Digital Commons Network^™

The Forging Of Modern Broadway Sound Design Techniques Amid The Fires Of The Rock Musicals In The Late 1960s And 1970s., Timothy Tracey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

From the ancient Greek theater, through the dawn of the Renaissance, beyond the development of Shakespearean theater, to the Broadway theater boon in the 1920s, sound reinforcement within the theater remained virtually unchanged. Through Broadway's Golden Age, directors and producers relied on architectural acoustics to carry sound throughout the theaters. This is not surprising given that most of the theaters were built in the early 1900s, before the invention of any electric sound reinforcement technology. Moreover, early attempts at amplification in the 1940s yielded dismal results. Eventually, the maturation of the integrated book musical and the invasion of the rock …

The Branding, Creation, And Promotion Of A Solo Comedienne, Anna Mccorison

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Comedy exists as a stronghold in American culture as a coping mechanism throughout history, but is often limited to the male headliner. From Charlie Chaplin to Jackie Gleason and Bill Cosby to Will Ferrell, men have kept us laughing from stages to screen throughout the last century. Thus, I inquire: who are the prominent women who rose to the top of this male-dominated industry and how did they create a brand for themselves that was distinguishable and celebrated? What is it about being a woman in the last century that made making a name in comedic entertainment more cumbersome, and …

Connections Between Voice And Design In Puppetry: A Case-Study, Ryan Skiles

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Puppets have been entertaining, educating, and mesmerizing American audiences since the birth of our nation. Both in live theatrical events and TV/film, audiences have watched puppeteers bring their puppet characters to life with clever voice quality choices, unique characterizations, and vivid visual designs. This thesis is a case study that first borrows insight from cartoon character designers, animators, and voiceover actors to provide considerations for voice quality choices, characterizations, and design elements when creating a new puppet character. It then investigates the connections that exist between those three elements once a puppet is fully realized. In order to identify these …

Providing Cultural Balance For Young Americans, Mark Nichols

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Children today are increasingly being introduced to tablets and other personal electronic devices at very young ages. Due in part to this, the entertainment industry now has a near ubiquitous presence in America compared to cultural arts. Its influence on the development of children is almost impossible to ignore. My thesis will study an approach to engaging young people by way of location-based projects that synthesize two or more art forms (e.g. theatre arts, literary arts, visual arts) in order to provide a unified effort for cultural arts and also provide balance to the influences of entertainment. Incorporating research, interviews …

The Artistry Of Accessibility: Creating Theatre With And For Students On The Autism Spectrum, Sara Brunow

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Theatre is a place where all can come together and have an experience regardless of ethnicity, gender, sexuality, or ability. As a theatre maker and teaching artist, how do I create inclusion and augment social awareness by designing and implementing theatrical experiences for a specific audience? In this personal exploration of inclusive theatre practices (Sensory Friendly Theatre, Inclusive Arts Integration, and Multi-Sensory Theatre) I will examine my experience of creating and adapting theatre with and for students with Autism Spectrum Disorder. My process has a three-pronged approach: adapting an established production using a Sensory Friendly model; adapting an arts integration …

Folate Conjugated Hyperbranched Polyester Nanoparticles For Prostate Tumor-Targeted Delivery Of A Cytotoxic Peptide Via Prostate Specific Membrane Antigen, Orielyz Flores-Fernandez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Prostate Cancer is the second most deadly cancer in men, after lung cancer. The need for new and effective therapeutics that can constrain prostate cancer progression are challenged by the lack of suitable delivery strategies that target prostate cancer tissue. To study CT20p as potential chemotherapeutic agent in the treatment of prostate cancer we proposed the use of targetable hyperbranched polyester (HBPE) based nanoparticles as delivery system. Folic acid was conjugated to the nanocarrier to improve the selectivity of the nanoparticle towards specific cell surface targets in prostate cancer cell lines. Specifically we evaluated LNCaP that up-regulated the PSMA receptor. …

