On Universal Cycles for Multisets

A Universal Cycle for t-multisets of [n]={1,...,n} is a cyclic sequence of $\binom{n+t-1}{t}$ integers from [n] with the property that each t-multiset of [n] appears exactly once consecutively in the sequence. For such a sequence to exist it is necessary that n divides $\binom{n+t-1}{t}$, and it is reasonable to conjecture that this condition is sufficient for large enough n in terms of t. We prove the conjecture completely for t in {2,3} and partially for t in {4,6}. These results also support a positive answer to a question of Knuth.Comment: 14 pages, two figures, will appear in Discrete Mathematics' special issue on de Bruijn Cycles, Gray Codes and their generalizations; paper revised according to journal referees' suggestion

A Conductor\u27s Guide to Gabriel Jackson\u27s To the Field of Stars

Gabriel Jackson is one of Great Britain’s most performed living composers. He is a prolific writer, having composed choral and instrumental works for ensembles and performers around the world. Currently, commissions include a setting of the Stabat Mater for the tenth anniversary of the Marian Consort, an English professional ensemble under the direction of Rory McCleery. Other recent commissions include The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ (completed for the 750th anniversary of Merton College, Oxford in April, 2014), In Nomine Domini (for the BBC Proms in 2010) and To the Field of Stars, the subject of this dissertation. The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus, Nederlands Kamerkoor, and the St Jacob’s Chamber Choir of Stockholm jointly commissioned To the Field of Stars. The work was premiered on November 19, 2011 at the Sacred Heart Cathedral in Bendigo, Australia and was performed by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus with Shannon Draper (cello) under the direction of Jonathan Grieves-Smith. The commission and the premiere were given in honor of the historic pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela and the 400th anniversary of the death of Tomás Luis de Victoria. This dissertation is intended to serve as a conductor’s guide for Gabriel Jackson’s 2011 work To the Field of Stars and to increase exposure to the composer’s music as a whole. In order to fulfill these intentions, several purposes must be fulfilled: (1) a thorough investigation into the background and context of the work, which will be made through historical research of published sources on the Camino de Santiago de Compostela and an interview with the composer Gabriel Jackson; (2) a comprehensive analysis of the texts chosen for the work developed through textual exegesis and the composer’s interview responses; (3) an investigation of Jackson’s integration of text and music developed through a conductor’s analysis of the score; and (4) the preparation of a conductor’s guide for rehearsal and performance

Applications of Allyl and Alkenyl Zirconocenes and Progress Toward the Total Synthesisof Tuberostemonone

This dissertation describes the development of several novel chemical reactions employing allyl and alkenyl zirconocenes. These diverse nucleophiles were employed in thesynthesis of a variety of biologically and chemically important molecules. Initially, allyl zirconocenes were employed for the addition to imines, thereby providing rapid access tofunctionalized homoallylic amines. We were later able to employ alkenyl zirconocenes in both the construction of C-glycosidic bonds and the addition to chiral imines. The power of thesetransformations was realized by a rapid and stereoselective synthesis of an immunostimulant agent and its analogs. Biological evaluation of these compounds showed encouraging activity against malaria. Small molecule radioprotectant agents have also been developed and show promising potential for therapeutic use. Finally, we were able to install key stereocenters of the Stemona alkaloid tuberostemonone

Visionary Futures: Science Fiction Theatre for Social Justice Movements

This written portion of my thesis chronicles my experience as director and producer of Visionary Futures: Science Fiction Theatre for Social Justice Movements, in collaboration with playwrights, activists, actors, designers, and a dramaturg. In this thesis, I explore the process of creating a meaningful thesis project during the Covid-19 pandemic. I discuss the idea of visionary fiction as created by adrienne maree brown and Walidah Imarisha and how to create theatre within that genre. This thesis chronicles the development and production of three new plays of visionary fiction that wrestle with contemporary social issues, all designed for digital performance. I share my process pairing each writer with an activist to create work that envisioned more just worlds while also being responsive to the current moment. I explore the opportunities and challenges of reimagining the generative writing process, making theatre within a digital medium, and being creative during a global pandemic. This thesis also includes the full text of each play and links to the recordings of the digital productions

