The Avatar for trumpet and piano by Dr. Steve Rouse is one of the most challenging compositions in the trumpet repertoire. Due to The Avatar's challenges and increasing popularity, a study is necessary to aid its performance. Each movement is performed on a different instrument: Bb piccolo (with an optional A piccolo part) for Nativity, Bb Flugelhorn for Enigma-Release and Bb trumpet for Rebirth. In addition, the performer must convey one of the work's possible programmatic meanings: (1) The Hindu belief of an Avatar and its life cycle, (2) the life of Christ or (3) the human lifecycle. Chapter 1 gives historical information about the work. Chapters 2-4 discuss each movement of The Avatar programmatically and pedagogically. Facets of each movement are analyzed including differences in programmatic choices, rehearsal techniques and sound concepts. Chapter 5 provides recording suggestions, including choosing a recording engineer, preparing and planning for a recording section, choosing a venue and the benefits of hiring a tonmeister.

The purpose of this essay is to explore the commissioning process of a wind ensemble piece by notable composer Christopher Rouse, and its significance to the wind ensemble repertoire. This essay will use the University of Miami Frost Wind Ensemble and Christopher Rouse's Wolf Rounds as the primary example. This discussion will provide an extensive background review of Christopher Rouse's early musical experience and life's accomplishments. It will focus on his creative process and document the performance preparation of Wolf Rounds as experienced by the Frost Wind Ensemble, conducted by Professor Gary D. Green. The final part of this essay will investigate the compositional insight of Wolf Rounds as well as the inspiration and motivation of Rouse to write for the wind ensemble genre. While Rouse has written for many different types of ensembles, this will be his first published addition to the wind repertoire. Wolf Rounds was chosen as the primary composition because of its significance to the composer as his first composition for winds and percussion.

Η παρούσα εργασία αφορά την ανάπτυξη μαθηματικών μοντέλων και την εκτέλεση υπολογιστικών προσομοιώσεων Μοριακής δυναμικής για την περιγραφή και μελέτη της δυναμικής συμπεριφοράς συστημάτων αποτελούμενων από μακρομόρια πολυαιθυλενοξειδίου. Δύο κατηγορίες συστημάτων εξετάστηκαν, πολυμερικά τήγμα κυκλικών καθώς και γραμμικών αλυσίδων του πολυαιθυλενοξειδίου. Ένα εύρος δομικών θερμοδυναμικών αλλά και δυναμικών ιδιοτήτων περιγράφεται από το προτεινόμενο μοριακό μοντέλο και τα αποτελέσματα συγκρίνονται με τις προβλέψεις των δύο επιτυχημένων θεωριών για τα πολυμερή, τις θεωρίες Rouse και ερπυσμού (Reptation Theory). Δίνεται έμφαση στη σύγκριση των αποτελεσμάτων που προκύπτουν από τις προσομοιώσεις των γραμμικών και κυκλικών συστημάτων έτσι ώστε να κατανοηθεί η φύση της κυκλικής αλυσίδας. Η μελέτη αυτή διαπραγματεύεται ταυτόχρονα ένα αυστηρά καθορισμένο πρόβλημα από φυσική άποψη αλλά και ένα ιδιαίτερο θέμα σύγχρονου τεχνολογικού ενδιαφέροντος. Η εργασία αρχικά εισάγει το γενικότερο πλαίσιο κάτω από το οποίο θα γίνει η μελέτη των συστημάτων πολυαιθυλενοξειδίου. Γίνεται αναφορά σε θεωρητικά θέματα όπως η ανάπτυξη της θεωρίας Rouse και ερπυσμού τόσο για τα γραμμικά όσο και για τα κυκλικά πολυμερή και έπειτα παρουσιάζονται αποτελέσματα προσομοιώσεων των προαναφερθέντων συστημάτων σε ένα εύρος θερμοκρασιών. / This work involves developing mathematical models and molecular dynamics computer simulations which are performed to describe and study the dynamic behavior of systems composed of polyethylene macromolecules. Two types of systems examined, polymer melt cyclic and linear chains of polyethylene. A range of structural, thermodynamic and dynamic properties are described by the proposed molecular model and the results are compared with the predictions of two successful theories for polymers, Rouse and Reptation Theory. Emphasis is placed on comparing the results of simulations of linear and cyclic systems so as to understand the nature of the circular chain. This study deals with a strictly defined physical problem but also an issue of distinct technological interest. This work initially introduces the general framework under which the study will be made of polyethylene systems. Refer to theoretical issues such as the development of Rouse and Reptation theory for both linear and cyclic polymers and then presented simulation results of the above systems in a range of temperatures.

