#42

Prose by Hayley Gearheart

Analysis of NMR spectra using digital signal processing techniques.

Since its development, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) has become one of the primary methods of chemists for structure elucidation, which is the determination of a compound\u27s molecular structure. Current software packages enable scientists to visualize the raw data produced by the spectrometer so that they can manually determine a compound\u27s component parts. This is accomplished by manually comparing the spectrum of the mixture with various reference materials believed to be present. But these software packages can be expanded to do even more. It is the purpose of this thesis to provide an automated analysis package capable of analyzing a mixture spectrum for the components contained within it and at what concentration. Future enhancements include the development of a centralized database can can archive spectral information for known reference materials and expansion of the proposed method from one dimension to multiple dimensions. The reference materials used tend to be pure compounds

Exploring the french flute school in North America: an examination of the pedagogical materials of Georges Barrère, Marcel Moyse, and René Le Roy

The discussions that surround the topic of the French flute school and its approach to flute playing have yielded many conflicting assessments. Specifically, different opinions regarding who carried on the French school’s tradition of flute playing have produced different ideas about its lasting influence. At the center of this topic is a lack of clarity as to what constitutes the pedagogical approach that Paul Taffanel initiated and passed on to his flute students at the Paris Conservatory. In order to determine what this approach consists of as well as who passed it on, this study presents an examination of the teaching materials of Georges Barrère, Marcel Moyse, and René Le Roy. These three men were trained at the Paris Conservatory by Paul Taffanel and/or Philippe Gaubert before they went on to have influential teaching careers. The exercises and philosophies of Barrère, Moyse, and Le Roy are discussed according to the following topics: tone, articulation, phrasing and vibrato, and technical facility. The exploration of these materials demonstrates that the pedagogy that these three men disseminated throughout North America does indeed reflect the approach of Taffanel’s French flute school. As a result, it is evident that the French school continues to influence modern day flute playing, especially in North America, as seen in the perpetuation and evolution of the philosophies, ideas, and exercises used by Barrère, Moyse, and Le Roy

Constraints on the symmetry energy from observational probes of the neutron star crust

A number of observed phenomena associated with individual neutron star systems or neutron star populations find explanations in models in which the neutron star crust plays an important role. We review recent work examining the sensitivity to the slope of the symmetry energy $L$ of such models, and constraints extracted on $L$ from confronting them with observations. We focus on six sets of observations and proposed explanations: (i) The cooling rate of the neutron star in Cassiopeia A, confronting cooling models which include enhanced cooling in the nuclear pasta regions of the inner crust, (ii) the upper limit of the observed periods of young X-ray pulsars, confronting models of magnetic field decay in the crust caused by the high resistivity of the nuclear pasta layer, (iii) glitches from the Vela pulsar, confronting the paradigm that they arise due to a sudden re-coupling of the crustal neutron superfluid to the crustal lattice after a period during which they were decoupled due to vortex pinning, (iv) The frequencies of quasi-periodic oscillations in the X-ray tail of light curves from giant flares from soft gamma-ray repeaters, confronting models of torsional crust oscillations, (v) the upper limit on the frequency to which millisecond pulsars can be spun-up due to accretion from a binary companion, confronting models of the r-mode instability arising above a threshold frequency determined in part by the viscous dissipation timescale at the crust-core boundary, and (vi) the observations of precursor electromagnetic flares a few seconds before short gamma-ray bursts, confronting a model of crust shattering caused by resonant excitation of a crustal oscillation mode by the tidal gravitational field of a companion neutron star just before merger.Comment: 19 pages, 10 figure and 1 tabl

The Effects of Artificial Destratification on the Water Quality and Microbial Populations of Hyrum Reservoir

Artificial destratification is being increasingly used in attempts to improve water quality and control eutrophication. Most of the artificial destratification efforts are being conducted by public water supply utilities in efforts to improve reservoir water quality for culinary purposes. At present, artificial destratification is being conducted without a complete understanding of the process or its effects on the reservoir. Whether or not artificial destratification can control algal growth and other microbial processes is a controversial question. The effect of artificial destratification on the microbial flora must be understood if it is to be used effectively as a management tool in the control of water quality. In recent years a blue-green algal bloom has developed during the summer in Hyrum Reservoir. The massive bloom of Aphanizomenon jlos-aquae presents esthetic problems to those using the reservoir for recreational purposes. These esthetic problems have reduced the use of the reservoir for swimming, water skiing, and fishing. It is believed that artificial de stratification, or the destruction of natural stratification obtained through diffused-air aeration, will improve the water quality of the reservoir