The early-16th-century manuscript commonly known as the Geese Book (New York, Morgan Library, M. 905) contains the entire Mass liturgy sung by the boys choir of the parish church of St. Lorenz in Nuremberg, Germany prior to the Reformation. This thesis addresses the location and function of the sometimes enigmatic marginalia and the decorated or historiated initials in this large two-volume gradual. The paper begins with an analytical case study of a scene within the margins in which a wild woman, wielding a club, confronts a female dragon who has taken a child. Subsequently the size, subject matter, and physical positioning of the illuminations and decorations within the book and on its pages are examined with respect to the gradual's liturgical contents. It is hoped that through such methods, new conversations may begin as to the roles that marginalia and decoration may play within the multiple organizational schemes within a musical text of this kind.

Background Hemodialysis (HD) patients elicit an oxidant-antioxidant imbalance in addition to a selenium deficiency, possibly contributing to cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality. Objective To evaluate the effect of selenium supplementation on CVD outcomes and antioxidant status in HD patients. Design A randomized controlled intervention trial conducted from October 2012 to January 2013. Participants/setting The study included 27 maintenance HD patients (61.1+17.5y, 14M, 13F) receiving HD in the greater Phoenix, AZ area. Intervention Patients received one of three treatments daily: 2 Brazil nuts, (5g, 181µg/day of selenium as selenomethionine [predicted]), 1 tablet of selenium (200µg/day of selenium as selenomethionine), or control (3 gummy bears). Main outcome measures Antioxidant status outcome measures included total antioxidant capacity, vitamin C, and RBC and plasma glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px). CVD outcomes measures included brain natriuretic peptide; plasma cholesterol, high density lipoprotein, low density lipoprotein, triglycerides; blood pressure, and thoracic cavity fluid accumulation. Statistical analyses performed Repeated measures ANOVA analyzed changes over time and between groups at months 0 and 2 and months 0 and 3. Results Independent analysis showed the Brazil nuts provided 11µg of selenium/day and the pill provided 266µg of selenium/day. Consequently, the Brazil nut group was combined with the placebo group. 21 patients completed 2 months of the study and 17 patients completed the study in its entirety. Data was analyzed for months 0, 1 and 2. No significant differences were noted for antioxidant status outcome measures with the exception of plasma GSH-Px. Patients receiving the selenium pill had a significant increase in plasma GSH-Px compared to the placebo group (6.0+11 and -4.0+7.6, respectively, p=0.023 for change between month 0 and month 2). No significant differences were seen in total antioxidant capacity or for CVD outcome measures over time or between groups. Conclusions These data indicate that selenium supplementation increased plasma GSH-Px concentration in HD patients; however, oxidative stress was not altered by selenium supplementation. The low vitamin C status of HD patients warrants further research, specifically in conjunction with selenium supplementation.

The works of premier Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho demonstrate a fascination with the exploration and expansion of timbral possibilities. This project explores Laconisme de l'aile and NoaNoa, the only two of her works written for solo C-flute. Saariaho has developed a unique compositional style for the flute, characterized by extremes of color which are expressed through extended techniques such as the integration of the voice, with and without text, into the music, the exploration of "noise," the transformation between different timbres, and the use of electronic effects. Laconisme de l'aile (1982) is a dramatic and passionate work filled with lyrical gestures and intriguing timbres with optional electronic effects, and is an excellent introduction to the composer's writing for the flute. NoaNoa (1992) is characteristic of her mature compositional style. Like many of her later works, the electronic aspect of the work is integral to the piece. Saariaho's exploration of the timbral spectrum of the flute has resulted in a complex and unusual style of notation, making these works somewhat inaccessible for performers. Additionally, the technological requirements for NoaNoa make the work both intimidating and impossible to perform without either extensive technical knowledge or consultation with someone who has the necessary technical expertise. Through a detailed performance guide and reference recordings of both works, this project aims to make these two works accessible. All technical specifications are explained and the performance instructions address notation as well execution of all designated effects. Additionally, instructions for the electronic portion of NoaNoa allow flutists to perform the work with minimal assistance.

The complexity of the systems that software engineers build has continuously grown since the inception of the field. What has not changed is the engineers' mental capacity to operate on about seven distinct pieces of information at a time. The widespread use of UML has led to more abstract software design activities, however the same cannot be said for reverse engineering activities. The introduction of abstraction to reverse engineering will allow the engineer to move farther away from the details of the system, increasing his ability to see the role that domain level concepts play in the system. In this thesis, we present a technique that facilitates filtering of classes from existing systems at the source level based on their relationship to concepts in the domain via a classification method using machine learning. We showed that concepts can be identified using a machine learning classifier based on source level metrics. We developed an Eclipse plugin to assist with the process of manually classifying Java source code, and collecting metrics and classifications into a standard file format. We developed an Eclipse plugin to act as a concept identifier that visually indicates a class as a domain concept or not. We minimized the size of training sets to ensure a useful approach in practice. This allowed us to determine that a training set of 7:5 to 10% is nearly as effective as a training set representing 50% of the system. We showed that random selection is the most consistent and effective means of selecting a training set. We found that KNN is the most consistent performer among the learning algorithms tested. We determined the optimal feature set for this classification problem. We discussed two possible structures besides a one to one mapping of domain knowledge to implementation. We showed that classes representing more than one concept are simply concepts at differing levels of abstraction. We also discussed composite concepts representing a domain concept implemented by more than one class. We showed that these composite concepts are difficult to detect because the problem is NP-complete.

