Michael Daugherty has created his niche in the music world by composing works inspired by icons of American popular culture. Red Cape Tango is the final movement of his Metropolis Symphony, a work inspired by the life and times of the comic book character Superman. This movement in particular deals with the death of the superhero through the use of musical elements, most notably the Latin Sequence of the Mass for the Dead, Dies irae. Daugherty's ingenuity in blending profoundly dark subjects with humor is particularly evident in this work. Death is personified as a temptress and lures Superman through the power of a seductive tango. This study concentrates on Daugherty's compositional style and its impact in musical circles. A transcription for wind orchestra was created by another composer/conductor precisely because of the need to bring such an important work to another medium, thus making it accessible to a wider audience. In addition, this study looks at the changes in instrumentation necessary to create a second, equally formidable version of the work.

The developments of nuclear medicine lead to an increasing demand for the production of radioisotopes with suitable nuclear and chemical properties. Furthermore, from the literature it is evident that the production of radioisotopes using charged-particle accelerators instead of nuclear reactors is gaining increasing popularity. The main advantages of producing medical isotopes with accelerators are carrier free radionuclides of short lived isotopes, improved handling, reduction of the radioactive waste, and lower cost of isotope fabrication. Proton-rich isotopes are the result of nuclear interactions between enriched stable isotopes and energetic protons. An interesting observation is that during the production of proton-rich isotopes, fast and intermediately fast neutrons from nuclear reactions such as (p,xn) are also produced as a by-product in the nuclear reactions. This observation suggests that it is perhaps possible to use these neutrons to activate secondary targets for the production of neutron-rich isotopes. The study of secondary radioisotope production with fast neutrons from (p,xn) reactions using a particle accelerator is the main goal of the research in this thesis.

Thomas Lovell Beddoes' female dramatic characters are, for the most part, objectified and static, but these passive women perform a crucial narrative and thematic function in the plays. Alongside the destructive activity of the male characters, they dramatize masculine-feminine unions as idealized and contrived and, thus, unstable. Desire, power and influence, as well as the constrictive aspects of physicality, all become gendered concepts in Beddoes' plays, and socially normative relationships between men and women, including heterosexual courtship and marriage, are scrutinized and found wanting. In The Brides' Tragedy, Floribel and Olivia, the eponymous brides, represent archetypes of innocence, purity, and Romantic nature. Their bridegroom, Hesperus, embodies Romantic masculinity, desiring the feminine and aspiring to androgyny, but ultimately unable to relinquish masculine power. The consequences of Hesperus' attempts to unite with the feminine other are the destruction of that other and of himself, with no hope for the spiritual union in death that the Romantic Hesperus espouses as his ultimate desire. Death's Jest-Book expands upon the theme of male-female incompatibility, presenting heterosexual relationships in the context of triangulated desire. The erotic triangles created by Melveric, Sibylla, and Wolfram and Athulf, Amala, and Adalmar are inherently unstable, because they depend upon the …

Several developing countries introduced family planning programs to reduce their population growth rates. The rapid spread of birth control programs in the developing countries was at times accompanied by measures which violated human rights. In response to the ethical violations and coercive policies on population control, toward the end of 1980s various international committees formulated a reproductive health approach to overcome the limited population control approach. Unlike other population control programs, the focus of reproductive health program is on “reproductive process,” where as the most immediate focus of family planning programs is on fertility. Although studies refer to reproductive health approach as an extension of fertility control approach, literature on reproductive health provides very few systematic approaches toward developing explanations of reproductive health. The current approaches on population control are influenced by the ideological shift towards a broad-based approach which involves fertility or family size as one of the components of reproductive health. The present study uses intermediate variables framework suggested by Davis and Blake to organize reproductive health explanations. The proposed framework suggests that the state of reproductive health is indicated by intercourse, conception, and gestation variables and assumes that reproductive health is a latent dimensional outcome indicated by …

