During the last 15 years there has been a well documented decline in achievement test scores. Declines have been documented on both the American College Testing Program (ACT) and the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). An increased interest in t he score declines and their possible explanations has also taken place in the last 10 years. The explanation for the declines fit under four main headings: (1) problems with the tests, (2) changes in the testing population, (3) changes in society, and (4) changes in the schools. The purpose of this study was to begin with the test itself and check for possible score drift between two forms of the ACT, a 1977 ACT form and a form 5 to 7 years older than that. The sample population consisted of 242 juniors at Logan High School, Logan, Utah, and 153 juniors at Skyview High School, Smithfield, Utah, during the 1976-77 school year. These samples represent 83% of the Logan High junior population and 50% of the Skyview High junior class. All subjects took the two forms of the ACT mentioned above. In analyzing the data from the major samples with a two-tailed t test, it was found that there was a significant difference in the two tests. The largest difference was found on the mathematics subtest; the difference being that students scored higher on the older forms, not only on the mathematics subtest, but on the other subtests, also. A two-way analysis of variance with repeated measures was used to check for variance due to sex of subjects and form of test and their interractions. The findings were consistent with those of the t test. It was found that the mathematics scores varied due to the form of the test. The only sex difference was that females' standard scores were higher than males' on the English subtests of both ACT forms. This study found a significant difference between an older ACT form and a 1977 ACT form as measured by subjects' scores on both. The findings of this research indicate that the test itself may be a partial cause of the current ACT score declines.

Cette thèse vise à apporter une contribution dans le domaine de la biométrie par l’iris (l’une des modalités les plus précises et difficiles à pirater) et le visage (l’une des modalités les moins intrusives et les moins coûteuses). A travers ce travail, nous abordons plusieurs aspects importants de la biométrie mono et multimodale. Nous commençons par dresser un état de l’art sur la biométrie monomodale par l’iris et par le visage et sur la multimodalité iris/visage, avant de proposer plusieurs approches personnelles de reconnaissance d’individus pour chacune des deux modalités. Nous abordons, en particulier, la reconnaissance faciale par des approches classiques reposant sur des combinaisons d’algorithmes et des approches bio-inspirées émulant le mécanisme de la vision humaine. Nous démontrons l’intérêt des approches bio-inspirées par rapport aux approches classiques à travers deux méthodes. La première exploite les résultats issus de travaux neuroscientifiques indiquant l’importance des régions et des échelles de décomposition utiles à l’identification d’un visage. La deuxième consiste à appliquer une méthode de codage par ordre de classement dans la phase de prétraitement pour renforcer le contenu informatif des images de visage. Nous retenons la meilleure approche de chacune des modalités de l’iris et du visage pour concevoir deux méthodes biométriques multimodales. A travers ces méthodes, nous évaluons différentes stratégies classiques de fusion multimodale au niveau des scores. Nous proposons ensuite une nouvelle règle de fusion de scores basée sur un facteur de qualité dépendant du taux d’occultation des iris. Puis, nous mettons en avant l’intérêt de l’aspect double échantillons de l’iris dans une approche multimodale.L’ensemble des méthodes proposées sont évaluées sur la base multimodale réelle IV² capturée dans des environnements variables voire dégradés et en suivant un protocole bien précis fourni dans le cadre de la campagne d’évaluation IV². Grâce à une étude comparative avec les algorithmes participants à la campagne IV², nous prouvons la compétitivité de nos algorithmes qui arrivent dans plusieurs cas à se positionner en tête de liste. / This thesis aims to make a contribution in the field of biometrics based on iris (one of the most accurate and hard to hack biometrics) in conjunction with face (one of the cheapest and less intrusive biometrics).Through this work, we discuss several important aspects of unimodal and multimodal biometrics. After an overview on unimodal and multimodal biometrics based on iris and face, we propose several personal approaches of biometric authentication using each single trait. Particularly, we address facial recognition first with conventional approaches based on combined algorithms, then with bio-inspired approaches emulating the human vision mechanism. We demonstrate the interest of bio-inspired approaches over conventional approaches through two proposed methods. The first one exploits the results of neuroscientific work indicating the relevant regions and scales in a face identification task. The second consists in applying a rank order coding method at the preprocessing step so as to enhance the information content of face images.We keep the best unimodal approach of iris and face recognition to design two multimodal biometric methods. Through these methods, we evaluate different classic strategies of multimodal score-level fusion. Afterwards, we propose a new score-level fusion rule based on a quality metric according to irises occultation rates. Then, we point out the interest of the double-sample iris aspect in a multimodal approach.All the proposed methods are evaluated on the real multimodal IV² database captured under variable to degraded environments, and following a specific protocol provided as part of the IV² evaluation campaign. After a comparative study with the participant algorithms in the IV² campaign, we prove the competitiveness of our algorithms witch outperform most of the participant ones in the IV² campaign in many experiments.