The Impact Of Photopollution On Nesting Loggerhead Sea Turtles (Caretta Caretta) Along The Grand Strand, South Carolina, Ryan Bonner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Photopollution present along heavily developed coastlines is known to have a significant negative impact on nesting sea turtle populations by damaging nesting habitat quality, but few studies have explored this relationship on broad spatial scales. The purpose of this study was to characterize the onshore light field along a developed stretch of South Carolina coastline and to quantify how photopollution intensity affects regional loggerhead sea turtle (Carretta carretta) nesting density using historical nesting data. Light measurements were collected using a portable low-light photometer at 74 sites spaced at approximately one km intervals across the study area. At each site, the …

Impact Of Development On Freshwater Turtle Populations Of Coastal South Carolina: An Examination Of Land Use And Road Density, Andre Dominguez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Previous studies (Haxon 2000; Steen and Gibbs 2004; Marchand and Litvaitis 2004; Aresco 2005) have demonstrated that urbanization and development have disproportionally adverse affects on female turtles. In order to test this paradigm I caught 301 turtles (primarily Trachemys scripta scripta) in ten ponds (5 impacted and 5 unimpacted) across coastal South Carolina. Not only do coastal South Carolina turtles not follow the same male biased pattern of many other studies, there was an overall female bias (154:95). Turtle metrics were between the types of sites existed as well, indicating larger/older population of turtles in unimpacted sites. Water quality parameters …

Tide-Dependent Predation Patterns Of Piscivorous Fishes In Shallow Estuarine Creeks, Matthew Ross Helms

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The distribution and foraging behavior of predatory salt marsh fishes is shaped by the movements of prey, many of whom seek shelter in shallow and tributary creeks. I hypothesized that the distribution of piscivorous fishes in marsh creek channels would differ with proximity to the mouths of intertidal creeks and with tidal stage. Custom-built trotlines baited with live minnows were deployed during four discrete tidal stages at two microhabitats in main creek channels: (1) adjacent to intertidal creek mouths, and (2) along straight banks in North Inlet estuary, South Carolina. Catch-per-unit-effort of predatory fishes was significantly higher (Wilcoxon signed-rank tests, …

Built For Boyhood?: A Proposal For Reducing The Amount Of Gender Bias In The Advertising Of Children's Toys On Television, Nareissa L. Smith

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

While the last half-century has seen a dramatic increase in the number of US women in the workforce, women remain under represented in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields. For years, researchers and social commentators have tried to explain the persistence of this gender gap. Some have even argued that genetic differences explain women's inability to excel in the hard sciences. This Article asserts that the impact of socialization on children's educational and occupational choices has been greatly underestimated. Specifically, the toys that are marketed to boys teach spatial skills that prepare boys for STEM careers. Conversely, the toys …

The Tunnel Calamity, Edward St. John Gorey, Special Collections, Fleet Library

Pop-up and Movable Books

1 tunnel book : color illustrations. "A Tunnel Book" Tunnel peepshow with 8 panels attached on the vertical edges with accordion-folded strips pasted down on front and rear illustrated boards. Book expands so cut-out illustrations can be viewed in 3-D through peephole in cover. Unexpected appearance of the Uluus (thought to have been extinct for over a century) in the tunnel connecting East Shoetree and West Raidsh, St. Frumble's Day, 1892. Originally published: New York : G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1984. Housed in a paper box (16 x 18.5 cm)

It Takes A Village: Placing Middle Rocky Mountain High Altitude Residential Sites Of The Late Prehistoric Firehole Phase Into A Broader Regional Context, Bryon Alan Schroeder

