Figer: A Quadraphonic Electroacoustic Composition

Figer (to congeal, to solidify) is a quadraphonic electroacoustic composition. It was completed in the fall of 2003. Several software programs were used in creating and assembling the piece (C-Sound, Grain Mill, AL/Erwin (grain generator), Sound Forge and Acid Music). The sounds used in the piece are of two general types: synthesized and sampled, both of which were subjected to various processing techniques. The most important of these techniques, and one that formally defines large portions of the piece, is granular synthesis. Form The notion of time perception is of great importance in this piece. Figer addresses this question in several ways. In one sense, the form of Figer is simple. There are three layers of activity (see diagram). Layer 1 is continuous and non-sectional and supplies a backdrop (not necessarily a background) for the other two. The second and third layers overlap and interrupt one another. Each consists of two blocks of sound. The layers, and blocks within, relate to each other in various ways. Layer 1 is formally continuous. Layer 2 consists of well-defined columns of sound that evolve from soft and mild to loud and abrasive. The layer is, in reality, a whole that is simply cut into two parts (block 1 and block 2). In contrast, the blocks of layer 3 do not constitute a whole. Each is a complete unit and has its own self-contained evolutionary path. Those paths, however, do cross the paths of other units (layers, blocks), influencing them and absorbing some of their essence. At the heart of Figer lies a constant process of presenting materials or ideas and immediately, or, at times, simultaneously, commenting, reflecting on, or reinterpreting that material. All of the layers of this piece deal, both at local and global levels, with the problem of time and its perception relative to the materials, sonic or otherwise, that occupy it and the manner in which they unfold and relate to each other.

Civil Rights on the Cell Block: Race, Reform, and Violence in Texas Prisons and the Nation, 1945-1990

This study, "Civil Rights on the Cell Block: Race, Reform, and Violence in Texas Prisons and the Nation, 1945-1990," offers a new perspective on the historical origins of the modern prison industrial complex, sexual violence in working-class culture, and the ways in which race shaped the prison experience. This study joins new scholarship that reperiodizes the Civil Rights era while also considering how violence and radicalism shaped the civil rights struggle. It places the criminal justice system at the heart of both an older racial order and within a prison-made civil rights movement that confronted the prison's power to deny citizenship and enforce racial hierarchies. By charting the trajectory of the civil rights movement in Texas prisons, my dissertation demonstrates how the internal struggle over rehabilitation and punishment shaped civil rights, racial formation, and the political contest between liberalism and conservatism. This dissertation offers a close case study of Texas, where the state prison system emerged as a national model for penal management. The dissertation begins with a hopeful story of reform marked by an apparently successful effort by the State of Texas to replace its notorious 1940s plantation/prison farm system with an efficient, business-oriented agricultural enterprise system. When this new system was fully operational in the 1960s, Texas garnered plaudits as a pioneering, modern, efficient, and business oriented Sun Belt state. But this reputation of competence and efficiency obfuscated the reality of a brutal system of internal prison management in which inmates acted as guards, employing coercive means to maintain control over the prisoner population. The inmates whom the prison system placed in charge also ran an internal prison economy in which money, food, human beings, reputations, favors, and sex all became commodities to be bought and sold. I analyze both how the Texas prison system managed to maintain its high external reputation for so long in the face of the internal reality and how that reputation collapsed when inmates, inspired by the Civil Rights Movement, revolted. My dissertation shows that this inmate Civil Rights rebellion was a success in forcing an end to the existing system but a failure in its attempts to make conditions in Texas prisons more humane. The new Texas prison regime, I conclude, utilized paramilitary practices, privatized prisons, and gang-related warfare to establish a new system that focused much more on law and order in the prisons than on the legal and human rights of prisoners. Placing the inmates and their struggle at the heart of the national debate over rights and "law and order" politics reveals an inter-racial social justice movement that asked the courts to reconsider how the state punished those who committed a crime while also reminding the public of the inmates' humanity and their constitutional rights.

Agronomic and economic viability of Miscanthus x giganteus as a novel biofuel in the Maryland climate

Gemstone Team Biofuels

DEGENERATE MUSIC?! MUSICAL CENSORSHIP IN THE THIRD REICH

In 1938, in Düsseldorf, the Nazis put on an exhibit entitled "Entartete Musik” (degenerate music), which included composers on the basis of their “racial origins” (i.e. Jews), or because of the “modernist style” of their music. Performance, publication, broadcast, or sale of music by composers deemed “degenerate” was forbidden by law throughout the Third Reich. Among these composers were some of the most prominent composers of the first half of the twentieth-century. They included Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Webern, Berg, Mahler, Ernst Krenek, George Gershwin, Kurt Weill, Erwin Schulhoff, and others. The music of nineteenth-century composers of Jewish origin, such as Mendelssohn and Meyerbeer, was also officially proscribed. In each of the three recitals for this project, significant works were performed by composers who were included in this exhibition, namely, Mendelssohn, Webern, Berg, Weill, and Hans Gal. In addition, as an example of self-censorship, a work of Karl Amadeus Hartmann was included. Hartmann chose “internal exile” by refusing to allow performance of his works in Germany during the Nazi regime. One notable exception to the above categories was a work by Beethoven that was presented as a bellwether of the relationship between music and politics. The range of styles and genres in these three recitals indicates the degree to which Nazi musical censorship cut a wide swath across Europe’s musical life with devastating consequences for its music and culture.

