“The study of narratology and its impact on programmatic music – with specific practice in writing for the piano”

This dissertation aims to provide analysis of aspects of the phenomenology that has influenced the set of my four piano compositions in this folio. The study assesses narrative stimulants as a basis for writing the works, aspects of morphology and narratology and the application of the appropriate narrative spurs to these works. The folio includes purely absolute to programmatic music, thereby exploring the realms of “descriptive” and “narrative music”

Sediment oxygen demand and its effect on dissolved oxygen in a cutoff meander of the Kaskaskia River

This study was designed to assess the relationship of sediment oxygen demand and dissolved oxygen in a cutoff meander of the Kaskaskia River. The results of the study should be useful to agencies such as Departments of Conservation, Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency when assessing the impact of stream channelization on cutoff meanders of channelized streams. Cross-sectional profiles were used to determine area and total water volume in the meander. When stagnant or no-flow conditions prevailed, anoxic conditions created by sediment oxygen demand were observed in a significant part of the water in the meander. When no-flow conditions prevailed during summer months, as much as 25% of the water in the meander became anoxic while 65% fell below 5.0 mg/l. Sediment oxygen demand rates were more closely related to temperature than to sediment consistency or benthic macroinvertebrate numbers. Ambient sediment oxygen demand measured during the summer was almost three times greater than demand measured during the fall. While sediment oxygen demand in the channelized portion of the river was higher than in some stations in the meander, reaeration resulting from flowing water in the channel was sufficient to prevent anoxic conditions from developing.U.S. Department of the InteriorU.S. Geological SurveyOpe

Downy brome seed bank dynamics in southwestern Saskatchewan

Non-Peer ReviewedIn order to study downy brome seed bank dynamics, a burial experiment was established near Maple Creek in August 1987. Downy brome seed was buried at four depths (2.5 to 20 cm), and placed on the soil surface, in nylon mesh bags. Seed was exhumed at monthly intervals in the fall of 1987 and throughout the 1988 growing season. Seed germination in the field in the fall of 1987 was greatest from the buried seed (almost 50 %) while the surface seed exhibited little germination. This germination occurred in response to fall precipitation. Seed on the soil surface was not in contact with moist soil for a sufficient time to stimulate germination, so 80-90 % of this seed had not germinated by freeze-up in 1987. However the surface collected seed had germination of 34 % when transferred to an incubator in the laboratory, indicating environmentally induced dormancy in the field. There was little recruitment from the seed bank occurred in the spring of 1988 in spite of favorable moisture and temperature conditions. Seed on the soil surface remained viable until the 14th month but the buried seed at all depths had either germinated or deteriorated by the 9th month. This study was repeated in 1988, with similar results to date

Mass customization of teaching and learning in organizations

In search of methods that improve the efficiency of teaching and training in organizations, several authors point out that mass customization (MC) is a principle that covers individual needs of knowledge and skills and, at the same time, limits the development costs of customized training to those of mass training. MC is proven and established in the economic sector, and shows high potential for continuing education, too. The paper explores this potential and proposes a multidisciplinary, pragmatic approach to teaching and training in organizations. The first section of the paper formulates four design principles of MC deduced from an examination of economics literature. The second section presents amit™, a frame for mass customized training, designed according to the principles presented in the first section. The evaluation results encourage the further development and use of mass customized training in continuing education, and offer suggestions for future research

Assessment of performance of turbo-alternators at the Jebba Hydroelectric Power Station in Nigeria from 2005 – 2014

The Nigerian power system consists of several sets of aged turbo-alternators (TAs) associated with frequent failures and limited installed capacity. This paper presents the results of a study of the performance of the turbo-alternators at one of the most important power stations in the country. The energy conversion characteristic of each of the turbo-alternators is studied by comparing the electrical power output with the total hydro-energy available on a daily basis. Similarly the availability was examined by generating the stochastic sequence of up-times for each TA. The results indicate that energy conversion remained essentially linear throughout the third decade of operations. Availability was however found to vary considerably from year to year with the worst performances occurring in the first five years - an indication of poor state of repair of the machines during that quinquennium. In conclusion, the results indicate that despite their age the TAs have many more years of service left provided maintenance is carried out diligently. Enhanced maintainability will however require both retro-fitting and a forward looking maintainability strategy.Keywords: Hydro–Power, Turbo-Alternators, Energy conversion, Availability, Maintainability, Nigerian Power Syste

Patterns and trends of topsoil carbon in the UK: complex interactions of land use change, climate and pollution

The UK Countryside Survey (CS) is a national long-term survey of soils and vegetation that spans three decades (1978–2007). Past studies using CS data have identified clear contrasting trends in topsoil organic carbon (tSOC) concentrations (0–15 cm) related to differences between habitat types. Here we firstly examine changes in tSOC resulting from land use change, and secondly construct mixed models to describe the impact of indirect drivers where land use has been constant. Where it occurs, land use change is a strong driver of SOC change, with largest changes in tSOC for transitions involving SOC-rich soils in upland and bog systems. Afforestation did not always increase tSOC, and the effect of transitions involving woodland was dependent on the other vegetation type. The overall national spatial pattern of tSOC concentration where land use has been constant is most strongly related to vegetation type and topsoil pH, with contributions from climate variables, deposition and geology. Comparisons of models for tSOC across time periods suggest that declining SO4 deposition has allowed recovery of topsoils from acidification, but that this has not resulted in the increased decomposition rates and loss of tSOC which might be expected. As a result, the relationship between pH and tSOC in UK topsoils has changed significantly between 1978 and 2007. The contributions of other indirect drivers in the models suggest negative relationships to seasonal temperature metrics and positive relationships to seasonal precipitation at the dry end of the scale. The results suggest that the CS approach of long-term collection of co-located vegetation and soil biophysical data provides essential tools both for identifying trends in tSOC at national and habitat levels, and for identifying areas of risk or areas with opportunities for managing topsoil SOC and vegetation change

Nonlinear control model and operational support system for the Kainji Hydroelectric Power System

Over the past years, hydropower model and control were largely based on classical and linear transfer function, this was motivated by the available control system design techniques that were available and the desire to simplify the design procedure. Such a model is inadequate for dynamic study and design of hydropower station in the presence of uncertainties in the water head, discharge rate, elastic water effect, traveling wave effect, large variation power output and frequency. This research, therefore, focuses on developing a nonlinear model for the Kainji hydroelectric power station. The model relies on the energy conversion principles, inflows, discharge, evaporation rate and number of units on busbar. The parameters of the model were also estimated, and the model validated with an error within +1.4% to -3.6%. The model is expected to be used to determine the optimal control policies for the operation of the station and the release of water to the downstream.Keywords: Hydroelectric Power, Inflow, Model, Operating Head, Turbo-alternato

Economics of integrated crop management systems in the Dark Brown Soil Zone

Non-Peer ReviewedLow commodity prices, rising input costs, and increasing concerns about environmental degradation are encouraging producers in western Canada to consider alternative soil tillage and weed management methods that conserve resource inputs. However, little is known about the economic merits of these management changes. This study determines the effects of six integrated soil, cultural, and weed management practices on production costs, economic returns, and riskiness for a Wheat (W)-Canola (C)-Barley (B)-Pea (P) rotation in the Dark Brown Soil Zone of Saskatchewan

Energy efficiency of integrated crop management systems in the Dark Brown Soil Zone

Non-Peer Reviewe