This thesis provides a historical account of the career of Gary E. Smith, Associate Director of Bands Emeritus at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Specific attention is given to Mr. Smith’s influences as a collegiate band director and his innovations in the band products industry. This study contributes to the growing scholarship of historical accounts of influential collegiate band directors and is the first to chronicle someone who served as an Associate Director of Bands. Research methods utilized during the writing of this thesis included oral interviews with Mr. Smith, his family, and his former students. Moreover, Mr. Smith’s professional papers were reviewed at the Sousa Archives and Center for American Music. Additional research included reviewing multiple editions of the Syracuse-Wawasee Journal, Indiana Statesman, Daily Illini, and annual yearbooks from the educational institutions where Mr. Smith served on faculty. This study begins by highlighting Smith’s childhood influences and chronicles his career through his retirement at the University of Illinois. Emphasis is given to his influence with the Marching Illini and his commercial ventures, including the Smith Walbridge Clinics, Director’s Showcase International, and his textbook, The System. Thorough examination of Mr. Smith’s career reveals several themes regarding his personality: He is totally dedicated to the success of his students; he tirelessly works to build personal relationships with everyone he encounters; and he has a passion for self-improvement. Gary Smith is known for his many professional impacts, influences, and innovations but is beloved by the profession for his genuine, compassionate, and down-to-earth personality.

This thesis concentrates on laboratory measurements of the Electron Drift Instrument (EDI), focussing primarily on the EDI optics of the system. The EDI is a device used on spacecraft to measure electric fields by emitting an electron beam and measuring the E X B drift of the returning electrons after one gyration. This drift velocity is determined using two electron beams directed perpendicular to the magnetic field returning to be detected by the spacecraft. The EDI will be used on the Magnetospheric Multi-Scale Mission. The EDI optic's testing process takes measurements of the optics response to a uni-directional electron beam. These measurements are used to verify the response of the EDI's optics and to allow for the optimization of the desired optics state via simulation. The optics state tables were created in simulations and we are using these measurements to confirm their accuracy. The setup consisted of an apparatus made up of the EDI's optics and sensor electronics was secured to the two axis gear arm inside a vacuum chamber. An electron beam was projected at the apparatus which then used the EDI optics to focus the beam into the micro-controller plates and onto the circular 32 pad annular ring that makes up the sensor. The concentration of counts per pad over an interval of 1ms were averaged over 25 samples and plotted in MATLAB. The results of the measurements plotted agreed well with the simulations, providing confidence in the EDI instrument.

Light field photography offers a new approach to digitally captured images. These commercially available cameras are able to capture the 4D light field in a single image. This allows for a variety of image processing capabilities that traditional cameras do not offer. For example, the image can be digitally refocused after it is captured and its depth can be estimated. In terms of application, these capabilities could be beneficial on airborne platforms. However, a limitation of currently available light field cameras is that they are not fully functional at medium or long ranges. If these cameras were to capture light fields at longer ranges, they would have a practical application when mounted on low-flying aircrafts. This dissertation takes current light field photography techniques and modifies them so they work better to capture medium-range images. The majority of cameras that capture the 4D light field use a microlens array to modulate the incoming light before it hits the image sensor. Previous work using printed modulation masks garnered the same effect obtained by microlens arrays. This dissertation details the development of a modulation mask that has medium-range applications. A new way of extracting the 4D light field from raw images that uses a digital Fourier transform is presented. This method works for images captured with microlens arrays and printed mask cameras. Two prototype cameras were built and tested to demonstrate some of these concepts. The concepts demonstrated by these cameras could be used in the future designs of light field cameras.

This is a thesis that represents an art show that was made on an iPhone and features images appropriated from Yahoo!, Facebook and Instagram. It is not profound. Follow me on Instagram @printmacker.

