This creative nonfiction dissertation is a series of braided narratives that chronicle the author's career as a trombonist in the John Smith Ensemble. As an amateur trombonist, the author is shocked to be hired as a professional musician for an orchestra that plays on PBS and at Carnegie Hall. She quickly realizes, however, that the job requires her to play the trombone quietly in front of an unplugged microphone while a CD recording of another, more talented trombonist is blasted out toward an unknowing audience. The job also requires the author to tour around America. The scenes of from this tour are braided with scenes wherein she reflects on her life as a professional fake musician and her past failed attempts at getting a job.

The British entered the War of the First Coalition against Revolutionary France in 1793 diplomatically isolated and militarily unprepared for a major war. Nonetheless, a French attack on the Dutch Republic in February 1793 forced the British to dispatch a small expeditionary force to defend their ally. Throughout the Flanders campaign of 1793, the British expeditionary force served London as a tool to end British isolation and enlist Austrian commitment to securing British war objectives. The 1793 Flanders campaign and the Allied war effort in general have received little attention from historians, and they generally receive dismissive condemnation in general histories of the French Revolutionary Wars. This thesis examines the British participation in the 1793 Flanders campaign a broader diplomatic context through the published correspondence of relevant Allied military and political leaders. Traditional accounts of this campaign present a narrative of defeat and condemn the Allies for their failure to achieve in 1793 the accomplishments of the sixth coalition twenty years later. Such a perspective obscures a clear understanding of the reasons for Allied actions. This thesis seeks to correct this distortion by critically analyzing the relationship between British diplomacy within the Coalition and operations in Flanders. Unable to achieve …

José Antonio Gómez is an important figure in Mexican music history and his works are considered representative of the beginning of Mexico´s Independent era. Some musicians are familiar with Gómez´s choral output but his organ music is rarely considered. Due to the lack of an edition of Gómez´s Versets for Organ, a practical guide was found needed to aid its performance. This study is based on performance, analysis, and direct work on the only known source for it. The first chapter, Introduction, presents the argument for an edited version of the first part of the manuscript as a performance guide. The second provides biographical information on the composer. The third chapter discusses the background for the original performance of the Versets for Organ. Chapter 4 provides performance considerations for the works. The edition of the manuscript is included in chapter 5.

Consider a family of cubic parabolic polynomials given by for non-zero complex parameters such that for each the polynomial is a parabolic polynomial, that is, the polynomial has a parabolic fixed point and the Julia set of , denoted by , does not contain any critical points of . We also assumed that for each , one finite critical point of the polynomial escapes to the super-attracting fixed point infinity. So, the Julia sets are disconnected. The concern about the family is that the members of this family are generally not even bi-Lipschitz conjugate on their Julia sets. We have proved that the parameter set is open and contains a deleted neighborhood of the origin 0. Our main result is that the Hausdorff dimension function defined by is real analytic. To prove this we have constructed a holomorphic family of holomorphic parabolic graph directed Markov systems whose limit sets coincide with the Julia sets of polynomials up to a countable set, and hence have the same Hausdorff dimension. Then we associate to this holomorphic family of holomorphic parabolic graph directed Markov systems an analytic family, call it , of conformal graph directed Markov systems with infinite number of edges in …

This thesis is dedicated to a study of a spin-isospin structure of the polarized {sup 3}He. First, an introduction to the spin structure of {sup 3}He is given, followed by a brief overview of past experiments. The main focus of the thesis is the E05-102 experiment at Jefferson Lab, in which the reactions {sup 3}{ovr He} ({rvec e}, e'd) and {sup 3}{ovr He} ({rvec e}, e'p) in the quasi-elastic region were studied. The purpose of this experiment was to better understand the effects of the S'- and D-state contributions to the {sup 3}He ground-state wave-functions by a precise measurement of beam-target asymmetries A{sub x} and A{sub z} in the range of recoil momenta from 0 to about 300 MeV/c. The experimental equipment utilized in these measurements is described, with special attention devoted to the calibration of the hadron spectrometer, BigBite. Results on the measured asymmetries are presented, together with first attempts at their comparison to the state-of-the art Faddeev calculations. The remaining open problems and challenges for future work are also discussed.