The purpose of the study was to compare two instructional methodologies designed to improve the intonation accuracy of seventh grade violin and viola instrumentalists. The collection of data was in regard to (1) instructional methodology: aural and aural/visual, (2) performance tasks: A, B, and C; (3) individual pitches (seven from each of the music tasks), and (4) differences between instrument groups: violin and viola. Sixty-eight seventh grade string students from three string classes of two middle schools were randomly assigned to two experimental groups: (a) aural and (b) aural/visual. The instructional period was implemented daily in ten-minute sessions during twenty days by the orchestra instructors of each school. A pretest-posttest format was used to determine if there were any changes in the subjects' intonation accuracy from prior to after the instructional phase was implemented, and if these changes could be attributed to any of the methodologies. The testing material used on both testing sessions included three performance tasks composed of seven notes each. Subjects were recorded on both testing occasions. The data were the scores of absolute pitch deviation, measured in cents from equal temperament, from the pre- and postest; these were treated with analysis of variance. The ANOVA on …

A cotton PATE cDNA clone has a 1.7-kb insert with an coding region for 410 amino acids, lacking codons for the three N-terminal amino acids. The predicted amino acid sequence of the PATE preprotein has a characteristic stromal-targeting domain and a 63% identity to the Arabidopsis FatB1 thioesterase sequence. A cotton genomic clone containing a 17.4-kb DNA segment was found to encompass a palmitoyl-ACP thioesterase (FatB1) gene. The gene spans 3.6 kb with six exons and five introns. The six exons are identical in nucleotide sequence to the open reading frame of the corresponding cDNA, and would encode a preprotein of 413 amino acids. The preprotein is identified as a FatB thioesterase from its deduced amino acid sequence similarity to those of other FatB thioesterase preproteins. A 5'-flanking region of 914 bp was sequenced, with the potential promoter/enhancer elements including basic helix-loop-helix elements (E box). Alkaline blot hybridization of cotton genomic DNA suggests the presence at least two FatB1 thioesterase genes in cotton. Four plasmid constructs for both constitutive and seed-specific anti-sense RNA suppression and gene-transgene co- suppression of PATE gene expression were successfully generated. Two overlapping cotton genomic clones were found to encompass a Δ-12 fatty acid desaturase (FAD2-3) …

The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate the content and characteristics of the currently available commercial reading software for Pre-K through third grade children. The design of the study was a content analysis. Based on the evaluation rubric established by the researcher, ten commercial reading software were selected to be analyzed. By reviewing and transcribing, the data were obtained, and then coded, categorized, and interpreted. The findings from the analysis revealed that all reading software programs offered exercised for practicing basic phonics skills; the alphabetic principle, letter-sound association, word knowledge, sentence building, and reading comprehension. Depending on the software developers, phonics-based practice was presented in two ways; separate skill-based practice emphasis and storybook-reading emphasis. All software programs utilized drill-and-practice, direct instruction and mastery learning methods and utilized gaming strategies to motivate and engage the learners. Multimedia technology was used to make the software more appealing. All reading software programs were developed on the perspectives that view learning to read as the continuum of a child's oral language development and background experience about words. It is recommended that parents and teachers review and select the software based on reliable information sources, use the software as supplementary practice based on …

This study examined central mechanisms of persistent pain using an autoradiographic technique to localize phosphoinositide hydrolysis (PI) in the rat spinal cord dorsal horn. The lateral half of laminae I-II showed the highest levels of baseline PI turnover and carbachol-stimulated PI turnover in normal animals as well as after inflammation. Inflammation resulted in increased baseline PI turnover in this region of the ipsilateral (76%) and contralateral (65%) dorsal horns. Carbachol increased PI turnover in this region in normal rats (55%) and following inflammation (ipsilateral: 46%, contralateral: 45%). The absolute magnitudes of these increases were 1.85, 2.71, and 2.51 nCi/mg, respectively. The results of this study demonstrate the involvement of PI turnover in neural mechanisms of persistent pain, and provide evidence for the involvement of cholinergic systems in this process. Because spinal cholinergic systems have been reported to be anti-nociceptive, the present results appear to reflect an upregulation of anti-nociceptive activity in response to inflammation. Thus, the spinal cholinergic system may be a regulatory site within the anti-nociceptive pathway, and may provide an attractive target for the development of new therapeutic agents.

