Documenting a Derided Profession: Algernon Lindo and The Art of Accompanying

Pianist Algernon Henry Lindo (1862-1927) was a respected performer, composer, author, and pedagogue in turn-of-the-century London. His groundbreaking work, The Art of Accompanying (1916), was the first book written about the discipline now referred to as Collaborative Piano. Although almost completely overlooked since his death, Lindo\u27s life and writings have much relevance in the twenty-first century. This study aims to make The Art of Accompanying accessible to the contemporary reader, providing a comprehensive critical edition of the work. In order to provide context for his treatise, this study presents, for the first time, a biography of Lindo. This study also offers a reading of the social and professional implications of the text, one that allows modern audiences to glimpse the ways in which accompanists were viewed and treated in the early years of the twentieth century. Finally, a comprehensive, annotated list of Lindo\u27s compositions and writings has been appended, providing further documentation of the life and work of this important, if unknown, musician

Classifier Constructions As Procedural Signs In American Sign Language

In this thesis I will be analyzing what has typically, in sign language literature, been termed classifiers and classifier constructions. I will be approaching them from the pragmatic perspective by applying Relevance Theory to explain their usage as representations that manipulate and modify their referents. The data comes from texts signed by native users of American Sign Language and are from academic lectures, interviews, narrative, and course curriculum. I have found that Relevance Theory adequately describes why and when classifiers constructions are used and that they function as a procedural referring expression

MECHANISTIC INVESTIGATIONS OF THE TRANS EXCISION-SPLICING AND TRANS INSERTION-SPLICING REACTION

Group I intron-derived ribozymes are catalytic RNAs that have been engineered to catalyze a variety of different reactions, in addition to the native self-splicing reaction. One such ribozyme, derived from a group I intron of Pneumocystis carinii, can modify RNA transcripts through either the excision or insertion of RNA sequences. These reactions are mediated through the trans excision-splicing (TES) or trans insertionsplicing (TIS) reaction pathways. To increase our current understanding of these reactions, as well as their general applicability, a mechanistic and kinetic framework for the TES reaction was established. Furthermore, additional ribozymes were investigated for their ability to catalyze the TES reaction. Lastly, the development of the TIS reaction into a viable strategy for the manipulation of RNA transcripts was investigated. The TES reaction proceeds through two reaction steps: substrate cleavage followed by exon ligation. Mechanistic studies revealed that substrate cleavage is catalyzed by the 3’ terminal guanosine of the Pneumocystis ribozyme. Moreover, kinetic studies suggest that a conformational change exists between the individual reaction steps. Intron-derived ribozymes from Tetrahymena thermophila and Candida albicans were also investigated for their propensity to catalyze the TES reaction. The results showed that each ribozyme could catalyze the TES reaction; however, Pneumocystis carinii is the most effective using the model constructs. Investigations of the TIS reaction focused on developing a new strategy for the insertion of modified oligonucleotides into an RNA substrate. These studies used oligonucleotides with modifications to the sugar, base, and backbone positions. Each of the modified oligonucleotides was shown to be an effective TIS substrate. These results demonstrate that TIS is a viable strategy for the incorporation of modified oligonucleotides, of varying composition, into an intended RNA target. The results from these studies show that group I introns are highly adaptable for catalyzing non-native reactions, including the TES and TIS reactions. Furthermore, group I introns are capable of catalyzing these unique reactions through distinct reaction pathways. Overall, these results demonstrate that group I introns are multi-faceted catalysts

The Impact of Supply Chain Business Processes on Competitive Advantage and Organizational Performance

