Abstract This thesis examines the postural effects of Alexander Technique training on a classical singer. The aim was to see how working with an Alexander Technique instructor would improve my singing. I have been taking lessons in Alexander technique on a weekly basis and practicing Alexander technique for approximately an hour each day. I have conducted an interview with singer and longtime Alexander technique practitioner, Anne Cecilie Røsjø Kvammen. I have talked to my physiotherapist, Carl Colliander, about pain linked to a tight psoas muscle. Four songs were memorized and recorded two times, once in December and once in April. The recordings were analyzed, first by me and then by Barbro Olsson, Alexander technique instructor. I found that my alignment has generally improved and, as a result, my head position has become more stable. I have become better at managing stress during performances. The enhanced awareness of alignment has helped me make more successful choices in the practice rooms. It also has made me better at interpreting my singing pedagogue’s instructions during lessons. Additionally I have less pain, especially in the neck area.

Bergman has claimed that he does not have any ideological intention behind his films. He has also been generally criticized for his bourgeois outlook and lack of ideology. Among the vast amount of Bergman studies as well, the ideological aspect of Bergman’s films has been an under-researched area. This thesis will focus on the five-hour television version of Fanny and Alexander (Ingmar Bergman, 1983) and investigate the interrelationship between the formal features of narrative, character, music and their ideological functions, utilizing ideological and formalist approaches. The premise of this study is: films are cultural products that implicitly or explicitly carry ideological messages. Bergman’s films are no exception. Through the blend of contradictory elements in narrative and the representation of fluid subjectivity, Bergman’s cinematic vision provides an “alternative moral picture”, an expression coined by Hector Rodriguez, and functions as ideology critique. This thesis intends to shed more light on the ideological value embedded in Bergman’s films in general, and Fanny and Alexander in particular, and contribute to a comprehensive field of Bergman research.

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<p> The following study describes the evolution of Alexander Pope's Pastorals from their embryonic state in the earliest extant manuscript of them, the Houghton holograph, to their final resting place in the last authorized version of them, the posthumous 1751 edition of the poet's Works edited by his friend and literary executor, Rev. William Warburton. During this period the four poems -- "Spring", "Summer", "Autumn" and "Winter" -- and the brief critical treatise that accompanied them underwent hundreds of alterations, from single words to entire stanzas. A careful examination of the earliest extant version, in conjunction with a close study of the many changes and additions Pope made during this lifetime, provides a considerable amount of information concerning precisely what Pop endeavours to accomplish in creating this cycle of poems. A xerox copy of the Houghton holograph, together with a diplomatic transcript of it and a list of all subsequent authorized alterations to the text has been included to facilitate the study. Though some of the variants of this holograph have been cited (with varying degrees of accuracy) in previous editions of Pope's poetry, the manuscript itself has never before been reproduced in its entirety. </p> <p> This study concentrates particularly upon the evolution of the Pastorals primarily because a comparison of the final version of any given passage with earlier versions often makes the poet's intentions clearer. Pope himself would seem to have been aware of this fact since he includes a number of variant readings from manuscripts and earlier printed texts in the notes he appends to these poems in the 1736 edition of his Works. Likewise, an examination of the sources of Pope's allusions to other poems in the pastoral tradition -- some though by no means all of which he also records in his 1736 notes -- sheds additional light on the poet's meeting. Though the vast majority of these allusions have been identified by previous scholars, their function in the poems themselves has to date been, for the most part, ignored. Yet, as this study demonstrates, these allusions and their contexts form an integral part of the poet's design, frequently providing an oblique, but highly pertinent comment upon what is actually taking place. </p> <p> This study leads ultimately to a new reading of the Pastorals, one that focuses upon the numerous alterations and additions to them between 1704 -- the supposed date of the Houghton holograph which may be regarded as their first limited "edition" -- and 1751. Particular emphasis is placed on the major additions -- the dedicatory stanzas inserted into the first three poems in 1709, the revised version of the prose treatise added in 1717 and the apparatus of notes appended in 1736. For, in each of these Pope would appear to be providing his readers with the necessary direction to comprehend precisely what he is endeavouring to accomplish. To study Pope's creation without reference to these and the other factors previously mentioned is to miss much that is of the utmost importance in them. Only through a reconstruction of their evolution can be Pastorals be fully understood and appreciated. </p> / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Thesis advisor: Boyd Taylor Coolman / In the life of Christ—from his humble birth to his horrific death—Francis of Assisi saw nothing less than the full revelation of God. In this dissertation I study how Francis’s impulse toward the historical dimension of the incarnation finds theological expression among Paris’s first generation of Franciscan theologians as represented in their Summa halensis. I argue that the Franciscans’ attention to the historical character of the incarnation facilitates a christology that unites and integrates speculative and practical theological concerns. Speculatively, the Summa halensis prioritizes the full integrity of Christ’s humanity without compromising the existential dependence of that humanity on the Word who assumes it; practically, the Summa halensis grounds the salvific efficacy of Christian penitential practices in the salvific quality of the entire trajectory, and not just the final moments, of Christ’s life. This study, then, offers grounds for a reappraisal of the Summa halensis as a hitherto unrecognized inflection point for the development of scholastic christology, as an early instance of scholastic theology’s tendency to integrate the speculative with the practical. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2021. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Theology.