Christopher Rouse (b. 1949), winner of the Pulitzer Prize for his Trombone Concerto (1993) and a Grammy award for his Concerto de Gaudi (1999), has come to the forefront as one of America's most prominent orchestral composers. Several of Rouse's works feature quotations of and strong allusions to other composers' works that are used both rhetorically and structurally. These borrowings range from a variety of different genres and styles of works, from Claudio Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea to Jay Ferguson's "Thunder Island." Due to the more accessible filtering and funneling methods of musical borrowings (proliferation of mass media), the weighty discourses attached to them, and their variety of functions (critiquing canons, engaging in an allusive tradition, etc.), quotation has become elevated to the most prominent of musical actors that trigger narrative listening strategies, which in turn have a stronger role in the formation of narratives about music as well as narratives of music. The primary aim of this study is to adapt and apply more recent methodological narrativity frameworks to selected instrumental compositions by Rouse containing quotations, suggesting that their manner of insertion, their method of disclosure, and their referential potential can benefit from being examined through various narrative lenses as well as reveal their participation in certain roles of narrative functions. For this study, I have chosen six instrumental works by Rouse for examination - the Violoncello Concerto, Symphony No. 1, Iscariot, String Quartet No. 2, Seeing, and Thunderstuck. On a more specific level, the aim of this study is to investigate the manner, meaning, and motive of the quoted material in a select group of Rouse's compositions through various narratological lenses. To accomplish this, I intend 1) to establish a context for understanding the musical borrowing procedures of Rouse; 2) to explore how works containing quotations can be examined through various narrativity frameworks; 3) to inspect the ways in which borrowings can enhance or clarify the structural design and stylistic musical features for which he is known; 4) to investigate the various meanings that are generated from his borrowings; 5) to consider the extent to which Rouse's musical borrowings comment on various discourses, and 6) to examine the psychological needs of certain narratives triggered by quotation and the various questions they pose. This study does not attempt to systematically unify the works of Rouse that contain borrowings under a kind of "grand theory" in narrativity or borrowing studies, but rather to examine each work individually, noting the particular roles that borrowings play in regards to narratives of and about music. Fundamentally, I claim that narrativizing about music is a foundational psychological and social impulse, aiding to serve our curiosities about music's otherness qualities. Using both narratives of and about music to frame analyses, I hope to make a small contribution to the growing methodological frameworks of narrativity by featuring works containing borrowings by one individual composer, suggesting that other comprehensive approaches in borrowing studies can used for future composers.