While a great deal of historical literature has concentrated on the effects of industrialization on town development, most of the accounts relate to the introduction of industrialization into an established town. This study attempts to analyze, in sociological terms, the effects of industrialization (in this case, the emergence of the railroad) on the social structure of Denison, Texas which was created by industrialization. It is an attempt to combine Marxian and Weberian theory to produce a multi-dimensional theory that can explain town development without the usual economic bias as evident in most contemporary theory. This study proceeds on the assumption that the social order of a newly formed community is not based solely on economic factors. While economic considerations were important for the town of the study, social stability of the town was maintained by other “non-economic” elements. The purpose of the study is to construct a composite theory that can be utilized to analyze town development. The thrust is not the creation of new theory, rather it attempts to combine existing “classical” theories to present a balanced and, to an extent, “objective” explanation of community development. Adding the social aspects of Weber's theory to Marx's theory results in a …

The purpose of this study was to examine the potential of three independent psychological scales (Rotter's Locus of Control, Karasek's Job Content Questionnaire [non-injury job stress], and Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale) to predict job satisfaction, as measured by Brayfield and Rothe's Index of Job Satisfaction, among salespersons in a small independent department store in Wichita Falls, Texas. An 82-item survey which examined the dynamics of a salesperson's work life was administered to 20 individuals who were full-time employees of the department store. Demographic data were also gathered although these factors were not entered into the regression analysis. A multiple regression procedure examined the responses of the 20 employees who participated in the study. The R-squared coefficient indicates that 41 percent of the variance in Job Satisfaction was explained by the three predictor measures. A major proportion of this unexplained variance may be in variables outside the scope of this study, e.g., salaries, vacation time, benefits, bonuses, or commissions. Results suggest that the independent variables measured by the Locus of Control Scale and the Job Content Questionnaire in combination were the best predictors of job satisfaction with a significance level of .01. The single best predictor was the Job Content Questionnaire, significant …

This study analyzes the once great medieval Tuscan capital of Lucca's struggle for survival at the beginning of the fifteenth century. This was the age of the rise of regional states in Italy, and the expansionistic aims of Milan, Florence and others were a constant challenge to city-states such as Lucca which desired a political and cultural status quo. Yet, it was a challenge that was successfully met; unlike Pisa, Siena, Perugia, and various other major Tuscan cities, Lucca did not succumb to Milanese or Florentine aggression in the early Quattrocento. Why it did not is a major topic of discussion here. One of the means in which the Lucchese faced the new political and military realities of the time was the establishment of a monarchial system of government in the signoria of Paolo Guinigi (r. 1400-1430). The Guinigi Signoria was not characterized by the use of intimidation and violence, but rather by clientage, kinship and neighborhood bonds, marriage alliances, and the general consent of the people. Paolo garnered the consent of the people at first because his wealth allowed him to protect Lucca and its contado to a greater extent than would have been possible otherwise, and because of …

This study employed geographic information systems (GIS) technology to evaluate the vulnerability of groundwater to pesticide pollution. The study area included three provinces (namely, Kanchana Buri, Ratcha Buri, and Suphan Buri) located in the western part of central Thailand. Factors used for this purpose were soil texture, percent slope, primary land use, well depth, and monthly variance of rainfall. These factors were reclassified to a common scale showing potential to cause groundwater contamination by pesticides. This scale ranged from 5 to 1 which means high to low pollution potential. Also, each factor was assigned a weight indicating its influence on the movement of pesticides to groundwater. Well depth, the most important factor in this study, had the highest weight of 0.60 while each of the remaining factors had an equal weight of 0.10. These factors were superimposed by a method called “arithmetic overlay” to yield a composite vulnerability map of the study area. Maps showing relative vulnerability of groundwater to contamination by pesticides were produced. Each of them represented the degree of susceptibility of groundwater to be polluted by the following pesticides: 2,4-D, atrazine, carbofuran, dicofol, endosulfan, dieldrin & aldrin, endrin, heptachlor & heptachlor epoxide, total BHC, and total DDT. …

