This dissertation examines the social contexts for music livestreams, in order to lay the groundwork for future studies of both livestreaming as a whole and individual case studies. No frameworks currently exist for analyzing music livestreams. Although the technologies of livestreaming have been evolving over the past few decades, there have been no organized or successful attempts to standardize the ways we understand and study this fast-growing medium for music performance. Chapter 1 provides basic definitions of livestreaming, and then emphasizes the framework of liveness, arguing that although livestreaming technologies developed relatively recently, the practice of transmitting and receiving live music has been developing since the late-nineteenth century. I examine livestreaming as a continuation of broadcast media wrapped up with conceptions of liveness that have been constantly transforming over the long twentieth century. Chapter 2 connects livestreaming with the social media platforms that have emerged in the past two decades. I also position livestreaming within discussions and anxieties surrounding attention and distraction in the context of digital media. In Chapter 3 the discussion of attention extends into the realm of joint attention, and the ways livestreaming engages our attentive capacities in groups to facilitate specific modalities of participation—observational, reactive, and generative. Finally, the conclusion pulls these frameworks together to demonstrate their use in an analysis of music livestreaming during the COVID-19 pandemic, including the patterns of behavior and audience engagement, conceptions of liveness during the pandemic, and the effects of these factors on the social aspects of live music.

Psilocybin has come into the spotlight in recent years as a potential therapeutic for long-lasting anxiety and depression relief. Unfortunately, due to its current classification as a schedule I substance research on it has been limited. In order to fill in the gaps in our knowledge and better understand how psilocybin functions, a series of in vivo tests were performed resulting in the first data to show a dose-dependent response in Long-Evans rats. Furthermore, a precursor to psilocybin, norbaeocystin, was also tested separately and in combination. While alone norbaeocystin produced no dose-dependent response, the combination of psilocybin and norbaeocystin produced significantly higher rates of the head twitching behavior (HTRs) than psilocybin alone. To further investigate a possible mechanism of long-lasting anxiety and depression relief, fecal samples were also collected weekly from experimental animals and sequenced to analyze gut microbe composition. The results of which were significant changes across two major groups of bacteria (Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes) at the phylum level. These findings support the idea that psilocybin acts in a dose-dependent manner, its activity can be modulated by its precursors, and produces lasting effects on gut microbe populations

Online media is continuing to transform the media consumption habits of today's society. It encompasses various forms of content, modes of consumption and interpersonal interactions. Live-streaming is one of the less observed but growing forms of new media content. It combines aspects of online video entertainment and user content creation such as YouTube, and social media such as Instagram, in a live setting. The goal of this thesis is to explore this phenomenon by looking at the video game streaming platform Twitch, and, more specifically, the interactions taking place during the live streams. The central research question of the thesis is therefore: How are the creators of video game live streams initiating and facilitating interactions with and among their audience members? A qualitative analysis is being conducted to find out which types of interactions are taking place during these live streams. Additionally, relevant theoretical concepts, including parasocial interaction, self-disclosure, group identity and co-experience, are applied to evaluate the interactions based on their potential to influence the construction individual and social identities. The interactions of five streamers of different popularity levels and from three different types of video games are analyzed based on these assumptions and concepts. The results show that all streams share five major categories for interactions, namely gameplay commentary, topic-based interactions, streamer- and viewer focused interactions, and interactions based on followers and (re-)subscriptions. The manifestations of the theoretical constructs in the interactions show similar tendencies across the streams, although with some considerable variation.

