relies on computer algorithms that can both generate novel ideas and be subject to formal plans designed by the composer. This requires a broader discussion of the underlying algorithms and control mechanisms in the context of algorithmic art in general. Terraformation, for viola and computer, uses a model of the performer's physical actions to constrain the …

The idea of reducing popular and musically satisfying operatic or orchestral works to smaller instrumental forces is not uncommon, but the idea of reducing large scores for the exclusive use of orchestral excerpt pedagogy is. Although there are a multitude of excellent resources detailing how select excerpts from both the clarinet and bass clarinet orchestral repertoire should be performed, no resources for clarinetists or bass clarinetists provide a piano reduction of orchestral scores. Through piano reduction of orchestral scores, bass clarinetists have access to a resource that simulates the experience of playing in an orchestra. Bass clarinetists using a piano reduction will learn the pitch tendencies of the instrument. Consequently, the performer will discover ways to study excerpts in-tune with other instruments that will not compromise for the shortcomings of the bass clarinet. Use of piano transcriptions will also aid with recognition of important moving lines, harmonic textures and rhythmic ostinatos that might otherwise be overlooked by score study and listening alone. Finally, many of the excerpt transcriptions provided are taken from several bars before the primary bass clarinet excerpt, unlike many excerpt books currently available. This provides bass clarinets a more contextual view of an excerpt by facilitating the …

Two important performance practices in the modern orchestral performance are discussed in this document: simplification and octavation. Due to the differing opinions and common practices which bass players have around these two performance practices, simplification and octavation have become two of the most complex issues faced by orchestral sections. The first part of the document will provide a brief history of simplification and octavation. The second part of the document will offer recommendation for double bass orchestral practice in the 21st century and examine key works of the bass repertoire in which simplification and octavation occur. The research and practice of leading pedagogues and major orchestral players and the solutions they have developed to reduce the discrepancy inherent within section playing will be discussed. This document will propose several empirical solutions to major excerpts in the bass repertoire, demonstrating how it is to achieve the most uniformed playing, and offer applicable and suggestive guidelines for contemporary orchestral double bass performers.

Latin American art song is a genre primarily of the first half of the twentieth-century, when popular folklore served as the voice and inspiration of many poets and musicians. The nationalist movement served as a means of expression, each Latin American country with its own identity. There is great benefit for singers to study Spanish diction at an academic level, since it is a language already familiar to most U.S.A residents. There is a significant amount of unknown repertoire that would be very useful in the singing studio because of the language's open vowels. This repertoire can also serve as a confidence-builder to young Spanish-speaking singers at the beginning of their training. I will be focusing on the (s), (ll), and (y) sounds as pronounced in the diverse regions of Latin America; in particular, why they matter when coaching singers, and the articulators involved in each. The purpose of this study is to discuss diction differences in the repertoire, expound on its benefits for voice pedagogy, all while informing about varied options for recital programming.

High entropy alloys (HEAs) are alloys with five or more principal elements. Due to these distinct concept of alloying, the HEA exhibits unique and superior properties. The outstanding properties of HEA includes higher strength/hardness, superior wear resistance, high temperature stability, higher fatigue life, good corrosion and oxidation resistance. Such characteristics of HEA has been significant interest leading to researches on these emerging field. Even though many works are done to understand the characteristic of these HEAs, very few works are made on how the HEAs can be applied for commercial uses. This work discusses the application of High entropy alloys in biomedical applications. The coronary heart disease, the leading cause of death in the United States kills more than 350,000 persons/year and it costs $108.9 billion for the nation each year in spite of significant advancements in medical care and public awareness. A cardiovascular disease affects heart or blood vessels (arteries, veins and capillaries) or both by blocking the blood flow. As a surgical interventions, stent implants are deployed to cure or ameliorate the disease. However, the high failure rate of stents has lead researchers to give special attention towards analyzing stent structure, materials and characteristics. Many works related to …

This dissertation presents an analysis of Akrodha (1998), a multiple percussion solo in two movements, composed by Kevin Volans. The analysis is focused on the motivic content and subsequent iterations written within the tempos that provide the structural form of the piece. The structural tempos are supported by the presence of various motifs that serve as the tempos' characteristic traits, thereby giving the tempos more tangibility. As the work develops, these motifs reappear either as note-for-note reiterations or as variations that still maintain the unique qualities of the motifs. For comparison, similar analyses of Mr. Volans' other multiple percussion solos, She Who Sleeps with a Small Blanket (1985) and Asanga (1997), are also presented to further explore Mr. Volans' use of motifs as they relate to structural tempos. In addition, a comprehensive performance practice of Akrodha is presented based on a synthesis of considerations and methods from individuals involved in the piece's development and early performances. These include Dr. Volans himself, Jonny Axelsson (for whom Akrodha was written), and Robyn Schulkowsky (for whom She Who Sleeps with a Small Blanket and Asanga were written), as well as the author's personal experiences. This dissertation provides a deeper understanding of Akrodha for …

My lecture serves as a critical examination of the Six Sonatas Op. 3, KV. 10-15 by W.A. Mozart. I will engage the variances between the first edition of Op. 3 and those by Joseph Bopp and Louis Moyse edited specifically for the flute in hopes of providing another perspective for students, performers, and pedagogues alike. This study will (1) provide background information regarding the creation of KV. 10-15, (2) include a brief analysis of each sonata, (3) compare adaptions between the first edition, according to NMA, and two modern flute transcriptions, and (4) produce two new transcriptions. My new transcriptions of Sonatas KV. 10 and 13 represent a closer interpretation to the first edition and alerts students and teachers to the differences between the editions by Joseph Bopp and Louis Moyse to that of the first and NMA editions. The goal is to stimulate performers to reappraise their approach to this particular repertoire and to encourage more authentic performances of these engaging sonatas.

