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Latin Dance Suite
Full text linkThe music related to Latin Dances has circulated across North and South America for many centuries. There have been many instances where these traditional dances from each Latin country have also been created in an orchestral setting. Each style is still very distinct especially in its own performance practice. In this thesis performance, my Latin Dance Suite aimed to take influence from these traditional Latin Dances to create an original suite consisting of four movements for chamber orchestra. Coming from a Hispanic background as well as a classically trained background in saxophone performance, my goal for this work was to bridge the disparate classical music community and the Latin community by including different Latin styles in a single piece
Brazilian Industrial-Scale Agriculture: A Longitudinal Geospatial Analysis of Soybean Production in Mato Grosso
Full text link46 pagesIn July 2006, following mounting domestic and international pressure, two major Brazilian associations of soybean corporations announced a new agreement deemed the Soy Moratorium (SoyM). Under the agreement, members of these organizations would not purchase—and, thus, not process or sell to global or domestic markets—any soybeans produced on land deforested from the Legal Amazon after July 2008. In the following years, Amazon Rainforest deforestation rates dropped significantly. Yet, despite this, soybean cultivation in Mato Grosso, Brazil (MT) continued to expand, seeing a near doubling in total land planted from 2005 to 2023. International researchers and the Brazilian government alike agreed that there has been compliance with the SoyM. If this is true, then where is soybean cultivation occurring? And why has Mato Grosso, of all places, become the hotspot for soybean expansion? In this study, I perform a longitudinal geospatial analysis on microregion scale soybean data in Mato Grosso, Brazil between the years of 2006 and 2022. Using Municipal Agriculture Production (PAM) data, I find regions with signficant expansion in Mato Grosso during the study period. I also provide theory and compile available literature to determine why Mato Grosso has experienced such a rapid agricultural transformation
Reinterpreting the Leittonwechsel's Emotive Role in Film Music: Childlike Belief, Wonder, Nostalgia, Selfless Love, Empathy, & Christmas Magic
Full text linkThis paper explores the emotive role of the Leittonwechsel transformation as a leitmotif in Hollywood film scores and television series from 1985 to 2024 and as an associative harmonic progression in popular songs from 1967 to 2010. The Leittonwechsel (L) transformation, or leading-tone exchange, is a neo-Riemannian term (and triadic-altering operation) that denotes two possible progressions. This paper will focus on the L-major transformation, such as C-major to E-minor (I-iii).Six specific emotional qualities consistently associated with the Leittonwechsel transformation (L-major) will be explored in eleven film scores, two television series, and eight songs. I will conduct a deeper investigation of the Leittonwechsel’s role as an effective harmonic leitmotif (or leitharmonie) in Danny Elfman’s Edward Scissorhands, Michael Giacchino’s Up, John Debney’s Elf, Alan Silvestri’s Polar Express, and Dave Grusin's The Goonies. These scores rely on the Leittonwechsel as an associative harmonic theme in the large majority of cues, many of which express feelings of wonder, childlike belief, nostalgia, romantic love, and empathy. These associations are strengthened by other parameters as well, such as rhythm, orchestration, and timbre, as my examples (transcriptions) will show. I will also discuss how composers use specific leitmotivic processes to contribute to a cue’s emotional landscape, such as harmonic corruption, change of mode, associative transposition, and thematic fragmentation. This analysis will identify a repetitive pattern of predictable L-major undulations (I-iii-I-iii over two measures) and accompanying L-major melodic formulas that occur frequently—sometimes verbatim—in other film scores as well. This undulating Leittonwechsel appears as a Christmastime, wonder-inducing schema that recurs across various film scores from 1990 to 2023. In Chapter 2, I will offer a catalog of possible Leittonwechsel melodies based on this pattern. This analysis will also uncover other important recurring neo-Riemannian operations (such as SLIDE and <RP>) that surround the Leittonwechsel and contextually illuminate its positively-valenced emotional associations. It will also reveal Elfman’s and Silvestri’s affinity for specific neo-Riemannian links (<PR> and <PL>) that generate chains of modulatory Leittonwechsel progressions.
