Scholars within and beyond the field of rhetoric have acknowledged how the advent of social media platforms like Twitter have restructured every aspect of communication theory, from notions of authorial intent to how we understand audience. While the rhetorical situations of social media have been widely studied, scholars of rhetoric have scarcely begun to theorize how Twitter radically changes how we think about affect and the rhetorical situation in the wake of a national tragedy like a mass shooting. The 2017 Las Vegas shooting illustrates how Twitter functions as a site where people come together to express feelings of shock, grief, and outrage, pray for victims, share stories of bravery, eulogize the dead, circulate outlandish conspiracy theories, assign blame, propagate calls for action, and come to terms with the implications of their own mortality. My research examines hundreds of tweets from October 1-7, 2017 (the week after the Las Vegas shooting) in the context of Lloyd F. Bitzer and Richard E. Vatz’s debate about the nature of the rhetorical situation to interrogate how Twitter users invoke affect and the idea of objectivity to identify and respond to exigencies, establish their emotional and political salience, and shape the rhetorical situations they inhabit.

Mirage of the Mountains is a work for chamber ensemble, scored for flute (doubling on piccolo), clarinet, oboe, bassoon, horn, trumpet, violins (two players), viola, violoncello, double bass, piano and percussion (two players). The instrumentation decisions came from my studies of Gèrard Grisey's second and third movements, Periodes (1974) and Partiels (1975), of Les Espaces Acoustiques (1974-1985). As each movement unfolds, the piece experiences a growth in the number of performers starting with solo viola and finishing as a full orchestra. The ensemble I have assembled for Mirage of the Mountains is what I consider the difference between these two movements; it is six more instrumentalists than Periodes and five less than Partiels. Mirage of the Mountains finds its pitch material from the spectral analysis of two pitches on the contrabass, F1 and C1. This also requires the contrabass to have a C extension on the lowest string. The purpose of choosing these two pitches is one of form. The piece is in three sections, whose first and last section are based on the spectral analysis of the contrabass' F1 and the middle section using the spectral analysis from C1. This creates an overall formal structure of I-V-I throughout the work. The string with the C extension of the contrabass is also used to create form in another way. As the middle section is based on the spectral analysis of C1 of the contrabass, it also creates the opportunity to perform open string harmonics on the contrabass, violoncello and viola, as these are the lowest strings found on these instruments. Thus, in the middle section, these instruments have extended sections of harmonic glissandi that are unique to this portion of the piece. The violins also help to extend the range and color of the partials developed in the open harmonics of the other instruments by playing the upper nodes in the highest register of the G string. The partials used in this section range from the first partial to the 24th partial of C1. The title, Mirage of the Mountains, is a correlation between a spectrum analysis and the characteristics of a mountain. The premise is that the lowest part of a mountain is less steep and much wider at the base, just as the first partial of a spectral analysis is wider in distance and more audible because of its sound properties. As the terrain closer to the top of a mountain becomes more jagged, steep and narrow with more frequent peaks, the higher partials of a spectral analysis also become more frequent in relation to others preceding and following it. When looking at a mountain from a distance, it is also hard to discern all of the peaks that occur near the top, just as it is hard to discern each upper partial of a sound. Mirage of the Mountains is an aural depiction of the spectral structure of these sounds as it relates to a mountainous region and attempts to build an image through depth, form and texture.

The title of the work, Beneath a Canvas of Green, is in reference to the many walks I used to take during the summers while growing up in northern Minnesota. I love the way the sunlight shines through the leaves--especially when there is a bit of wind to make the light dance and flicker. I am also fascinated by the way in which the many things I pass by in life on a regular basis can appear so differently, depending on the time of day, season of the year, or mood I am in at the time. These thoughts were at the forefront as I composed Beneath a Canvas of Green. From the rush of sounds that open and close the piece, to its calm and delicate interior, the work utilizes a singular melodic idea viewed through a variety of different lenses.

William Wordsworth (1770-1850) was a father of modern poetry, for his works reflected the growing "inner self. The outer world moved more outward as the inner self grew more inward. Wordsworth added self-consciousness into his poetry. Wordsworth's poetry often observes nature, describes the joy found in nature. His "Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood" reflects Wordsworth's conflicted feelings of aging and losing the child-like awe of nature. The poem consists of eleven stanzas that are structured into three sections. Stanzas I through IV express a sense of loss, stanzas V through VIII address his resistance to aging, and stanzas IX through XI admire the strength of memory and move towards acceptance of aging and dying. The thesis, titled "Intimations," uses three stanzas from the ode (I, V, and IX). It will be approximately eighteen minutes in duration and will reflect the myriad of emotions expressed through the ode and highlight the inherent connections between the stanzas (created by repeated words and themes) through orchestration.

