Matching Items (12)
Filtering by
- Creators: Barrett, The Honors College
Description
"Chronos" is a composition by the great jazz pianist, Aaron Parks. Originally arranged for a quartet consisting of piano, upright bass, drums and tenor saxophone, I sought to arrange the piece for a sextet consisting of trombone, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, guitar, upright, bass, and drums. This thesis outlines my process as I transcribed "Chronos" from the original recording and then arranged it for a new ensemble. It also discusses the difficulties faced in all the phases of the project from transcribing to rehearsing and performing the work. My arrangement is included with the thesis for those who wish to analyze the music as well as a recording of a live performance of my arrangement at The Nash in downtown Phoenix on April 7th, 2015.
ContributorsMcdaniel, Sean Wesley (Author) / Kocour, Michael (Thesis director) / Haines, Ryan (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Music (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
The United Nation's forecasts the World's population to grow to 9 billion by year 2050. This statistic, coupled with the fact that current organic food production yields average near 40% lower than conventionally grown crops, indicates that current methods of "sustainable" agriculture are sure to strip the planet of more wildlife habitat in order to feed so many mouths. Plus, erratic weather causing inconsistent crop production will leave vulnerable groups highly susceptible to famine. Agriculture today has a very complex supply chain that pulls resources from around the world to take to market. The Vertical Farm, LLC (TVF) seeks to change this reality and make 100% chemical free product, available locally to all major markets. The Vertical Farm, LLC is much different than a typical farm and operates on a soil-less hydroponic growing system. This system uses up to 95% less water and less than 50% of the fertilizer that an open-air organic farm would consume, by delivering all of the necessary nutrients directly to its crop's roots and recycling the solution in a closed loop system. TVF seeks to operate in unutilized warehouses and retail spaces, which will serve to control every aspects of the growing environment. This entails replacing sunlight with specially designed LED lights for horticulture applications and an HVAC system that creates the perfect growing conditions for plants to transpire. All of these capabilities translate into TVF being able to grow consistently year-round, regardless of weather, and produce quality local vegetables 30% faster than a conventional farm. In order to determine the economic feasibility of this business model, a prototype first had to be designed, which can be seen on Appendix A, B, & C. This system, designed in collaboration with University of Arizona's Controlled Environment Agricultural Center's Director, Gene Giacomelli PH. D., has determined that the roughly 1.75-acre system is capable of producing over 2.5 million pounds of lettuce every year. The footprint of the building includes all 3 major aspects of produce production, growing, harvesting, and packaging, and this vertically integrated business model allows The Vertical Farm to capture the most value, while taking its product to market. The net operating income of this prototype design is estimated to be 11.94%, with revenue in excess of $5.7 million and the largest costs being the LED lights and electricity. The Vertical Farm has mitigated its potentially largest cost, labor, by streamlining all processes of production in addition to employing the use of high-tech materials handling robots to transport crops within the facility. The Vertical Farm's production facility is not designed with human comfortability in mind (aisles are only 3' wide), but instead maximizes floor space utilization in order to produce as many pounds of product as possible. As a result, The Vertical Farm's prototype not only demonstrates the economic feasibility of indoor vertical farming today, but also gives significant merit to its growth potential to capture a portion of the $20 billion American vegetable market.
ContributorsNickerson, Michael Scott (Author) / Eaton, Kathryn (Thesis director) / Schlacter, John (Committee member) / Department of Management and Entrepreneurship (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
Witching Hours is the debut studio album of Chicago-born, Phoenix-residing trumpet player John Michael Sherman. It is a consummation of his work in the Arizona State University jazz studies program both as a performer and composer. Featured on the album are several other musicians who John Michael played alongside throughout his tenure at ASU, including Chaz Martineau on tenor saxophone, Evan Rees on piano, Reid Riddiough on guitar, Vince Thiefain on bass, Matt McClintock on drums, and Dan Meadows on baritone saxophone. The album features seven pieces, all original compositions or arrangements. The first track, "Workin' My Nerves", is a blues shuffle in the key of F. This is followed by "Scarborough Fair", an arrangement of the classic English folk tune in a rock style. The title track, "Witching Hours", is an cadaverous linear composition in 7/4 which is followed by "Goliath", a pseudo-tone poem about the biblical giant. "I Should Have Known" is a pensive ballad featuring an a capella intro and cadenza, followed by the most recent composition, a minor blues-esque piece entitled "Who Said That?" The final track, "Don't Change A Thing", is an upbeat samba which was written in John Michael's first year of college. These pieces demonstrate an understanding of the jazz tradition and exhibit influences from such musicians as Clifford Brown, Freddie Hubbard, Wayne Shorter, and Snarky Puppy. The album was recorded at Tempest Recording in Tempe and produced by Clarke Rigsby. Clarke is a veteran recording engineer and is the first choice of many of Phoenix's finest jazz musicians, including thesis director and head of the ASU jazz department Michael Kocour. The pieces were composed and recorded under the guidance of Mike Kocour and Jeff Libman. Witching Hours represents a culmination of John Michael's course in the Arizona State University jazz department and his endeavors as a trumpet player and composer.