After a general introduction to OLEDs and OLED-based PL sensors, the transient emission mechanism of guest-host OLEDs is described both experimentally and theoretically. A monolithic and easy-to-apply process is demonstrated for fabricating multicolor microcavity OLEDs (that improve the sensor platform). The outcoupling issues of OLEDs at the substrate/air interface are addressed by using a microstructured polymer film resulting from a PS and polyethylene glycol (PEG) mixture. Based on the understanding of OLEDs and their improvement, research was done in order to realize integrated all organic-based O{sub 2} and pH sensors with improved signal intensity and sensitivity. The sensor design modification and optimization are summarized

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An experiment was conducted at Jefferson Lab's Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility to develop a beam-based technique for characterizing the extent of the nonlinearity of the magnetic fields of a beam transport system. Horizontally and vertically oriented pairs of air-core kicker magnets were simultaneously driven at two different frequencies to provide a time-dependent transverse modulation of the beam orbit relative to the unperturbed reference orbit. Fourier decomposition of the position data at eight different points along the beamline was then used to measure the amplitude of these frequencies. For a purely linear transport system one expects to find solely the frequencies that were applied to the kickers with amplitudes that depend on the phase advance of the lattice. In the presence of nonlinear fields one expects to also find harmonics of the driving frequencies that depend on the order of the nonlinearity. Chebyshev polynomials and their unique properties allow one to directly quantify the magnitude of the nonlinearity with the minimum error. A calibration standard was developed using one of the sextupole magnets in a CEBAF beamline. The technique was then applied to a pair of Arc 1 dipoles and then to the magnets in the Transport Recombiner beamline to …

This dissertation focuses on techniques for (1) increasing ethanol yields from saccharification and fermentation of cellulose using immobilized cellulase, and (2) the characterization and classification of lignocellulosic feedstocks, and quantification of useful parameters such as the syringyl/guaiacyl (S/G) lignin monomer content using 1064 nm dispersive multichannel Raman spectroscopy and chemometrics.

The purpose of my dissertation is to understand the structural and magnetic properties of the newly discovered FeAs-based superconductors and the interconnection between superconductivity, antiferromagnetism, and structure. X-ray and neutron scattering techniques are powerful tools to directly observe the structure and magnetism in this system. I used both xray and neutron scattering techniques on di#11;erent transition substituted BaFe2As2 compounds in order to investigate the substitution dependence of structural and magnetic transitions and try to understand the connections between them.

This collection of personal essays about incest, abuse, and depression explores the lasting effects of an invisible childhood. The essays follow the protagonist from the age of five to her early twenties. Her brother, at a young age, becomes sexually abusive of her and her sisters, and her parents fail to protect their daughters. The family is divided as the older girls strive to defend their little sisters, while their parents attempt to excuse their son. When her brother is finally sent away, the protagonist is left to salvage what remains of her relationships with her parents.

A series of heteroleptic and homoleptic platinum(II) complexes has been synthesized and characterized towards their use in thin film devices such as organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) and organic thin film transistors (OTFTs). Pyridylpyrazolate- and pyridyltetrazolate-containing ligands were selected due to their structural rigidity and ease of functionalization. Single-crystal x-ray diffraction studies of two selected heteroleptic complexes show strong aggregation with preferential stacking into vertical columns with a varying degree of overlap of the neighboring square planar molecular units. It is shown that the close proximity of the molecules to one another in the stack increases semiconducting character, phosphorescence quantum yields, and shorter radiative lifetimes. The potential for these materials towards incorporation into high-efficiency doping free white OLEDs (DFW-OLEDs) for solid-state lighting and display applications has been realized and will be expanded upon by present and future embodiments of materials in this thesis.