Lastly, I will discuss the Leittonwechsel’s remarkable versatility and ability to underscore complex emotional associations connected to the narrative and characters’ nuanced psychological developments, especially nostalgia, childlike wonder, belief, romance, self-sacrificial love, empathy, and Christmas magic. In the final section, I will invoke David Huron’s theory of binding tones to propose a homology that draws an organic connection between the musical structure of the Leittonwechsel and its positive emotional associations
Carbon Pricing for GX and Renewable Energy : The Case of Japan and Comparisons to the United States
Full text link42 pagesThrough a comparative study with the clean energy transition implemented under the Biden Administration and renewable energy-related lawsuits in the United States, this Article demonstrates the necessity of the early full-scale implementation of a fossil fuel levy and emissions trading scheme, which form the core of the above mentioned carbon pricing approach, to realize a decarbonized society by 2050
Tempting Bad Taste: An Ethical and Affective Approach to Unread the Failure of Art, Fashion, and Food in Late Modernist Novels
No full textThis dissertation examines Jean Rhys’s Good Morning, Midnight, Mina Loy’s Insel, and Virginia Woolf’s Between the Acts with a focus on the protagonists’ struggles to cultivate and sustain their own private taste amid social, political, and self-generated oppressions that render their tastes ‘bad.’ This dissertation’s defining questions are: What are the political, aesthetical, and ethical complications behind the determination, acceptance, and refusal of a ‘bad taste’? What might lead us to believe that ‘bad taste’ holds positive potential, and what are the stakes and significance of persisting in one’s own taste? Why are we tempted to judge others, and how do we ethically understand others when we cannot help but see them through subjective frames? How do modernist formal and stylistic innovations function in late modernist works that break from, revise, or reconstruct earlier modernist concepts? This dissertation argues that narrative details surrounding art, fashion, and food illuminate the potential of ‘bad taste,’ prompting readers to self-consciously interrogate the subjectivity inherent in perspectives that marginalize the failing, the weak, and the seemingly insignificant. Ultimately, it advocates for an ethical and affective reading of late modernist works, uncovering the complex feelings of characters often dismissed by other characters and readers for their unconventional tastes. By doing so, this dissertation contributes to the growing scholarship on late, bad, and weak modernisms, which define modernist works of the interwar period and beyond.2027-04-2
Elevating Oakridge: A Tourism Marketing Initiative
Full text link59 pagesThis project was developed to support the long-term economic vitality of Oakridge, Oregon, by increasing tourism and promoting the town’s outdoor assets. University of Oregon Marketing Strategy students conducted in-depth research and created actionable marketing strategies tailored to the community’s needs and opportunities. The goal was to generate realistic, low-cost recommendations that elevate Oakridge’s visibility, illustrate its natural and recreational offerings, and strengthen engagement with local businesses. The research phase combined both qualitative and quantitative methods, including benchmarking analyses of comparable towns, focus groups, over 50 individual interviews, and secret shopping visits to local attractions. While initial findings showed visitors view Oakridge positively, general awareness remains low. However, respondents frequently cited the town’s access to outdoor recreation, its natural beauty, and its small-town charm as key strengths.
Students conducted a large-scale survey that yielded over 500 responses and used segmentation tools to create six distinct consumer profiles that informed a set of targeted action plans designed to appeal directly to each audience through low-cost, practical marketing tactics. Beyond segment-specific strategies, three broader recommendations were proposed to enhance Oakridge’s overall marketing capabilities. These included a refreshed branding identity complete with logos, taglines, and design guidelines; an influencer marketing strategy to amplify Oakridge’s digital presence; and a community coupon book initiative intended to drive local business traffic. Together, these strategies offer a marketing roadmap that the City of Oakridge and community partner organizations can utilize to improve quality of life for Oakridge residents now and in the future.Community partnerships are possible in part due to support from U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, as well as former Congressman Peter DeFazio, who secured federal funding for SCYP through Congressionally Directed Spending
Life Attached: Examining the Implications of Epibiosis on a North Pacific Cirripede and a Gulf of Mexico Seep Sabellid
Full text linkEpibiotic species, which can either facultatively or obligatorily settle on living hosts, are commonly found in marine habitats. Despite this commonality, the biology and ecology for many epizoic organisms remain unknown and understudied. In this dissertation, I investigated how two marine invertebrate species accommodate life on living hosts.In Chapter II, I discuss the reproductive and settlement patterns for the barnacle Solidobalanus hesperius and how they correlate to the molting patterns for host crab species in the Oregon subtidal. I found that S. hesperius reproduces year-round and that brooded embryos hatch in approximately a week. Furthermore, I utilized a new method to examine the spatial distributions of barnacle individuals on their crab hosts and they were tightly correlated to the microtopography of the host carapace.
