This commentary supports my PhD composition portfolio. The composition processes of each piece are related to my central research questions, which concern the creation of new sounds using overtone-based scales and extended instrumental techniques. I have developed four main conceptual composition themes and these are represented in the thirteen compositions in the portfolio. In this commentary I consider how each composition was developed around these conceptual themes.

Abstract Flaxseed oil cake from a South African factory was screened for proximate composition, mineral content, fatty acid profile and storage stability. The oil cake was included at 10 and 15% levels (w/w) in brown bread and evaluated using a 96-member consumer panel. The oil cake contained between 38.0 and 47.3% protein, 12.8 and 26.1% crude fat and 3.7 and 5.1% ash. The total carbohydrates were mostly dietary fiber. Calcium, magnesium, phosphorus and potassium were in the range of 3.3 to 3.8, 4.8 to 5.9, 6.4 to 8.2 and 9.0 to 10.1 (mg/g), respectively. The oil from the flaxseed oil cake contained 58.5 to 59.7% of C18 omega-3 fatty acids. Peroxide levels of the flaxseed oil cake were below the threshold limits after 6 months storage. Thiobarbituric acid threshold values were exceeded after 5 months aerobic storage at 20C. Bread samples with inclusion levels of 10 and 15% flaxseed oil cake were acceptable to the consumer sensory panel.

Abstract Despite the clear benefits that resistance training might have in weight management the effects of resistance training on adiposity in sedentary individuals are unsubstantiated. As such, the aim of the study was to determine the effect of resistance training on anthropometric measures of total, central and abdominal adiposity. Twenty-five healthy, sedentary males not on an energy-restricted diet were assigned to a non-exercising control group (CON) (n = 12) or a resistance training group (RES) (n = 13) to determine the effect of 16 weeks of resistance training on anthropometric measures of total, centrally located and abdominal adiposity. Resistance training was prescribed three times weekly using eight exercises for three sets of 15 repetitions at 60% of one-repetition maximum. Resistance training decreased three of the six anthropometric measures of total adiposity and increased body mass and body mass index (BMI). Resistance training had no impact on the measures of centrally located and abdominal adiposity. Body mass and BMI should be used with caution in risk calculations and measures of total adiposity in individuals engaging in resistance training due to this mode of training increasing lean mass (and thus body mass and BMI). Resistance training reduced total adiposity but did not provide an effective stimulus to lower centrally located and abdominal adiposity.

The objective of this investigation was to identify the appropriate isotopic fractionation factor for total body water (TBW) from ²H₂O enrichment in respiratory water vapor (RW) compared to serum (S), then to use the RW technique to estimate absolute TBW volumes and TBW relative to fat-free body mass (FFB) in three age groups (prepubescent, PP, age = 5-10 y; young adult, YA, age = 22-39 y; older adult, OA age = 65-84 y) of healthy white males and females. The effects of analytical technique (infrared spectrophotometry, IR versus isotope-ratio mass spectrometry, IRMS) and ambient relative humidity on estimates of TBW were also investigated. The composition of the FFB was estimated using a multi-component statistical model (body density, TBW and bone mineral density), and the errors associated with the traditional two-component formula for percent fat from body density were calculated. Our results demonstrated a significant (p < 0.0001) ²H₂O fractionation effect of 0.971 ± 0.005 (mean ± SEM, n = 36) for TBW from RW compared to S. Analysis by IR and IRMS were highly correlated (R² =.999) but IR values were significantly (p < 0.001) higher than IRMS. Deuterium enrichment in RW samples collected at ambient RH (∼20%) was significantly higher (Δ = 20.2 ± 4.5 ppm, mean ± SEM, p < 0.0005) than in RW samples collected at 100% RH, roughly equivalent to a 1.2 L (3.2%) difference in TBW. Total body water relative to FFB mass (W/FFB) was lower (p < 0.01) in YA males (71.0 ± 1.0%) and females (70.2 ± 1.3%) than in PP (boys = 73.1 ± 1.6%; girls = 72.2 ± 1.4%, mean ± SD). In OA, W/FFB was higher (p < 0.05) than in YA (OAM = 72.6 ± 1.1%; OAF = 72.2 ± 1.4%). The density of the FFB was 1.0996 and 1.0839 g/ml in OAM and OAF, respectively. Percent fat from density plus TBW and BMD was lower than from density alone in all groups but YA males, where it was 2.4 percent fat higher. In PP, the Siri density formula resulted in an overestimate of 5.8 ± 2.6 percent fat (mean ± SD, range = 1.4 to 13.6%). In OA females, the density formula overestimated percent fat by 4.4 ± 2.8% (range = 0 to 10.4%). In conclusion, RW corrected for isotopic fractionation will provide acceptable estimates of TBW, although the effects of analytical technique and RH should be controlled. The existence of age-related differences in FFB composition causes errors when the two-component model is used to estimate percent fat in PP and OA females.