Humans have an inherent capability of performing highly dexterous and skillful tasks with their arms, involving maintaining posture, movement and interacting with the environment. The latter requires for them to control the dynamic characteristics of the upper limb musculoskeletal system. Inertia, damping and stiffness, a measure of mechanical impedance, gives a strong representation of these characteristics. Many previous studies have shown that the arm posture is a dominant factor for determining the end point impedance in a horizontal plane (transverse plane). The objective of this thesis is to characterize end point impedance of the human arm in the three dimensional (3D) space. Moreover, it investigates and models the control of the arm impedance due to increasing levels of muscle co-contraction. The characterization is done through experimental trials where human subjects maintained arm posture, while perturbed by a robot arm. Moreover, the subjects were asked to control the level of their arm muscles' co-contraction, using visual feedback of their muscles' activation, in order to investigate the effect of the muscle co-contraction on the arm impedance. The results of this study showed a very interesting, anisotropic increase of the arm stiffness due to muscle co-contraction. This can lead to very useful conclusions about the arm biomechanics as well as many implications for human motor control and more specifically the control of arm impedance through muscle co-contraction. The study finds implications for the EMG-based control of robots that physically interact with humans.

The partially-depleted (PD) silicon Metal Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor (MESFET) is becoming more and more attractive for analog and RF applications due to its high breakdown voltage. Compared to conventional CMOS high voltage transistors, the silicon MESFET can be fabricated in commercial standard Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) CMOS foundries without any change to the process. The transition frequency of the device is demonstrated to be 45GHz, which makes the MESFET suitable for applications in high power RF power amplifier designs. Also, high breakdown voltage and low turn-on resistance make it the ideal choice for switches in the switching regulator designs. One of the anticipated applications of the MESFET is for the pass device for a low dropout linear regulator. Conventional NMOS and PMOS linear regulators suffer from high dropout voltage, low bandwidth and poor stability issues. In contrast, the N-MESFET pass transistor can provide an ultra-low dropout voltage and high bandwidth without the need for an external compensation capacitor to ensure stability. In this thesis, the design theory and problems of the conventional linear regulators are discussed. N-MESFET low dropout regulators are evaluated and characterized. The error amplifier used a folded cascode architecture with gain boosting. The source follower topology is utilized as the buffer to sink the gate leakage current from the MESFET. A shunt-feedback transistor is added to reduce the output impedance and provide the current adaptively. Measurement results show that the dropout voltage is less than 150 mV for a 1A load current at 1.8V output. Radiation measurements were done for discrete MESFET and fully integrated LDO regulators, which demonstrate their radiation tolerance ability for aerospace applications.

In contemporary Indian literature, the question over which sets of Indian identities are granted access to power is highly contested. Critics such as Kathleen Waller and Sara Schotland align power with the identity of the autonomous individual, whose rights and freedoms are supposedly protected by the state, while others like David Ludden and Sandria Freitag place power with those who become a part of group identities, either on the national or communal level. The work of contemporary Indian author Aravind Adiga attempts to address this question. While Adiga's first novel The White Tiger applies the themes and ideology of the worth of the individual from African American novelists Ralph Ellison, Richard Wright, and James Baldwin, Adiga's latest novel, Last Man in Tower, shifts towards a study of the consequences of colonialism, national identity, and the place of the individual within India in order to reveal a changing landscape of power and identity. Through a discussion of Adiga's collective writings, postcolonial theory, American literature, South Asian crime novels, contemporary Indian popular fiction, and some of the challenges facing Mumbai, I track Adiga's shifts and moments of growth between his two novels and evaluate Adiga's ultimate message about who holds power in Indian society: the individual or the community.