The remaining chapters of the dissertation focus on a facultative epibiotic relationship found at methane seeps in the Gulf of Mexico, involving a sabellid polychaete species. In Chapter III, we found that the species are gregarious settlers and are abundant within the methane seep habitats investigated. Furthermore, we present morphological and phylogenetic evidence and identify the sabellid as belonging to a new genus and species: Seepicola viridiplumi sp. nov.
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As the newly described sabellid is facultatively epibiotic, Chapter IV examined the trophic ecology of the species using stable isotopes. Additional tables showing the statistical pairwise comparisons highlighting the effects of season, sample site, and microhabitat on carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur isotopic ratios are provided as supplemental materials. We found that S. viridiplumi are generalist suspension feeders within the methane seeps and, using microbial evidence, show that the species does not rely on chemosynthetic symbionts. The rarefaction curves for the sequencing depth is also provided in the supplemental material section. However, individuals can occupy differing trophic niches depending on whether they are epibiotic or free-living.
The different trophic niches occupied by epibiotic and free-living S. viridiplumi individuals may impact other aspects of the biology for this species. To test this, we examined and compared the reproductive output for individuals from each microhabitat using paraffin histology. In doing so, we found that epibiotic individuals consistently had slightly larger oocytes and higher levels of fecundity. The individual oocyte size distributions for all female sabellids examined in this study are shown as a supplemental figure. We also observed an apparent lack of gametogenic seasonality in this sabellid species.
Taken together, the work presented in this dissertation provides unique insights into how epibiotic associations can develop and persist within an ecosystem. The results also provide additional insight into the adaptations and biology for epizoic species, which can aid in attempts for modeling community functioning.
This dissertation includes unpublished co-authored material.2025-04-3
Art Feature: “Body Fluidity”
Full text link“Body Fluidity” deals with the complexities of the human body, especially in the case of genitalia. People are assigned a specific sex/gender based on the development of their genitalia before birth. Throughout puberty or even during birth, it may become apparent that someone is intersex due to external appearances or hormonal differences internally. In other cases, some individuals feel as though the sex/gender they were assigned by society does not align with their own sense of self and may transition to a different gender or deconstruct gender altogether in a way that subverts society's expected norms. In all of these instances, we see the body as fluid, not binary, not one gender or the other, but as the home of the soul, which inhabits a body unique to everyone else's. In this way, this piece is representative of undergraduate research; through research you may uncover new findings, some of which deconstruct old findings to represent a better understanding of a topic. My art piece is meant to do that—deconstructing the binary instilled into society for centuries and replacing it with a new understanding of the human body
Geomorphic Response to Catastrophic Flooding on the Umatilla River, Oregon.
Full text linkUsing aerial imagery and digitization, this thesis studied changes to geomorphology and vegetation on the Umatilla River after catastrophic flooding in 2020 and 1996-7, compared geomorphic effectiveness of the two floods, and tested potential control variables. On average, the channel widened, shifted laterally, built bars, and stripped vegetation, though changes were slightly less pronounced in 1996-7 than in 2020. Internal thresholds that maintain channel width and sinuosity as well as the lower discharge in 1996 contributed to this difference. Active channel widening and lateral movement were the most sensitive to the control variables in 2020 and in 1996-7. Channel sinuosity played the largest part in controlling shear stress and, therefore, planimetric changes. However, bar accretion, which was influenced the most by sediment availability, was more depended on tributary input. Comparison of lateral activity and channel widening in 1996-7 and 2020 showed the downstream reaches that had not been channelized underwent the most change from both floods, which reflects previous flood effects on this river. Climate change and uncertain future flood risk make understanding river response to flooding extremely important for river planners managing community safety and ecological restoration
Poetry Finding Itself: The Dialectic of Logos and Mythos
No full textThis dissertation critically examines the long-standing debate between prose and poetry, tracing its origins to the ancient conflict between mythos and logos. I argue that the dichotomy between prose and poetry is theoretically incoherent, a confusion that has historically obstructed a clear definition of poetry. Through a genealogical survey of lyric poetry’s evolution from ancient prayer and hymn, I demonstrate that lyric emerged as the principal poetic form in modern times due to its profound connection with mythical thought. Additionally, this work explores how the prose versus poetry debate’s incoherence has shaped modern literary theory, with a particular focus on an overlooked manifesto by Virginia Woolf, where she envisions a novel that synthesizes poetry and prose. Ultimately, I propose a definition of poetry rooted in the concept of “mythical speech,” challenging contemporary assumptions and offering a new framework for critically engaging with poetry in its diverse, ever-evolving forms.2026-10-3