Commentary on the Portfolio of Compositions submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Composition

John Goodenough Doctor of Philosophy by Composition Durham University Department of Music 2014 Portfolio Contents 1. Ubi Caritas 2009 - for Violin & Piano 4.36 2. String Quartet 2010 - for String Quartet 5.15 3. Echoes of Poems & Prose 2010 - for small ensemble 32.45 4. Fountains 2011 - for String Quartet 4.45 5. Stato di Cambiamento 2012 - for large ensemble 5.10 6. Triptych 2012 - for small ensemble 5.20 7. Divergenza 2013 - for large orchestra 33.12 Total time 91.03 Other musical examples (not part of the portfolio) Sette archi spezzati 2013 - for small ensemble 5.28 This portfolio has three principal themes. The first, explored with the discussion of Ubi Caritas and the (2010) String Quartet, concerns the interpretation of harmony; that is harmony, plainly being the vertical component in music but having an inbuilt propensity for horizontal movement, including line and counterpoint. In echoes of Poems & Prose, there is a disregard for any horizontal reasoning, harmony is constrained to the point of isolation and focus fundamentally shifts to the chord as 'object'. I consider this 'objective' sense in detail, in subsequent music in this portfolio. A second theme hinges on a discussion of 'musical material' (the term devised by Theodor Adorno); this considered alongside Samuel Beckett's description of a relationship, between 'mess and confusion' (Beckett's terms for material) and the 'form' that contains it. In Echoes of Poems & Prose, I consider material explicitly, in particular the singular sound. With Fountains and Stato di Cambiamento control of the sounds and their overall architecture become increasingly obscure, with issues around form, substantively re-defining the compositional process. A third theme is the consideration of aspects of structure, which become of particular significance in the final pieces Triptych and Divergenza (the term 'structure' being as defined by John Cage). In Triptych, exploration is made of a confining form into which structural material grows; material that yields intensely colourful musical moments. In the final piece Divergenza, the Fibonacci sequence applies a vice-like grip on the material, but as I remove the conceptual dependence on this sequence, the music's intrinsic characteristics of rhythm and character grow to become of central importance

Response of cottonseed to direct-current glow discharge

This study was conducted to determine the effects of direct-current glow-discharge treatment, current intensity, exposure time, and energy generated during treatment on the early and total germination of Empire ¥R cottonseed. Germination counts were made at 2, 3j hf and 12 days. Three Minute glow-discharge treatments at 30^150 milliamperes and 6-minute treatments at 30~95 milliamperes significantly improved early germination. Current intensities of 100-1^0 milliamperes for 6 minutes decreased both early and total germination. Multiple regression was calculated using p germination as the dependent variable and energy, energy2, seed temperature, seed temperature2, moisture loss during treatment, and moisture loss2 as the independent variables. In this regression the coefficient of determination for energy and energy2 accounted for 91 percent of the variability in early germination and 92 percent of the variability in total germination

Optimum site selection for blacklight insect traps as predicted by relating tobacco hornworm collections to factors describing trap surroundings

Seventy parameters describing surroundings of 51 blacklight insect trap locations on St. Croix, U. S. Virgin Islands were related to insect categories of male, mated female, virgin female, total tobacco hornworm (Manduca sexta), and the white belly (M. sexta harterti). Data were obtained from an on-site survey pertaining to slope of land at trap site, deviation of slopes from prevailing wind, roadways, incident light, slope to obstruction, and distance from traps to obstructions. Obtained from descriptive data of locations were trap density, distance from shorelines, elevation above sea level, slope of land in vicinity of traps, deviation of slope in vicinity of traps from prevailing wind, land-use category, vegetation type, geology type, groundwater potential yield, groundwater chloride, soil limitations to agriculture or development, soil association, and soil capability class. Significance of relationships between insect collections and criteria was determined by analysis of variance for 14 discrete factors, and by correlation and multiple regression analyses for the continuous factors. Criteria significantly related to collections five or more times were type of obstruction, slope to obstruction, distance to obstruction, distance to shoreline, soil limitations to agriculture and development, slope of trap site, slope of trap vicinity, and deviation of slope in vicinity of traps from prevailing wind. Significant one to four times were vegetation type, geology type, soil association, distance to roadway, related traffic flow on roadway, weighted obstruction, percent obstruction, land-use category scaled according to estimated ability to support an insect population, slope deviation at site from prevailing wind, groundwater potential yield, soil capability class, relative ultraviolet radiation of incident light, relative intensity of incident light, elevation of trap site, and trap density

Oxygen Permeation Through Cobalt-Containing Perovskites: Surface Oxygen Exchange vs. Lattice Oxygen Diffusion

