Thesis Chapters by Elisa Alfonso
ProQuest, 2019
Kidznotes is a non-profit organization that provides free after-school music education for unders... more Kidznotes is a non-profit organization that provides free after-school music education for underserved populations in urban North Carolina. Kidznotes bases its organizational model on El Sistema; a state-funded music education program started in Venezuela by economist and educator José Abreu in 1975. Kidznotes provides free instruction, a daily snack, instruments, and transportation, all funded by corporate sponsors, concerts performed by Kidznotes’ students, and Kidznotes fundraising events put on by corporate sponsors. As a former employee of the program, and through the fieldwork I conducted at Kidznotes’ Raleigh and Durham summer camps, I gained an immersion and acute awareness to the content and structure of Kidznotes’ soundscapes. The students of Kidznotes are predominately elementary-age, come from low income neighborhoods in Raleigh and Durham, and attend either Title I or non-profit charter schools in the area. They come to Kidznotes three days during the school week for two hours after a 7-hour school day, and for two hours in the morning on Saturdays. The short time spent in the Kidznotes environment was just a glimpse of what their students experience daily with those that are intended to help them.
I theorize that the distinctive aural space of Kidznotes allows for compartmentalization in the minds of underprivileged children, separating their everyday lives from their lives at Kidznotes so that they are given the mental space and sonic authority to assert themselves into the soundscape. This assertion, I propose, is a metaphorical way of challenging the convoluted soundscapes of the outside world, filled with overlapping and contradictory messages children hear that shape their self-perception. This study will then illuminate the ways in which intimacy and music-making as they present themselves within the sonic space of underprivileged youth, make programs like Kidznotes in the North Carolinian context potentially useful for helping minority and low-income children form a healthier sense of self.
Papers by Elisa Alfonso
PhDT, 2019
A novel route of diphenylamine (DPA) formation via ɤ-radiation-induced N-phenylation of aniline b... more A novel route of diphenylamine (DPA) formation via ɤ-radiation-induced N-phenylation of aniline by chlorobenzene in oxygen-free condition is reported. A capillary gas chromatography-mass spectrometry method was developed for DPA identification and quantification. The effects of the reactants molar ratio, absorbed radiation dose, and dose rate on the yield of DPA were investigated in ɤ-irradiated aniline/chlorobenzene samples. The yield of DPA was found to be maximum at aniline: chlorobenzene molar ratio of about 1:1. Generally, the yield of DPA increases as absorbed dose increases. The G (DPA) was determined to be 11.6 μM/J. The DPA yield was found to increase linearly as dose rate increases. This observation can be attributed to the formation of DPA via spur reactions. A reaction mechanism was suggested for the DPA formation in the ɤ-irradiated aniline/chlorobenzene samples.
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Thesis Chapters by Elisa Alfonso
I theorize that the distinctive aural space of Kidznotes allows for compartmentalization in the minds of underprivileged children, separating their everyday lives from their lives at Kidznotes so that they are given the mental space and sonic authority to assert themselves into the soundscape. This assertion, I propose, is a metaphorical way of challenging the convoluted soundscapes of the outside world, filled with overlapping and contradictory messages children hear that shape their self-perception. This study will then illuminate the ways in which intimacy and music-making as they present themselves within the sonic space of underprivileged youth, make programs like Kidznotes in the North Carolinian context potentially useful for helping minority and low-income children form a healthier sense of self.
Papers by Elisa Alfonso
I theorize that the distinctive aural space of Kidznotes allows for compartmentalization in the minds of underprivileged children, separating their everyday lives from their lives at Kidznotes so that they are given the mental space and sonic authority to assert themselves into the soundscape. This assertion, I propose, is a metaphorical way of challenging the convoluted soundscapes of the outside world, filled with overlapping and contradictory messages children hear that shape their self-perception. This study will then illuminate the ways in which intimacy and music-making as they present themselves within the sonic space of underprivileged youth, make programs like Kidznotes in the North Carolinian context potentially useful for helping minority and low-income children form a healthier sense of self.