I propose to study the role of Professor Muller in The Visit as my thesis role because of the challenge that it presents, not only as a translated work, but also because of the character shift for me - Professor Muller is a 72 year old man and has now been changed to a woman in her thirties. Professor Muller is the only person to stand up to the antagonist, Claire. The confrontation between Claire and Muller takes on a certain tone when it is between a woman and a man, and has a completely different outlook when it becomes woman vs. woman. The director has taken this play and set it in an abstract time and setting, loosely basing it in a post WW2 era in perhaps Switzerland, or even Germany, although the location will never be actually specified by the director. It is merely a suggestion of where we should begin the process of characterization. The town gives off an appearance of desolation, but we must retain the knowledge of better times. This challenge of not having specifics almost grinds at me to place specifics on the character, but I will attempt to refrain from this. This role will not only challenge my training here in movement, voice and character analysis, but will allow me to pursue a new kind of development in character, one that does not have to be mapped out. This character can be created only through the other characters on the stage. There are no clues in the script, really, because of extensive cuttings and re-workings through this translation. The Professor is defined by relationships, not by words, and this new process excites me. After the show has closed, I would like to explore the play in its entirety and look to see if I have remained true to the author's work while working in a new concept from the director. I think it is possible to still hold to the origins and maintain the message of the play even through such large changes. This is going to be one of the most challenging roles that I have faced. I think that at the same time that I am going to apply my training, I also need to let it go and explore her through my body, my heart. At home, outside the theatre, I can go through the analytical parts - the "who am I" and "where do I come from" questions. My journals will be exceptionally useful for this knowledge. However, in rehearsals, I want to "let it all go" and "fly by the seat of my pants" to uncover answers that might be lost to me if I use only my brain. This is my biggest weakness as an actor - allowing my brain to take over. The problem with over-analyzing is that I look to deeply into the words and the script for the clues that my body may already be telling me, or I miss an impulse to act on a feeling because I am to caught up reading into everything. I need to read, and then play, not read and concentrate. We are doing a "play" after all, not a "work". It is my hope that I can allow myself to play more, and thereby overcome this weakness.

Autism affects 1 in 88 children (Center for Disease Control, 2009), approximately 50% of whom will not develop speech (Seal & Bonvillian, 1997). Some researchers hypothesize that these difficulties in developing oral speech reflect underlying motor speech deficits (Prizant, 1996; Seal & Bonvillian, 1997; Szypulski, 2003; Andrianopoulos, Boucher, Velleman & colleagues 2007-2010). This investigation sought to identify the presence or absence of specific motor speech markers in ASD through an innovative best-practice protocol for assessing the speech, prosody, and voice quality of individuals with ASD. The study focused on apraxic-like motor planning/programming features and dysarthric-like motor execution features in imitated, elicited, and spontaneous speech in 15 children with ASD between 4;0 and 12;11 years as compared to 15 children who were NTD. Speech analyses included imitated speech tasks for [f] and [a] prolongation, the short phrase "pea tea key" and AMRs and SMRs; elicited speech tasks for Counting 1-10 and singing Happy Birthday; along with spontaneous speech tasks for telling two stories based on wordless picture stories and discussing a topic of interest. Results indicated that children with ASD presented with significantly decreased Maximum Phonation Times; lower formant values; lower pitch values; decreased rate of speech characterized by increased utterance, pause and vowel durations; reduced number of syllable repetitions in AMR and SMR tasks; variable and/or inconsistent performance across tasks; and a mildly deviant voice, further characterized by mildly deviant levels of roughness and strain, atypical production of prosody and inconsistent nasality. Based on the results of this empirical investigation, an acoustic-perceptual and motor speech profile for a sample population of children with an autism spectrum disorder can be determined by six tasks: prolongation of [f] and [a], articulation of AMRs and SMRs, Counting 1-10, and telling a story based on a wordless picture book. These objective measures can empirically determine the presence, prevalence, and nature of speech, phonatory, and prosodic deficits in this sample population. They support that intervention for children with ASD should not only focus on pragmatics, MLU, and vocabulary, as is often the case. Rather, voice and motor speech intervention protocols should be incorporated as appropriate to individuals with autism.