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This dissertation presents three separate articles in different stages of peer-review all focused on late Late Prehistoric (AD 1300 to contact) residential occupations, in the Wind River Range and Shirley Basin of Wyoming. These articles cover survey results in in the Wind River Range of Wyoming, Shoshone ethnic interpretations associated with Late Prehistoric artifact assemblages, and a lithic analysis from the excavated interior of domestic structure at an alpine and basin location of the Firehole Phase. These articles broaden the research agenda of high-altitude sites to downplay the role of ethnicity and include adjacent sites of the Wyoming Basin. In …

Dynamic Motions Of The Alpha Subunit Of Heterotrimeric G Proteins In The Nucleotide- And Ric-8a-Bound States, Labe Adam Black

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The conformational changes and segmental dynamics involved in the G alpha-subunit of heterotrimeric G proteins have been investigated for 3 separate binding states by using binning-time-dependent single-molecule F÷rster resonance energy transfer (smFRET) of freely diffusing proteins and time-resolved fluorescence anisotropy. The bound states include Ric-8A (Resistance to Inhibitors of Cholinesterase-8A (Miller, Emerson et al. 2000; Miller and Rand 2000; Tall, Krumins et al. 2003)), a guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF), and nucleotides GDP and GTP. To analyze the smFRET data, energy transfer efficiency histograms were constructed at binning times varied from 1000 to 2,500 ╡s. Then the conformational equilibria and …

A Zooarchaeological Study Of Generational Decision-Making: Modeling Subsistence And Demographic Change In Late-Holocene Occupations Of Housepit 54 At The Bridge River Site (Eerl4), Mid-Fraser, B.C., Matthew Joseph Walsh

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The Bridge River site is a winter pithouse village near the confluence of the Bridge and Fraser Rivers in the Mid-Fraser Canyon that was occupied periodically from as early as 1800BP to the mid-19th century. Prentiss et al. (2008) divide the range of occupations into four Periods: Bridge River (BR) 1, c. 1800-1600BP, BR2, c. 1600-1300BP, a short-lived BR3, c. 1300-1100BP (by the end of this period the village appears to have been largely abandoned), and BR4, a late reoccupation of the site, c. ~500 to 100BP (Prentiss et al. 2008, 2011, 2012). During BR2 and into BR3, between 1500-1100BP, …

Caitlin Stainken's Thesis, Caitlin Stainken

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

The Habitat Of European Brown Bears In Northern Spain: Mapping Habitat Fragmentation And Potential Connectivity, Alma D. Pacheco

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The European brown bear in northern Spain is considered to be an endangered species whose habitat has been fragmented into two subpopulations due to habitat loss and lack of connectivity. The importance of improving connectivity and preventing more habitat destruction is vital to recover the species in this region. This research looks at spatial and temporal variations of brown bear habitat by mapping the conditions of habitat fragmentation and potential connectivity at a regional extent. This research examines net changes of brown bear habitat fragmentation between 1990-2000, 2000-2006, and overall 1990-2006; and the degree of brown bear habitat connectivity between …

Cows And Plows: Science-Based Conservation For Grassland Songbirds In Agricultural Landscapes, Marisa K. Lipsey

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Temperate grasslands are among earth’s most imperiled ecosystems. In North America, steep declines of endemic songbird populations indicate that grassland loss and degradation may be approaching critical levels. Grasslands are agricultural landscapes largely (~85%) under private ownership with little formal protection status. Remaining bird populations depend on grazing lands that have not been converted to cropland. We combine regional data from a hotspot for grassland bird diversity (northeast Montana, USA; 26,500-km2) with continental data spanning the northern Great Plains (1,000,000-km2) to evaluate how land use and management influence bird distribution and abundance. Regionally, habitat used by seven grassland specialists spanned …

Wilderness And Epistemic Wildness, John T. Stanfield

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The traditional concept of wilderness was a product of the time out of which it came. Times have changed. The social context of conservation, how humans affect nature, and scientific understanding of how ecosystems function have all shifted in ways that make the wilderness idea problematic. The values that people found in wilderness are still relevant, however. It is the way that they are tied together in the concept of wilderness that has become a problem.

