Illuminating Unsung Americans Sung as a Musical Staple within American Culture

The book Unsung Americans Sung was first published in 1944 by the Handy Brothers Publishing Company. With over 30 contributors and edited by William C. Handy, this book explores the great abolitionists of the eighteenth century and the climate of Negro culture during that moment in time. The book includes poetry, illustrations, children’s songs, choral works, scenes from major works, and art songs. Handy was not only offering his opinion of the Negro of the time, but he was creating a book that would add these freedom fighters and generational torchbearers into the archives of every American. Sadly, this glimpse in time and culture was recorded but not illuminated to the masses in a manner for its importance to be truly felt. With this in mind, the context of discovery should be that of a musical and cultural exploration of Unsung Americans Sung, specifically highlighting the art songs that have been collected in the book. Although other music (specifically children’s pieces and choral works) exist in the book, it is the art songs that give an idea of the struggle and triumph that exist for people of color. The purpose of this paper is to introduce and highlight the stand-alone art songs that exist in the book Unsung Americans Sung. The focus on this document will be on the works composed by W.C. Handy and collaborators of Unsung Americans Sung. This document will present the art song, some musical and vocal aspects, along with commentary about overall mood and style within each piece. Although W.C. Handy is popularly referred to as the ‘Father of the Blues’ this book holds some of Handy’s classical compositions and works. There are other composers such as Margaret Bonds and Ismay Andrews both who have works in this book and will be highlighted in this document. Unsung Americans Sung is a comprehensive book full of topics for discussion and exploration. And although this paper will not cover all of the aspects of this important book, it offers a glimpse into the continued study of W.C. Handy’s works and the different dimensions of musical development that exist within the African-American culture

Emerging from Resistance: The Origins of the Virginia Technical College System

The purpose of this study was to explore factors leading to the founding of the Virginia Technical College System (VTCS). These factors are observed primarily within the timeframe of 1954-1966. The Virginia Community College System (VCCS) evolved from the Technical College System, and began in 1964. Classes started at the first technical colleges in September 1965. Despite the writings of two previous histories concerning the founding of the VCCS, one in 1977 and another in 1987, the events that led to the creation of the technical college system have never been documented, nor have the linkages between the technical college system and the Virginia’s business and industry community been investigated. Pointedly, the influence of the series of events, beginning with the Brown v. Board of Education ruling in 1954 and the subsequent Massive Resistance movement in Virginia, created a particular climate for the founding of the Department of Technical Education 10 years later. The research questions at the heart of this study sought to understand better the social, political, and economic circumstances under which the colleges were formed. This research used oral history methods and documentary research methods to create a historiographic overview of the founding of the VTCS. This research determined that the contested environment of Massive Resistance contributed to the founding of the VTCS

Tracking changes in everyday experiences of disability and disability sport within the context of the 2012 London Paralympics

The 2012 Paralympics was the biggest ever, the most accessible and best attended in its 64-year history. The Paralympics and ideas of disability associated with the Games provide significant opportunity for reflection on how far societal opinions, attitudes and behaviour have changed regarding disability. In 2012 – the first ever “legacy games” – an explicit aim of the Paralympics was to “transform the perception of disabled people in society”, (Channel 4), and use sport to contribute to “a better world for all people with a disability” (IPC 2011). The 2012 Games therefore came with a social agenda: to challenge the current perceptions many people have about disability and disability sport. Within this report – commissioned by the UK’s Paralympic broadcaster, Channel 4 – we consider everyday experiences of disability and disability sport within the context of the London 2012 Paralympics and televised coverage of the Games. The analysis is based 140 in-depth interviews that took place in the UK over a period of eighteen months, during the lead up to, and immediately after, the Games: between January 2011 and September 2012. Embedded in the lifeworld of our participants, we ask whether the 2012 Paralympics was successful in changing perceptions of disability