Orchestral excerpt books have become a staple in instrumental study for those pursuing a career in the orchestra. Many of these books, especially those for clarinet, are catered towards the popular and prolific clarinet solos found in principal clarinet parts. However, there is a lack of quality resources geared towards those pursuing second clarinet positions. Former materials might be outdated or are filled with inconsistencies or mistakes. The purpose of this document is to provide a resource and guide for select second clarinet orchestral excerpts. In this guide, certain aspects of playing second clarinet will be discussed as a whole and as it pertains to selected excerpts. The excerpts included in this document are: Bartók Concerto for Orchestra, Mendelssohn The Hebrides and Scherzo from A Midsummer Night's Dream, Ravel Daphis et Chloé and Rapsodie Espagnole, and Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5.

This study examines the evolution of Ella Fitzgerald's scat syllable vocabulary during a key developmental period in her career when she was recording for Decca Records. Between 1943 and 1952, Fitzgerald established the syllabic vocabulary that would serve as a defining characteristic of her improvisational style for the rest of her career. Fitzgerald is commonly praised as the greatest vocal improviser in jazz history, but while much has been written about Fitzgerald's melodic and harmonic approach to jazz improvisation, little has been written about her syllabic approach. Timbre and articulation are considered to be vital elements of any jazz musician's style; the study examines the changes in Ella Fitzgerald's syllabic approach through transcription and analyses of thirteen scat solos recorded during this time period, using scat syllable choices to discuss timbre and articulation. This analysis provides a model for further research of its kind, as well as informing historically accurate performance practice by both teachers and students of jazz singing.

This research explores the need for a unique, self-help manual to provide music students with diagnoses of dyslexia under the umbrella of specific learning disorder (SLD) and/or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) a positive way of coping with their musical tendencies. Dyslexia and ADHD are the most prevalent, comorbid neurodevelopmental disorders with symptoms affecting academic, social, and/or personal life. Musical symptoms could include difficulties in any of the following areas: notation reading; time, pulse, and rhythm; posture; fingering coordination; memorization; sight-reading; organization of thoughts, time, and materials; spatial and directional awareness; focused attention; retention of new concepts; positive attitude; and the ability to process written and/or oral information quickly and accurately. This dissertation includes scientific information related to the conditions; an analysis of musical tendencies; pedagogical approaches; personal anecdotal stories that serve to illustrate scientific concepts; and a self-help manual. The manual, "Music, Dyslexia, and ADHD: A Self-Help Manual for Students with Exceptionalities," is a colorful, accessible resource that begins to fill the self-help gap in the musical instruction literature for students with dyslexia and/or ADHD. It offers useful information, multisensory/multimodal techniques, and coping strategies to empower students with these learning differences to achieve more rewarding, independent success throughout their musical studies.

A gap exists in education research in the area of district support for campus-based professional learning communities (PLCs). The current study was an examination of practitioner perceptions of district structures and practices that support the development and sustainability of PLCs in public high schools. I examined the perceptions of 341 teachers, campus administrators, and district administrators in a suburban North Texas public school district with three comprehensive high schools. Using a sequential mixed-method design, quantitative data from an electronic survey and qualitative data from face-to-face interviews were collected and analyzed. The findings revealed a generally positive view of central office support among the participants, including consistent ratings from each high school, each campus-level position, each content area, and each level of experience in the district. There was some misalignment of perceptions between campus-level and district-level staff. The study also uncovered a set of best and worst district practices, the six PLC strengtheners and six PLC inhibitors, which were synthesized into a set of recommendations and guidelines for district support for high school PLCs. From participant feedback, I concluded district support is needed and desired by high school practitioners and there are specific district practices and structures that are most effective. …

Don't Frack With Denton chronicles the ground-breaking movement to ban hydraulic fracturing in the city of Denton, Texas by combining observational location shooting with extensive sit-down interviews and carefully negotiated subject-filmmaker relationships to create a safe and comfortable space for thoughtful reflection and criticism of a complex social movement who's activities span several years and many individuals. The result is a long-form documentary that is unapologetically in solidarity with this movement's goals while simultaneously maintaining enough editorial independence and critical distance to allow the activists themselves to honestly evaluate their decision-making, tactics and interpersonal relationships in ways that will provide insight and instruction to similar movements around the country and the world.

This study aims to investigate variable flow and intermittent flow spray cooling characteristics for efficiency improvement in active two-phase thermal management systems. Variable flow spray cooling scheme requires control of pump input voltage (or speed), while intermittent flow spray cooling scheme requires control of solenoid valve duty cycle and frequency. Several testing scenarios representing dynamic heat load conditions are implemented to characterize the overall performance of variable flow and intermittent flow spray cooling cases in comparison with the reference, steady flow spray cooling case with constant flowrate, continuous spray cooling. Tests are conducted on a small-scale, closed loop spray cooling system featuring a pressure atomized spray nozzle. HFE-7100 dielectric liquid is selected as the working fluid. Two types of test samples are prepared on 10 mm x 10 mm x 2 mm copper substrates with matching size thick film resistors attached onto the opposite side, to generate heat and simulate high heat flux electronic devices. The test samples include: (i) plain, smooth surface, and (ii) microporous surface featuring 100 μm thick copper-based coating prepared by dual stage electroplating technique. Experimental conditions involve HFE-7100 at atmospheric pressure and 30°C and ~10°C subcooling. Steady flow spray cooling tests are conducted at flow …