Pecan Creek flows southeast through the City of Denton, Texas. Characterized as an urban watershed, the basin covers approximately 63.5 km2. Pecan Creek is an intermittent stream that receives nonpoint runoff from urban landuses, and the City of Denton's wastewater treatment plant, Pecan Creek Water Reclamation Plant, discharges effluent to the stream. Downstream from the City of Denton and the wastewater treatment plant, Pecan Creek flows about 6,000 m through agricultural, pasture, and forested landscapes into Copas Cove of Lake Lewisville, creating backwater conditions. Pecan Creek water quality and chemistry were monitored from August 1997 to October 2001. Water quality was influenced by seasonal, spatial, climatic, and diurnal dynamics. Wastewater effluent discharged from the Pecan Creek Water Reclamation Plant had the greatest influence on water quality of the stream and backwaters. Water quality monitoring of Pecan Creek demonstrated that dissolved oxygen standards for the protection of aquatic life were being achieved. Water quality modeling of Pecan Creek was completed to assess future increases in effluent flow from the Pecan Creek Water Reclamation Plant. Water quality modeling indicated that dissolved oxygen standards would not be achieved at the future effluent flow of 21 MGD and at NPDES permitted loadings. Model results …

The present study examined age cohort differences in older and younger adults as they relate to perceptions of helpful counselor characteristics. The present study also assessed whether previous help-seeking behavior influences perceptions of what counselor characteristics would be helpful. The social influence model is used as basis for predictions. The first research hypothesis for the present study was that there would be an age by cohort interaction in perceptions of helpful counselor characteristics at both Time 1 (1991) and Time 2 (2001). The second research hypothesis was that there would be a main effect for cohort, with more recently born cohorts preferring more interpersonal counselor characteristics. The third research hypothesis was that there would be a main effect for age in endorsement of the social influence model. The fourth research hypothesis was that there would be a significant difference between the perceptions of those individuals who had previously sought help from a mental health professional and those individuals who had not sought help, regardless of age and cohort. A revised Adjective Check List (Gough, 1965; Gough & Heilbrum, 1983) was used to assess perceptions of helpful counselor characteristics. Chi-square analyses, MANOVA/supplementary ANOVAs, and exploratory factor analyses were used to test …

The unpublished concert aria, "Ch'io t'abbandono," by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1825), is representative of the adolescent composer's developing musical aesthetic. In this study, Mendelssohn's education, work ethic, and perfectionism are revealed, paradoxically, as both the catalysts for the piece's composition and also the reasons it was not published during Mendelssohn's lifetime. An exploration of the text, form, thematic usage, and performance demands of the aria yields specific examples of his uniquely balanced romantic-classicist style. A consideration of possible original performers of the piece, Franz Hauser and Eduard Devrient, leads to further discussion about the nature of the work as both a reflection of Mendelssohn's romantic self-expression and his appreciation for the Baroque melismatic style. The significance of the aria, both stylistic and biographical, is further delineated by a presentation of possible motivations for its composition. The musical setting of the text, as well as the text itself, indicates both Mendelssohn's awareness of himself as a maturing adolescent composer and his desire to be a composer of operatic works, a desire that was never fully realized.