In 1863, Fort Bascom was built along the Canadian River in the Eroded Plains of Territorial New Mexico. Its unique location placed it between the Comanches of Texas and the Comancheros of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. This post was situated within Comanchería during the height of the United States Army's war against the Southern Plains Indians, yet it has garnered little attention. This study broadens the scholarly understanding of how the United States Army gained control of the Southwest by examining the role Fort Bascom played in this mission. This includes an exploration of the Canadian River Valley environment, an examination of the economic relationship that existed between the Southern Plains Indians and the mountain people of New Mexico, and an account of the daily life of soldiers posted to Fort Bascom. This dissertation thus provides an environmental and cultural history of the Canadian River Valley in New Mexico, a social history of the men stationed at Fort Bascom, and proof that the post played a key role in the Army's efforts to gain control of the Southern Plains Indians. This study argues that Fort Bascom should be recognized as Texas' northern-most frontier fort. Its men were closer to …

Certain subquotients of Vec(R)-modules of pseudodifferential operators from one tensor density module to another are categorized, giving necessary and sufficient conditions under which two such subquotients are equivalent as Vec(R)-representations. These subquotients split under the projective subalgebra, a copy of ????2, when the members of their composition series have distinct Casimir eigenvalues. Results were obtained using the explicit description of the action of Vec(R) with respect to this splitting. In the length five case, the equivalence classes of the subquotients are determined by two invariants. In an appropriate coordinate system, the level curves of one of these invariants are a pencil of conics, and those of the other are a pencil of cubics.

Anthony Plog (b. 1947) has contributed several notable works for brass instruments. He is known for writing extremely technically challenging works that contain angular melodies, fast rhythms and a large degree of chromaticism. Though his music is difficult, it also conveys intense emotions. His music for trumpet, specifically Concerto no. 1 for Trumpet, Brass Ensemble and Percussion and Concerto no. 2 for Trumpet and Orchestra, represents a zenith in his compositional development. This dissertation examines Concerto no. 1 and Concerto no. 2 from a performer’s perspective to better understand the stylistic characteristics and challenges encountered in his music. Each concerto is examined in terms of rhythmic structure, intervallic structure, thematic material, motivic material and form.

The intent of this study was to examine the relationship between media multitasking orientation and grade point average. The study utilized a mixed-methods approach to investigate the research questions. In the quantitative section of the study, the primary method of statistical analyses was multiple regression. The independent variables for the study were media multitasking orientation, gender, age, and income. The dependent variable for the study was grade point average. Three out of four independent variables, namely, media multitasking orientation, gender and age were statistically significant predictors of grade point average. In the qualitative section of the study, seven participants were interviewed to determine how individual differences in media multitasking orientation manifest themselves in academic settings.

Piezoelectric energy harvester has become a new powering choice for small electronic device. Due to its piezoelectric effect, electric energy can be obtained from ambient vibrations. This thesis is intending to build a frequency-adjustable piezoelectric energy harvester system. The system is structured with two piezoelectric bimorph beams, which are connected to each other by a spring. The feasibility of the frequency-adjustable piezoelectric energy harvester has been proved by investigating effects of the spring, loading mass and impedance on the operation frequencies.

The purpose of this research was to examine the connections between personality types as illustrated by the Myers Briggs Type Indicator and the desire for social presence components within a technology based learning environment. Participants in the study were undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in an educational technology program at a public university in the State of Texas. The study employed a mixed-method qualitative approach that utilized a paired comparison evaluation, a personality assessment, and semi-structured interviews. Results showed that the components of organization and feedback were thought to best foster social presence in technology based learning environments and that there was no real difference between the personality types of introverts versus extroverts and judgers versus perceivers.

Self-report retrospective estimates of sleep behaviors are not as accurate as prospective estimates from sleep diaries, but are more practical for epidemiological studies. Therefore, it is important to evaluate the validity of retrospective measures and improve upon them. The current study compared sleep diaries to two self-report retrospective measures of sleep, the commonly used Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and a newly developed sleep questionnaire (SQ), which assessed weekday and weekend sleep separately. It was hypothesized that the new measure would be more accurate than the PSQI because it accounts for variability in sleep throughout the week. The relative accuracy of the PSQI and SQ in obtaining estimates of total sleep time (TST), sleep efficiency (SE), and sleep onset latency (SOL) was examined by comparing their mean differences from, and correlations with, estimates obtained by the sleep diaries. Correlations of the PSQI and SQ with the sleep diaries were moderate, with the SQ having significantly stronger correlations on the parameters of TST, SE, and sleep quality ratings. The SQ also had significantly smaller mean differences from sleep diaries on SOL and SE. The overall pattern of results indicated that the SQ performs better than the PSQI when compared to sleep …

