<p> Chapter 1 is the first revision of the New World species of the genus <em>Rhipidandrus</em> LeConte, 1862 (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae). All previously described species except <em>R. fungicola</em> Friedenreich, 1883 are redescribed, including a diagnosis and distribution information. <em>Rhipidandrus punctatus</em> <strong>n. sp.</strong> is described from Peru, Panama, and Chiapas, Mexico. New synonymies (junior synonyms first) include: <em>R. mexicanus</em> Sharp, 1905 = <em>R. paradoxus</em> (Palisot de Beauvois, 1818); <em>R. cornutus</em> (Arrow, 1904) = <em>R. panamaensis </em>(Barber, 1914) = <em>R. peruvianus</em> (Laporte, 1840); <em>R. peninsularis</em> Horn, 1894 = <em>R. micrographus</em> (Lacordiare, 1865). <em>Eledona peruviana </em>Laporte, 1840 is recognized as <em>nomen nudum</em> according to ICZN 1999: Article 12. A revised species checklist, a dichotomous key, an interactive key, and distribution maps are also presented.  </p> <p>Chapter 2 represents the first phylogenetic insight into the relationships within Bolitophagini in relation to Toxicini with more than three taxa sampled. For analyses, 34 taxa were sampled, with representatives from nine bolitophagine genera and seven toxicine genera with 3 outgroup taxa. Six gene regions from nuclear, ribosomal, and mitochondrial DNA were amplified using polymerase chain reactions and sequenced. Bayesian and maximum likelihood analyses were run on the 4049 bp concatenated dataset via the CIPRES Science Gateway. In both resulting trees, the monophyly of Bolitophagini is recovered with high support (BS = 100, PP = 100). The monophyly of Toxicini was recovered, but with poor support (BS = 60, PP = 70). The monophyletic clade containing both Bolitophagini and Toxicini was also recovered with high support (BS = 100, PP = 100).  </p> <p><br></p>

This thesis investigates international railway safety regulations and spatial planning, with a focus on the spatial relationships between railways and adjacent roads. Employing a methodological framework rooted in comparative and document analyses, the study critically evaluates regulatory frameworks from five nations: Sweden, Canada, Norway, Germany, and China. Through the lens of Risk Assessment and Management Theories, Resilience Theory, and dynamic risk management frameworks, the research discuss how different countries approach risk identification, assessment, and mitigation strategies within their railway infrastructure. The findings highlight variations in regulatory approaches and underscore the importance of adaptability, transparency, and consideration of spatial dynamics in enhancing railway safety. By synthesising perceptions from international practices, this study contributes valuable perspectives to the ongoing discourse on optimal spatial relationships in railway infrastructure, with implications for policy development and strategic planning within the transportation sector. / Trafikverket.

The object of the research is ML-systems for key point extraction for video recordings. The aim of the research is to analyze ML-systems and find the best model for extracting key points from video recordings. The aim of the paper is to analyze the existing ML-systems for extracting key gesture language from video recordings. The research methods are based on data analysis, theory of extracting key points from image, conducting experiments, measuring and comparing the obtained values to evaluate the models. The scientific novelty of the study lies in solving the actual problem of evaluating ML-based keypoint extraction systems for the task of sign language, using modern technologies. The result of the work is a comparative analysis of ML-systems of keypoint extraction from video recordings of sign language, which allowed to identify the best models in terms of metrics and efficiency, and a gloss gluing algorithm is developed, which allows to combine them into one single gesture. / Объект исследования — МЛ-системы извлечения ключевых точек для видеозаписей. Цель исследования – проанализировать мл-системы и найти наилучшую модель для извлечения ключевых точек из видеозаписей. Целью работы – анализ существующих МЛ-систем для извлечение ключевых жестового языка из видеозаписей. Методы исследования основываются на анализе данных, теории извлечения ключевых точек из изображения, проведение экспериментов, измерении и сравнении полученных значений для оценки моделей. Научная новизна исследования заключается в решение актуальной задачи оценки МЛ-систем извлечения ключевых точек для задачи жестового языка, с применением современных технологий. Результатом работы является сравнительный анализ МЛ-систем извлечения ключевых точек из видеозаписей жестового языка, который позволил определить лучшие по метрикам и по эффективности модели, а также разработан алгоритм склейки глоссов, который позволяет объединить их в один единый жест.

Jonathan Leshnoff is one today's foremost contemporary American composers. His percussion compositions are significant compositions to the percussion solo, chamber, and concerto repertoire. This study is a tonal analysis on his marimba solo, Run (2003), with comparative analyses on his percussion chamber work, …without a chance (2002), and Concerto for Two Percussionists and Orchestra (2011).

In Chinese contemporary piano music, large-scale piano compositions featuring innovative polyphonic musical languages are rarely found. Chang-Lei Zhu's Ballade for Solo Piano represents his development of contrapuntal techniques passed on from J. S. Bach and Dmitri Shostakovich in their polyphonic works for solo keyboard or piano. This study focuses on an analysis of Zhu's Ballade as an idiosyncratic composition that makes a significant contribution to the Chinese contemporary piano music repertory. Comparative analysis is made of Zhu's Ballade and J.S. Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier Books 1 and 2, as well as Dmitri Shostakovich's 24 Preludes and Fugues for Solo Piano, Op. 87. Zhu, a living Chinese composer born in 1976, uniquely writes the twenty variations of his Ballade based on the opening theme, a single melody in ten subphrases. This research lays out the close relationship of the opening theme with twenty variations in the Ballade. This study also illustrates how Zhu is an innovative voice in Chinese contemporary piano music literature. This comparative study constitutes the first scholarly study of Zhu's Ballade. Chapter 1 is an introduction to my comparative study. In chapter 2, comparisons on selected excerpts are conducted between Zhu's Ballade and J.S. Bach's WTC, Books 1 and 2, as well as Dmitri Shostakovich's Op. 87. Taking into consideration the pedagogical function of the Ballade, this study includes how the work can be used in Zhu's Ballade in piano pedagogy as an addition in chapter 3.

