The connection of music and verse evident in the work of American poet, Carl Sandburg, is a topic that has received inadequate attention. Much preexisting research has focused on Sandburg's work with The American Songbag anthology; however little has been written about music composers' settings of his verse. The relevance of Sandburg's work as a poet has faded in today's society; the rural prairie subject matter and his poetic style are deemed archaic in an ever-evolving mechanistic society. Philip Wharton, a native of Sandburg's Midwest prairie, composes to create an evocative and image-laden world for the hearers of his music. This is what creates a semblance between both artists' works. This paper makes a connection between the work of the 20th century prairie poet and a current, 21st century American composer's musical setting of Sandburg's verse. Both artists are connected not only geographically, but also in their approach to an accessible art form for their audience. Negating current compositional trends and using text from Sandburg's poetry collections, Chicago Poems and Cornhuskers, Wharton melds the text into his evocative, imagistic musical language in his song cycle, The Prairie Sings. Using examples from the five movements of the cycle, I show the dependent relationship of verse and music. An in-depth analysis of the connection of poetry and music in each of the five movements of the cycle is contained in the paper. An additional connection in the dynamic interplay of the vocal line and piano accompaniment, the two "narrators" of the cycle, is also discussed. The resulting research points to an aspect of a creation of a regional American "sound, " reminiscent of trends of nationalism in the 19th and 20th century in art, literature and music.

Auscultation is a method of clinical practice, simple, noninvasive, used to diagnose diseases of the respiratory system. However, it is an imprecise method because, among other factors, the limitations of the auditory system, the overlap of heart sounds and human hearing sensitivity difference, besides the limited spectral response characteristic of many commercial stethoscopes. These factors contribute to the diagnosis relies heavily on the experience of the professional expert. The acoustic analysis of spectral characteristics of signals of ventilation can be a complementary diagnostic technique in facilitating the process of detection and identification of breath sounds, providing aid in the assessment of symptom severity and treatment efficacy. In this study, we attempted to structure a process of analysis of pulmonary signs to identify characteristics of respiratory disorders. Accordingly, the signals were processed by filtering processes and decomposed into sub-frequency bands through discrete wavelet transform (DWT), generating vectors as coefficients for classification using an Artificial Neural Network. A case study with signals obtained from tests was presented and duly considered. / A ausculta é um método da prática clinica, simples, não invasivo, utilizado no diagnóstico de doenças do sistema respiratório. Porém, trata-se de um método impreciso devido, entre outros fatores, às limitações do sistema auditivo, a sobreposição de sons cardíacos e a diferença de sensibilidade auditiva humana, além da característica de resposta espectral limitada de muitos estetoscópios comerciais. Tais fatores contribuem para que o diagnóstico dependa muito da experiência do profissional especialista. A análise acústica de características espectrais de sinais da ventilação pulmonar pode ser uma técnica complementar de diagnóstico, facilitando o processo de detecção e identificação desses sons respiratórios, possibilitando auxiliar a avaliação da gravidade dos sintomas e a eficácia do tratamento. Neste trabalho, buscou-se estruturar um processo de análise de sinais pulmonares, para a identificação de características das patologias respiratórias. Nesse sentido, os sinais foram tratados por processos de filtragem e decompostos em sub-bandas de freqüências através da Transformada de Wavelet Discreta (DWT), gerando vetores como coeficientes para classificação utilizando uma Rede Neural Artificial. Um estudo de caso com sinais obtidos por testes foi apresentado e devidamente analisado.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:26:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2009-12-16Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T18:30:46Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 santos_me_me_assis.pdf: 757864 bytes, checksum: 6228de78c6143bf23c2d70acb679a080 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / A produção intelectual do feminismo questionou as representações e os papéis sociais de gênero e também contribuiu para a evolução de uma perspectiva crítica acerca das múltiplas opressões que assolam as mulheres. Entre as minorias femininas que despontaram nesse cenário de articulação, as mulheres negras, com sua escrita engajada e muitas vezes marcada pela autorrepresentação, buscam se inserir no espaço acadêmico e conquistar o reconhecimento de sua obra literária. Nesse