REVOLUTIONARY VIOLIN LITERATURE IN THE TRANSFORMATIVE PERIOD OF THE 20TH CENTURY, 1900-1970

In satisfaction of requirements for a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Maryland, College Park, three recitals were given consisting of works of the early 21st Century European composers. The works performed on these recitals showcase a variety of compositional styles that explore different qualities of the violin. The purpose of this project was to demonstrate how the war and conflict in Europe and attendant radical cultural and social developments affected these composers. The first recital program includes: Sonata for Violin and Cello and Piece en Forme de Habanera by Maurice Ravel; Op. 30 Mythesfor Violin and Piano by Karol Szymanowski; Concertina for Violin and Piano and Sonata No.2 for Violin Solo by Grazyna Bacewicz. The second recital program consists of: Sonata for Violin and Piano by Leos Janacek; Quartet for the End of Time: movement VIII "Louange a l'Immortalite de Jesus" by Oliver Messiaen; Sonata for Solo Violin by Erwin Schulhoff; and Passacaglia & Fuga for String Trio by Hans Krasa. The third recital highlights the works of Russian composers: Sonata for Violin and Piano Op.134 by Dmitri Shostakovich; and Violin Sonata No.2 in D major Op. 94 by Sergei Prokofiev. These composers represent individual, distinct and fascinating adaptation to events beyond their control as well as their power of transformation. The first recital was performed in collaboration with Hsiang-Ling Hsiao on piano and Gozde Yasar on cello. The second recital was given with Hsiang-Ling Hsiao on piano, Gozde Yasar on cello, and Asli Gultekin Ozek on viola. The third recital was performed with David Ballena on piano. The recitals were recorded on compact discs and are archived within the Digital Repository at the University of Maryland (DRUM).

Increasing Stability of Lithium-Ion Batteries with Ordered Graphene Silicon Negative Electrodes

Currently, lackluster battery capability is restricting the widespread integration of Smart Grids, limiting the long-term feasibility of alternative, green energy conversion technologies. Silicon nanoparticles have great conductivity for applications in rechargeable batteries, but have degradation issues due to changes in volume during lithiation/delithiation cycles. To combat this, we use electrochemical deposition to uniformly space silicon particles on graphene sheets to create a more stable structure. We found the process of electrochemical deposition degraded the graphene binding in the electrode material, severely reducing charge capacity. But, the usage of mechanically mixing silicon particles with grapheme yielded batteries better than those that are commercially available.

SAXOPHONE SONATAS 1980-2010

The purpose of this dissertation project identifies contemporary solo saxophone literature, specifically sonatas between the years 1980 and 2010. The overwhelming majority of repertoire written during these thirty years consisted primarily of either multi-movement or through-composed character pieces. By limiting the selected repertoire to sonatas one can still investigate the breadth of the literature that has helped validate the saxophone in the realm of classical music in a format that has seemingly fallen out of favor with composers. The saxophone had developed a unique voice by the middle of the twentieth century in both Europe and in the United States. European composers such as Claude Debussy, Florent Schmidt, Jacques Ibert, Darius Milhaud, Alexander Glazounov, Erwin Schulhoff and Bernard Heiden recognized the potential and beauty of the instrument, while the saxophone had found quite a different niche in vaudeville, jazz, and military bands in the United States. If not for the dynamic performances by concert saxophonist such as Marcel Mule, Sigurd Rascher, Jean-Marie Londeix, Daniel Deffayet, Cecil Lesson, Larry Teal, Eugene Rousseau, Fredrick Hemke and Donald Sinta, the timbral possibilities and technical virtuosity of the saxophone would not have been discovered. The awe inspiring performances by these soloists led to the commissioning of a multitude of works by composers looking to expand the sonic possibilities of this relatively new instrument. Through the 1970's American composers such as Leslie Bassett, Paul Creston, Henry Brant, Robert Muczynski, and Karel Husa were writing significant works for the saxophone, while European composers such as IngolfDahl, Edison Denisov, Alfred Desenclos, Henri Tomasi and Marius Constant were each making their own contributions, all leading to a significant quantity of repertoire that met the quality demands set by the performers. The compositions chosen for this dissertation project were selected after numerous performance, pragmatic, programming and pedagogical considerations were taken into account. The three recitals occurred on: March 7, 2010, December 10, 2010 and May 1, 2011 in either the Gildenhorn Recital Hall or Lecture Hall 2100.