A Functional Analysis of English Humanities and Biochemistry Writing with Respect to Teaching University Composition

This thesis examines how writing differs in both English departments and Biochemistry departments in realization at the grammatical, that is, the lexico-grammatical level; and thus, how the differing writing modes are not merely realizations of differences at the lexical level, but the grammar of the texts is affected by the different world perspectives reflected by each discipline. By analyzing the lexico-grammatical realizations in texts produced by professionals in both the English and Biochemistry disciplines, through the analysis of basic writing handbooks which are required reading for many introductory writing students, and through analysis of a survey given to full-time university composition professors, this study examines not only how the two disciplines write differently, but more importantly, the implications of current strategies of teaching basic writing composition for academic purposes. All of these implications are examined utilizing the theory of Systemic Functional Linguistics. The thesis argues that lexico- grammar reflects and is reflected by the world perspective of each discipline; thus teaching traditional school grammar (i.e., subject verb agreement, punctuation, spelling, etc.) and traditional English Humanities type lexico-grammatical realizations in the basic writing class falls outside the scope of teaching functional writing for all academic purposes. Therefore, the traditional approach in teaching composition, and even recent trends toward teaching writing as a process, still falls short of the implications which teaching alternative lexico-grammatical realization patterns can have when discourse-level phenomena are discussed within and without the English Humanities discipline rather than just clause-level phenomena. Therefore, as composition courses continue to teach toward realizations of English Humanities’ lexico- grammar, students who desire to work outside this discipline may not be as prepared as instructors would like, contrary to what some professors within English departments have commonly believed

The Culture of Sexuality: Identification, Conceptualization, and Acculturation Processes Within Sexual Minority and Heterosexual Cultures

This study aimed to provide insights into the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer/questioning (LGBTQ+) people within LGBTQ+ culture, and to explore how they disclose or conceal their sexual identities within different social environments. A qualitative study enabled me to become immersed within the stories of LGBTQ+ people, in order to better understand the construct and importance of LGBTQ+ culture. Through in-depth interviews and focus groups, 14 members of the LGBTQ+ community from around the nation volunteered to share their experiences with LGBTQ+ culture and their negotiation of identity within heterosexual culture. From participants’ stories, key themes were identified: sexual identity and the processes of integrating multiple aspects of identity (i.e., ethnic, religious, gender), characteristics and values within the LGBTQ+ and heterosexual cultures, and how LGBTQ+ people make decisions to conceal or “come out” about their sexual identity depending on the environment. Participants described three levels of identification as LGBTQ+: individual, proximal social group, and a broader LGBTQ+ culture. The narratives converged to reveal a process, contextual navigation, for how LGBTQ+ people conceal or disclose (“come out”) their sexual orientation depending on safety within a given environment. We suggest that people working with LGBTQ+ individuals should encourage engagement in the LGBTQ+ culture, as this may provide support for identity development and facilitate mental health outcomes

Distance daylighting and digital fabrication

In this paper we assess the use of digital fabrication for a distance daylighting course. Precise scale-model components were digitally-fabricated locally to facilitate assessment and photodocumentation of solar access and Daylight Factor (DF). The goal is to extend, globally, use of limited, local daylighting laboratory tools. If successful, a wider distant student and professional audience could be served from the limited facilities that offer physical assessments. Based on distance introductory lectures, seven distant student teams developed digital threedimensional model files to specify sidelighting and toplighting schemes for a school classroom project. At the local site, the files were translated into two-dimensional pattern files to digitally-fabricate architectural scale model components. Following assembly, each completed scale model was tested (also at the local site) for solar access, using an adjustable-table heliodon, and Daylight Factor, using a mirror box. Documentation of each local assessment, returned to each distant team, included a video file (solar access), still images (solar access and DF), and a digital contour map (DF). This enabled the distant teams to compare, for example, solar access given by digital modelling vs. physical scale models. The differences engendered vigorous online review discussions. Suggested changes to improve the process are discussed