sentido, este trabalho pretende fazer uma reflexão crítica sobre a narrativa de memórias das escritoras negras Carolina Maria de Jesus e Maya Angelou, em suas respectivas obras: Diário de Bitita e I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Para tanto, levantamos questões relevantes do enredo e enfocamos o trajeto singular das protagonistas negras rumo à conscientização de uma realidade construída em torno das desigualdades de poder. Deste modo, num primeiro momento, refletimos sobre a condição dos afrodescendentes e sublinhamos a situação da mulher negra durante e depois do período escravocrata. Na sequência tratamos da questão da literatura confessional direcionando seu enfoque para as formas diário e memória, a fim de evidenciar suas congruências e diferenças no universo confessional. Por fim, empreendemos um trabalho de análise das obras, em que salientamos pontos importantes e discutimos as trajetórias de cada personagem rumo à autoaceitação. / The intellectual production of feminism questioned the representations and social roles of gender and contributed to an evolution of a critical perspective towards the oppression suffered by women. Among the minorities that emerged in this scenery of articulation, the black women with an engaged writing, and also marked many times by self- representation try to put themselves in the academic space and have the recognition of their work as well. In this sense, this work intends to make a critical reflection about the memoirs of the black writers Carolina Maria de Jesus and Maya Angelou, in their respective books: Diário de Bitita and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. For that we raised questions concerning the plot and emphasize the black protagonists´ peculiar course towards awareness of a reality built around unequal powers. So, we first consider the black people condition and underline the black women situation before and during slavery time. Secondly, we talk about the confessional literature focalizing the diary and memoir forms in order to make evident their similarities and differences in the confessional universe. At last we attempt to a work of analysis of the books where we point out important items and discuss the characters´ course towards self-acceptance.

The aim of this master’s thesis was to study the portrayal of discrimination that occurs because of multiple factors in Maya Angelou’s book I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. The analysis has been conducted through the lens of Critical Race theory as the theory draws on the affiliation between race, racism and power. The main focal point of this essay was the intersectionality of race, gender and social class. The results of this study showed recurring events in which the characters in the book are marginalized. However, the study also showed the resilience and resistance the characters manifests in their exertion for an equal society. Additionally, this Master’s thesis addressed how the English as a Foreign Language classroom with the inclusion of Caged Bird and the usage of Critical Race pedagogy can start a development of fundamental values such as equality and gender roles whilst diminishing prejudice.

Written from a nuučaan̓uł perspective this dissertation documents the reclamation of knowledge, teachings, culture, language, responsibilities, and identity through my personal (re)connection to my family’s ḥaḥuułi and hereditary home, čaačaac̓iiʕas. In specific and intentional ways my research, fieldwork, and dissertation are part of a story of reconciliation between myself and čaačaac̓iiʕas, the ḥaḥuułi that my family was dispossessed from because of the impacts of colonization. Despite the near severing of our relationship with čaačaac̓iiʕas and the near destruction of our ḥaḥuułi, čaačaac̓iiʕas is thriving and now is the time to pick up my responsibilities and begin to re-establish a relationship with the natural and spiritual worlds found there. In my research the lands, waters, skies, and natural world are not a place and/or object of inquiry, they are non-human knowledge holders and teachers. The dissertation draws upon on a diverse set of ethnographic, anthropological, and Indigenous literatures. Emphasis is placed upon the use of nuučaan̓uł scholarship, theory, and methodologies including muułmuumps (being rooted to the land), ceremony, language, song, and interviews. The research builds on four kinds of knowledge that are expressed as: 1) known knowledge; 2) incomplete knowledge; 3) unaccounted for and/or unknown knowledge; and, 4) ethnographic/anthropological knowledge. Through this theoretical platform I explore tangible and intangible cultural and hereditary forms of knowledge production. Importantly, I highlight the role of song and sound as critical vehicles through which contemporary Indigenous peoples can connect to historical places and times. I place equal emphasis on the production of sound through song as I do through the reception of song and sound through a methodology of deep listening. Song and sound play a crucial role in my research and form the basis of knowledge transfer between myself, čaačaac̓iiʕas, and my yakʷiimit kʷiyiis nananiqsu (ancestors). Furthermore, the songs shared within this dissertation are the analysis of my data and how I am choosing to disseminate that data. I argue that these connections provide ways for future agendas and aspirations for cultural resurgence and governance to emerge. / Graduate