Previous research (e.g., Bardovi-Harlig & Reynolds, 1995; Cadierno, 2000; Camps, 2002; Robison, 1990, 1995; Salaberry, 1999, 2003, 2011) has tested the validity of the Lexical Aspect Hypothesis (LAH), developed by Andersen and Shirai (1994), which proposes that in beginning stages of the L2 acquisition process, the inherent lexical (meaning-based or semantic) aspect of a verb determines the selection of tense and aspect verbal morphology (preterit vs. imperfect) rather than the grammatical aspect, which is related to the viewpoint of the speaker (e.g., whether s/he wants to highlight the beginning, middle or end of an action or event). These studies analyzed written and oral data from personal and story retell learner narratives in classroom contexts. While many studies have found support for the association of lexical aspect with L2 verbal morphology, the claim of the LAH that such association is highest during beginning stages of learning has been questioned. For instance, Salaberry (1999, 2003) found evidence for the preterit acting as a past tense default marker across all lexical aspectual classes, while the association of lexical aspect with verbal morphology increased with L2 proficiency; both of these findings contradict the LAH. Studies have also investigated the influence of task type on tense and aspect morphology. Salaberry's (1999, 2003) beginning L2 learners utilized the preterit as a past tense default marker in a story retell (SR) task whereas the imperfect was used as a default marker in a personal narrative (PN) (2003). To continue testing the validity of LAH, the present study analyzed SR and PN data from twenty two university-level intermediate and advanced L2 Spanish learners. This study also explored the relationship between task type (SR vs. PN) and verb morphology. Results show that both intermediate and advanced learners appear to be using the preterit as a past tense default marker across all lexical aspectual classes, corroborating Salaberry's (1999, 2003) findings with beginning learners, and contradicting the LAH. Results of the present study also reveal that narrative task type (SR vs. PN) appears to play a role in the distribution of tense and aspect morphology among intermediate and advanced classroom L2 Spanish learners.

The maternal separation (MS) paradigm is an animal model of early life stress. Animals subjected to MS during the first two weeks of life display altered behavioral and neuroendocrinological stress responses as adults. MS also produces altered responsiveness to and self-administration (SA) of various drugs of abuse including cocaine, ethanol, opioids, and amphetamine. Methamphetamine (METH) causes great harm to both the individual user and to society; yet, no studies have examined the effects of MS on METH SA. This study was performed to examine the effects of MS on the acquisition of METH SA, extinction, and reinstatement of METH-seeking behavior in adulthood. Given the known influence of early life stress and drug exposure on epigenetic processes, group differences in levels of the epigenetic marker methyl CpG binding protein 2 (MeCP2) in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) core were also investigated. Long-Evans pups and dams were separated on postnatal days (PND) 2-14 for either 180 (MS180) or 15 min (MS15). Male offspring were allowed to acquire METH SA (0.05 mg/kg/infusion) in 15 2-hr daily sessions starting at PND67, followed by extinction training and cue-induced reinstatement of METH-seeking behavior. Rats were then assessed for MeCP2 levels in the NAc core by immunohistochemistry. The MS180 group self-administered significantly more METH and acquired SA earlier than the MS15 group. No group differences in extinction or cue-induced reinstatement were observed. MS15 rats had significantly elevated MeCP2-immunoreactive cells in the NAc core as compared to MS180 rats. Together, these data suggest that MS has lasting influences on METH SA as well as epigenetic processes in the brain reward circuitry.

Since the Enlightenment, humanist philosophy has understood materiality as an inert and determinate world categorically separate from the sphere of consciousness and language. However, after evolving significantly during the 20th century, the natural sciences now recognize the complexity, indeterminacy and agency of matter. A parallel transformation can be observed in contemporary Spanish and Latin American literature and is exemplified in the works of Cristina Peri Rossi and Cecilia Vicuña. Drawing on knowledge which emerges from the natural sciences, the humanities and personal experience, these poets explore multiple dimensions of materiality from the microscopic world of subatomic particles and DNA molecules to the macroscopic world of the body and the structure of the universe. The theoretical orientation of this study emerges from posthumanism, which critiques the epistemological foundations of humanist thought and reconfigures reductionist concepts of matter, discourse, the subject, and agency which are grounded in dualistic ontology. Material feminist theorists explore materiality through interdisciplinary approaches which establish a dialogue between posthumanism, feminist theory and the natural sciences. The material feminist Karen Barad proposes an agential realist ontology which constitutes the principal theoretical framework of this thesis. According to Barad, phenomena are not exclusively social or material but rather material-discursive practices, and the concept of agency is reconfigured as the product of the dynamics of intra-action rather than an as an attribute restricted to the human sphere. Furthermore, this thesis utilizes diverse materials from the areas of literary criticism and scientific research in order to achieve an authentically interdisciplinary interpretation of materiality in the poetry. Peri Rossi and Vicuña express a profound questioning of the fundamental assumptions of humanism and offer perspectives which take into account matter's agency and dynamism. Their poetry presents materiality as a constant process of creation and as an active participant in the unfolding of reality, thereby opening up new horizons of investigation. By interpreting the works of Peri Rossi and Vicuña through the lens of posthumanist theory, this study contributes to a growing body of interdisciplinary approaches to contemporary Spanish and Latin American literature.