Substance abuse and mental health disorders are a leading source of years lost to disability from medical causes worldwide. Unfortunately, for most neurological disorders it is unclear how underlying genetic predispositions govern behavioral response to environmental stressors. Owing to their convenience, genetic tractability, and small brains, the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, has become an invaluable model in which to dissect the neurological basis of conserved complex behaviors. Here, I characterized the respective roles of two genes in alcohol response and sleep behavior. Steroid hormones profoundly influence behavioral response to alcohol, yet the role of unconventional non-genomic steroid signaling in this process is unknown. I discovered that Drosophila DopEcR, a G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) activated by dopamine or the major insect steroid hormone ecdysone, plays a critical role in ethanol-induced behaviors. DopEcR mutants took longer to sedate when exposed to ethanol vapor, and post-eclosion expression of DopEcR-RNAi phenocopied mutant resistance. DopEcR was necessary in particular neuronal subsets, including cholinergic and peptidergic neurons, and promoted ethanol sedation by suppressing epidermal growth factor/extracellular signal-regulated kinase signaling. In adult flies, ecdysone negatively regulated DopEcR-mediated ethanol-induced sedation. We also found that DopEcR inhibits ethanol-induced locomotion, a conserved dopaminergic behavior. Together, these findings provide novel insight into how an unconventional steroid GPCR interacts with multiple downstream signaling cascades to fine tune behavioral response to alcohol. Despite an established link between epilepsy and sleep behavior, it remains unclear how epileptogenic mutations affect sleep and seizure susceptibility. To address this, I examined the rest/wake behavior of two fly models of epilepsy with paralytic voltage-gated sodium channel mutations known to cause human generalized epilepsy with febrile seizures plus (GEFS+) and Dravet syndrome (DS). GEFS+ and DS flies display heat-induced seizure susceptibility, but at normal temperatures I found that both mutants had exaggerated nighttime sleep behavior. GEFS+ sleep was more resistant to pharmacologic and genetic reduction of GABA transmission as compared to control’s response. This finding is consistent with augmented GABAergic suppression of wake-promoting pigment-dispersing factor (PDF) neurons in GEFS+ mutants. Contrastingly, DS sleep was almost completely resistant to pharmacologic GABA reduction, suggesting that PDF neurons are incapable of functioning despite disinhibition. The sleep of both GEFS+ and DS flies was largely suppressed, but not eliminated, by scotophase light, highlighting the importance of light stimulus and circadian signals in the manifestation of their phenotypes. Following sleep deprivation, GEFS+ and DS mutants failed show to homeostatic rebound. Sleep loss also unexpectedly reduced the seizure susceptibility of GEFS+ flies. This study revealed the sleep architecture of Drosophila voltage-gated sodium channel mutants and provides a unique platform in which to further study the sleep/epilepsy relationship.

Schweinfurthins are intriguing natural product chemotherapeutics due to their potent yet selective activity and their unknown mechanism of growth inhibition in cancer. Much progress has been made in characterizing the intracellular effects of the schweinfurthins since they were first isolated from Macaranga schweinfurthii in 1986. Here, the L-type calcium channel and P- glycoprotein (Pgp) inhibitor verapamil has been found to enhance schweinfurthin- induced growth inhibition. Verapamil induces an increase in the intracellular concentration of a fluorescent schweinfurthin. However, the synergistic relationship between the schweinfurthins and verapamil is complex and not obvious in that verapamil fails to increase the intracellular concentration of a schweinfurthin analogue that is a known substrate of Pgp. Schweinfurthins are also found to induce alterations to cholesterol homeostasis by increasing the expression of the cholesterol efflux pump ABCA1 in an apparent liver X receptor- independent fashion. In addition, schweinfurthin treatment blunts epidermal growth factor downstream activation and phosphorylation of Akt. Lastly, a schweinfurthin-resistant cell line has been created and characterized for resistance to schweinfurthin-induced growth inhibition. The variety of intracellular effects characteristic of schweinfurthin treatment described here provide mechanistic framework for identifying the potential target and mechanism of growth inhibition for the schweinfurthins.

The population of Latino/a individuals and students in the United States continues to rise (US Census Bureau, 2012). Moreover, Latino/a students have been shown to have increased concern for dropping out, and for not believing they can achieve positive career outcomes (Pew Hispanic Center Report, 2009). As a result of these concerns in this increasing population, it is important to further explore the career-related concerns, specifically supports and barriers, among Latino/a students. The present study utilized qualitative interviews as a means of gaining a greater understanding of how rural middle school Latino/a students perceive their futures, including supportive factors to their career development, as well as barriers that may impede them from achieving their career goals. The data were analyzed using Consensual Qualitative Research (Hill, 2012). Results indicate that while students perceived potential barriers in their future, they also believed that they would be able to pursue and achieve their desired futures, and were able to generate individuals and resources that could help them to do so. These findings contrast previous research regarding Latino/a career development, and also highlight the potential importance of career interventions for rural Latino/a youth.