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Musicians can develop and suffer from playing-related musculoskeletal disorders (PRMDs) with pianists being a group of instrumentalists that experience a higher occurrence of PRMDs in comparison with other musicians. One cause of PRMDs is posture. The Alexander Technique (AT) is a popular somatic method among musicians that purports to alter its students’ postural and movement behaviour. Such changes may be beneficial in improving music performance. However, there is a lack of quantitative research to offer support for the effectiveness of the AT in altering posture in musicians, especially in pianists. To address this issue, four studies were conducted. The first study addressed the AT alone to determine what postural changes could be expected following lessons in the AT. Findings of this study showed that changes include a larger craniovertebral angle, head tilt, and head-neck-trunk angle as well as smaller trunk, thoracic, and thoracolumbar angles. The second study addressed variability in individual pianists’ postures and its implications for intervention studies. The results of this study demonstrated that within-person variability is present in posture between performances but does not vary widely enough to exhibit inconsistent posture across measurements. The third study examined the effects of 10 AT lessons on pianists’ postures. Findings showed that, in comparison with their pre-lesson measurements, pianists demonstrate a postural pattern of larger craniovertebral and head-neck-trunk angles as well as smaller trunk, thoracic, and thoracolumbar angles in both the post-test and follow-up tests. The fourth study explored the relationship between pianists’ perceptions of their posture and their application of the AT with quantitatively measured changes in their posture. The results of this study showed that participant perception and reported application of the AT does not necessarily always reflect the postural changes that have occurred.

How can I design a good building? There are some buildings and some places that feel so alive and beautiful, and make me want to stay there forever. Is there any method I can use so that I can design one of them? The main goal of my thesis was to find the answer to that simple question. Supposedly an answer lies in the pattern language developed by Christopher Alexander to allow anyone to design a building that feels alive, and has a special quality that makes buildings and places beautiful. I developed my thesis to use his pattern language to design a 12-story mixed-use -- retail, office, and residential -- project located in downtown Washington, D.C. at 1000 Connecticut Avenue, NW. My thesis introduces the theory and methodology of pattern language, narrates the process of the project development, and presents the resulting building. It also includes the challenges I faced and, with the benefit of hindsight, my further reflections on the project, as well as a brief introduction to the area for further study. The book is organized in chronological order of thesis development. / Master of Architecture

Le transcendantalisme est un mouvement religieux, philosophique, littéraire et social qui peut être envisagé comme le pendant américain du romantisme européen. Cette « nouvelle philosophie », pour reprendre l’expression des commentateurs de l’époque, a soulevé l’indignation de nombreux pasteurs et théologiens orthodoxes. Pourtant, la réaction contre le transcendantalisme n’a fait l’objet d’aucune étude systématique ou substantielle. Les historiens du mouvement s’étant essentiellement concentrés sur la description et l’analyse des idées transcendantalistes dans leur contexte théologique et intellectuel, les réactions indignées contre la nouvelle philosophie ont été reléguées au rang de faire-valoir et les argumentaires des quelques contempteurs connus du transcendantalisme ont souvent été tronqués ou simplifiés. Notre étude doit permettre de faire émerger, dans toute sa complexité, la critique conservatrice longtemps négligée par la recherche universitaire. Ce travail interroge également le rapport des idées théologiques et philosophiques propres au transcendantalisme avec leur contexte sociopolitique afin de mieux comprendre les peurs des conservateurs de tous bords qui voyaient dans la nouvelle philosophie une menace à la fois pour le christianisme mais aussi, plus généralement, pour l’ordre intellectuel et social établi. Le travail sur les déterminants de la controverse, axé sur les deux dénominations les plus actives durant la polémique, vise quant à lui, d’une part, à tracer les contours des mentalités des critiques du transcendantalisme et à expliquer les motivations les poussant à intervenir dans la polémique transcendantaliste. / Transcendentalism is a religious, philosophical, literary and social movement which can be viewed as the American counterpart of the European Romantic Movement. This “new philosophy”, to use the expression of the contemporary commentators, outraged many orthodox pastors and theologians. However, the reaction against transcendentalism has never really been the object of any substantial and systematic study. Indeed, historians of the movement have concentrated almost exclusively on the description and analysis of the transcendentalists’ ideas in their theological and intellectual context. Consequently, indignant reactions against the new philosophy have been used mainly as a counterpoint to the transcendentalists’ radical new ideas and the few known opponents of transcendentalism have been quoted only in their most intolerant and strident moments.This study puts the conservatives’ criticisms, which have long been neglected by academic research, center stage. It also questions the link between the transcendentalists’ theological and philosophical ideas and their sociopolitical context so as to better understand conservative fears that the new philosophy might be a threat not only to Christianity but, more generally, to the established intellectual and social order. As for the work on the determinants of the controversy, which is focused on the two denominations most active during the dispute, it aims at tracing the contours of the conservatives’ mentalities and at explaining the motivations driving them to participate in the transcendentalist controversy.