In humans, von Willebrand factor (vWF) is a key component in hemostasis and acts as a 'cellular adhesive' by letting the circulating platelets bind to exposed subendothelium. It also acts as a carrier and stabilizer of factor VIII (FVIII). A dysfunction or reduction of vWF leads to von Willebrand disease (vWD), resulting in bleeding phenotype which affects 1% of the population. Currently there are a variety of animal models used for the study of vWF and vWD; however, they do not possess the advantages found in zebrafish. Therefore, we set out to establish zebrafish as a model for the investigation of vWF and vWD through the use of bioinformatics and various molecular techniques. Using bioinformatics we found that the vWF gene is located on chromosome 18, that the GPIb? protein sequence is conserved. Confirmation of vWF production was shown by means of immunostaining and by RT-PCR, in thrombocytes as well as in veins and arteries. Evidence of vWF involvement in hemostasis and thrombosis was shown using MO and VMO technology to produce a vWD like phenotype, resulting in an increase in TTO and TTA, as well as a reduction in FVIII when blood was tested using the kPTT assay, coinciding …

Since the 1990s, the HIV/AIDS epidemic has increasingly impacted minority groups in the United States, particularly African Americans. Why is this happening? Comparative studies of developing nations have convincingly established a relationship between concentrated poverty, ethnic boundaries, and lack of effective governmental response as contributing to high levels of infection in those countries. To date, however, no study has sought to apply these insights to the American context. This dissertation endeavors to show that, first, marginalization of U.S. sub-groups most at risk of infection is largely a product of poor health outcomes associated with concentrated urban poverty and economic stratification. Second, this sub-group marginalization is exacerbated by the politics of retrenchment which increasingly privatizes risks onto individuals, states, and non-governmental providers. The net result of these changes is a U.S. health care system too fractured to recognize and respond to changes in HIV/AIDS demographics.

Previous research reports that individuals working with children with autism can positively affect social behavior through the use of socially embedded consequences. There is no research on training teachers to use socially embedded consequences. The current study had three purposes: to evaluate the effects of video modeling on teachers' embedded consequences, to evaluate the addition of feedback to increase effectiveness, and to evaluate the effects of the teacher's use of socially embedded consequences on other teacher behaviors. Results indicate that video modeling alone was not sufficient in changing teacher behavior and that the addition of feedback was necessary for meaningful teacher behavior change. Additionally, the increased used of socially embedded consequences had positive effects on teacher social engagement and indices of interest. A discussion of the results and suggestions for future research is also provided.

Clustering techniques are important for gene expression data analysis. However, efficient computational algorithms for clustering time-series data are still lacking. This work documents two improvements on an existing profile-based greedy algorithm for short time-series data; the first one is implementation of a scaling method on the pre-processing of the raw data to handle some extreme cases; the second improvement is modifying the strategy to generate better clusters. Simulation data and real microarray data were used to evaluate these improvements; this approach could efficiently generate more accurate clusters. A new feature-based algorithm was also developed in which steady state value; overshoot, rise time, settling time and peak time are generated by the 2nd order control system for the clustering purpose. This feature-based approach is much faster and more accurate than the existing profile-based algorithm for long time-series data.

Training in sport environments that emphasize leanness and muscularity may damage athletes' body image and negatively influence male athletes' eating behaviors and attitudes. The Questionnaire for Eating Disorder Diagnosis and the Bulimia Test – Revised were completed anonymously online by 732 male intercollegiate athletes. Most male collegiate athletes were classified as asymptomatic (82.9%), followed by symptomatic (16%) and eating disordered (1.1%). The most common forms pathogenic behaviors were excessive exercise (51.6%), binge eating (21.4%), and dieting or fasting (20.5%). Results suggested that athletes who participate in weight class sports are at higher risk for developing these behaviors than endurance sport or ball game athletes. Counseling and other implications for professionals working with athletes are discussed.