Thesis--University of Southern California. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 274-279).

This thesis approaches the personal life, artistic creation and dance technique of American dancer and choreographer Mercier Philip Cunningham. The first part focuses on the artist?s life stages during his evolution in dance from the beginnings of his choreographic work, and seeks the origins for the establishment of his own dance company ? Merce Cunningham Dance Company. A chronological overview of his extensive repertoire is also incorporated. The second part deals with collaboration, connection and interaction among the dance, music, design and film fields during the artistic work of Merce Cunningham. Following the author?s experience with Cunningham technique, the final part is directed to an understanding of this dance technique, its principles and specific elements used in contemporary dance world.

abstract: Nanomaterials exhibit unique properties that are substantially different from their bulk counterparts. These unique properties have gained recognition and application for various fields and products including sensors, displays, photovoltaics, and energy storage devices. Aerosol Deposition (AD) is a relatively new method for depositing nanomaterials. AD utilizes a nozzle to accelerate the nanomaterial into a deposition chamber under near-vacuum conditions towards a substrate with which the nanomaterial collides and adheres. Traditional methods for designing nozzles at atmospheric conditions are not well suited for nozzle design for AD methods. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software, ANSYS Fluent, is utilized to simulate two-phase flows consisting of a carrier gas (Helium) and silicon nanoparticles. The Cunningham Correction Factor is used to account for non-continuous effects at the relatively low pressures utilized in AD. The nozzle, referred to herein as a boundary layer compensation (BLC) nozzle, comprises an area-ratio which is larger than traditionally designed nozzles to compensate for the thick boundary layer which forms within the viscosity-affected carrier gas flow. As a result, nanoparticles impact the substrate at velocities up to 300 times faster than the baseline nozzle. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Electrical Engineering 2017

Dissertação (mestrado)—Universidade de Brasília, Instituto de Artes, 2014. / Submitted by Albânia Cézar de Melo (albania@bce.unb.br) on 2014-06-03T15:19:59Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2014_LinaFrazaoCastro.pdf: 3071212 bytes, checksum: 8e38a681a082e36ec3e6f9f60569a6d7 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Guimaraes Jacqueline(jacqueline.guimaraes@bce.unb.br) on 2014-06-05T14:29:11Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2014_LinaFrazaoCastro.pdf: 3071212 bytes, checksum: 8e38a681a082e36ec3e6f9f60569a6d7 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-05T14:29:12Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2014_LinaFrazaoCastro.pdf: 3071212 bytes, checksum: 8e38a681a082e36ec3e6f9f60569a6d7 (MD5) / As inovações coreográficas do norte-americano Merce Cunningham provocaram um deslocamento no olhar sobre o movimento ao romper com alguns paradigmas básicos na transição entre a dança moderna e a dança contemporânea. Como intérprete-criadora, participei do processo criativo do espetáculo “De Água e Sal” que foi uma forte referência na sistematização de uma ampliação expressiva na atuação cênica do intérprete. Adotando a percepção sensorial abordada pela Educação Somática como eixo principal de reflexão, e também a partir de Cunningham e da experiência em “De Água e Sal”, esta dissertação pretende realizar uma discussão sobre uma experimentação prática em dança, realizada na unidade curricular Práticas Corporais II, ministrada por mim para discentes do segundo semestre no curso de Licenciatura em Dança do Instituto Federal de Brasília. Nesta, aplicou-se com os alunos uma abordagem didática que visava a ampliação da percepção corporal e maiores possibilidades de exploração nas qualidades de movimento, provocando um repensar sobre a dança e promovendo uma ampliação na percepção do movimento corporal. Desenvolvido nesta dissertação, o conceito de corpo em estado de transparência surge então como um resultante situado pela evidência de um corpo que se move conectado pelas sensações e percepções, gerando um mover-se mais visceral e orgânico. ______________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT / The innovations of the American choreographer Merce Cunningham led to a displacement on the perspective over movement while breaking some basic paradigms in the transition between modern and contemporary dance. As interpretercreator I took part of the creative process in the show “De Água e Sal” (Of Water and Salt), which was a strong reference in the systematizing of an expressive broadening of the scenic work of the interpreter. By adopting the sensorial perception addressed by Somatic Education as the main axis of reflection, and also based on Cunningham and the experience with “De Água e Sal”, this dissertation aims to discuss a practical experimentation in dance accomplished in the curricular class Bodily Practices II, taught by me to second semester students from the Dance Department at the Federal Institute of Brasilia. During the class a teaching approach was applied on the students aiming to widen bodily perception and provide greater possibilities in exploring the qualities of movement, leading to rethinking dance and promoting a deautomatization of bodily perception. The concept of body in a state of transparency is the result of the evidence of a body that moves connected by sensations and perceptions, generating an authentic, visceral, and organic movement.

