Candor & Ebb: Searching For My Truth Through Solo Performance

This thesis is an examination of autobiographical solo performance. It explores the use of personal trauma and illness in the dramatic form. In addition to investigating how other solo performing artists utilize their medical conditions in their work, this thesis gives some historical context to the author’s own process and development. The thesis culminates in the author’s solo performance script and a desire for its audience to find solace and compassion through the experience of witnessing it being performed

Exact energy stability of B\'enard-Marangoni convection at infinite Prandtl number

Using the energy method we investigate the stability of pure conduction in Pearson's model for B\'enard-Marangoni convection in a layer of fluid at infinite Prandtl number. Upon extending the space of admissible perturbations to the conductive state, we find an exact solution to the energy stability variational problem for a range of thermal boundary conditions describing perfectly conducting, imperfectly conducting, and insulating boundaries. Our analysis extends and improves previous results, and shows that with the energy method global stability can be proven up to the linear instability threshold only when the top and bottom boundaries of the fluid layer are insulating. Contrary to the well-known Rayleigh-B\'enard convection setup, therefore, energy stability theory does not exclude the possibility of subcritical instabilities against finite-amplitude perturbations.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures. Preprint submitted to the Journal of Fluid Mechanics. Version 2: minor text and notational changes, added a new appendix A, added detail to Section

Observer design for systems with an energy-preserving non-linearity

Observer design is considered for a class of non-linear systems whose non-linear part is energy preserving. A strategy to construct convergent observers for this class of non-linear system is presented. The approach has the advantage that it is possible, via convex programming, to prove whether the constructed observer converges, in contrast to several existing approaches to observer design for non-linear systems. Finally, the developed methods are applied to the Lorenz attractor and to a low order model for shear fluid flow

"Building" exact confidence nets

Confidence nets, that is, collections of confidence intervals that fill out the parameter space and whose exact parameter coverage can be computed, are familiar in nonparametric statistics. Here, the distributional assumptions are based on invariance under the action of a finite reflection group. Exact confidence nets are exhibited for a single parameter, based on the root system of the group. The main result is a formula for the generating function of the coverage interval probabilities. The proof makes use of the theory of "buildings" and the Chevalley factorization theorem for the length distribution on Cayley graphs of finite reflection groups.Comment: 20 pages. To appear in Bernoull

The Evaluation of Chemical Reaction Dynamics within Swine-Raising Facility: Implications to Odor Evolution and Assessment of Abatement Strategies

This research investigated the chemodynamics of the underdrains found at swine- raising facilities. The maintenance of aerobic conditions and introduction of aerobic bacteria to expedite the treatment process and control odor formation were investigated. A pilot-scale system that mimicked an industrial swine-raising facility was used in this study. Aeration and aeration with bacterial seed additions were evaluated against a standard pit recharge system, which served as the control. The effectiveness was measured using water quality testing, odor assessments by a human sensory panel, and air phase measurements of hydrogen sulfide and ammonia. The results indicated that both aeration and aeration with seeding under low loading condition were effective in reducing BOD, COD, volatile acids, and phenol concentration as well as overall odor intensity as compared to the control; however, neither was effective in reducing the ammonia, phosphate, or total solids concentrations. At mid and high loadings, little benefit was observed

The Effect of Experiential Learning on the Mathematics Achievement and Mathematics Anxiety of African-American Students

This study examined whether or not there were any significant differences between the anxiety and achievement levels of African-American students enrolled in College Algebra courses taught using traditional instruction methods and those taught using experiential learning, as used in The Algebra Project curriculum. The classes were taught for the same amount of time for one semester, using the two curricular methods, and student anxiety was measured prior to the course and immediately following the implementation of an experiential learning module. Additionally, student achievement on selected questions focusing on the functions unit from the midterm exam were collected and analyzed to determine any differences in achievement based upon gender and teaching method. This quantitative study utilized a quasi-experimental nonequivalent control-group design. A sample of 102 African-American students, 41 males and 61 females, from a medium-sized university in central Virginia was used, with 30 students in the experiential learning group and 72 in the traditional instruction group. Student anxiety was measured using the Fennema-Sherman Mathematics Anxiety Scale-Revised. A preliminary analysis of covariance was conducted to investigate differences in the anxiety levels of the experiential learning and traditional instruction groups. Student achievement was measured using scores on selected questions focusing on the functions unit from the common midterm exam and was analyzed using an independent samples t-test and a two-way analysis of variance. The results showed that there was no significant difference in anxiety between the experiential learning and traditional instruction groups at the p \u3c .05 level. Additionally, there was no significant difference in the achievement levels between the experiential learning and traditional instruction groups at the p \u3c .05 level