The wind band provides an outlet for composers to use their platform to reach performers, enlighten audiences, and heal communities. This document is an analysis of three composers' approach to incorporate social consciousness in their wind band music. Adam Schoenberg, Omar Thomas, and Frank Ticheli work with specific social justice issues to respond to specific events, allowing them to reach and empower performers and audiences, to heal, thrive and build past these events. The chapters contain each composer's biographical information, then provide detailed information of the three works; background and cursory information, the composer's use and understanding of the social justice issue and an extensive analysis of each work. The composers use compositional design techniques to convey their intent to share a specific message. This document provides insight through each composer's techniques and thought processes, providing a better understanding of the works. The knowledge gained will help conductors and performers understand social consciousness in wind band music.

Johann Paul von Westhoff's (1656-1705) solo violin works, consisting of Suite pour le violon sans basse continue published in 1683 and Six Suites for Violin Solo in 1696, feature extensive use of multiple stops, which represents a German polyphonic style of the seventeenth-century instrumental music. However, the Six Suites had escaped the public's attention for nearly three hundred years until its rediscovery by the musicologist Peter Várnai in the late twentieth century. This project will focus on polyphonic writing featured in the solo violin works by von Westhoff. In order to fully understand the stylistic traits of this less well-known collection, a brief summary of the composer, Johann Paul Westhoff, and an overview of the historical background of his time will be included in this document. I will analyze these works, including a comparison between the works of Westhoff and those of other composers during his time, to prove that Westhoff's solo works establish multiple stops as a central factor of German violin playing of the time, and, thus, to promote Westhoff's works as a complement to the extant repertoire of unaccompanied violin music written in the Baroque era before Johann Sebastian Bach's solo violin works and Georg Philipp Telemann's twelve fantasias for violin solo. Furthermore, this project will help one to better understand the use and function of multiple stops in the German violin repertoire in the seventeenth century.

My lecture serves as a critical examination of the Six Sonatas Op. 3, KV. 10-15 by W.A. Mozart. I will engage the variances between the first edition of Op. 3 and those by Joseph Bopp and Louis Moyse edited specifically for the flute in hopes of providing another perspective for students, performers, and pedagogues alike. This study will (1) provide background information regarding the creation of KV. 10-15, (2) include a brief analysis of each sonata, (3) compare adaptions between the first edition, according to NMA, and two modern flute transcriptions, and (4) produce two new transcriptions. My new transcriptions of Sonatas KV. 10 and 13 represent a closer interpretation to the first edition and alerts students and teachers to the differences between the editions by Joseph Bopp and Louis Moyse to that of the first and NMA editions. The goal is to stimulate performers to reappraise their approach to this particular repertoire and to encourage more authentic performances of these engaging sonatas.

Latin American classical vocal repertoire is vast, but in the United States, we only hear a fairly limited part of this literature. Much of this repertoire blends western European classical music traditions and native folk music traditions. One example of such a Latin American vocal work that is well-known in the United States is Alberto Ginastera's frequently performed song set from 1943, Cinco canciones populares argentinas. However, another lesser-known, earlier work, Cinco canciones argentinas (1923), by fellow Argentine composer Pascual De Rogatis (1880-1980) deserves attention as well. As with Ginastera's set, De Rogatis' songs are based on Argentine folk genres, but contain stylistic features of European classical music of its time. De Rogatis' neglected songs are a significant, overlooked part of Argentine classical music history, and a full understanding of well-known works such as Ginastera's song set and of the genre as a whole, must include attention to De Rogatis' Cinco canciones argentinas. Beyond vocal repertoire, De Rogatis' songs are an important part of the development of Argentine classical music. While Western musical trends change rapidly, folk music remains largely unchanged. Both De Rogatis and Ginastera were proud of their Argentine heritage, and incorporated traditional music into their compositions. I believe that De Rogatis's composition had a direct influence on Ginastera, and that the similarities between the two sets are not coincidental.

Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji (1892-1988) was an English composer-pianist of Parsi descent. Although he composed many works for piano, these compositions remain largely unknown to the public due to the composer's self-imposed 40-year ban on public performances of all his works and the immense technical difficulty of his music. This research proposes a comparative study of Sorabji's two versions of Rapsodie espagnole de Maurice Ravel-Transcription de concert pour piano (1923, 1945). These transcriptions are based on Ravel's orchestral work and are different in terms of the style of their arrangements: the 1923 version is more of a literal transcription, whereas the 1945 version has been expanded upon the former. This dissertation compares the differences between the two versions, as well as identifying how Sorabji infused his own style into the 1945 transcription. This study relies on primary sources including writings and manuscripts of Sorabji, and secondary sources such as articles on interpreting Sorabji's piano works and biographies about Sorabji.