This study is a guide to the performer on practices associated with the trumpet music of Donald Erb. It examines the following solo and duo compositions for trumpet: the as yet unpublished Sonatina for Trumpet and Piano (1954); Four Duets for Trumpets (1960); Diversion for Two for trumpet & percussion (1966); Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra (1980); Remembrances for two trumpets (1994); and Dance, You Monster, To My Soft Song for solo trumpet (1998). A history of each composition and information concerning the performers who premiered them are documented. An examination of particular harmonic, melodic and rhythmic elements found frequently in these pieces follow. The pieces are further assessed for difficulty through an investigation of extended technical demands, range, endurance and articulation. Additional discussion focuses on the use of mutes, tempos and dynamics as well as suggestions for the preparation and performance of these works. The dissertation concludes with a review of Donald Erb's legacy as a composer and teacher. A comprehensive discography and complete list of Mr. Erb's compositions are included in appendices.

Theory: The literature on volume of tourism in developing nations, does not provide empirical measures necessary for rigorous hypotheses testing. While there have been ample studies on volume of tourism among developed nations, very little has been done regarding developing nations. Several theories from the dependency school, world systems and modernization offer theoretical explanations, but these explanations have not been adequately translated into empirical models, for studying the volume of tourism. Hypotheses: To improve the ability to explain volume of tourism and to identify the factors that affect the volume of tourism in developing countries, the study tests four hypotheses based on the theories of Modernization, World System and Push- Pull. Methodology: The study uses Confirmatory Factor Analysis to examine the factors that are likely to influence the volume of tourism. Shift Share analysis is also used to study regional variations in volume of tourism. Findings: The study found support for the fact that aspects of modernization are some of the most important determinants of volume of tourism. This finding has policy implications for developing nations trying to encourage tourism as an important economic sector. Shift Share analysis revealed that in the last decade Sub - Saharan Africa, East Asia …

This study identified the practices and procedures of instruction that is being implemented by group counseling instructors at CACREP-accredited institutions. A survey questionnaire developed by the researcher was used to gather data from 160 CACREP-accredited counseling units across the United States. The survey was designed to collect input from group instructors on how the didactic, practicum, and experiential components of the master's level group course are being implemented. Three assumptions were made in conducting this study: 1.) The majority of master's level group instructors will report that they use a didactic component in preparing students to become effective group leaders, 2.) The majority of master's level group instructors will report that they use an experiential component in preparing students to become effective group leaders, and 3.) The majority of master's level group instructors will report that they use a practicum component in preparing students to become effective group leaders. The survey questionnaire and, consequently, the results were divided into the respective sections of didactic, experiential, and practicum. The results indicated that each of these components were utilized in the instruction of master's level group courses.

This study investigated the conflict management styles of chief student affairs officers in 4-year public institutions of higher education in the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. The data for the study were collected using Hall's Conflict Management Survey. The sample for the study consisted of 25 chief student affairs officers. The purpose of the study was to identify the conflict management style preferences of chief student affairs officers. The other variables studied to ascertain if they had an impact on the style preferences were age, gender, number of years of experience as a chief student affairs officer, ethnicity, and the size (enrollment) of their employing institution. The study found statistically significant associations (p<.05) between ethnicity and conflict management style, specifically the synergistic and win-lose styles, and between the synergistic style and age. The association between ethnicity and conflict management style could be attributed to the fact that the Caucasian group of chief student affairs officers comprised 66.7 % of the synergistic styles and 100 % of the win-lose styles. The association between the synergistic style and age could be due to the fact that the majority of the chief student affairs officers had a synergistic style, and of that …

The essay begins with the overview of Russian-Soviet piano music from the second half of the 19th century to the end of the 20th century. Then, biographical information about Sergei Slonimsky and an overview of his major compositions is provided. The majority of the paper focuses on Slonimsky's Sonata for Piano (1963). A brief discussion of the Sonata's compositional history is followed by the formal analysis of the overall structure of the work. Slonimsky's original principle of organization of the music is emphasized: the system of constant interrelation of the main thematic material combined with elements of the sonata-allegro form. In the analysis of the harmonic language of the piece, the composer's extensive use of Russian folk elements such as diatonic melodies, sigh motives, parallel triads, and simultaneous use of the lower third with the major triad is pointed out. The rest of the paper focuses on issues of interpretation and performance. Special notice is given to the problem of incorporating a percussive type of playing with the elements of folk cantilena singing. The paper concludes with the history of Sonata's performances and a discussion of current recordings.