Organizational performance has routinely been viewed through a limited scope primarily focused on functions, practices, and resources directly controlled by the focal organization, but supply chain management (SCM) has broadened this scope to incorporate all organizations along the supply chain. This shifted the notion of competition from that of between individual organizations to between supply chains. Supply chain management is an ever growing field; multiple SCM frameworks exist today and are being further developed and defined. Successful firms must reside on the leading edge of management techniques, theories, and practices in order to stay competitive in an ever growing, more constrained, increasingly diverse, and rapidly changing global economy. Supply chain management is at the forefront of such management techniques, theories, and practices. Supply chains vary from firm to firm and from industry to industry. Firms have limited resources and a desire to know if the development and implementation of SCM within their firm is, in fact, going to equate to enhanced organizational performance and competitive advantage. This thesis conceptualized and measured three of the eight key business processes (customer relationship management (CRM), order fulfillment (OF), and returns management (RM)) across the supply chain according to The Global Supply Chain Forum framework. Do these key business processes lead to increased firm performance and a competitive advantage? This thesis developed a survey and collected data from private organizations and, through statistical analysis, measured the strategic development of the CRM, OF, and RM processes of organizations and their relationship to competitive advantage and organizational performance. The results of this thesis found each of the processes were positively related to competitive advantage and organizational performanc

The Impact of Homework on Students at a Rural High School in the Foothills of North Carolina

The purpose of this research study was threefold: to determine if a relationship existed between homework and student achievement in students from a rural high school in the foothills of North Carolina; to determine if a relationship existed between two specific types of homework (preparation and practice) and student achievement; and to determine stakeholder perceptions (teachers, students, and parents) regarding the impact of homework on student learning, personal development, and family relationships. The conceptual framework of this study was based on research conducted by Cooper (1989), Lee and Pruitt (1979), Foyle (1984), and from an extensive literature review that revealed three categories associated with the positive and negative impacts of homework (student learning, personal development, and family relationships). The study was conducted as a convergent parallel mixed-methods design. Quantitative data were collected from teacher EVAAS student growth scores from 2015-2017. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected using three perceptual surveys administered to teachers, parents, and students from the target high school. Research in this study added to Cooper’s (1989) research on homework and student achievement. The study concluded that homework positively impacted student achievement at the target high school when it was assigned frequently or most of the time. It if it was assigned infrequently or sometimes, it impacted student achievement less than teachers who assigned no homework to their students. Second, this study added to Foyle and Bailey’s (1986) research by examining the use of two of the four types of homework included in Lee and Pruitt’s (1979) taxonomy – preparation homework and practice homework – and determined that students assigned primarily preparation homework produced slightly greater achievement results than students assigned primarily practice homework. Third, this study added to the research on homework by determining perceptions of teachers, students, and parents on the impact of homework in three areas: student learning, personal development, and family relationships

A Model for Circuit Execution Runtime And Its Implications for Quantum Kernels At Practical Data Set Sizes

Quantum machine learning (QML) is a fast-growing discipline within quantum computing. One popular QML algorithm, quantum kernel estimation, uses quantum circuits to estimate a similarity measure (kernel) between two classical feature vectors. Given a set of such circuits, we give a heuristic, predictive model for the total circuit execution time required, based on a recently-introduced measure of the speed of quantum computers. In doing so, we also introduce the notion of an "effective number of quantum volume layers of a circuit", which may be of independent interest. We validate the performance of this model using synthetic and real data by comparing the model's predictions to empirical runtime data collected from IBM Quantum computers through the use of the Qiskit Runtime service. At current speeds of today's quantum computers, our model predicts data sets consisting of on the order of hundreds of feature vectors can be processed in order a few hours. For a large-data workflow, our model's predictions for runtime imply further improvements in the speed of circuit execution -- as well as the algorithm itself -- are necessary.Comment: 8.5 pages of main text + 1.5 pages of appendices. 7 figures & 3 table