Throughout history, dance is a powerful tool for expression of self or community. Art, especially dance, became a way to react to societal shifts and stalemates through means of storytelling. Through my choreography, I used history of modern dance such as the mother of modern dance, Isadora Duncan, an incredibly influential choreographer, Martha Graham, and her famous protege, Merce Cunningham. I used a combination of their methodology to choreograph my intrapersonal journey with dance and life.

With a rising interest in visual media in academia, studies have overlapped at literary and film scholars' interest in adaptation. This interest has mainly focused on the examination of issues regarding adaptation of novel to novel or novel to film. Here I discuss both: Michael Cunningham's novel The Hours, which is an adaptation of Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway, and the 2002 film adaptation of Cunningham's novel. However, my thesis also investigates a different kind of adaptation: the adaptation of a literary and historical figure. By including in The Hours a fictionalization of Virginia Woolf, Cunningham entrenches his adaptation with Virginia Woolf's life and identity. My thesis compares the two adaptations of Virginia Woolf's identity in the novel The Hours and the film The Hours and investigates the ways in which these adaptations funnel Woolf's identity through the perception of three men"”Michael Cunningham, novelist; David Hare, screenwriter; Steven Daldry, director. My reaction to the fictionalization of Virginia Woolf in The Hours mirrors Brenda Silver's sentiment in the introduction to her book Virginia Woolf: Icon: "My distrust of those who would fix [Virginia Woolf] into any single position, either to praise her or to blame her, remains my strongest motivation" (5). The vast discrepancy between the one dimensionality of Mrs. Woolf, The Hours' character, and the complexity in Virginia Woolf's identity that becomes apparent to a reader of her fictional and autobiographical writing reveals the extent to which Cunningham and the filmmakers simplify Virginia Woolf's identity to fit their adaptations. My motivation in writing this thesis is in drawing attention to the ways in which The Hours fixes Virginia Woolf into a single position and the resulting effects The Hours may have on future interpretations of Virginia Woolf.

Although working in two different mediums, Jackson Pollock, Martha Graham, and Merce Cunningham created works during the 1940s and 1950s that share several analogous formal characteristics, as well as a body-centered process that reminded viewers of both the corporeality of the artists and of themselves. My thesis identifies and interprets the formal analogies evident in each the artists' approach to asymmetry, repetition, gravity, and space. I argue that the common aspects among the works of the three artists resulted from their participation in a shared modernist discourse circulating post-war America, especially in New York. This discourse provided the artists access to common sources of inspiration, such as the writings of Carl Jung, Native American imagery, and Asian cultures. Each of these elements characterizes the work of all three artists, along with similar ideas concerning the individual, national identity, and modern technology. / Art History

In this dissertation I examine a variety of modern and postmodern texts by applying the theories of French philosopher Henri Bergson. Specifically, I apply Bergson's theories of time, memory, and evolution to the texts in order to analyze the meaning of the poem and novels. I assert that all of the works disrupt conventional structure in order to question the linear nature of time. They do this because each must deal with the pressures of external chaos, and, as a result, they find timeless moments can create an internal resolution to the external chaos. I set out to create connections between British, Irish, and American literature, and I examine the influence each author has on others. The modern authors I examine include T. S. Eliot, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, and William Faulkner. I then show the ways this application can elucidate the works of postmodern authors Toni Morrison and Michael Cunningham.