The oxygen permeation fluxes from p′O2 to pnO2 (p′O2\u3epnO2) across cobalt-containing perovskite ceramic membranes La1−xSrxCoO3−δ and SrCo0.8Fe0.2O3−δ were measured by gas chromatography as functions of oxygen chemical potential gradient, temperature, thickness, and catalytic activity on the surface. Power indexes 0.5\u3en\u3e0 for uncatalyzed La1−xSrxCoO3−δ and 1\u3en\u3e0.5 for SrCo0.8Fe0.2O3−δ were obtained when JO2 vs. p′nO2−p\u27′nO2 was plotted as a straight line. The results clearly indicate an overall permeation process controlled by both surface oxygen exchange and bulk oxygen diffusion for uncatalyzed La1−xSrxCoO3−δ and SrCo0.8Fe0.2O3−δ. Application of a thin layer of catalytically active SrCo0.8Fe0.2O3−δ on the feeding-gas surface of La0.5Sr0.5CoO3−δ under the condition of a fixed p′O2=0.21 atm and a varied p′\u27O2 not only increases remarkably the overall oxygen flux, but also changes a mixed control to a bulk diffusion control. This enables evaluation of the bulk transport properties of the mixed conductors. A coat of SrCo0.8Fe0.2O3−δ on the permeate side has little catalytic effect, especially at low p′\u27O2 range, due to the formation of a poorly conducting brownmillerite phase. The results explicitly show a higher activation energy for the surface exchange kinetics than for the ambipolar transport in the mixed conductors. The mechanism of the surface exchange is discussed, and an analytic expression that agrees well with the experimental results is obtained

Solid oxide fuel cell and doped perovskite lanthanum gallate electrolyte therefor

A perovskite lanthanum gallate electrolyte doped with strontium and magnesium and a solid oxide fuel cell incorporating a doped lanthanum gallate electrolyte with a cathode on one side, an anode on the other side and a buffer layer comprising a mixed electronic and oxide-ion conductor between the anodes and/or the cathode and the electrolyte to block unwanted chemical reactions while permitting electronic and oxide-ion transport.Board of Regents, University of Texas Syste

Anisotropic magnetoresistance in antiferromagnetic Sr2IrO4

We report point-contact measurements of anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) in a single crystal of antiferromagnetic (AFM) Mott insulator Sr2IrO4. The point-contact technique is used here as a local probe of magnetotransport properties on the nanoscale. The measurements at liquid nitrogen temperature revealed negative magnetoresistances (MRs) (up to 28%) for modest magnetic fields (250 mT) applied within the IrO2 a-b plane and electric currents flowing perpendicular to the plane. The angular dependence of MR shows a crossover from four-fold to two-fold symmetry in response to an increasing magnetic field with angular variations in resistance from 1-14%. We tentatively attribute the four-fold symmetry to the crystalline component of AMR and the field-induced transition to the effects of applied field on the canting of AFM-coupled moments in Sr2IrO4. The observed AMR is very large compared to the crystalline AMRs in 3d transition metal alloys/oxides (0.1-0.5%) and can be associated with the large spin-orbit interactions in this 5d oxide while the transition provides evidence of correlations between electronic transport, magnetic order and orbital states. The finding of this work opens an entirely new avenue to not only gain a new insight into physics associated with spin-orbit coupling but also better harness the power of spintronics in a more technically favorable fashion.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figure

The State of State Science Standards 2012

American science performance is lagging as the economy becomes increasingly high tech, but our current science standards are doing little to solve the problem. Reviewers evaluated science standards for every state for this report and their findings were deeply troubling: The majority of states earned Ds or Fs for their standards in this crucial subject, with only six jurisdictions receiving As. Explore all the state report cards and see how your state performed

Oxygen Permeation Through Composite Oxide-Ion and Electronic Conductors

Oxygen permeation through composites consisting of four well-known oxide-ion conductors and a noble metal, Pd or Ag, is reported. The oxides were Zr0.9Y0.1O1.95 (YSZ), (Bi1.75Y0.25O3)0.95(CeO2)0.05 (BYC5), Ce0.8Sm0.2O1.9 (SSC), and La0.8Sr0.2Ga0.83Mg0.17O2.815 (LSGM). The results show that (BYC5 + Ag) yields the highest oxygen permeation flux, but the composite deteriorates with time. The composites (SSC + Pd), (LSGM + Pd), and (YSZ + Pd) give stable, but relatively lower oxygen permeation flux in the order of (SSC + Pd) \u3e (LSGM + Pd) \u3e (YSZ + Pd). The composite microstructures indicate that (BYC5 + Ag) has the best percolating network for both oxide-ion and electronic pathways while (SSC + Pd) has the longest triple-phase boundary lengths with the smallest grains, which is beneficial to the surface oxygen exchange. It is shown that the microstructure of the composites, which strongly influences the competition between surface reaction and bulk diffusion, is technically as important as the oxide-ion conductivity. The activation energy appears to be related more to the morphology of the metallic phase than to that of the oxide phase. These results suggest that (SSC + Pd) is a promising composite mixed conductor for applications requiring oxygen separation