I propose a revised concept of wilderness that meets the concerns of critics of wilderness, and accounts for the tension between the wild and …

A Model For Determining Drivers Of Phenology In Western United States Rangelands, Joseph R. St. Peter

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Plant phenology has long been used as an indicator of climate. Recent changes in plant phenology are evidence of the influence of climate change. Modeling plant phenology has become an effective tool to understand the impacts of climate change. Using machine learning techniques I developed a modeling process for accurately predicting phenology across a diverse landscape. This model uses individual site data to set site specific climate thresholds for plant phenology. This model also identifies the limiting factors to vegetation phenology for rangelands in the western United States. NDVI remotely sensed data was used to quantify land surface phenology and …

Sacred Zones: Examing Wilderness In Yellowstone, Maine And Russia, Lily S. Vonderheide

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis seeks to examine issues of resource conservation and recreational access in three regions of immense historical and ecological significance: Yellowstone National Park, the North Woods of Maine, and the protected nature reserve system of Siberia. By applying a combination of direct professional experience, current research and ongoing environmental policy action, the thesis attempts to provide an accurate picture of current and future challenges facing the three regions. Part I, “Yellowstone Paradox,” traces the roots of Yellowstone’s restrictions on recreational boating access in a post-WWII discourse of consumer recreation, the development of a sustainability ethic and its deployment as …

La Manzana Mordida: Sexo Y Religión En El Cine De Luis Buñuel, Micaela Downey

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

La extensa y variada obra fílmica de Luis Buñuel permite observar la repetición obsesiva de motivos, imágenes y objetos que constituyen lo que podría denominarse el universo personal de Buñuel. La proliferación de zapatos, pies, cajas misteriosas y armas de fuego (sin olvidar los tambores de Calanda, los insectos y las gallinas) ha atraído la atención de la crítica convirtiéndolos en objetos detallados de análisis. Este ensayo no intenta proponer una “obsesión” más, sino reparar en un motivo que, a pesar de su recurrencia (y, por lo tanto, de su importancia) ha pasado inadvertido: la reescritura de la historia bíblica …

The Last Wolves Of Isle Royale, Kasey Rahn

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Isle Royale National Park, located in Michigan, is home to a wolf population that is in decline due to complications from inbreeding. Scientists and managers struggle to decide whether to intervene. Some scientists promote bringing new wolves to the island to restore the population because they say the decline is human-caused. Others promote “watchful waiting.” To date, the National Park Service has not interceded and is currently undergoing a management planning process. The issue raises questions about what it means to manage wildlife in an era of change. Should humans intervene to protect wildlife in the face of climate change …

Hypothyroidism And The Development Of Hypertension, Kaleb Short

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Low thyroid hormone (TH) in adulthood is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease, including risk of hypertension. The Spontaneously Hypertensive Rat (SHR), exhibits alterations in thyroid function when compared to normotensive controls. Interestingly, inhibiting thyroid gland function before 4 weeks of age prevented hypertension in the SHR, indicating that TH is involved in the etiology of SHR hypertension. However, these studies utilized tail-cuff photoplethysmography (PPG), which is known to have stress-induced artifacts, and did not compare effects in the normotensive parent strain Wistar Kyoto (WKY) rat. Therefore, it is uncertain whether TH is responsible for an elevation in baseline …

Sun-Compass Orientation During Natal Dispersal In Hatchling Blanding's Turtles (Emydoidea Blandingii), Meredith Anne Schlenner

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Blanding's turtle hatchlings emerge from their natal nests naïve to environmental stimuli and primarily sense visual cues on the horizon as a dispersal target. During a period of hours or days, hatchlings develop a compass mechanism that allows them to maintain a direction of travel, even when the target is not visible. We examined the dispersal directions of Blanding's turtle hatchlings captured during dispersal by translocating them into a circular arena in a field of corn in order to measure their dispersal direction guided by a compass mechanism. To test for use of a sun compass, a magnetic compass, or …