This dissertation is an analysis of the role of the automaton in late-nineteenth century French novels by Émile Zola, Jules Verne, Villiers de l’Isle-Adam, and Rachilde. Designed to resemble naturally produced people and animals, these living machines were animated by steam or electricity and used to explore the changing relationships between humans, animals, and machines. My analysis focuses on a specific type of automaton, the bachelor machine—feminized and sexualized machines that often resemble women and replace them in romantic and sexual relationships. My research is informed by the nineteenth century clinical approach to medicine that assumed that the body, particularly the female body, was a penetrable space to be dissected and diagnosed. By focusing on female sexuality and reproduction, women in the nineteenth century were considered biological machines, valued only for their reproductive capabilities. Under the male scientific gaze, the hysterical female body was a site of diseased sexuality that was replaced by bachelor machines and other mechanized women. I label these fictional bachelor machines “reproductive futurisms” and consider their role in evolutionary debates which increasingly link anthrogenesis and technogenesis. The female automata presented in these novels are examples of a new type of representational text in which artificial femininity is a hybrid of technical mastery and artistry. Female automata are fabricated using technologies of re-production including: sculpture, wax casts, photography, the hologram, the phonograph, and early films. These technologies of re-production change the ways in which the human body and voice are captured and reproduced. Furthermore, many of these technologies of re-production mimic dissection techniques and result in the fragmentation of the female form. This study makes a contribution to the fields of nineteenth century French studies and gender and sexuality studies.

Psychologists have documented contact experiences as avenues for changing attitudes toward outgroups (Stephan, Diaz-Loving, &Duran, 2000), and music educators have attempted to create authentic musical experiences of outgroup cultures (e.g., Abril, 2013; Campbell, 1992; Gay, 2002), but few studies have measured the assumed relationship between singing songs from an outgroup culture and change in attitudes toward that outgroup (Edwards, 1994; Peacock, 1992). Participants (N=38) took part in a researcher-designed protocol specifically tailored to the community choir setting and responsive to the singers' cultures of reference as informed by the literature. Participants completed pretest self-report measures, a series of six weekly rehearsals where they were introduced to songs traditional to Mexican populations, and completed the same self-report measures following a public performance for approximately 120 guests. The current study examined the relationships between pretest and posttest attitude measures toward Mexican populations reported by singers in a community choir with the aforementioned pedagogy. The participants provided responses to Social Dominance Orientation (Pratto, Sidanius, Stallworth, &Malle, 1994), Attitudes Towards Mexicans, and Allophilia scales (Pittinsky, Rosenthal, &Montoya, 2010). These scales aim to measure group-based discrimination, prejudice, and positive feelings toward outgroups respectively. Results of the pre-post attitude measures indicated statistically significant positive shifts in three of five categories in the Allophilia Scale (Affection, Comfort, and Enthusiasm). Participants who did not sing at the concert and therefore did not complete a posttest had significantly higher Social Dominance Orientation scores than those who completed the entire experience.

Cardiovascular disease is the number one reason for emergency room visits in the United States. Understanding the different pathologies of the cardiovascular system is crucial when trying to prescribe proper treatment or intervention. In order best understand these issues proper computer simulations would be necessary. Due to the fact that every patient is different. Being able to analysis and properly simulate each patients data individually to better understanding their specific case is necessary for patient specific interventions. In order to achieve such requirement we propose a new method of mesh generation to better map patient specific geometries. This new framework takes a set of points in a 3D space and generates a 2D NURBS mesh. Insuring a smooth and accurate representation of the patient specific geometry will allow for more specific incite to possible medical issues that may arise. This NURBS based mesh can be then used to run either finite element analysis, computational fluid dynamics, or even fluid solid interactions. Running these patient-specific valve simulations using isogementric modeling is what will allow us to have patient specific treatments and intervention.