This thesis examines depictions of medievalism in three central texts: Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe, Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, and George R.R. Martin's A Game of Thrones. Each of these texts provides an entry point for exploring the ways in which English and American writers have...
This project is a personal exploration of happiness and optimism through the lens of a queer and transgender subject who experiences gender dysphoria, depression, and suicidality. Taking inspiration from Ann Cvetkovich’s (2012) Depression: A Public Feeling, this work incorporates both analysis of affective theory, especially Lauren Berlant’s theory of cruel...
This thesis undertakes an examination of Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, as a layering of genres. A futuristic dystopia that imagines late twentieth-century America as having fallen into neo-Puritanism and totalitarianism following widespread infertility and violence, The Handmaid’s Tale invites contemplation of various forms of fundamentalism, radicalism, and...
The growing population of Oregon’s Willamette River Basin places an increasing demand on the basin’s surface waters. Watershed-scale research addressing spatial trends of dissolved nitrogen (DN) and its relationship with landuse and soil N dynamics, such as N mineralization, is sparse in the Willamette Basin. I measured DN along 124...
There is increasing evidence that the type of land cover surrounding remnant patches of native habitats (the ‘matrix’) can modify effects of landscape change on biodiversity; thus the traditional idea of dichotomous habitat and non-habitat following island biogeography theory is insufficient in complex landscapes. Matrix type can have dramatic influences...
The Pacific Oyster (Crassostrea gigas) is one of the most economically and ecologically significant shellfish species worldwide. In the Pacific Northwest United States (PNW), the sustainability oyster stocks is increasingly threatened by ocean acidification (OA), which has had significant negative effects on the aquaculture industry in this region over the...
A Finite Element Model of a deployed Fiber-Optic Micro Cable (FOMC) was performed using the marine cable modeling software, OrcaFlex. The focus of this study was a parametric analysis of a two-part, towed cable array with the FOMC dragged behind a depressor and connected to a drogue chute. Length-to-diameter ratios...
Investigation into how animals move within the landscape is important for both understanding of ecological processes and conservation management. Animal movement is important in shaping life history transitions, demographics, individual fitness, and species distributions. However, as landscapes become increasingly affected by human activities, movement becomes important as species navigate landscapes...
We live in a world today where it doesn’t come as a surprise to hear about another girl being roofied at a college party, nor is it shocking to find out about how your friend was sexually harassed by an older man at work. Women are taught how to avoid...
Within this dissertation, we develop tools and techniques to demonstrate the feasibility of real-time optimization of a magnetohydrodynamics generator. To ease computational complexity, we work on the kinematic magnetohydrodynamic system, prescribing the fluid-flow and model the material response of the system through an updated Generalized Ohm’s law. We focus on...