Destruction du monde

Destruction du monde is composed for a small orchestra comprised of piccolo doubling flute, flute doubling alto flute, oboe, clarinet, bass clarinet, bassoon doubling contrabassoon, two horns, two trumpets, trombone, bass trombone, tuba, piano, timpani, three percussionists, and chamber strings. The piece duration is 26 minutes. The title of the work is a play on Darius Milhaud’s ballet La Creation du monde. The instrumentation is similar to the Milhaud, the only additions being one horn, one trombone, tuba, viola in place of alto saxophone, and strings in threes rather than one per part. The form is similar only in that both pieces are in six parts or movements. For his piece, Milhaud drew inspiration from African creationist legends as he depicts six scenes from the creation of the world. In my own piece I depict six scenes inspired by the account of the destruction of the world by humankind found in the book of Isaiah chapter 24, a passage that I came across in a state of despair when I turned to scripture after President Drumpf announced U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement on June 1, 2017. The first movement represents humanity defiling God’s creation; the second is the earth drying up and life depleting; the third the gates of a city crumbling; the fourth the floodgates of heaven opening to weep; the fifth a panicked dash from terror, fleeing pits and traps; and the final movement evokes the moon and sun extinguishing while the glory of the Lord remains forever. The piece is polystylistic, blending both tonal and atonal sounds, utilizing extended techniques, and compositional characteristics range from jazzy, post-minimalist, and counterpointal to dodecaphonic at times. The piece relies heavily on the percussion section throughout, a deliberate decision of mine in order to embolden the section which I feel has the most untapped potential for color and energy in the traditional orchestral canon. Destruction du monde premiered on April 7, 2018 performed by SMU’s Syzygy new music ensemble in Caruth Auditorium at SMU’s Owen Arts Center

Commodity or Currency: Cryptocurrency Valuation in Bankruptcy and the Trustee\u27s Recovery Powers

Cryptocurrencies have rapidly grown to global prominence over the past decade, inspiring new forms of investments and transactions among entrepreneurs and business novices alike. The rise of cryptocurrencies has naturally led to a rise in businesses and individuals in possession of cryptocurrency assets declaring bankruptcies. The cryptocurrency assets then become part of the bankruptcy estate. As a result, bankruptcy courts are struggling with whether cryptocurrencies are currencies or commodities, a classification that has broad implications for the recovery and valuation of cryptocurrency assets in the event of fraudulent and preferential transfers. This Note argues that bankruptcy courts should treat cryptocurrencies like commodities because this largely eliminates valuation problems when the trustee can recover the cryptocurrency asset itself. A commodity classification, however, will not entirely prevent valuation problems in cases of fraudulent and preferential transfers where physical recovery is not possible. This Note further argues that in cases where bankruptcy courts cannot recover the asset and must therefore recover its value, courts should value the cryptocurrency asset as of the date of the bankruptcy petition

Redox-Active Polymerization Catalysts and Their Applications

Traditional catalyst systems are reliable means to produce polymers with well-defined architectures and thermomechanical properties; however, they are often limited by a narrow monomer scope and their ability access few, if any, advanced polymer architectures. To address this limitation, a new class of catalysts have recently emerged that feature redox-active moieties that may access advanced architectures through catalyst electronic modulation that arises from redox events occurring on the ligand scaffold or at the active metal center itself. For example, researchers have explored the ability of redox-active catalysts to impart “on-off” kinetic control during ring-opening polymerizations and their ability to access block copolymers via redox-switching for a host of monomers. This thesis provides a historical perspective of, and introduction to, redox-active (or in some cases redox-switchable) catalysis for ring-opening polymerization (ROP), including both its advantages and its limitations. I will then describe our attempts to expand the field of redox-active catalysis to include olefin polymerizations using tetradentate [ONNO], zirconium-centered precatalysts. These precatalysts, which bear ferrocenyl units symmetrically appended to the ligand are used to polymerize 1-hexene, a model α-olefin monomer. Lastly, I will provide a brief perspective as to remaining challenges that are of interest to the field of redox-active olefin polymerization catalysis. Specifically, it is interesting to note that no example of polymer tacticity modulation via redox-activity has heretofore been reported in the literature

The role of apaptosis in the suppression of lymphoproliferation which is observed in animals fed diets rich in n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids

Due to the character of the original source materials and the nature of batch digitization, quality control issues may be present in this document. Please report any quality issues you encounter to [email protected], referencing the URI of the item.Includes bibliographical references.Dietary fish oil has been shown to be anti-inflammatory, and to relieve the symptoms of some inflammatory diseases in humans. It is thought that n-3 fatty acids found in fish oils may act to suppress T cell activation, which is a prerequisite for many types of inflammation. Previously, we demonstratied that splenocyte cultures of mice fed diets reich in the n-3 fatty acid eicosapentanoic acid (EPA) undergo a higher degree of apoptosis, or programmed cell death, upon stimulation, than celks from mice fed the n-6 fatty acid control diet, and that increased apoptosis was correlated with decreased proliferation in those cultures. In the present study we show that T cells from animals fed diets rich in fish oils have a lower proliferative response and a higher incidence of apoptosis when stimulated with a-CD3/aCD28 than similarly stimulated T cells from mice fed the arachidonic acid and corn oil (n-6) enriched diets. This indicates that an aCD3/aCD28 activation induced mechanism of apoptosis is modulated by dietary fatty acid, and could explain diet-induced alterations in T cell function

Transmission line design for a power distribution system at 20 kHz for aircraft

A low inductance, low characteristic impedance transmission line was designed for a 20 kHz power distribution system. Several different conductor configurations were considered: strip lines, interdigitated metal ribbons, and standard insulated wires in multiwire configurations (circular and rectangular cylindrical arrangements). The final design was a rectangular arrangement of multiple wires of the same gauge with alternating polarities from wire to wire. This offered the lowest inductance per unit length (on the order of several nanohenries/meter) and the lowest characteristic impedance (on the order of one Ohm). Standard multipin connectors with gold-plated elements were recommended with this transmission line, the junction boxes to be internally connected with flat metal ribbons for low inductance, and the line to be constructed in sections of suitable length. Computer programs for the calculation of inductance of multiwire lines and of capacitances of strip lines were developed

The Rub: Anti-Immersive Techniques in Almereyda's Hamlet

Second Place, Writing Center Awar