Hydrologic And Temperature Regime Influence On Growth And Recruitment Of Fishes In An Upper Midwest Riverine Ecosystem, Brett Donald Nelson

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The natural flow regime is often identified as the primary driver of ecological integrity in rivers. The Minnesota River basin is characterized by a row-crop agricultural landscape with an extensive network of drainage tiles and ditches to improve land productivity. Intensive surface and subsurface drainage alters flow regimes, increasing the magnitude and frequency of high flows. Changes in river hydrology lead to alterations in geomorphology, including increased bank erosion, channel widening, and downward incision that can lead to floodplain disconnection. Disruption of historical hydrology can alter energy flow and connection to specialized habitats subsequently affecting important aquatic communities and populations …

Traditional Methods Versus Tprs: Effects On Introductory French Students At A Medium-Sized Public University In The Midwestern United States, Rishani Samari Merinnage De Costa

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The purpose of this study was to measure the effectiveness of introducing a Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling (TPRS) approach in a French immersion classroom in comparison with a method which does not incorporate a story context within the lesson. This research was conducted in an introductory college level classroom setting. It is hypothesized that the language skills of the students in the experimental group using the TPRS method would show greater improvements on measures of listening, vocabulary, culture, grammar and writing abilities than those taught using methods which do not incorporate the story context. The research utilized a …

The Crypt People From The Cathedral Basilica Of Saints Stanislaus And Vladislaus, Vilnius, Lithuania: Reconstruction Of Life Histories Using Stable Isotope Analysis, Kaylee Schotten

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Stable isotope analyses of multiple tissue types have been used to reconstruct life histories of individuals from past populations. This thesis presents the life history reconstructions of a unique population recovered from a 16th to 18th century cathedral crypt located in Vilnius, Lithuania. The sample consists of 23 individuals (21 males, one possible female, and one juvenile). Stable carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen isotope analyses were performed on bone and dentin collagen, and on bone and enamel hydroxyapatite, resulting in eight isotope values per individual, providing both childhood and adult dietary and migration information. For bone collagen the average δ13C isotope …

Makerspace: The Future Of Music, Anthony L. Paganelli

Faculty/Staff Personal Papers

Presentation regarding the use of Makerspace in creating and sharing music.

Timp-1 Activates A Unique Cardiac Stem Cell Population, Cd63+Ve/C-Kit+Ve, Thereby Enhancing Cardiac Differentiation, And Protects The Heart From Adverse Cardiac Remodeling Following Myocardial Infarction, Latifa Abdelli

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

We previously demonstrated that embryonic stem (ES) cells over-expressing tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1 (TIMP-1) have increased potential to engraft and differentiate into cardiac myocytes following transplantation into the infarcted heart. However, the ability of TIMP-1 to activate endogenous stem cells and enhance their differentiation into cardiac regenerative cell types is still unknown. We postulate that TIMP-1 may additionally activate a stem cell population that enhances cardiac cell type differentiation in the infarcted myocardium. To prove this hypothesis, we isolated c-kit+ve cells from four weeks old C57BL/6 mice and cultured them in vitro in presence of ES conditioned media (ESCM), ES-TIMP-1-CM …

Ode To Amiel: A Micro-Budget Experimental Essay Film, Phyllis Redman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Ode to Amiel is a feature-length experimental essay film by Phyllis Redman, made as part of the requirements for earning a Master of Fine Arts in Film in the Entrepreneurial Digital Cinema track from the University of Central Florida. The film explores one woman's reaction to trauma and depersonalization disorder through the journal entries of 19th Century Swiss philosopher, Henri Frederic Amiel. Passages from Amiel's Journal Intime provide the narrative and voice over for the lead character, a grieving mother who finds herself locked behind an inescapable, invisible and immaterial barrier that separates her from the outside world. Following the …