This work was written for ten performers plus tape. The instruments are divided into two groups, each with a distinct personality: flute, clarinet, horn, violin and cello in an "orderly" group, and three percussionists, piano, doublebass and tape in a "chaotic" group. The first two sections introduce these groups separately. The third section returns to the order group, which begins to show a chaotic influence. The fourth section, for tape alone, echoes the first in its stability. The final section, for the entire live ensemble, fuses the two groups into a texture which is not entirely chaotic, nor entirely orderly.

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The purpose of this study is to determine the relationships between various factors and the academic achievement of the children in the sunshine Room established at Diamond Hill, Fort Worth, Texas. The factors under consideration are health improvements, behavior ratings obtained from the use of a rating scale and intelligence quotients.

Concentrate for Chamber Orchestra -- Music

In large observational studies, data are often highly multivariate with many discrete and continuous variables measured on each observational unit. One often derives subpopulations to facilitate analysis. Traditional approaches suggest modeling such subpopulations with a compilation of interaction effects. However, when many interaction effects define each subpopulation, it becomes easier to model membership in a subpopulation rather than numerous interactions. In many cases, subjects are not complete members of a subpopulation but rather partial members of multiple subpopulations. Grade of Membership scores preserve the integrity of this partial membership. By generalizing an analytic chemistry concept related to chromatography-mass spectrometry, we obtain a method that can identify latent subpopulations and corresponding Grade of Membership scores for each observational unit.

The Mystic Trumpeter is intended to reflect and comment on the meaning of the poem of the same name featured in Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass. Formally the individual movements are approximately simple territory ternary in form; however, cyclical treatment of the opening motive is the main structural concept of the work, and its appearance throughout the composition is controlled entirely by the recurring connotations of the poetry.

Concertino consists of two movements, Paean and Dithyramb, either of which may be performed independently. Paean, a work of calm and majestic intensity, is characterized by a rhythmic pulse which is more consistently regular than that of the Dithyramb. Its three major sections form an arch, the final measures (mm. 87-95) returning to the material of the opening (mm. 1-14). The first section begins quietly, Maestoso ma sostenuto, in a very slow tempo. The activity and intensity increase until a brief, more active middle section begins in a faster tempo (Ancora piu mosso, m. 55). A fff climax (m. 63) begins in the third section (Tempo I). After a brief poco piu mosso (mm. 72-81), the opening tempo is restored (m. 82), the opening material returns (m. 87) and the final chord fades away. Dithyramb is a free and dramatic movement in which the musical material of the wind group usually contrasts with that of the string group. The piano, which has its own material, occasionally takes on the character of one group or the other as though mediating the conflict.

The English Walnut Joke is a composition for concert band and dramatic soprano. The English Walnut Joke was based on a text of the same title by Alec Rowell and is divided into two movements with a total duration of approximately twenty-two minutes. The joke concerns itself with the dealings between a wood-chopper and a jongleur in medieval England and is related to the audience by a destitute factory worker (the dramatic soprano) in the early Industrial Age of that country.