The composition is in four movements and requires approximately fifteen minutes for performance. Characteristic features of the work include fugal imitation, modified arch form, sound mass and special brass effects, and quintal harmony in each movement, respectively. The purpose of the composition is to expand literature for brass choir and prepared tape.

The compositional goals strived for in this work are (1) to unify the past and present, (2) to present a rhythmically simple but harmonically complex use of the voices, (3) to explore the timbral complexities of voices and instruments, (4) to explore rhythmic changes without changing meters, (5) to integrate the orchestra and chorus so as to produce one musical entity rather than two opposing groups, (6) to produce a work that is both practicable in performance and contemporary in spirit.

Concerto for Piano and Orchestra is a three movement composition. The performance time of the entire composition is approximately nineteen and one-half minutes. Certain melodic similarities are found in the three movements of this composition because some of the pitch successions selected for motives were derived from a twelve tone row. The harmonic sonorities are based on free choice and derivations from the tone row as were the melodic materials. The rhythm in this work is not serialized or in any other way predetermined.

Synergism is an art presentation designed to use multimedia concepts to heighten audience involvement in the work. Although primarily sound oriented, its skeletal structure is literary. The music expands upon the text to communicate the inexplicable or irrational element of its meaning to those faculties which determine emotional response. This process is aided by a modicum of environmental control achieved through stage lighting effects.

Te Deum is a concert work for orchestra (woodwinds in pairs plus contrabassoon, four horns, two trumpets, two trombones, tuba, percussion, and strings) and a large mixed chorus. The text is derived from The Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England. In the interest of intelligibility, the text setting is mostly syllabic. The single through-composed movement, lasting about eleven minutes, is divided into three principal sections. Section two contains the primary climax of the work. The basic musical material of the piece is a set of motives which are altered and combined in various ways.

This quartet shows the composer's development from a highly chromatic, freely melodic, un-serialized style in movement I, through a still free, but disjunct, somewhat more ordered style in movement II, to a style in movement III which makes much use of serial techniques. This last usage, however, no longer employs the twelve-tone method in a stiff and fettered manner.

The subject of the present study, Florence, Biblioteca del Conservatorio di Musica Luigi Cherubini, MS Basevi 2439, abbreviated Florence 2439,1 contains secular and sacred vocal music of the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, with texts in French, Dutch, Italian, and Latin.

The annual incidence of knee replacement (KR) procedures in the United States is predicted to reach over 3.5 million by the year 2030. KR is the current definitive treatment for debilitating knee osteoarthritis (KOA). There has yet to be substantial research regarding the impact of KR on participation in community activities and quality of life. The hypotheses evaluated in this dissertation were that persons following KR will have 1) faster gait speed and 2) lower risk of participation restrictions than persons without KR; and 3) a decreased risk of all-cause mortality compared to persons without KR. To address the first two hypotheses, we collected data from subjects with KOA from the Multicenter Osteoarthritis Study and the Osteoarthritis Initiative, large cohorts of older adults with or at risk of KOA at the time of enrollment. In the first study, KR did not have an effect on gait speed overall and among most subgroups, however subjects with a slow gait speed prior to KR did have an 80% increased risk (RR 1.8, 95% CI 1.1, 3.0) of having a healthy gait speed compared with non-KR subjects. In the second study, KR was associated with a small decreased risk of having participation restriction (RR 0.82, 95% CI 0.67, 0.99). The third study used data on patients with KOA from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink, a database of clinical information on > 8 million people throughout the United Kingdom. There was a decrease in the death rate among KOA subjects who had a KR compared to those who did not, and the hazard of death was reduced by over one half in the first five years after the procedure (HR 0.46 (95% CI 0.43, 0.51). For most subjects, this benefit did not extend longer than five years, and patients least likely to have KR (due to clinical and medical presentation) showed an increased hazard of death compared to the non-KR subjects. In conclusion, the results of this dissertation support the hypotheses that KR confers a positive benefit to activity and participation related pursuits which may extend to survival in the short term for some people.

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