The larynx is the mammalian organ of vocalization. Humans have a degree of control over this organ considerably beyond the abilities of other primates, most notably in our control over the larynx during speech. Although there is an abundance of research on the neural basis of speech, relatively little of this research has focused on the control of the larynx. First, I performed a meta-analysis to search for brain areas responsible for making explicit judgments about affective prosody to identify candidate premotor areas in prefrontal cortex that may also plan the affective component of affective prosody (Chapter 2). The inferior frontal gyrus pars orbitalis was the only prefrontal region preferentially engaged by affective vocalizations. Second, I used functional magnetic resonance imaging to determine whether there are discrete neural systems for producing innate-affective versus arbitrary non-affective vocalizations in the human brain, as has been predicted from non-human primate models (Chapter 3). The vocal-motor system demonstrated a lack of specialization since both types of vocalizations engaged the entire network. Third, I searched for brain areas that were preferentially engaged during vocal imitation (Chapter 4), which is a key process in vocal learning. Vocal imitation preferentially engaged a cortico-striate network similar to that predicted from avian models of vocal imitation. Finally, I performed a meta-analysis to explore the neural basis of persistent developmental stuttering (Chapter 5), a speech disorder that is associated with poor control of the laryngeal muscles. Among other brain areas, primary motor regions controlling the larynx were abnormally activated in the brains of people who stutter. Together these studies advance our knowledge of the human vocal-motor system, how it relates to that in other species, and how this system may be disrupted in persistent developmental stuttering. I discuss remaining gaps in our knowledge that will be the focus of my future research. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / One hallmark of the human species is our ability to talk. This dissertation describes a body of research that uses modern brain imaging technology ¬to study the brain systems that underlie this ability in humans –referred to as the vocal-motor system. It then compares this system in humans to the closest equivalent in monkeys, since monkeys lack this ability but share relatively recent common ancestry with humans. It also makes comparisons with the brains of songbirds, since the ability of juvenile songbirds to learn songs may share similarities with the human ability to learn speech. Finally, it looks at the potential dysfunction of this system in the brains of people who stutter.

Abstract Values are foundational guidelines that underpin nurses’ actions. They serve as fundamental points of reference for nurses; and, as such, determine their moral nursing practice. Understanding how nurses’ experience of living their values amidst organizational change sheds light on how this social condition influences the narrative composition of nurses’ lives and their practice. This Narrative Inquiry (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000) illuminates the temporal connections of life events; how social conditions mutually shape personal conditions; and how actions that occur within a place give meaning to the experience. Six nurses from a large academic health centre in Southern Ontario were recruited and interviewed over eight months. During initial analysis, letters were constructed for each co-participant to reveal the experience of living values amidst organizational change. Subsequently, a composite narrative in the form of a letter was composed, revealing four plotlines: responsive relationship, moral distress, reflection and reconstruction, and knowledge and identity. These plotlines intersect to describe the extent to which nurses meet their moral obligations within relational practice. This inquiry brings to the foreground four narrative terms, including stories to commit by, that contribute to a new way of thinking about familiar issues. It illuminates the personal and the active movement of reflection that reside in a person and the choice(s) she/he makes to re-craft a life. Considerations for practice, education, policy, and research highlight the importance of a deeper level of reflective practice, the connection between personal and ethical knowledge, and the need for becoming aware of one’s moral horizon. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Previous experiments have shown that voice pitch (the perception of fundamental frequency and/or corresponding harmonics) is positively associated with women’s voice attractiveness, however all of this research is on women’s speaking voices. Singing is important for the mating success of non-human animals, is cross-culturally universal in humans, and is highly sexualized in many cultures. Thus, singing could contribute to mating success and attraction in humans. First, we investigated whether previous findings, that high voice pitch when speaking predicts women’s voice attractiveness, extend to when women sing. We also examined whether pitch- and rhythm accuracy contribute to women’s singing voice attractiveness. Voice pitch was positively related to women’s singing voice attractiveness as judged by men more than when judged by women, and speaking voice attractiveness was positively related to singing voice attractiveness. Thus, men and women may be reacting to the same indicator of women’s underlying quality (i.e. voice pitch) in both women’s speaking and singing voices, differently. Men may be attracted to high pitch, whereas women may show a weaker relationship, as they tend to be more romantically jealous of women with high pitched voices. Pitch- and rhythm accuracy did not predict women’s singing voice attractiveness. This result can be interpreted in different ways. It could mean that women’s voice pitch may be more important in determining men’s perceptions of their singing voice attractiveness than is their singing ability, or our measures were ill suited to the task. Collectively, these results are the first to show that singing voices are more attractive than speaking voices, people with attractive speaking voices tend to have attractive singing voices, and that singing and speaking voices relate to the same underlying qualities. Thus, singing may be an indicator of mate value and could have played a role in the evolution of sex differences in the voice if our ancestors had similar preferences. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