Un nouveau contrôleur de EMCCD (Electron multiplying Charge Coupled Device) est présenté. Il permet de diminuer significativement le bruit qui domine lorsque la puce EMCCD est utilisé pour du comptage de photons: le bruit d'injection de charge. À l'aide de ce contrôleur, une caméra EMCCD scientifique a été construite, caractérisée en laboratoire et testée à l'observatoire du mont Mégantic. Cette nouvelle caméra permet, entre autres, de réaliser des observations de la cinématique des galaxies par spectroscopie de champ intégral par interférométrie de Fabry-Perot en lumière Ha beaucoup plus rapidement, ou de galaxies de plus faible luminosité, que les caméras à comptage de photon basées sur des tubes amplificateurs. Le temps d'intégration nécessaire à l'obtention d'un rapport signal sur bruit donné est environ 4 fois moindre qu'avec les anciennes caméras. Les applications d'un tel appareil d'imagerie sont nombreuses: photométrie rapide et faible flux, spectroscopie à haute résolution spectrale et temporelle, imagerie limitée par la diffraction à partir de télescopes terrestres (lucky imaging), etc. D'un point de vue technique, la caméra est dominée par le bruit de Poisson pour les flux lumineux supérieurs à 0.002 photon/pixel/image. D'un autre côté, la raie d'hydrogène neutre (HI) à 21 cm a souvent été utilisée pour étudier la cinématique des galaxies. L'hydrogène neutre a l'avantage de se retrouver en quantité détectable au-delà du disque optique des galaxies. Cependant, la résolution spatiale de ces observations est moindre que leurs équivalents réalisés en lumière visible. Lors de la comparaison des données HI, avec des données à plus haute résolution, certaines différences étaient simplement attribuées à la faible résolution des observations HI. Le projet THINGS (The HI Nearby Galaxy Survey a observé plusieurs galaxies de l'échantillon SINGS (Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxies Survey). Les données cinématiques du projet THIGNS seront comparées aux données cinématiques obtenues en lumière Ha, afin de déterminer si la seule différence de résolution spatiale peut expliquer les différences observées. Les résultats montrent que des différences intrinsèques aux traceurs utilisées (hydrogène neutre ou ionisé), sont responsables de dissemblances importantes. La compréhension de ces particularités est importante: la distribution de la matière sombre, dérivée de la rotation des galaxies, est un test de certains modèles cosmologiques. / A new EMCCD (Electron multiplying Charge Coupled Device) controller is presented. It allows the EMCCD to be used for photon counting by drastically taking down its dominating source of noise : the clock induced charges. A new EMCCD camera was built using this controller. It has been characterized in laboratory and tested at the observatoire du mont Mégantic. When compared to the previous generation of photon counting cameras based on intensifier tubes, this new camera renders the observation of the galaxies kinematics with an integral field spectrometer with a Fabry-Perot interferometer in Ha light much faster, and allows fainter galaxies to be observed. The integration time required to reach a given signal-to-noise ratio is about 4 times less than with the intensifier tubes. Many applications could benefit of such a camera: fast, faint flux photometry, high spectral and temporal resolution spectroscopy, earth-based diffraction limited imagery (lucky imaging), etc. Technically, the camera is dominated by the shot noise for flux higher than 0.002 photon/pixel/image. The 21 cm emission line of the neutral hydrogen (HI) is often used to map the galaxies kinematics. The extent of the distribution of the neutral hydrogen in galaxies, which goes well beyond the optical disk, is one of the reasons this line is used so often. However, the spatial resolution of such observations is limited when compared to their optical equivalents. When comparing the HI data to higher resolution ones, some differences were simply attributed to the beam smearing of the HI caused by its lower resolution. The THINGS (The HI Nearby Galaxy Survey) project observed many galaxies of the SINGS (Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxies Survey) project. The kinematics of THINGS will be compared to the kinematic data of the galaxies obtained in Ha light. The comparison will try to determine whether the sole beam smearing is responsible of the differences observed. The results shows that intrinsic dissimilarities between the kinematical tracers used are responsible of some of the observed disagreements. The understanding of theses differences is of a high importance as the dark matter distribution, inferred from the rotation of the galaxies, is a test to some cosmological models.

