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Tornadic outbreaks occur annually, causing fatalities and millions of dollars in damage. By improving forecasts, the public can be better equipped to act prior to an event. False alarms (FAs) can hinder the public’s ability (or willingness) to act. As such, a probabilistic FA forecasting scheme would be beneficial to improving public response to outbreaks. Here, a machine learning approach is employed to predict FA likelihood from Storm Prediction Center (SPC) tornado outbreak forecasts. A database of hit and FA outbreak forecasts spanning 2010 – 2020 was developed using historical SPC convective outlooks and the SPC Storm Reports database. Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model simulations were done for each outbreak to characterize the underlying meteorological environments. Parameters from these simulations were used to train a support vector machine (SVM) to forecast FAs. Results were encouraging and may result in further applications in severe weather operations.

The vocal folds are essential for speech production, and a better understanding of vocal fold vibration characteristics may help improve treatments of voice disorders. However, studying real vocal folds presents significant challenges. In-vivo studies are limited by access and safety issues. Excised larynges have a short useable lifetime (on the order of minutes) and are difficult to parameterize. In contrast, synthetic vocal fold models have long useable lifetimes and can be easily parameterized. In this thesis, a series of tests performed on recently developed synthetic, self-oscillating models of the human vocal folds are discussed. These tests include measurements of vibration frequency, sub-glottal pressure, and time-averaged flow rate. The differences between one-layer and two-layer synthetic models are evaluated. Comparisons are made between synthetic model and real vocal fold behavior. The synthetic model is shown to have vibrated at frequencies, pressures, and flow rates consistent with human phonation. The influence of sub-glottal tube length on model vibration frequency is examined. Motion is observed using high-speed imaging. Velocity measurements of the glottal jet using particle image velocitmetry (PIV) were performed with and without an idealized vocal tract, including the effects of the false folds, for various cases of vocal tract asymmetry. Glottal jet velocities measured using PIV were consistent with velocities measured using excised larynges. A starting vortex was observed in all test cases. The presence of the false folds acted to restrain the sides of the starting vortex, and in some cases created new vortical structures shed from the false folds. An algorithm was created to calculate and visualize the jet core centerline. In the vocal tract cases, the glottal jet tended to skew toward the nearest wall; in the false fold cases, the opposite trend was observed as the jet skewed away from the nearest wall (towards the midplane). Plots of RMS velocity showed distinct regions of shear layer and jet core. Vocal tract cases at pressures much greater than phonation onset pressure showed significant increases in RMS velocities compared to open jet and false fold cases.

There is evidence of false recognition (FR) driven by orthographic similarities within languages (Lambert, Chang, & Lin, 2001; Raser, 1972) and some evidence that FR crosses languages (Parra, 2013). No study has investigated whether FR based on orthographic similarities occurs for unknown words in an unknown language. This study aimed to answer this question. It further explored whether FR based on orthographic similarities is more likely in a known (English) than in an unknown (Spanish) language. Forty-six English monolinguals participated. They studied 50 English and 50 Spanish words during a study phase. A recognition test was given immediately after the study phase. It consisted of 40 Spanish and 40 English words. It included list words (i.e., words presented at study); homographs (i.e., words not presented at study, orthographically similar to words presented at study); and unrelated words (i.e., words not presented at study, not orthographically similar to words presented at study). The LSD post-hoc test showed significant results supporting the hypothesis that false recognition based on orthographic similarities occurs for words in a known language (English) and in an unknown language (Spanish). Further evidence was provided by the LSD post-hoc test supporting the hypothesis that false recognition based on orthographic similarities was more likely to occur in a known language than an unknown language. Results provided evidence that the meaning and orthographic form are used when information is encoded thereby influencing recognition decisions. Furthermore, these results emphasize the significance of orthography when information is encoded and retrieved.

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On championing the villain, there is a naive quality that must be maintained even though the actor has rehearsed his tragic ending several times. There is a subtle difference between to charm and to seduce. The need for fame, glory, power, money, or other objects of affection drives antagonists so blindly that they ve no hope of regaining a consciousness about their actions. If and when they do become aware, they infrequently feel remorse. I captured the essence of the villain by exposing these lightless characters to the sun. On Monday, April 9th and Tuesday, April 17th, 2007, on the Gillespie stage in Daytona Beach, Florida, I performed a thirty-minute, one-act cabaret entitled The Dark Side of the Tune. By selecting pieces from the musical theatre genre to define and demonstrate the qualities of the stock character, the villain, I created a one-man show; a musical play, including an inciting incident, rising conflict, climax, and denouement, with only a few moments of my own dialogue to help handle the unique transitions for my own particular story. By analyzing the arc of major historical villains and comparing them to some of the current dark characters, I will discuss the progression of the villain s role within a production and the change from the clearly defined villain to modern misfits who are frequently far less scheming or obvious. My research includes analysis of the dark references within each piece s originating production, and how it has been integrated into the script for The Dark Side of the Tune and a breakdown of my cabaret s script (Appendix A). I explore actors tools, specifically voice, movement, and characterization, and their use in creating villainous characters. I also discuss similarities in story progression for the deviant s beginning, middle, and final positions within the plot structure of a production.

Dominick LaCapra argues that historians continue to interpret legal documents in a hierarchical fashion that marginalizes intellectual history, as fiction is perceived to be less viable. This dissertation analyzes contemporary literary texts in the Americas that exploit such a narrow reading of documents in order to interrogate the way official history is constructed by introducing false forms of documents into their narratives. These literary texts, or what I label "con-script," are not only historical fiction, but also historicized fiction that problematize their own historical construction. Many critics propose that the new historical novel revises historical interpretation, but there exists a gap between theory and textual practice. Adapted from E.L. Doctorow's notion of "false documents," the con-script acts as an alternative that purposefully confuses fiction and nonfiction, providing tools to critically examine the authority maintained by official narratives. By revealing the fictive nature of these constructions, the con-script alerts readers to the manipulation of documents to maintain political authority and misrepresent or silence marginalized groups. The recent revision of American Studies to include a hemispheric or Inter-American scope provides a context for applying such political claims within a transcultural framework. I compare texts from English-, Spanish-, and Portuguese America in order to identify shared strategies. After a survey of the historical novel's development across the Americas and a critical theory overview, I analyze three types of con-script. "The Art of Con-Fessing" juxtaposes texts from the three languages via Jay Cantor's The Death of Che Guevara, Augusto Roa Basto's Yo el Supremo, and Silviano Santiago's Em Liberdade. These false documents present themselves as apocryphal diaries supposedly written by revolutionary leaders or activists. The authors demythologize untouchable public figures through the gaps in their "own" personal writing. "Mediations of Media" features Ivan Ângelo's A Festa, Tomás Eloy Martínez's La novela de Perón, and Ishmael Reed's Mumbo Jumbo. These journalists interrogate the role of media and political corruption within the construction of national identity; the false documents appear as newspaper clippings, magazine articles and media images. Finally, the subjective process of archiving is examined in "Con-Centering the Archive" via Aguinaldo Silva's No País das Sombras, Francisco Simón's El informe Mancini, and Susan Daitch's L.C.

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