La Primavera: Concertino for English Horn and Chamber Orchestra is a work in a traditional chamber orchestra instrumentation: single woodwinds (flute, oboe, clarinet, and bassoon), two French horns, trumpet, timpani and strings. A through-composed work of 14 minutes in duration, the Concertino is conceptually based on the idea that spring is not the first of the seasons, but rather the last. As a result, all of its motivic materials are organically linked to one another, and function as paired forces that struggle for supremacy. The introduction of the third motive functions as a motivic synthesis, since it contains intrinsic elements of previous motives. There are several important compositions based on the topic of the seasons among them we find: Vivaldi's Concerto Grosso Le Quatro Staggione, Haydn's oratorio The Seasons, and Piazzola's chamber work Las Estaciones. While researching this topic, the conceptual dilemma of spring as the last season was considered. This became a turning point in the compositional process strong enough to consider the spring as a singular topic of interest. The analysis of this work through Derrida's Deconstruction theory first came to me while reading Rose Rosengerd Subotnick's Deconstructive Variations: Music and Reason in Western Society. The Linguistic approach, …

Hafnium and Zirconium based gate dielectrics are considered potential candidates to replace SiO2 or SiON as the gate dielectric in CMOS processing. Furthermore, the addition of nitrogen into this pseudo-binary alloy has been shown to improve their thermal stability, electrical properties, and reduce dopant penetration. Because CMOS processing requires high temperature anneals (up to 1050 °C), it is important to understand the diffusion properties of any metal associated with the gate dielectric in silicon at these temperatures. In addition, dopant penetration from the doped polysilicon gate into the Si channel at these temperatures must also be studied. Impurity outdiffusion (Hf, Zr) from the dielectric, or dopant (B, As, P) penetration through the dielectric into the channel region would likely result in deleterious effects upon the carrier mobility. In this dissertation extensive thermal stability studies of alternate gate dielectric candidates ZrSixOy and HfSixOy are presented. Dopant penetration studies from doped-polysilicon through HfSixOy and HfSixOyNz are also presented. Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (RBS), heavy ion RBS (HI-RBS), x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), and time of flight and dynamic secondary ion mass spectroscopy (ToF-SIMS, D-SIMS) methods were used to characterize these materials. The dopant diffusivity is calculated by modeling …

This study was designed to examine two questions. First, does increasing Myers-Briggs Type similarity correlate with improved performance by counselor supervisor/supervisee dyads? Second, is the Communication Style Adjustment Index superior to the cognitive style scale matching procedure as a method of quantifying MBTI similarity in dyads? Sixty-eight supervisor/supervisee dyads were recruited from University of North Texas Counselor Education Master's level practicum classes. Supervisee class rankings and supervisor performance ratings were correlated with the dyads' MBTI similarity as measured by the Communication Style Adjustment Index and the cognitive style matching procedure. While none of the hypotheses were supported it was noted that there was interaction approaching significance between dyadic similarity using the Communication Style Adjustment Index and supervisor performance ratings.

This study examines the ethical beliefs and behaviors of full-time community college faculty. Respondents report to what degree they practice sixty-two behaviors as teachers and whether they believe the behaviors to be ethical. Survey participants engaged in few of the behaviors, and only reported two actions as ethical: (1) accepting inexpensive gifts from students and (2) teaching values or ethics. The participants reported diverse responses to questions about behavior of a sexual nature, but most agreed that sexual relationships with students or colleagues at the same, higher or lower rank were unethical. Additional findings relate to the presence of diversity among the faculty, using school resources to publish textbooks and external publications, selling goods to students, and an expansive list of other behaviors. Findings of this study are compared to results from earlier studies that utilized the same or similar survey instrument with teaching faculty. The study has implications for organizational policy and procedure, for faculty training and development, the teaching of ethics or values in the classroom and for future research.