Analysis and Impact of Selected Compositions That Endured Criticism

Throughout the history of Western art music there have been composers who were remarkably successful at creating works that stayed within the guidelines of what was viewed as acceptable . These composers often were greeted with praise from critics and the general public for these works because they were understood and did not stray outside the boundaries of the expected. While these composers were vital to the development of music, they will not be discussed in this paper. Instead the composers who will be discussed are those who stepped outside the lines of what was viewed as customary. Works ranging from those by Claudio Monteverdi to Igor Stravinsky will be analyzed to determine the theoretical aspects such as harsh dissonances and formal discrepancies that listeners found radical and that were criticized by entities from a variety of directions

An Analysis of Human Disturbance to Rocky Intertidal Communities of San Luis Obispo County

ABSTRACT An Analysis Of Human Disturbance To Rocky Intertidal Communities Of San Luis Obispo County Grant Tyler Waltz The number of coastal areas open to public access in California and San Luis Obispo County is increasing due to the acquisition by California State Parks of land previously owned by private entities. For example, California State Parks acquired property from the Hearst Corporation in 2005, which included 18 miles of coastline. California State Parks is responsible for providing public access in these newly acquired areas and also for maintaining the health of the natural systems found on these properties. Part of the California State Parks’ strategic vision maintains that they seek to consider the impacts of every decision they make on the next seven generations of Californians. To balance the competing demand of providing access with long-term sustainability, State Parks managers require sound scientific data to evaluate the impacts of human access to the ecosystems they manage. One ecosystem susceptible to human access in these new State Park areas and in other areas throughout the state is the rocky intertidal (e.g. Beauchamp and Gowing 1982, Ghazanshahi et al. 1983, Hockey and Bosman 1986, Povey and Keough 1991, Addessi 1994, Fletcher and Frid 1996, Brown and Taylor 1999, Murray et al. 1999, Van De Werfhorst and Pearse 2007). This thesis represents a collaborative effort between State Parks Managers scientists at California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo, and scientists at Tenera Environmental Inc. to provide sound scientific data on the impacts of visitors to rocky intertidal biological communities in San Luis Obispo County. A three-pronged approach was used to assess the effect of visitors to rocky intertidal communities: 1) an observational study to quantify visitor densities in publicly accessible rocky intertidal communities, 2) an experimental manipulation of visitor density to rocky intertidal communities based on the visitor densities observed in part 1 and used to identify organisms susceptible to foot traffic (access-indicator taxa), and 3) an observational study of publicly accessible rocky intertidal sites exposed to levels of foot traffic shown to cause declines in access-indicator taxa from part 2. I was involved with all three portions of the study and my thesis is focused on presenting and discussing parts 1 and 3 in detail. Visitor counts and the observational access-indicator taxa study (parts 1 and 3) were conducted in Montaña de Oro State Park (MDO) in San Luis Obispo County from 2007-2009. There was abundant accessible rocky intertidal coastline in the park. Three popular rocky intertidal sites were chosen within the park to conduct visitor counts. Visitors were quantified from fixed locations on the bluff above each of the three observation sites on sixteen occasions during the course of three years. These counts were used to estimate the annual number of visitors to each site. The area of each intertidal observation site was also calculated and with the annual number of visitors, was used to calculate the annual density of visitors to the rocky intertidal at each site. This represents a novel approach to quantifying visitor numbers to rocky intertidal communities. Additionally, I examined whether there was a relationship between the number of cars entering the park and the density of rocky intertidal visitors or between the number of cars parked at each site and the density of rocky intertidal visitors. The annual density of visitors at one of the observation sites in MDO, Hazard Reef, was shown to be approximately equal to the moderate treatment level from the experimental study (part 2). This moderate level of visitor density was shown to significantly reduce the abundance of five rocky intertidal taxa: rockweed (Silvetia compressa, Hesperophycus californicus, and Fucus gardneri), Endocladia muricata, Mastocarpus papillatus, limpets, and chitons. To assess whether long-term exposure to foot traffic could impact the abundance of access-indicator taxa in MDO, the abundance of these taxa was sampled at Hazard Reef and compared to the abundance of the same taxa at two adjacent sites with much lower annual densities of visitors. A stratified random sampling design was used to assess the abundance of the five access-indicator taxa found in the mid-intertidal zone at these three sites in the spring of 2009. My work demonstrated that visitor densities and patterns of use were variable among the three accessed intertidal sites in MDO. Annual visitor numbers to the rocky intertidal for the three observation sites within MDO were between 3,000-5,000 people. There was no relationship between the number of cars entering the park and the annual density of visitors to the rocky intertidal. The number of parked cars was significantly related to visitor density at one study site suggesting that under specific circumstances, controlling parking lot size may be a viable approach to managing impacts to intertidal areas. Significant differences in limpet density (60 per m2) were detected in a moderately accessed intertidal site relative to adjacent and less visited sites. The abundance of combined algae and limpets were lower at the moderate use site when the lower use sites were compared together against it. Patterns of rocky intertidal habitat use and the estimated annual visitor density suggest that some areas in San Luis Obispo County may be exposed to damaging levels of visitors. The current study identified that the abundance of one out of five experimentally identified access-indicator taxa (Rockweed, Mastocarpus papillatus, Endocladia muricata, Limpets, and Chitons) had been significantly reduced at a popular rocky intertidal site, relative to adjacent and less visited sites

Wind Symphony and Wind Ensemble

This performance features Wind Symphony, directed by Debra Traficante, and Wind Ensemble with guest composer Tyler S. Grant, directed by David T. Kehler.https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/musicprograms/1988/thumbnail.jp

Drifting to oblivion? Rapid genetic differentiation in an endangered lizard following habitat fragmentation and drought