Philadelphia has been a renowned center for musical development since the American Revolution. The city continues to produce influential composers who elevate the cultural tapestry of American art music. Women composers in Philadelphia have been writing innovative vocal music since the eighteenth century, including patriotic songs, children's songs, folk songs, parlor songs, musical farces, operettas, operas, cantatas, choral music, sacred music, art songs, and chamber music. The introduction of this monograph illuminates the lineage of a selected group of Philadelphian women composers. This includes biographical sketches, musical examples of their works, and a summary of their contributions, giving an inspiring account of their outstanding talent. An increasing number of women composers are producing large-scale vocal works including orchestral choral works and operas. Art songs, however, accompanied by piano or in collaboration with a variety of instruments, continue to be an integral part of the output of contemporary women composers. Solo vocal art song collaboration is popular, and rightly so, for several reasons. The result of using a combination of instruments not only creates multi-textural sonorities, but also allows for “conversation” among the different performers. Secondly, composers can assign an instrument to be played in a particular fashion to create a specific atmosphere. Thirdly, art song is an intimate medium that does not require a large performance venue, so the cost is minimal. Also, there is a theatrical element in ensemble art song that pleases the audience as they experience the collaboration between the musicians as they interact with one another. Finally, in today’s technologically advanced society there are more opportunities for ways of expression through various kinds of multimedia. Internationally acclaimed Philadelphia composer Andrea Clearfield has composed a large body of vocal works. She has written many arrangements of art song for a variety of voice types in collaboration with selected instruments. Her chamber work, A reminiscence sing for soprano, clarinet, and piano, is set to Walt Whitman’s “Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking” from his collection of twelve poems, Leaves of Grass (1855). The musical setting captures the essence of the American Romantic poet Walt Whitman, whose works celebrate nature, unity, and humanity. Through musical and textual analysis, I aim to offer performance goals for the singer. These include maintaining keen intonation while navigating dissonant open intervals, communication with the clarinetist throughout the work, and using Clearfield’s organized architecture of form to the utmost advantage to reveal the complex symbolism of Whitman’s poem. Pulitzer Prize-winning and three-time Grammy winner Jennifer Higdon composes music that creates a kaleidoscope of textures. Her chamber work for soprano, violin, cello, and piano, Love Sweet, comprises five poems by Imagist poet Amy Lowell. I intend to reveal how Higdon’s skillful use of prosody creates the images that Lowell expresses in her poetry. This skill ultimately aids the singer in successfully relaying the text. Higdon uses extended jazz harmonies, strong rhythmic motifs, and dampened string technique in the piano to provide the cycle’s cohesiveness. The city of Philadelphia has a rich musical heritage, to which women composers have contributed a great deal. As new vocal works composed by Philadelphia women continue to be an integral part of the mainstream classical repertoire, we must invest time and scholarship in understanding, performing, and teaching these new works. By studying the lineage of women composers in Philadelphia, one can learn about the significance of the city’s cultural landscape and discover the opportunities available to young composers. Through careful musical and poetic analysis, focusing on performance and interpretive strategies for collaborative art songs by Andrea Clearfield and Jennifer Higdon, I aim to prove these works accessible, enlightening, and fulfilling for performers and audiences alike. / Music Performance

Begreppet organisatorisk tystnadskultur betyder att anställda inom offentlig och privat sektor inte vågar uttrycka sig kritiskt på arbetsplatsen på grund av exempelvis osäkra anställningsförhållanden, försämrade karriärmöjligheter samt rädsla för repressalier. Studiens syfte var att undersöka hur före detta anställda och anställda uppfattar att en eventuell tystnadskultur manifesterar sig och vilka konsekvenser det kan medföra inom rättspsykiatrin. Åtta intervjuer genomfördes med personal inom den rättspsykiatriska vården. Materialet analyserades tematiskt där fem huvudteman identifierades: Tystnad kopplat till meningslöshet, tystnad relaterat till repressalier, tystnad relaterat till ett bristande förtroende, tystnadens emotionella påverkan samt tystnadens påverkan kopplat till säkerhet. Resultatet visade bland annat att den upplevda tystnaden inom organisationen främst orsakas av faktorer som en känsla av meningslöshet, rädsla för repressalier och ett bristande förtroende för arbetsledningen. Känslomässig påverkan samt tystnadens säkerhetspåverkan indikerar att det finns arbetsmiljöbrister knutna till den organisatoriska och psykosociala arbetsmiljön.

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