L'objectif de la thèse a été d'étudier les propriétés dynamiques des polymères à grande densité d'interactions fortes intermoléculaires, en fonction de l'énergie et de la densité de ces interactions. Cette étude s'est effectuée par la méthode de la dynamique moléculaire. Deux types d'interactions fortes ont étés proposés et implémentés numériquement. Un premier modèle dit isotrope dans lequel des interactions fortes sont modélisées par un potentiel isotrope, représentant par exemple des interactions ioniques. Et un second modèle dans lequel nous avons choisi un potentiel directionnel, modélisant les liaisons polaires ou les liaisons hydrogènes. L'unité de l'énergie des interactions fortes intermoléculaires a été fixée par rapport aux forces de Van der Waals des monomères non polaires qui forment la partie principale des polymères considérés J'ai étudié la dynamique de la relaxation à grande échelle (mode de Rouse) en fonction des paramètres pertinents (l'énergie et la densité) dans le régime dit Williams-Landel-Ferry (WLF). Ensuite, nous avons étudié les mécanismes de relaxation à petite échelle (monomérique) en cherchant à mettre en évidence des mécanismes spécifiques à ces polymères à fortes interactions. Nous avons également étudié la relaxation du stress. Nous avons mis en évidence une relaxation à temps intermédiaire entre le temps monomérique te les temps longs pendant laquelle le stress reste à un niveau relativement élevé, sur des échelles de temps comparables à ceux des mécanismes de relaxation spécifiques mis en évidence au niveau microscopique. Ce régime spécifique de relaxation du stress qui n'est pas observé à faible fraction de liaisons fortes est susceptible de dominer les propriétés mécaniques et viscoélastiques de ces polymères à l'état fondu. Nous avons également considéré le comportement ultime de ces polymères en étudiant les mécanismes de la cavitation. L'énergie à la rupture peut être augmentée par la présence de liaisons fortes à suffisamment forte densité le long des chaînes. Les systèmes à forte densité de liaisons polaires ne font plus apparaître de cavitation mais exhibent un comportement de strain hardening / The aim of the thesis is to study the dynamic properties of polymers with high densities of strong intermolecular interactions, depending on the energy and the density of these interactions. This study is carried out by the molecular dynamics method

The percussion ensemble is still a relatively young ensemble, with the first works by Edgard Varèse and Amadeo Roldan composed in the first third of the 20th century. Because of this youth, it is important to examine significant works for the percussion ensemble which establish themselves as staples to the repertoire. Christopher Rouse, a Pulitzer-Prize winning composer has written three such works, Ogoun Badagris (1976), Ku-Ka-Ilimoku (1978), and Bonham (1989). This study will closely examine each of these works, providing background, detailed analysis, and performance practice for each of these works.

Le but de cette thèse était tout d'abord d'étudier les théories physiques qui décrivent la dynamique des polymères à l'échelle macroscopique. Le modèle de Rouse et la théorie d'enchevêtrement de P-G. de Gennes décrivent la dynamique des polymères non enchevêtrés et enchevêtrés, respectivement. Nous avons étudié les différentes transitions entre ces deux régimes en utilisant deux techniques expérimentales : Spéctroscopie dielectrique large bande et rhéologie. Un test complet du modèle de Rouse à été effectué en comparant les prédictions de ce modèle pour la dépendance en fréquence de la permittivité diélectrique et du module de cisaillement aux données expérimentales. Les effets d'enchevêtrement sur les spectres diélectriques ont été discutés. Nous avons ensuite développé des méthodes basées sur la microscopie à force électrostatique afin d'étudier les propriétés diélectriques locales. En utilisant une simulation numérique basée sur la Méthode des Charges Equivalentes, nous avons quantifié la constante diélectrique à partir de la mesure du gradient de force crée par un potentiel statique entre une pointe et un diélectrique. Cette méthode permet d'imager la constante diélectrique avec une résolution spatial de 40 nm. Le retard de phase de la composante en 2 omega de la force ou du gradient de force crée par un voltage alternatif est relié aux pertes diélectriques. Nous avons développé un mode d'imagerie des pertes diélectriques. Cette méthode simple pourrait être appliqué en biologie ou matière molle en générale afin d'étudier des variations locales de constantes dielectriques.

Few would deny the importance of art education in the total educational development of the child. Drawing is an integral component of art education. Drawing for children appears to be a natural form of expression. Studies involving the observation of children's drawing development have had a long history in relation to child art. Recognition that children pass through identifiable stages of development in drawing and that these stages could be affected by cultural and individual differences is an important focus in art education research. This study is concerned firstly with drawing development and secondly, with differences in drawing development across cultures. Eight year old children with predominantly European background and eight year old children with Vietnamese/Kampuchean background were chosen for this study. The study was concerned with determining whether there were any significant differences in drawing development between the two ethnic groups, using a modified scale of the Rouse "Descriptive Scale for Measurement of Art Products". The results of this study indicate that there are differences in drawing abilities between the two ethnic groups.