Un nouveau contrôleur de EMCCD (Electron multiplying Charge Coupled Device) est présenté. Il permet de diminuer significativement le bruit qui domine lorsque la puce EMCCD est utilisé pour du comptage de photons: le bruit d'injection de charge. À l'aide de ce contrôleur, une caméra EMCCD scientifique a été construite, caractérisée en laboratoire et testée à l'observatoire du mont Mégantic. Cette nouvelle caméra permet, entre autres, de réaliser des observations de la cinématique des galaxies par spectroscopie de champ intégral par interférométrie de Fabry-Perot en lumière Ha beaucoup plus rapidement, ou de galaxies de plus faible luminosité, que les caméras à comptage de photon basées sur des tubes amplificateurs. Le temps d'intégration nécessaire à l'obtention d'un rapport signal sur bruit donné est environ 4 fois moindre qu'avec les anciennes caméras. Les applications d'un tel appareil d'imagerie sont nombreuses: photométrie rapide et faible flux, spectroscopie à haute résolution spectrale et temporelle, imagerie limitée par la diffraction à partir de télescopes terrestres (lucky imaging), etc. D'un point de vue technique, la caméra est dominée par le bruit de Poisson pour les flux lumineux supérieurs à 0.002 photon/pixel/image. D'un autre côté, la raie d'hydrogène neutre (HI) à 21 cm a souvent été utilisée pour étudier la cinématique des galaxies. L'hydrogène neutre a l'avantage de se retrouver en quantité détectable au-delà du disque optique des galaxies. Cependant, la résolution spatiale de ces observations est moindre que leurs équivalents réalisés en lumière visible. Lors de la comparaison des données HI, avec des données à plus haute résolution, certaines différences étaient simplement attribuées à la faible résolution des observations HI. Le projet THINGS (The HI Nearby Galaxy Survey a observé plusieurs galaxies de l'échantillon SINGS (Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxies Survey). Les données cinématiques du projet THIGNS seront comparées aux données cinématiques obtenues en lumière Ha, afin de déterminer si la seule différence de résolution spatiale peut expliquer les différences observées. Les résultats montrent que des différences intrinsèques aux traceurs utilisées (hydrogène neutre ou ionisé), sont responsables de dissemblances importantes. La compréhension de ces particularités est importante: la distribution de la matière sombre, dérivée de la rotation des galaxies, est un test de certains modèles cosmologiques. / A new EMCCD (Electron multiplying Charge Coupled Device) controller is presented. It allows the EMCCD to be used for photon counting by drastically taking down its dominating source of noise : the clock induced charges. A new EMCCD camera was built using this controller. It has been characterized in laboratory and tested at the observatoire du mont Mégantic. When compared to the previous generation of photon counting cameras based on intensifier tubes, this new camera renders the observation of the galaxies kinematics with an integral field spectrometer with a Fabry-Perot interferometer in Ha light much faster, and allows fainter galaxies to be observed. The integration time required to reach a given signal-to-noise ratio is about 4 times less than with the intensifier tubes. Many applications could benefit of such a camera: fast, faint flux photometry, high spectral and temporal resolution spectroscopy, earth-based diffraction limited imagery (lucky imaging), etc. Technically, the camera is dominated by the shot noise for flux higher than 0.002 photon/pixel/image. The 21 cm emission line of the neutral hydrogen (HI) is often used to map the galaxies kinematics. The extent of the distribution of the neutral hydrogen in galaxies, which goes well beyond the optical disk, is one of the reasons this line is used so often. However, the spatial resolution of such observations is limited when compared to their optical equivalents. When comparing the HI data to higher resolution ones, some differences were simply attributed to the beam smearing of the HI caused by its lower resolution. The THINGS (The HI Nearby Galaxy Survey) project observed many galaxies of the SINGS (Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxies Survey) project. The kinematics of THINGS will be compared to the kinematic data of the galaxies obtained in Ha light. The comparison will try to determine whether the sole beam smearing is responsible of the differences observed. The results shows that intrinsic dissimilarities between the kinematical tracers used are responsible of some of the observed disagreements. The understanding of theses differences is of a high importance as the dark matter distribution, inferred from the rotation of the galaxies, is a test to some cosmological models.