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This Creative Practice research project begins with the observation that harpists seem to spend more time thinking about their hands than their feet, and addresses the essential but possibly under-appreciated harpist/pedal kinaesthetic relationship. It asks: 'How can harpists have a deeper, more musical, dialogue with the harp's pedals?' In addition, the project seeks to create a research structure which might serve as a model for future musicians seeking to add research elements to their artistic practice. The project, which employed a multi-mode Practice as Research (PaR) methodology, consists of a Creative Portfolio of compositions and performances, that was created in concert with a Critical Commentary. The initial impetus for the research was 'Fast 7ths': a chromatic approach to dominant 7th chords, that was developed prior to this research by the author. This approach was then combined with an exploration of several pedal techniques, particularly multi-pedals (moving multiple pedals with one foot) and pedal slides (pedal glissandi), which were contextualized in pedal harp history from the 18th century to the present, and then used to create the materials in the Creative Portfolio. The Critical Commentary, in addition to providing the contextual / historical framework also traces the genesis of the Fast 7th system via an autoethnographic exploration of three significant moments in the author's early harp development which directly led to his discovery of this system. Finally, it interrogates the elements in the Creative Portfolio, making explicit the aspects of the Portfolio which are better explained using text. The Creative Portfolio consists of performances of three harmonically complex 'impossible' jazz standards, made playable with the use of these pedal techniques, twelve compositions by Stickney, including ten Pedal Etudes, two additional pieces, and new pieces by nine non-harpist composers. The 'impossible' jazz standards are performed in video format, and include a dynamic graphic pedal map I developed, which animates a traditional pedal notation system to render the pedal movement more visible. The compositions utilize a new harp pedal notation system, developed as part of this research, which features a dedicated third stave, allowing for greater rhythmic accuracy and graphic clarity. Additionally, one of the pieces is a 'meta composition', a DAW-based system which proposes a bank of harp elements specifically created to allow composers to create pedal-rich compositions without the precondition of possessing specific harp pedal knowledge.

Climate change can have a marked effect on the distribution and abundance of some species, as well as their interspecific interactions. In 1992, before ecological effects of anthropogenic climate change had developed into a topical research field, Hersteinsson and Macdonald published a seminal paper hypothesizing that the northern distribution limit of the red fox (Vulpes vulpes) is determined by food availability and ultimately climate, while the southern distribution limit of the Arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus) is determined by interspecific competition with the larger red fox. This hypothesis has inspired extensive research in several parts of the circumpolar distribution range of the Arctic fox. Over the past 25 years, it was shown that red foxes can exclude Arctic foxes from dens, space and food resources, and that red foxes kill and sometimes consume Arctic foxes. When the red fox increases to ecologically effective densities, it can cause Arctic fox decline, extirpation and range contraction, while conservation actions involving red fox culling can lead to Arctic fox recovery. Red fox advance in productive tundra, concurrent with Arctic fox retreat from this habitat, support the original hypothesis that climate warming will alter the geographical ranges of the species. However, recent studies show that anthropogenic subsidies also drive red fox advance, allowing red fox establishment north of its climate-imposed distribution limit. We conclude that synergies between anthropogenic subsidies and climate warming will speed up Arctic ecosystem change, allowing mobile species to establish and thrive in human-provided refugia, with potential spill-over effects in surrounding ecosystems.

Ultrathin palladium films, at coverages that ranged from one half to eight monolayers, were prepared, one layer at a time, on a well-defined Pt(111) single-crystal electrode surface by surface-limited redox replacement reaction (galvanic exchange) of Cu initially coated via underpotential deposition. Adlayers produced by the galvanic-exchange method were completely free of any residual Cu after the displacement-by-Pd step. Analysis of the current-potential profiles in the hydrogen-adsorption region indicated that at one monolayer coverage, the film was essentially pure terrace, devoid of steps, which did not exhibit hydrogen absorption. At higher coverages, a Stranski–Krastanov growth mode was manifested by the emergence of a voltammetric peak characteristic of hydrogen adsorption–desorption at step sites. Peaks diagnostic of hydrogen adsorption on both terrace and steps persisted even at a Pd-film thickness of eight monolayers; the intensities were considerably diminished, however, which indicated that hydrogen absorption into the now-bulk-like film had become dominant.