Die Zusammenarbeit von Merce Cunningham und John Cage beruhte auf dem grundlegenden Prinzip der getrennten Entwicklung und Erarbeitung von Klang/Musik und Tanz/Bewegung (Cunningham 1994). Für den getrennten Arbeitsprozess wurden nur Zeitklammern und die Dauer der Gesamtaufführung als gemeinsame Parameter festgelegt. Diese Trennung von Musik und Tanz bildet die notwendige Voraussetzung für die erweiterte Arbeit der Merce Cunningham Dance Company (MCDC) mit Cage und anderen Composer-Performern in den 1960er und 1970er Jahren, die die elektronischen Klänge live, in der Aufführung, generierten. Der Text untersucht das Verhältnis und die Schnittstellen der beiden Performance-Systeme.

The purpose of this dissertation is to analyze how four Southern Baptist scholars: E.Y. Mullins, John Newport, Richard Cunningham, and L. Russ Bush, understood--whether explicitly or implicitly--the nature of philosophy. Three issues will be explored as a result of their metaphilosophical views. First, what is the relationship between faith and reason? Second, is a Christian philosophy possible? And third, what role does philosophy serve in the life of the believer? Chapter 1 sets the historical context regarding the issue of metaphilosophy. Philosophy has been traditionally understood as the love of wisdom. However, since the Enlightenment and the dawning of modern Western philosophy, how thinkers understood the nature of philosophy changed dramatically. As the natural sciences progressed rapidly in the advancement of knowledge, thinkers increasingly viewed philosophy as being in need of change regarding its method and purpose. By the time of the twentieth century, philosophy's identity was in a state of confusion and uncertainty. Chapter 2 analyzes the metaphilosophy of E. Y. Mullins. For Mullins, philosophy investigated the foundational questions of human existence and operated autonomously from science and religion. The data of philosophy included all of life, including the findings of the various fields of knowledge, and sought to unify all truth into a cohesive unit. The value of philosophy is found in its ability to go beyond the descriptions of science in order to interpret the world in which one lives. Chapter 3 analyzes the metaphilosophy of John Newport. According to Newport, philosophy is identified with worldview--the structure of one's beliefs about the world. One's worldview affects how one lives and operates within the world. Philosophy includes not only the analytic task of critiquing and clarifying ideas and beliefs, but also the synthetic task of incorporating beliefs into a coherent structure. Philosophy also involves analyzing the key-principles that underlie one's belief structure--those principles that are basic to an individual. Philosophy, or worldview, is valuable to the individual by helping one to make sense of life and to avoid bad decisions. Chapter 4 focuses on the metaphilosophy of Richard Cunningham. Cunningham views philosophy as one's attempt to understand his experience in all its facets. It is a deliberate action on the part of the individual, one that leads to the development of his worldview. Philosophy involves the traditional tasks of analysis and synthesis, and its value is found in its ability to afford one to live more effectively. Chapter 5 presents the metaphilosophy of L. Russ Bush. Bush's definition of philosophy is methodological in nature as he views philosophy more as an activity than as a way of life. One employs the laws of logic and other philosophical tasks when analyzing one's own or competing worldviews in order to judge between their similarities or differences, and their strengths or weaknesses. In a day and age where many individuals lazily accept their beliefs without deep reflection, philosophy helps one to hold to beliefs that are more consistent and it helps one to better dialogue with others of differing worldviews. Chapter 6 concludes the dissertation by highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of the four thinkers presented in the preceding chapters. Suggestions are provided on how to strengthen a Baptist view of metaphilosophy in light of the weaknesses provided. Finally, the current state of philosophy in the Southern Baptist Convention is provided.