Cityscapes is a 13-minute work for full orchestra. It serves not only as a summary of my experiences while in Austin, Texas, but also as a representation of my musical style and creative influences. The composition consists of three movements, the first and second of which are elided into one another. The formal structure of Cityscapes is governed by the meshing and combining of recurring motivic figures, the framing of themes and sections based on two distinct scalar patterns, and the symmetry and intervallic design extrapolated from these two patterns. / text

Basking in the copper look (for fixed media) -- Asuurinsiniset terashiukkaset (for fixed media) -- Pentes : grammes (for solo piccolo) -- Contact clusters (for fixed media) / text

Sonata for piano / C. Schmitz -- Three lyric poems dates / C. Schmitz -- Arctic Circle / C. Schmitz -- Rhapsody for two violas and piano / C. Schmitz -- Out in front / C. Schmitz -- Austin-tatious / C. Schmitz / text

Manifold facing west is a cumulative work. As my master's thesis, it acts as an accumulation of knowledge gained during my time at the University of Texas. As a student of Dan Welcher, it acts as the culmination of my time with him and the focus we took on writing for orchestra. This is my first work for full orchestra, but it comes after a smaller work for orchestra which itself came after a work for string orchestra. In this way too the work is cumulative. Musically, there are key points in the form where a climax is built through the accumulation of figures. Manifold facing west is a story about an artist (myself) who daydreams about moving west, and the adventure of beginning a new life. In the first section (Anthypnic sensations), the artist sees in his mind an idea of what might happen in the years ahead. The artist sees all the slight variations on what events might unfold. At what's called the Borderland state, where the waking mind begins to fall into sleep, the visions become overwhelming and even terrifying. The second section begins in a R.E.M. cycle, where the artist has unknowingly engaged in a great exciting dream. Here the simple thoughts of what may come have been turned into a full blown adventure, with wonders and beauty and danger. Ultimately the energy and excitement the artist is feeling causes the dream to get out of hand. The artist struggles to wake himself up, but is pulled back into his dream. The artist is pulled back several times until, gasping, he finally breaks the spell of his dreams and emerges into a state of calm awareness. / text

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Mathematics / Master / Master of Philosophy

Despite proponents' claims of its embodying and enabling democratic action, collaborative learning in the composition classroom often functions to reproduce the privileged discourses and knowledge of dominant cultures, effacing and denying differences in race, class, and gender. Moreover, such functions are masked by normalized structural and discursive conditions of education and routinized pedagogical practices that rarely face critical scrutiny---what this dissertation refers to as the techniques and technologies of collaborative learning. If teachers and students in composition studies can engage in what Pierre Bourdieu calls epistemic reflexivity (a critical effort to unmask the social and intellectual unconscious embedded in routinized procedures of knowledge production), the collaborative classroom can become a site for resisting and critiquing, rather than reproducing, the status quo.