This dissertation investigates characteristics of the vertical distributions of mass flux observed in field and laboratory experiments. Thirty vertical mass flux profiles were measured during a field experiment in Jericoacoara, Brazil from October to November, 2008. These data were supplemented with 621 profiles gathered from an extensive review of the aeolian literature. From the field experiment, the analysis of the grain-size statistics for the flux caught in each trap shows that a reverse in grain-size trends occurs at an inflection zone located 0.05 ? 0.15 m above the bed. Below this inflection, mean grain-size decreases steeply with elevation in the near bed region dominated by reptation and saltation modes of transport. Above the inflection there is a coarsening of grain size with elevation; as saltation becomes the dominant transport mode. These results indicate that the coarsest grains are found close to and farthest from the bed. Using a data set comprising 274 vertical flux profiles, the performance of the exponential, power and logarithmic functions were tested to see which provided the best fit to the vertical flux distributions. The exponential function performed best 88% of the time. The average r2 value for the grouped exponential, logarithmic, and power function fits are 0.98, 0.85 and 0.91, respectively. The populations of the exponent coefficients, representing the relative rate of decrease with height above the surface, or slope of the vertical mass flux profiles, are statistically different in wind tunnels and field experiments. The slopes of the vertical flux profiles observed in wind tunnel experiments are steeper compared to field environments, which infers that saltation is suppressed in wind tunnels. These differences are magnified in wind tunnels with small working cross section areas, and in wind tunnel experiments that use extreme environmental conditions, such as very high shear velocities. The Rouse concentration model, widely used in water studies, was tested to see if it could replicate the observed vertical flux distributions and transport rates. A fall velocity (w0) equation for particles falling in air was derived using a grain size (d) dependency: w0 (in m/s) = 4.23d (in mm) + 0.1956 (r^2=0.88). The Rouse model performs poorly when the value of the beta (a form of the Schmidt number in the Rouse number exponent) is assumed to be unity. The values of beta were modeled using a relationship derived from a dependency of beta on the w0/u* ratio: beta = 3.2778(w0/u*) - 0.4133 (r^2=0.65). The values of beta ranged from 6.11 ? 17.83 for all the experiments. The Rouse profiles calculated using this approach predict very similar vertical distributions to the observed data and predicted 86% and 81% of the observed transport rate in field and wind tunnel experiments respectively. The Rouse approach is more physically meaningful than current approaches that use standard curve fitting functions to represent the vertical flux data but do not provide any explanatory power for the shape or magnitude of the profile.

Thesis advisor: Noah P. Snyder / Though previous studies have shown saltmarsh adaptability to some degree of sea-level rise (SLR), sediment supply is critical to sustaining saltmarshes as SLR accelerates. Land-use activities, such as dams, often influence watershed sediment transport and delivery to the coast. Previous studies have suggested that, even in small watersheds, dams can significantly impact coastal sediment budgets. The Parker River watershed (PRW) in northeastern Massachusetts hosts 20 dams and several natural lakes, and drains into the Plum Island Sound Estuary (PIE). This research aims to evaluate the impact of dams and sediment transport in the PRW. Three approaches were used: theoretical modeling of sediment transport patterns using digital elevation models; spatial analysis of suspended sediment concentration (SSC) and remote sensing data; and empirical calculations of reservoir trap efficiency. Geomorphic modeling indicates that bankfull discharge can transport 20 μm grains (silt) as wash load throughout the PRW. Sediment deposition might happen at Crane Pond and in reservoirs, but removing dams would not change this pattern. Both SSC data and observations of satellite images during high-flow events indicate low supply and transport of sediment throughout the PRW. The estimates of sediment yield (Y) are low for the PRW. An empirical calculation indicates little-to-no trap efficiencies for all dams. Therefore, fluvial contribution to the sediment budget of the PIS estuary is limited and dam removals in the PRW are unlikely to change the rate of sediment delivery to the PIE. The proposed method of this study provides an additional scope to assess the ecological benefits of removing a dam and could be easily replicated for other locations for similar assessment. Future studies should assess sediment dynamics and management practices from a more thorough perspective incorporating the riverine, estuarine and shelf system. / Thesis (MS) — Boston College, 2020. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Earth and Environmental Sciences.