Stream of Consciousness is a fifteen-minute one-act opera scored for solo soprano, three voices, piano, electric guitar, and electronics. It is based on an original libretto by Rachael Smith (MM Composition, University of Louisville) that focuses entirely on the fictional character Liv_Is_Live, a young woman who is a full-time video game streamer. The work showcases some of the struggles that streamers face: isolation, constant questioning of their chosen profession, and interaction with a chat room full of anonymous viewers who are often rude or abusive. Beyond that, it addresses the more universal theme of being a woman working in a male-dominated industry.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. Heart failure is a disease in which the heart fails to pump sufficient amount of blood to the body. It is a serious health burden that claims the lives of 58,000 Americans per year with a grim 5-year mortality rate of 50%. Over the years, the field of cardiovascular medicine has produced improved treatment options for patients with heart failure, such as beta blockers and angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors. However, the field has not yet been able to produce treatments to reverse the pathophysiology of heart failure, as the mechanism of disease has not been fully elucidated. We have obtained human non-failing and failing hearts and isolated intact trabeculae from left and right ventricle. We first utilized right ventricular intact trabeculae to characterize baseline twitch force and kinetics and found that non-failing and failing trabeculae do not have different developed force or contraction kinetics. However, failing trabeculae had slower relaxation kinetics. In addition, we found evidence that suggests trabeculae from males trend towards having greater developed force compared to trabeculae from females. After baseline twitch characterization, we investigated changes in their contractile and relaxation capacities at different lengths, stimulation frequencies, and beta-adrenergic activation levels. We found that length-dependent activation is present in both non-failing and failing trabeculae. Moreover, the slowing of contraction and relaxation kinetics at longer lengths was observed in both non-failing and failing trabeculae. Non-failing trabeculae exhibited positive force-frequency relationship, meaning that their developed force increases as stimulation frequency is increased. On the other hand, failing trabeculae displayed negative force-frequency. Upon maximal beta-adrenergic stimulation, developed force was increased by ~ 5 fold in non-failing trabeculae and ~3 fold in failing t (open full item for complete abstract)

I like to make things. It might be more accurate to say I cannot stop making things. My practice has always been one of capricious activity, and this means that part of my journey through this MFA program has been to find the thread that runs through my various ways of working and to create a thesis show that would leverage these different strengths. In searching for how to contextualize my work, I found that I practice somewhere in the intersection between art and design. So another part of my journey has been to come to an understanding of the way my work operates on each kind of audience so I can better communicate my ideas. Most importantly, I learned that while elements of my work can be either emotional or functional, my best work is both.

The major function of the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) in Ca 2+ homeostasis and contractility in cardiac and slow-twitch skeletal muscles is tightly regulated by the SR Ca 2+ ATPase (SERCA2a) and its crucial inhibitor phospholamban (PLN). The present dissertation investigated: 1) the role of PLN in cardiac muscle with specific emphasis on evaluation of the efficacy of PLN inhibition on contractile dysfunction and remodeling; and 2) the physiological significance of PLN in slow-twitch skeletal muscle. 1) In cardiac muscle, mounting evidence has shown depressed SR Ca 2+ cycling is a hallmark feature of failing heart. Normalization of Ca 2+ cycling by ablation or inhibition of the SERCA2a inhibitor PLN has prevented cardiac failure in experimental dilated cardiomyopathy. However, the potential benefits of restoring SR function on primary cardiac hypertrophy, a common antecedent of heart failure, remain unknown. We therefore tested the efficacy of PLN ablation in preventing the ventricular failure of Gαq overexpression induced cardiac hypertrophy. PLN ablation normalized the characteristically prolonged cardiomyocyte Ca 2+ transients and enhanced unloaded fractional shortening with no change in SR Ca 2+ pump abundance in the Gαq overexpressor. Despite “rescue” of cardiomyocyte mechanical function and Ca 2+ signaling, there was no parallel improvement in in vivo cardiac function. Furthermore, PLN ablation was unable to alleviate Gαq-induced hypertrophic remodeling. These findings indicated restoration of SR Ca 2+ cycling by PLN ablation was not sufficient to prevent the ventricular failure of the Gαq-induced cardiac hypertrophy. 2) In transgenic mice with PLN specific overexpression in slow-twitch skeletal muscle, the PLN protein levels and the PLN/SERCA2a ratio in transgenic soleus were comparable to those in cardiac muscle. The isometric-twitch contractile performance was significantly depressed in PLN overexpressing soleus, but isopreterenol stimulation relieved the in (open full item for complete abstract)