Massive Resistance and the Origins of the Virginia Technical College System

The 1954 rulings in the United States Supreme Court cases of Brown v Board of Education was a landmark event in civil rights history. As momentous as the rulings were, they were not embraced by many Southern politicians. This was especially true in Virginia where Harry F. Byrd, Sr., U. S. Senator from Virginia, embarked on a campaign to massively resist court ordered school desegregation. Over the course of the next several years, Virginia\u27s leaders would pass laws specifically designed to undermine the Brown rulings. These laws, known as massive resistance would, among other things, grant the governor the power to close any school or school district attempting to comply with Brown. The results of implementation of these laws had catastrophic results socially, economically, educationally and on Virginia\u27s national reputation. By 1959 massive resistance laws were declared unconstitutional by both state and federal courts, allowing Virginia the chance to undo this self-inflicted damage. An unintended consequence of massive resistance was the erosion and stagnation of its manufacturing sector. To rebuild the state\u27s workforce, technical training on a large scale was necessary. To take on this herculean task the creation of a statewide system of technical colleges was needed. In 1964, the Virginia Technical College System (VTCS) was founded. This system exists today as the Virginia Community College System (VCCS). The creation of these colleges were a direct result of Virginia\u27s ill-conceived response to Brown. Funding had been available for many years to support technical training, but it took the contested environment created by massive resistance to make the creation of a statewide system of technical education a reality

Piecewise-Planar Parabolic Reflectarray Antenna

The figure shows a dual-beam, dualpolarization Ku-band antenna, the reflector of which comprises an assembly of small reflectarrays arranged in a piecewise- planar approximation of a parabolic reflector surface. The specific antenna design is intended to satisfy requirements for a wide-swath spaceborne radar altimeter, but the general principle of piecewise-planar reflectarray approximation of a parabolic reflector also offers advantages for other applications in which there are requirements for wideswath antennas that can be stowed compactly and that perform equally in both horizontal and vertical polarizations. The main advantages of using flat (e.g., reflectarray) antenna surfaces instead of paraboloidal or parabolic surfaces is that the flat ones can be fabricated at lower cost and can be stowed and deployed more easily. Heretofore, reflectarray antennas have typically been designed to reside on single planar surfaces and to emulate the focusing properties of, variously, paraboloidal (dish) or parabolic antennas. In the present case, one approximates the nominal parabolic shape by concatenating several flat pieces, while still exploiting the principles of the planar reflectarray for each piece. Prior to the conception of the present design, the use of a single large reflectarray was considered, but then abandoned when it was found that the directional and gain properties of the antenna would be noticeably different for the horizontal and vertical polarizations

Front-Side Microstrip Line Feeding a Raised Antenna Patch

An improved design concept for a printed-circuit patch antenna and the transmission line that feeds the patch calls for (1) a microstrip transmission line on the front (radiative) side of a printed-circuit board based on a thin, high-permittivity dielectric substrate; (2) using the conductor covering the back side of the circuit board as a common ground plane for both the microstrip line and the antenna patch; (3) supporting the antenna patch in front of the circuit board on a much thicker, lower-permittivity dielectric spacer layer; and (4) connecting the microstrip transmission line to the patch by use of a thin wire or narrow ribbon that extends through the thickness of the spacer and is oriented perpendicularly to the circuit-board plane. The thickness of the substrate is typically chosen so that a microstrip transmission line of practical width has an impedance between 50 and 100 ohms. The advantages of this design concept are best understood in the context of the disadvantages of prior design concepts, as explaine

APHLIS - Postharvest cereal losses in Sub-Saharan Africa, their estimation, assessment and reduction

