Reflections on my Journey Using Visual Media in a Voice Recital

The following thesis is a reflection of one student’s process and execution of her vocal recital in which she incorporated visual media (digital paintings, light graphics, and videos). The author documented the technical and collaborative steps she took to prepare and perform her recital on December 5th, 2015. Preceding the chapters, the author includes a compilation of graphics or stills from the videos used in her recital. First, the author discusses why she felt it was important to present a recital in this manner. Next, the author elaborates on how her undergraduate studies and personal experience lead her to the idea of a multimedia recital. Following after, the author includes a copy of the program and program notes handed out at her December recital. Then, the author describes the inspiration and creation of each graphic for each song. Lastly, the author predicts how the experience of her recital will benefit her future professional endeavors. A DVD recording of the December recital is also available for viewing

Comparative Analysis Of Learning Outcomes In Face-To-Face Foreign Language Classes Vs. Language Lab And Online

Action research was conducted for two consecutive semesters comparing beginning level Spanish courses taught in the traditional classroom and the same class taught exclusively in the language lab. A subsequent semester compared an intermediate class taught in the traditional classroom compared to the same class conducted online. Assessment scores were compared for quizzes, tests, oral interview and final exam. Overall course GPA and student opinions were also compared. Identical treatments showed the classroom performed significantly better than the lab class yet the following semester showed the lab performing better but not at a significant level. A second study compared a higher level of students for classroom vs. online. This study showed the classroom performance was better in three out of four assessments, however this difference was not significant

The effects of songs in the foreign language classroom on text recall and involuntary mental rehearsal

This study investigated the effect of music on text recall and involuntary mental rehearsal (din) with students from four college-level Beginning Spanish classes. Two groups heard texts as songs, one group heard the same texts as speech, and one group was the control group. For the text recall variable, a cloze test was administered at the end of each song treatment to determine total words recalled. Students from one of the music groups heard the melody of the song while testing. For the din variable, students were asked to report on the amount of this phenomenon experienced. Data was collected to answer the following questions: (1) Is there a significant increase in text recall when that text is learned through the use of songs?, (2) Is there a significant difference in delayed text recall for students who learned the text with song, as compared to those who learned the text with spoken recordings?, (3) Is there a significant difference in the recall results when one group of students from the song groups hears the melody of the song during the recall test?, and (4) Is there a significant difference in the occurrence of involuntary mental rehearsal after listening to song rather than text? Immediate recall of text showed higher scores for the music class in all three songs. This difference reached significance in Songs 1 and 3. Delayed text recall showed no significant difference between the classes. There was no advantage observed for the group that heard the background melody during testing. Overall results for the din occurrence showed a significant difference between the classes. Students in the classes that heard music reported a higher occurrence of this phenomenon than did those who heard only spoken text. Students of the melody group reported a significantly higher frequency than did students from the text group. These findings suggest that the use of songs in the foreign language classroom may aid memory of text. The results evidenced that the occurrence of the din is increased with music, and therefore may be a more efficient way to stimulate language acquisition

Randall-Sundrum brane cosmology: modification of late-time cosmic dynamics by exotic matter

In this paper we show, through the study of concrete examples, that, depending on the cosmic dynamics of the energy density of matter degrees of freedom living in the brane, Randall-Sundrum (RS) brane effects can be important not only at short distances (UV regime), but also at large cosmological scales (IR regime). Our first example relies on the study, by means of the dynamical systems tools, of a toy model based in a non-linear electrodynamics (NLED) Lagrangian. Then we show that other, less elaborated models, such as the inclusion of a scalar phantom field, and of a tachyon phantom field -- trapped in the brane -- produce similar results. The form of the RS correction seems to convert what would have been future attractors in general relativity into saddle points. The above "mixing of scales" effect is distinctive only of theories that modify the right-hand-side (matter part) of the Friedmann equation, so that, for instance, DGP-brane models do not show this feature.Comment: Latex, 12 pages, 9 eps figures. Title changed, discussion improved. Version that matches the one published in CQ

Self accelerating solutions in a DGP brane with a scalar field trapped on it: the dynamical systems perspective

We apply the dynamical systems tools to study the linear dynamics of a self-interacting scalar field trapped on a DGP brane. The simplest kinds of self-interaction potentials are investigated: a) constant potential, and b) exponential potential. It is shown that the dynamics of DGP models can be very rich and complex. One of the most interesting results of this study shows that dynamical screening of the scalar field self-interaction potential, occuring within the Minkowski cosmological phase of the DGP model and mimetizing 4D phantom behaviour, is an attractor solution for a constant self-interaction potential but not for the exponential one. In the latter case gravitational screening is not even a critical point of the corresponding autonomous system of ordinary differential equations.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures. Version that matches the one published by PL

Spherically symmetric solution in a space-time with torsion

By using the method of group analysis, we obtain a new exact evolving and spherically symmetric solution of the Einstein-Cartan equations of motion, corresponding to a space-time threaded with a three-form Kalb-Ramond field strength. The solution describes in its more generic form, a space-time which scalar curvature vanishes for large distances and for large time. In static conditions, it reduces to a classical wormhole solution and to a exact solution with a localized scalar field and a torsion kink, already reported in literature. In the process we have found evidence towards the construction of more new solutions.Comment: (v1) 14 pages, 3 figures. (v2) Version accepted for publication in General Relativity and Gravitatio