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Graduation date: 1969

Dissolved oxygen profiles made with an in situ polarographic device reveal structure in the form of inversions and gradient changes in the 100-600 meter depth zone off Oregon. Inversions 10-70 meters thick are traced over distances of 40 miles in some cases and are bracketed by a distance of 8 miles in others. The horizontal extent of these features agrees with observations of similarly-sized temperature and salinity structure reported by Stommel and Federov (1967) and by Hamon (1967). Oxygen maxima are correlated with changes in the vertical temperature gradient. Corresponding salinity minima are sometimes found. This relationship between properties is consistent with the formation of oxygen structure by a horizontal mixing process off Oregon. The existence of significant horizontal gradients in properties over distances of tens of miles favors the interleaving of dissimilar waters along density surfaces. A quantitative example of the horizontal mixing process yields temperature gradient changes near oxygen maxima similar to those observed. The in situ production of oxygen structure by layers of oxygen-consuming materials is considered unlikely in the size range studied. A transient state vertical model indicates that the consumption layers required for this mechanism are more intense than is consistent with recent biomass measurements. Diffusion calculations are used to model the decay of oxygen maxima. Calculated lifetimes range from 2.6 days for features 15 meters thick to 48.1 days for features 60 meters thick. These are considered estimates of the time scales associated with the stratification process. / Graduation date: 1973

Graduation date: 1976

The stoichiometric model of organic decomposition in seawater (Redfield, Ketchum, and Richards, 1963) was used to describe the oceanic distribution of total carbon dioxide. It was assumed that the concentration of total carbon dioxide was the sum of three terms: (1) the initial concentration of carbon dioxide, (2) the increase in carbon dioxide due to the oxidation of organic matter, and (3) the increase in carbon dioxide due to the solution of calcium carbonate. The initial concentration of carbon dioxide was calculated by assuming that surface seawater is in equilibrium with atmospheric carbon dioxide. This assumption allowed the temperature dependence of the initial concentration to be estimated. The vertical and horizontal distribution of total carbon dioxide in the Pacific, Indian, and South Atlantic Oceans was shown to conform to this model. In particular, values of the oxidative ratio (ΔC/ΔO) calculated from field data agreed with the theoretical value of Redfield et al. (1963). The model for the distribution of total carbon dioxide was applied to the vertical distribution of carbon-13 at the North Pacific (1969) GEOSECS intercalibration station (Kroopnick, Deuser, and Craig, 1970). Values of δC¹³ calculated from the stoichiometric model agreed to within ± 0.3‰ with the measured values at this station. Near-bottom chemical measurements were made on three cruises: YALOC-69 to the Eastern Tropical Pacific, Y6908F off the Oregon Coast, and TT-46 to the Caribbean Sea and North Atlantic. The emphasis during these cruises was on chemical gradients in deep water, and 39 stations were occupied at depths greater than 2000 m. Salinity, oxygen, pH, alkalinity, silicate, phosphate, nitrate, and nitrite were measured at heights from 0.5 to 300 m above the bottom. No measurable salinity, oxygen, silicate, phosphate, nitrate, or nitrite gradients were observed. A statistically significant near-bottom increase in pH and alkalinity was found. However, the increase was small and could have resulted from undetected analytical and/or sampling errors. / Graduation date: 1972

Accurate determinations of body composition, fat mass (FM) and fat-free mass (FFM) are of interest to scientists as well as many individuals who serve as health and fitness practitioners. Currently, researchers and practitioners use a variety of indirect methods to determine body composition. Traditional methods of estimating percent body fat include hydrostatic weighing, skinfold anthropometry and bioelectrical impedance. Dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA), utilized most commonly to determine bone mineral content, has recently been proposed to be an accurate measure in the assessment of body composition. Hologic Inc., manufacturers of the QDR-1000/W bone densitometer, have recently developed tissue composition software which can be used to estimate percent body fat in humans. Although the Hologic QDR-1000/W has been extensively evaluated for its accuracy in measuring tissue composition in "vitro", "in vivo" validation studies of body composition have been few. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of the Hologic QDR-1000/W in determining human body composition by comparing values for percent fat from DEXA to values derived using a multicomponent criterion measure of body composition in a group of 51 women and 50 men aged 19-82 years. Additionally, it was of interest to make comparisons of percent body fat determinations between the multicomponent criterion model and hydrostatic weighing, skinfold measures and bioelectrical impedance. All subjects completed the various body composition procedures used to estimate percent body fat: DEXA, hydrostatic weighing (2-component model), skinfold anthropometry and bioelectrical impedance. The multicomponent (4-component) criterion model procedures induded hydrostatic weighing (body density), DEXA whole body scanning (bone mineral content), and deuterium oxide (D���0) dilution in respiratory water (total body water). Results of this study failed to reveal statistically significant mean percent body fat differences between hydrostatic weighing (2-component model) and the 4-component criterion model (25.2 �� 9.4 vs. 26.7 �� 8.4%, p > 0.05) for all 101 subjects. However, differences in percent body fat were found between the 4-component model (26.7 �� 8.4%) and dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (23.2 �� 7.9%), skinfold anthropometry (24.0 �� 8.5%) and bioelectrical impedance (23.4 �� 7.5%). Among women, hydrostatic weighing (2-component model), DEXA, skinfold anthropometry, and bioelectrical impedance all provided accurate estimates of percent body fat. However, each of the various indirect methods used to predict body composition underestimated percent body fat in men. / Graduation date: 1995