Variation of Manning’s coefficient with channel stage

Although Manning's roughness coefficient is known to vary with river stage, information on this aspect is limited, and practitioners have to resort to trial-and-error approaches or rely on their judgment to quantify the variation. This research was aimed at investigating the variation patterns of Manning's roughness coefficient over depth. Investigators conducted an extensive laboratory experiment using a fairly long and large channel, in the shape of half of a compound cross section, to simulate natural rivers. This experimental channel allowed a comprehensive investigation of both uniform and composite roughness elements along the channel's wetted perimeter. Data were taken from both cases: when flow was restricted in the main channel (to simulate a prismatic channel) and when it covered the floodplain. In addition, the investigators converted data from other researchers to verify factors not covered in this study. The researchers found that while geometry and roughness patterns can both affect the magnitude of Manning's coefficient over depth, the effects vary in prismatic and floodplain channels. Experimental data were used to identify the variation patterns of Manning's roughness in the floodplain channel as well as the effects of varying roughness distribution in the main channel and floodplains. Investigators also made a number of recommendations regarding the equations that should be used to quantify the variation of the overall Manning's n value for a channel section. Suggestions were made as to the specific use of these equations, including the number of subareas within the channel to be considered, the type of division lines between the subareas, and the ranges of applicability of the equations.U.S. Department of the InteriorU.S. Geological SurveyOpe

Isolation of a wide range of minerals from a thermally treated plant: Equisetum arvense, a Mare’s tale

Silica is the second most abundant biomineral being exceeded in nature only by biogenic CaCO3. Many land plants (such as rice, cereals, cucumber, etc.) deposit silica in significant amounts to reinforce their tissues and as a systematic response to pathogen attack. One of the most ancient species of living vascular plants, Equisetum arvense is also able to take up and accumulate silica in all parts of the plant. Numerous methods have been developed for elimination of the organic material and/or metal ions present in plant material to isolate biogenic silica. However, depending on the chemical and/or physical treatment applied to branch or stem from Equisetum arvense; other mineral forms such glass-type materials (i.e. CaSiO3), salts (i.e. KCl) or luminescent materials can also be isolated from the plant material. In the current contribution, we show the chemical and/or thermal routes that lead to the formation of a number of different mineral types in addition to biogenic silica

A blend of microencapsulated organic acids and botanicals reduces necrotic enteritis via specific signaling pathways in broilers

Necrotic enteritis (NE) is a devastating disease that has seen a resurgence of cases following the removal of antibiotics from feed resulting in financial loss and significant animal health concerns across the poultry industry. The objective was to evaluate the efficacy of a microencapsulated blend of organic (25 % citric and 16.7% sorbic) acids and botanicals (1.7% thymol and 1% vanillin [AviPlus®P]) to reduce clinical NE and determine the signaling pathways associated with any changes. Day-of-hatch by-product broiler breeder chicks were randomly assigned to a control (0) or supplemented (500 g/MT) diet (n=23-26) and evaluated in a NE challenge model (n=3). Birds were administered 2X cocci vaccine on d14 and challenged with a cocktail of Clostridium perfringens strains (107) on d17-19. On d20-21 birds were weighed, euthanized, and scored for NE lesions. Jejunal tissue was collected for kinome analysis using an immuno-metabolism peptide array (n=5; 15/treatment) to compare tissue from supplement-fed birds to controls. Mortality and weight were analyzed using Student's t-test and lesion scores analyzed using F-test two-sample for variances (P<0.05). The kinome data was analyzed using PIIKA2 peptide array analysis software and fold-change between control and treated groups determined. Mortality in the supplemented group was 47.4% and 70.7% in controls (P=0.004). Lesions scores were lower (P=0.006) in supplemented birds (2.47) compared to controls (3.3). Supplement-fed birds tended (P=0.19) to be heavier (848.6g) than controls (796.2g). Kinome analysis showed T cell receptor, TNF and NF-kB signaling pathways contributed to the improvements seen in the supplement-fed birds. The following peptides were significant (P<0.05) in all three pathways: CHUK, MAP3K14, MAP3K7, and NFKB1 indicating their importance. Additionally, there were changes to IL6, IL10, and IFN- γ mRNA expression in tissue between control- and supplement-fed chickens. In conclusion, the addition of a microencapsulated blend of organic acids and botanicals to a broiler diet reduced the clinical signs of NE that was mediated by specific immune-related pathways