Music Performance Dissertation

One operatic role and two vocal recitals were performed in lieu of a written dissertation. The operatic role was Count Almaviva in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro. The necessities of the performance demonstrated knowledge of classical style, controlled vocal technique, carefully crafted dramatic intention and stagecraft, and proficiency in Italian. The first recital was a review of vocal works by living American composers, based on poetry that expressed a multitude of diverse experiences throughout American history. The second recital, Songs of the Lost, was an homage to the lost generation of WWI in preparation for the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day, using only musical sets containing either music or poetry written by a combatant in that conflict. December 11th, 2017 at 8:00 PM, in McIntosh Theatre. Accompanied by César Cañón. John Musto, Shadow of the Blues, poetry by Langston Hughes: “Silhouette”, “Litany”, “Island”, “Could be”. Tom Cipullo, Another Reason Why I Don’t Keep a Gun in the House, poetry by Billy Collins: “Desire”, “Embrace”, “Cancer”, “Flames”, “Putting Down the Cat”, “Another Reason Why I Don’t Keep a Gun in the House”. David DiChiera, Letter to Sarah, based on a letter by Sullivan Ballou: Featuring Benjamin Thauland, Trumpet. Steven Mark Kohn, American Folk Song Arrangements, set to traditional American texts: “Ten Thousand Miles Away”, “Poor Wayfaring Stranger”, “Wanderin’”, “The Farmer’s Curst Wife”, “Hell in Texas”. March 23rd and 25th, 2018 in Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre. Conducted by Martin Katz. Directed by Grant Preisser. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro. Role performed: Count Almaviva. April 20th, 2018 at 8:00 PM, in McIntosh Theatre. Accompanied by Landon Baumgard. Gabriel Fauré, L’horizon chimérique, poetry by J. de la Ville de Mirmont: “La mer est infinie”, “Je me suis embarqué”, “Diane, Séléné”, “Vaisseaux, nous vous aurons aimés”. George Butterworth, Six Songs from a Shropshire Lad, poetry by A.E. Housman: “Loveliest of Trees”, “When I was One and Twenty”, “Look Not in My Eyes”, “Think No More Lad”, “The Lads in Their Hundreds”, “Is My Team Ploughing”. Ralph Vaughan Williams, Songs of Travel, poetry by Robert Louis Stevenson: “The Vagabond”, “Let Beauty Awake”, “The Roadside Fire”, “Youth and Love”, “In Dreams”, “The Infinite Shining Heavens”, “Whither Must I Wander”, “Bright is the Ring of Words”, “I Have Trod the Upward and the Downward Slope”.AMUMusic: PerformanceUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/147554/1/jrdaugh_1.pd

Surface wave, internal wave, and source motion effects on matched field processing in a shallow water waveguide

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution August 1989Given well known environmental conditions, matched field processing has been shown to be a promising signal processing technique for the localization of acoustic sources. However, when environmental data are incomplete or inaccurate, a 'mismatch' occurs between the measured field and model field which can lead to a severe degradation of the localization estimator. We investigate the possible mismatch effects of surface and internal waves on matched field processing in a shallow water waveguide. We utilize a modified ray theory, based on the work of Tindle, to calculate the acoustic pressure field. This allows us to simply incorporate range dependent environmental conditions as well as to generalize our work to deeper waveguides. In general, the conventional (Bartlett) matched field beamformer does not provide sufficient resolution to unambiguously locate a source, even in a perfectly matched environment. The maximum likelihood method (MLM) matched field beamformer has much better resolution but is extremely susceptible to mismatch. The mismatch due to surface roughness can result in a large reduction of the estimator peak. Part, but not all, of the peak can be regained by 1)using a model which includes incomplete reflection at the surface based on actual sea surface statistics and 2) short time averaging of the measured signal, with times on the order of the period of the surface waves. Mismatch due to internal waves can also result in a large degradation of the estimator. Averaging over the same time period as surface waves provides little improvement and leads one to surmise that internal waves may be a limiting constraint on matched field processing. Finally, we combine the surface and internal wave fields with a slowly moving source. This example highlights the necessity for the development of a beamformer which has a broader mainlobe while maintaining adequate sidelobe suppression, and we address this issue by looking at two such beamformers

Facilitating Antenna Switch Diversity for Dual-Connectivity Architectures

This publication describes systems and techniques to enable antenna switch diversity in dual-connectivity (DC) architectures without employing two switches along a main antenna path. DC can involve using two different wireless technologies, such as a first technology and a second technology. DC architectures include, for example, those that adhere to the Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) – New Radio (NR) — Dual Connectivity (EN-DC) protocol. With EN-DC, Long-Term Evolution (LTE) connections under E-UTRA for a first technology are expected to abide by antenna switch diversity algorithms to provide access to each of the available antennas. Further, Fifth-Generation (5G) connections under NR for a second technology are expected to comport with requirements to use each of the available antennas for Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) transmissions. This disclosure describes including a pair of switches in a switching network that is disposed between multiple antennas and first and second modules of the first and second technologies, respectively. The switch pair is implemented with a crossover switching scheme. A loopback path, which facilitates use of a direct antenna path for the first module, includes two ends. A first end is coupled to one switch of the pair, and a second end is coupled to an auxiliary port of the first module. The second module is coupled to the antennas via the switch pair. The first module, however, is provided a direct path to a main antenna of the antennas. The direct path includes a single switch, which can be part of the first module. In implementations with an example four antennas, the single switch can be realized with a relatively low-loss dual-pole, dual-throw (DPDT) switch in the first module. The switch pair can be realized using two relatively higher-loss four-pole, four-throw (4P4T) switches

