The Feldenkrais Method in the Voice and Speech Classroom: Intertwining Linklater Voice and the Feldenkrais Method

Abstract INTEGRATING THE FELDENKRAIS METHOD INTO THE VOICE AND SPEECH CLASSROOM: INTERTWINING LINKLATER VOICE AND THE FELDENKRAIS METHOD By Janel R. Miley Knipple, MFA A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts at Virginia Commonwealth University. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2018. Major Director: Karen Kopryanski, Head of Voice and Speech, Assistant Professor Department of Theatre Proprioception and kinesthetic awareness are important factors in actor training as performers strive to increase their physical and vocal prowess in order to respond to the demands of roles. The Feldenkrais Method, a somatic approach to learning that promotes greater awareness, has been utilized in actor training for decades; however, the historical details, measurable impact, and benefits of the Feldenkrais Method in this field have been largely undocumented. In this thesis, I will examine the history of the Feldenkrais Method, particularly considering interactions between theatre artists and Feldenkrais. In addition, I will suggest new possibilities for creating a voice and speech curriculum that integrates the Feldenkrais Method, providing both historical precedents and current findings to support the efficacy of incorporating the Feldenkrais Method into actor voice and speech training. Referencing experiences of how the Feldenkrais Method and the Linklater Progression have worked together to improve my own acting and teaching, I will conclude with a strategy on incorporating the Feldenkrais Method into voice and speech training

Fabrication and characterization of ordered arrays of nanostructures.

In this thesis, a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches is explored to fabricate ordered arrays of nanostrucutures. The bottom-up approach involves the growth of self-organized porous anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) films. AAO films consist of a well ordered hexagonal array of close-packed pores with diameters and spacings ranging from around 5 to 500 nm. Via a top-down approach, these AAO films are then used as masks or templates to fabricate ordered arrays of nanostructures (i.e. dots, holes, meshes, pillars, rings, etc.) of various materials using conventional deposition and/or etching techniques. Using AAO films as masks allows a simple and economical method to fabricate arrays of structures with nano-scale dimensions. Furthermore, they allow the fabrication of large areas (many millimeters on a side) of highly uniform and well-ordered arrays of nanostructures, a crucial requirement for most characterization techniques and applications. Characterization of these nanostructures using various techniques (electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy, photoluminescence, capacitance-voltage measurements, magnetization hysteresis curves, etc.) will be presented. Finally, these structures provide a unique opportunity to determine the single and collective properties of nanostructure arrays and will have various future applications including but not limited to: data storage, light emitting or sensing devices, nano-tribological coatings for surfaces, bio-sensors, filters, and more.Nanostructures are currently of great interest because of their unique properties and potential applications in a wide range of areas such as opto-electronic and biomedical devices. Current research in nanotechnology involves fabrication and characterization of these structures, as well as theoretical and experimental studies to explore their unique and novel properties. Not only do nanostructures have the potential to be both evolutionary (state-of-the-art ICs have more and more features on the nanoscale) but revolutionary (quantum computing) as well

Research and Technology

Langley Research Center is engaged in the basic an applied research necessary for the advancement of aeronautics and space flight, generating advanced concepts for the accomplishment of related national goals, and provding research advice, technological support, and assistance to other NASA installations, other government agencies, and industry. Highlights of major accomplishments and applications are presented

System Integration of Flexible and Multifunctional Thin Film Sensors for Structural Health Monitoring