Aim The frequency and severity of habitat alterations and disturbance are predicted to increase in upcoming decades, and understanding how disturbance affects population integrity is paramount for adaptive management. Although rarely is population genetic sampling conducted at multiple time points, preand post-disturbance comparisons may provide one of the clearest methods to measure these impacts. We examined how genetic properties of the federally threatened Coachella Valley fringe-toed lizard (Uma inornata) responded to severe drought and habitat fragmentation across its range. Location Coachella Valley, California, USA. Methods We used 11 microsatellites to examine population genetic structure and diversity in 1996 and 2008, before and after a historic drought. We used Bayesian assignment methods and F-statistics to estimate genetic structure. We compared allelic richness across years to measure loss of genetic diversity and employed approximate Bayesian computing methods and heterozygote excess tests to explore the recent demographic history of populations. Finally, we compared effective population size across years and to abundance estimates to determine whether diversity remained low despite post-drought recovery. Results Genetic structure increased between sampling periods, likely as a result of population declines during the historic drought of the late 1990s–early 2000s, and habitat loss and fragmentation that precluded post-drought genetic rescue. Simulations supported recent demographic declines in 3 of 4 main preserves, and in one preserve, we detected significant loss of allelic richness. Effective population sizes were generally low across the range, with estimates ≤100 in most sites. Main conclusions Fragmentation and drought appear to have acted synergistically to induce genetic change over a short time frame. Progressive deterioration of connectivity, low Ne and measurable loss of genetic diversity suggest that conservation efforts have not maintained the genetic integrity of this species. Genetic sampling over time can help evaluate population trends to guide management

Kapsula: Crisis, Part 3 of 3

Over the past couple of months KAPSULA has sent subscribers two separate releases dealing with CRISIS. We’ve looked at crisis in art criticism, moments of individual or personal crisis, the crisis of (re)presentation and now, for our final crisis-themed iteration, we turn to focus on our chosen domain: the digital and technological. Considering that many of the most widely publicized and discussed crises have been based in this realm, it may seem surprising that we’ve taken this long. Over the last couple of years the digital realm, and surveillance thereof, has dominated news stories: the Snowden/NSA/PRISM trinity and the Assange/Wikileaks duo chief among them. We’re not going to be investigating surveillance, though—after all, we’ve already infiltrated your inbox. Instead, the essays are more formal in their scope: exploring the shifting implications of the cyborg figure, and the ramifications of four D cinema. In early (feminist) discussions the cyborg was presented, by Donna Haraway and other theorists, as a potential figure of resistance and resilience—a marker of difference and defiance. It offered, as Tyler Morgenstern notes, “a conception of the body as negotiable and assembled.” Yet, while wearable technologies increasingly make the merging of human and machine an everyday reality, Morgenstern notes that the form of these prosthetic extensions overwhelming veers towards the invisible and the seamless. This aesthetic sensibility (or, perhaps lack of a sensibility) extends beyond wearable technologies and into broader conceptions of networks “of all sorts (financial, military, activist, terrorist).” They aim for erasure. Morgenstern hones in on this increasing reality, and seeks to understand its ramifications beyond the realm of the formal. What does this erasure entail? How can it be resisted? Similarly circling within the realm of recent expansions in corporate technology, Grant Leuning delves into the topic of four D cinemas, which aim to enhance the movie-going experience through ‘augmented reality’ à la moving viewers’ chairs, spraying them with water, blasting them with air and so on. With Leuning, as with Morgenstern, we are in Laura Mulvey’s company. But the association traced by Mulvey and other film theorists is threatened—we’ve cut the cord and been expelled from the darkened womb-like state of the theatre. Our comfortable association with the protagonist character has been disrupted, denied. Instead, our association has fragmented into each and every element of the highly manufactured environment. Leuning explains (with echoes of Oppenheimer): “I am become the punch, the robot, the seaspray, the fight as such, the substance of the film itself.” As with Morgenstern, Leuning searches for sites of plurality and alterity, even at the centre of “gratuitous capitalist innovation.” Despite their contrasting topics both authors are congruent in an emphasis on making obvious and, to a lesser extent, making physical (perhaps even material). In Leuning, the varied effects of the four D cinema make countless environmental details obvious, thereby altering the terms of the viewer’s gaze and identification. In Morgenstern, this making obvious is found in the work of the artists he champions. They use clunky, outdated technology that makes no attempt at seamless integration, thus embracing incoherence, glitch and the in-between. In this spirit, then, while reading the issue there should be a few things amiss with the document. (No need to look hard, it will be obvious.) Text will be garbled, overlaid on top of itself until it becomes incomprehensible. Be patient; we want your reading to be disrupted, your attention to be redirected and diverted. Easily achieved, clear reading might not always be the best reading. Perhaps, if you haven’t already, you will gain some appetite for the imperfect, yet impassioned

Influential Article Review - Learning from Takeovers: How Businesses Benefit

This paper examines business acquisition. We present insights from a highly influential paper. Here are the highlights from this paper: Acquisition experience is commonly viewed as an important determinant of subsequent acquisition success. Yet, empirical evidence suggests that acquisition experience may not be positively associated with acquisition performance and could even hurt performance. In this article, we highlight specific practices that facilitate and impede learning from acquisitions and draw implications for managers. In particular, we suggest that managers (1) expand time between acquisitions, (2) implement strong governance mechanisms and top management team diversity, (3) use similar-context experience, (4) avoid herding behavior in acquisitions, and (5) minimize blind reliance on financial advisors to effectively transfer prior acquisition experience into acquisition success. For our overseas readers, we then present the insights from this paper in Spanish, French, Portuguese, and German