F-106B airplane active control landing gear drop test performance

Aircraft dynamic loads and vibrations resulting from landing impact and from runway and taxiway unevenness are recognized as significant factors in causing fatigue damage, dynamic stress on the airframe, crew and passenger discomfort, and reduction of the pilot's ability to control the aircraft during ground operations. One potential method for improving operational characteristics of aircraft on the ground is the application of active control technology to the landing gears to reduce ground loads applied to the airframe. An experimental investigation was conducted on series-hydraulic active control nose gear. The experiments involved testing the gear in both passive and active control modes. Results of this investigation show that a series-hydraulic active control gear is feasible and that such a gear is effective in reducing the loads transmitted by the gear to the airframe during ground operations

Multi-antenna switch control in 5G

A mobile device typically has multiple antenna elements to enable antenna diversity and to accommodate multiple protocols, e.g., 4G, 5G, SRS, etc. When different antenna elements transmit or receive simultaneously, intermodulation products from one can reduce the sensitivity of another. This disclosure describes techniques to allocate antenna elements across protocols and antenna diversity schemes such that intermodulation desensing is minimized and transceiver-antenna connectivity is continuously maintained

Mechanical design engineering. NASA/university advanced design program: Lunar Bulk Material Transport Vehicle

The design of a Lunar Bulk Material Transport Vehicle (LBMTV) is discussed. Goals set in the project include a payload of 50 cubic feet of lunar soil with a lunar of approximately 800 moon-pounds, a speed of 15 mph, and the ability to handle a grade of 20 percent. Thermal control, an articulated steering mechanism, a dump mechanism, a self-righting mechanism, viable power sources, and a probable control panel are analyzed. The thermal control system involves the use of small strip heaters to heat the housing of electronic equipment in the absence of sufficient solar radiation and multi-layer insulation during periods of intense solar radiation. The entire system uses only 10 W and weighs about 60 pounds, or 10 moon-pounds. The steering mechanism is an articulated steering joint at the center of the vehicle. It utilizes two actuators and yields a turning radius of 10.3 feet. The dump mechanism rotates the bulk material container through an angle of 100 degree using one actuator. The self-righting mechanism consists of two four bar linkages, each of which is powered by the same size actuator as the other linkages. The LBMTV is powered by rechargeable batteries. A running time of at least two hours is attained under a worst case analysis. The weight of the batteries is 100 pounds. A control panel consisting of feedback and control instruments is described. The panel includes all critical information necessary to control the vehicle remotely. The LBMTV is capable of handling many types of cargo. It is able to interface with many types of removable bulk material containers. These containers are made to interface with the three-legged walker, SKITTER. The overall vehicle is about 15 feet in length and has a weight of about 1000 pounds, or 170 lunar pounds

A Systematic Review of the Evidence of Reliability and Validity of Assessment by Teachers Used for Summative Purposes

First paragraph: The reason for proposing this review resulted from the work of the Assessment Reform Group (ARG) over several years and the more recent reviews conducted by the Assessment and Learning Research Synthesis Group (ALRSG), whose members include all the members of ARG. The review of classroom assessment initiated by ARG, and carried out by Black and Wiliam (1998), indicated that assessment used for formative purposes benefits teaching and learning, and raises standards of student performance. However, the ALRSG review, A systematic review of the impact of summative assessment and tests on students' motivation for learning, showed that high stakes tests can have a negative impact on students' motivation for learning and on the curriculum and pedagogy. But, summative assessment is necessary and serves important purposes in providing information to summarise students' achievement and progress for their teachers, parents, the students themselves and others who need this information. To serve these purposes effectively, summative assessment should interfere as little as possible with teaching methods and the curriculum and, importantly, should reflect the full range of learning outcomes, particularly those needed for continued learning and for learning how to learn

BL Lac X-ray Spectra: simpler than we thought

We report results from {\it XMM-Newton} observations of thirteen X-ray bright BL Lacertae objects, selected from the {\it Einstein} Slew Survey sample. The spectra are generally well fit by power-law models, with four objects having hard ($\alpha<1; F_\nu \propto \nu^{-\alpha}$) spectra that indicates synchrotron peaks at $>5$ keV. None of our spectra show line features, indicating that soft X-ray absorption ``notches'' must be rare amongst BL Lacs, rather than common or ubiquitous as had previously been asserted. We find significant curvature in most of the spectra. This curvature is almost certainly intrinsic, as it appears nearly constant from 0.5 to 6 keV, an observation which is inconsistent with the small columns seen in these sources.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure; to be published in proceedings of the Cozumel meeting on "Multiwavelength Surveys for AGN", Cozumel 200