Greater information is needed on the state of civil infrastructure to ensure public safety and cost-efficient management. Lack of infrastructure investment and foreseeable funding challenges mandate a more intelligent approach to future maintenance of infrastructure systems. Much of the technology currently utilized to assess structural performance is based on discrete sensors. While such sensors can provide valuable data, they can lack sufficient resolution to accurately identify damage through inverse methods. Alternatively, technologies have shown promise for distributed, direct damage detection with flexible thin film and multifunctional polymer-nanocomposite materials. However, challenges remain as significant past work has focused on material optimization as opposed to sensing systems for damage detection. This dissertation offers novel methods for direct and distributed strain sensing by providing a fabrication methodology for broadly enabling thin film sensing technologies in structural health monitoring (SHM) applications. This fabrication methodology is presented initially as a set of materials and processes which are illustrated in analog circuit primitive forms including flexible, thin film capacitors, resistors, and inductors. Three sensing systems addressing specific SHM challenges are developed from this base of components and processes as specific illustrations of the broader fabrication approach. The first system developed is a fully integrated strain sensing system designed to enable the use of multifunctional materials in sensing applications. This is achieved through the development of an optimized fabrication approach applicable to many multifunctional materials. A layer-by-layer (LbL) deposited nanocomposite is incorporated with a lithography process to produce a sensing system. To illustrate the process, a strain sensing platform consisting of a nanocomposite film within an amplified Wheatstone bridge circuit is presented. The study reveals the material process is highly repeatable to produce fully integrated strain sensors with high linearity and sensitivity. The thin film strain sensors are robust and are capable of high strain measurements beyond 3,000 μϵ. The second system developed is an array of resistive distributed strain sensors and an associated algorithm to provide an alternative to electrical impedance tomography for spatial strain sensing. An LbL deposited polymer composite thin film is utilized as the piezoresistive sensing material. An inverse algorithm is presented and utilized for determining the resistance of array elements by electrically stimulating boundary nodes. Two polymer nanocomposite arrays are strain tested under cyclic loading. Both arrays functioned as networks of strain sensors confirming the viability of the approach and computational benefits for SHM. The third system developed is a thin film wireless threshold strain sensor for measuring strain in implanted and embedded applications. The wireless sensing system is comprised of two thin film, inductor-capacitor circuits, one of which included a fuse element. The sensor is fabricated on polyimide with metal layers used to pattern inductive antennas and a strain sensitive parallel plate capacitor. A titanium thin film fuse is designed to fail, or have a large resistance increase, when a strain threshold is exceeded. Three prototype systems are interrogated wirelessly while under increasing tensile strain. One of two sensor resonant peaks disappear at a strain threshold as designed, validating the sensing approach and thin film form for use in SHM systems. The fuse approach provides a platform for various systems and sensing elements. The reference peak remains intact and is used for continuous real-time strain sensing with a sensitivity of 0.5 and a noise floor below 50 microstrain.PHDCivil EngineeringUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/144183/1/arburt_1.pd

Investigations of the Electrical, Vibrational and Optical Properties of Graphene-based Materials

Graphene and its hybrids have stimulated significant scientific interest owing to their unique properties and technological importance. In this dissertation, we investigate the vibrational, electrical, and optical properties of these remarkable low-dimensional materials by multiple methods including optical measurements (Raman spectroscopy and photoelectrical measurements) and electrical transport measurements (such as the temperature and magnetic field dependence studies). The materials studied have been synthesized or fabricated by methods including chemical vapor deposition (CVD) as well as mechanical exfoliation and transfer. Twisted bilayer graphene (tBLG) exhibits distinct physical properties compared to monolayer and Bernal-stacked bilayer graphene counterparts. In particular, the electronic structures of tBLG depend sensitively on both the interlayer coupling and the twist angle (θ) between the two graphene layers, creating low-energy van Hove singularities (vHss) in the density of states at the intersection of the two Dirac cones that are separated by a finite wavevector in tBLG. We have studied the interlayer coupling by measuring the low-energy Raman modes of tBLG over a wide range of θ (from 5◦ to 30◦) using Raman spectroscopy. We find two new Raman modes below 100 cm-1, which are assigned to a fundamental layer breathing mode and a torsion mode (tentative assignment), in a small range of θ (∼10.5◦ and ∼12.5◦ for 633 nm and 532 nm laser excitation, respectively) at which the intensity of the G Raman band is strongly enhanced due to the presence of vHss. Our results reveal the unique interlayer coupling in tBLG and the similar resonance enhancement of such low-energy Raman modes as in the G Raman band. The close relation between vHs and resonantly enhanced Raman modes in tBLG motivates us to investigate the influence of electrical doping on the electronic and vibrational properties of tBLG. In particular, we have studied by means of Raman spectroscopy the effect of transverse electric field and doping on the resonantly enhanced G Raman band in tBLG at θ ∼ 12.5◦ (measured with a 532 nm laser). We observe a striking splitting of the G band and strong modulation of the Raman intensities when the carrier density is tuned away from the charge neutrality point or Dirac point (CNP or DP). We have also examined the electron-phonon coupling in the tBLG, where we find individual phonon self-energy renormalization of the upper and lower graphene layers. TBLG at small-θ is predicted to undergo dramatic modification of the electronic band structure near DP due to the interlayer hybridization and superlattice potential, yielding distinctive transport features related to vHss and superlattice-induced mini-gaps (SMGs) located slightly away from the main DP. We have examined the effect of acoustic phonon scattering on electron transport at various carrier densities through temperature-dependent measurements. We find that the resistivity acquired at carrier densities between the CNP and SMG follows a power-law dependence on the temperature, ∼Tβ. The evolution of the temperature exponent β with carrier density shows a W-shaped dependence, with minima near the vHss and maxima toward the SMGs. We have also performed transport study at high magnetic fields on small-θ tBLG, with particular emphasis on the quantum Hall effect and quantum oscillations near the CNP and SMG. We observe Landau level crossings in the massless Dirac spectrum emanating from the main DP but not in the parabolic energy band near the SMGs. This stark difference is further sustained by the observation of π to 2π Berry phase transition in quantum oscillations when tuning the Fermi level across the vHs (situated between the CNP and SMG). Graphene-semiconductor (such as quantum dots (QDs)) hybrids are of great interest in harnessing novel photoelectrical and optoelectronic properties. Such hybrids exploit the high carrier mobility of graphene and superior optical properties of QDs. We have studied hybrid phototransistors comprising of CVD graphene and cadmium selenide (CdSe) QDs (named GQFETs), and observed both ambipolar (negative and positive) photoconductivity and persistent photoconductivity at room temperature. We have also demonstrated a suppression of the persistent photoconductivity effect by thermal treatment, which is useful in recovering the functionality of the GQFETs