A selective recruitment strategy for exploiting muscle-like actuator impedance properties

Two leading qualities of skeletal muscle that produce good performance in uncertain environments are damage tolerance and the ability to modulate impedance. For this reason, robotics researchers are greatly interested in discovering the key characteristics of muscles that give them these properties and replicating them in actuators for robotic devices. This paper describes a method to harness the redundancy present in muscle-like actuation systems composed of multiple motor units and shows that they have these same two qualities. By carefully choosing which motor units are recruited, the impedance viewed from the environment can be modulated while maintaining the same overall activation level. The degree to which the impedance can be controlled varies with total activation level and actuator length. Discretizing the actuation effort into multiple parts that work together, inspired by the way muscle fibers work in the human body, produces damage-tolerant behavior. This paper shows that this not only produces reasonably good resolutions without inordinate numbers of units, but gives the control system the ability to set the impedance along with the drive effort to the load

LGBTQ+ Emerging Adults Perceptions of Discrimination and Exclusion within the LGBTQ+ Community

Research on LGBTQ+ emerging adult populations has primarily focused on discrimination that is experienced within the heterodominant culture. Due to systems of oppression and the forces of power and privilege, some sexual and gender minorities experience isolation and discrimination not only within the heterodominant culture, but within the LGBTQ+ community as well. Fourteen lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer/questioning (LGBTQ+) young adults (20-25 years) with a diverse array of intersecting identities (e.g., gender, racial, ethnic, religious, cultural) participated in semi-structured individual interviews and focus groups. Participants reported on experiences of biphobia, acephobia, transphobia, gatekeeping the community, LGBTQ+ people of colour’s experiences of racism within the community, other forms of oppression, and offered advice on areas of growth for the LGBTQ+ community. Findings provide insight into LGBTQ+ emerging adults experiences of discrimination and future research implications

Measuring spatial and temporal shifts in forest structure and composition in T high elevation beech forests in response to beech bark disease in Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Exotic forest pests and pathogens are among the most serious environmental threats to millions of hectares of forested land worldwide. Beech Bark Disease (BBD) is a non-native, pathogenic complex consisting of associations between scale insects and fungi. First confirmed in Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GRSM) in 1986, this complex has since threatened local high elevation beech forests, which are G-1 ranked (critically imperiled) forest communities where American beech (Fagus grandifolia Ehrh.) is a foundational tree species. In 1994, GRSM initiated the BBD Monitoring Protocol at 10 high elevation beech forest plots in the Park. The plots were sampled biennially from 1994 to 2012 and again in 2017 to investigate infestation patterns and host mortality. Permutational multivariate analysis of variance (PERMANOVA) and nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) techniques were used to investigate shifts in forest structure and composition over the 23-year study period. Species-specific changes were analyzed using repeated measures linear mixed-effects models (RMLMM). High elevation beech forest communities are changing through time with trajectories becoming more influenced by Acer and Betula species. Despite great variability in plot location, aspect, slope, and beginning species composition, time was a significant factor, explaining ~10% of the variation in relative basal area. Species-specific shifts were highly variable. While the overstory Fagus grandifolia basal area declined significantly over the 23-year study period, no significant change in total basal area was observed, indicating that the loss of these mature trees was compensated by co-occurring species. Understory sapling and woody seedling abundance of F. grandifolia increased relative to most other species in the study. The loss of the foundational species, F. grandifolia (the dominant tree species which defines high elevation beech forests), will have broad consequences for associated biota, ecosystem function, and potentially, the long-term persistence of high elevation beech forests in GRSM