APHLIS provides estimates of the postharvest weight losses (PHLs) of cereal grains for Sub-Saharan Africa. These loss estimates support agricultural policy formulation, identification of opportunities to improve value chains, improvement in food security (by improving the accuracy of cereal supply estimates), andmonitoring of loss reduction activities. APHLIS is based on a network of local experts (see Annex 1). Each country supplies and quality controls its own data that are stored in an exclusive area of a shared database. The APHLIS website displays the loss estimates as maps and tables. The APHLIS Network members also have the opportunity to post a ‘Country Narrative’ that gives a commentary on these postharvest losses in the context of the postharvest systems and projects of their countries. The loss estimates are generated by an algorithm (the PHL Calculator) that works on two data sets, the postharvest loss (PHL) profiles and the seasonal data. Each PHL profile is itself a set of figures, one for each link in the postharvest chain. These figures are derived from a very detailed search of the scientific literature followed by screening for suitability. They remain more or less constant between years. The seasonal data are contributed by the APHLIS Network and address several factors that are taken into account in the loss calculation. They may vary significantly from season to season and year to year. APHLIS estimates are not intended to be ‘statistics’ although they are computed using the best available evidence; they give an understanding of the scale of postharvest losses using a ‘transparent’ method of calculation. The estimates are assigned by primary administative unit (province) and may be aggregated to country or to region. Provinces are usually large geographical units and may include several agro-climatic zones, consequently the loss figures are generalisations, i.e. may be at variance from those experienced in particular situations. APHLIS recognises this limitation and offers a downloadable PHL Calculator that enables practitioners to change the default values to those that are specific to the situation of interest and to obtain loss estimates at a chosen geographical scale. The PHL Calculator can also be used with hypothetical data inorder to model ‘what if’ scenarios. APHLIS offers a robust system for the estimation of PHLs, is transparent in operation and can capture improvements in loss estimation over time by the accumulation of new and more accurate data. It encourages the collection of new data and offers advice on modern approaches to loss asssessment. For the future, APHLIS is envisaged as a much broader communcition hub that informs, motivates and coordinates efforts to optimise postharvest mangement

From awww to awe factor: UK audience meaning-making of the 2012 Paralympics as mediated spectacle.

This article considers UK audiences’ meaning-making of television coverage of the London 2012 Paralympic Games. As an elite sporting event, the Paralympics has been categorized alongside other high-profile media spectacles. Yet, an analysis of the ‘spectacle’ has further significance here in relation to what Mitchell and Snyder conceptualize as ‘fascination with spectacles of difference’, which encourages audiences to view the disabled person through their impairment, rather than as a human being. Inspirational ‘supercrip’ stories that glorify ‘special achievement’ fuel perceptions that disabled athletes have extraordinary, heroic qualities, and coverage of the 2012 Paralympics was no different. The spectacle is created through everyday talk. Therefore, we utilize in-depth interviews supported by netnography-inspired methods to consider to what extent media representations appropriated disability into ‘spectacle’, consequently perpetuating ablest discourses, whilst also addressing the intended social agenda by facilitating greater understanding. Our findings suggest an unexpected emotional engagement with the (mostly) sporting spectacle, with audience narratives moving from ‘awww’ to ‘awe’ as sporting achievement was celebrated. The disabled sporting ‘hero’ as ‘superhero’ is, we argue, further evidence of the influence of discourses that attempt to transform a stigmatized identity, i.e. disability, into a revered one – athleticism, thus reinforcing existing hierarchies of ability/disability

Paper Session III-C - Implementation of a NASA Life Science Teachers Workshop as Part of the Summer Teacher Enhancement Program

The Summer Teacher Enhancement Program (STEP) was developed to bring up to 40 local area teachers to Kennedy Space Center (KSC) to inform them of activities at KSC and encourage the use of this information in the school curricula. During the second week of the four week STEP, a workshop on NASA-KSC Life Sciences was implemented. The purpose of this effort was to: develop a workshop curriculum and; evaluate the effectiveness of the STEP workshop in informing and educating the participants about NASA Space Life Sciences research and concerns. Teacher workshops have been used with varying degrees of success. Results of both positive and no effects have been found by various investigators. A bibliography of select research articles on the effectiveness of teacher workshops is included as Appendix I

Metal Patch Antenna

Disclosed herein is a patch antenna comprises a planar conductive patch attached to a ground plane by a support member, and a probe connector in electrical communication with the conductive patch arranged to conduct electromagnetic energy to or from the conductive patch, wherein the conductive patch is disposed essentially parallel to the ground plane and is separated from the ground plane by a spacing distance; wherein the support member comprises a plurality of sides disposed about a central axis oriented perpendicular to the conductive patch and the ground plane; wherein the conductive patch is solely supported above the ground plane by the support member; and wherein the support member provides electrical communication between the planer conductive patch and the ground plane