Characterization of Nanomaterials: Selected Papers from 6th Dresden Nanoanalysis Symposiumc

This Special Issue “Characterization of Nanomaterials” collects nine selected papers presented at the 6th Dresden Nanoanalysis Symposium, held at Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems in Dresden, Germany, on 31 August 2018. Following the specific motto of this annual symposium “Materials challenges—Micro- and nanoscale characterization”, it covered various topics of nanoscale materials characterization along the whole value and innovation chain, from fundamental research up to industrial applications. The scope of this Special Issue is to provide an overview of the current status, recent developments and research activities in the field of nanoscale materials characterization, with a particular emphasis on future scenarios. Primarily, analytical techniques for the characterization of thin films and nanostructures are discussed, including modeling and simulation. We anticipate that this Special Issue will be accessible to a wide audience, as it explores not only methodical aspects of nanoscale materials characterization, but also materials synthesis, fabrication of devices and applications

Dissipative flow in the superfluid helium film in the temperature region 1.63K to 0.01K

Experiments on helium film flow over a stainless steel beaker rim were carried out in the temperature region 1.63K to 11mK. No previous measurements have been made below 35mK. The results of other studies of film flow below 1K are mutually conflicting; this is thought to originate from poor temperature stability, inadequate vibration isolation and contamination of the substrate. Careful attention was paid to these points in the design and construction of a demagnetisation cryostat, full details of which are given. Flow experiments from initial level differences of ~8mm confirmed the existence of a range of metastable transfer rates at all temperatures. The variation of the mean rate with rim height suggests that the film profile should be calculated using a van der Waals' exponent, n, of 2.85 ± .25. The low temperature increase in transfer rate reported by others was observed, but did not extend below 1K. Instead, the mean transfer rate was approximately constant from 1K to 400mK, in direct conflict with the predictions of thermal fluctuation theories of superfluid dissipation. Below 250mK the results corroborated closely those of Crum et al in that the transfer rate fell sharply with decreasing temperature. Discrepancies arose between runs below 60mK, some showing the transfer rate to decrease monotonically with temperature down to 20mK whilst others indicated a levelling out of the transfer rate, followed by a slight increase at the lowest temperatures. These effects were thought to originate from changes in the concentration of the ³He impurity in the film. Steady state driven flow experiments at level differences of <500μm provided the first evidence for the existence of dissipation at subcritical transfer rates at temperatures below 1K. That is, superfluid flow was shown to be never strictly frictionless. Above 1K, the form of the subcritical dissipation curve conformed to the predictions of thermal fluctuation theories, but the values of the parameters 3 and f₀ for flow over stainless steel were considerably smaller than those reported for flow over glass. The parameter f₀ was also found to be strongly temperature dependent. Below 1K, the onset of dissipation was seen to be much more gradual, and the form of the subcritical dissipation curve was independent of temperature down to 20mK. These findings were corroborated by measurements of the damping of the inertial oscillations occurring at the end of each flow experiment. At the lowest temperature attained, 11mK, a change in subcritical dissipative behaviour was observed; exponential damping of the oscillations indicated that the frictional force on unit mass of superfluid was now directly proportional to the superfluid velocity, and was of magnitude (4.56 ± .28) x 10⁻³ dynes g⁻¹ cm ⁻¹ s. Exponential damping was also observed at temperatures above 1K, where Robinson type thermal dissipation was the dominant mechanism at small transfer rates