ContributorsSherman, John Michael (Author) / Kocour, Michael (Thesis director) / Libman, Jeffrey (Committee member) / School of Music (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
Current farming demographics in the United States indicate an aging and overwhelmingly white group of farmers, stimulating the need for engaging a younger and more diverse population. There is an opportunity to engage these populations through farm-based internship and apprenticeship programs, which are immersive programs on small-scale, sustainable farms. These programs are unique in providing hands-on training, housing, meals, and a stipend in return for labor, presenting a pathway to social empowerment. The potential outcomes of increasing diversity and inclusion in farm programs are absent from the research on the benefits of diversity and inclusion in other work environments, such as the corporate setting. This paper presents the results of a study aimed at determining levels of diversity and inclusion in United States farm-based internship programs, and the viability of these programs as an effective opportunity to engage marginalized young people in farming. The study of 13 farm owners and managers across the U.S. found that the participants are focused on fostering education and training, environmental benefits, and a sense of community in their respective programs. All participants either want to establish, or believe they currently have, an inclusive workplace on their farm, but also indicated a barrier to inclusivity in the lack of a diverse applicant pool. Future recommendations for removing that barrier and involving more young, diverse interns include increased outreach and access to these programs, the use of inclusive language, and further research.
ContributorsLascola, Dania (Co-author) / Biel, Braden (Co-author) / Cloutier, Scott (Thesis director) / MacFadyen, Joshua (Committee member) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
The Nash, a jazz venue in Phoenix, Arizona, is an example of a decades-long process of the formalization of jazz—being codified as an art music relying on academic and philanthropic support. Formalization developed as jazz began to be taken seriously as art music worth of critical evaluation from critics, academics, and the hallowed establishments of American high art. Jazz became increasingly dependent on an infrastructure of institutional support, and a neoclassical ideology sought to define what styles of jazz were ‘real’ and worthy of preservation. In Phoenix, the origins of The Nash were laid in 1977 when Jazz in Arizona was formed, a non-profit organization that aimed to support jazz through information dissemination, music scholarships, festival organizing, and attending jazz events throughout Arizona. The Nash was conceived as a way to more fully engage young people in the community. Herb Ely, a prominent Phoenix attorney and philanthropist, pitched the idea to Joel Goldenthal, then Executive Director of Jazz in Arizona. The venue was built under the auspices of Jazz in Arizona, and operates as the organization’s headquarters. In keeping with the broader trend of formalization, The Nash presents jazz as a performance of artistic expression. Continued philanthropic support allows The Nash a degree of independence from economic concerns. The Nash is also committed to providing support for jazz education, by partnering with local educational institutions and presenting educational programming. The focus on providing opportunities for young musicians, as well as its location in the hip neighborhood of Roosevelt Row have contributed to The Nash becoming relatively popular among young people. However, the formalized approach to jazz espoused by The Nash has created some conflicts within the Phoenix jazz community, as some professional musicians feel that The Nash is underpaying musicians for their labor. The American Federation of Musicians Local 586 argues that musicians are workers, and The Nash ought to be paying union scale.
ContributorsBelliston, Lincoln Tyler (Author) / Davis, T. J. (Thesis director) / Hutchinson, Mary (Committee member) / Bridgewater, Devon (Committee member) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
The purpose of this project is to create a useful tool for musicians that utilizes the harmonic content of their playing to recommend new, relevant chords to play. This is done by training various Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs) on the lead sheets of 100 different jazz standards. A total of 200 unique datasets were produced and tested, resulting in the prediction of nearly 51 million chords. A note-prediction accuracy of 82.1% and a chord-prediction accuracy of 34.5% were achieved across all datasets. Methods of data representation that were rooted in valid music theory frameworks were found to increase the efficacy of harmonic prediction by up to 6%. Optimal LSTM input sizes were also determined for each method of data representation.
ContributorsRangaswami, Sriram Madhav (Author) / Lalitha, Sankar (Thesis director) / Jayasuriya, Suren (Committee member) / Electrical Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
Description
Increasing reliable produce farming and clean energy generation in the southwestern United States will be important for increasing the food supply for a growing population and reducing reliance on fossil fuels to generate energy. Combining greenhouses with photovoltaic (PV) films can allow both food and electric power to be produced simultaneously. This study tests if the combination of semi-transparent PV films and a transmission control layer can generate energy and spectrally control the transmission of light into a greenhouse. Testing the layer combinations in a variety of real-world conditions, it was shown that light can be spectrally controlled in a greenhouse. The transmission was overall able to be controlled by an average of 11.8% across the spectrum of sunlight, with each semi-transparent PV film able to spectrally select transmission of light in both the visible and near-infrared light wavelength. The combination of layers was also able to generate energy at an average efficiency of 8.71% across all panels and testing conditions. The most efficient PV film was the blue dyed, at 9.12%. This study also suggests additional improvements for this project, including the removal of the red PV film due to inefficiencies in spectral selection and additional tests with new materials to optimize plant growth and energy generation in a variety of light conditions.
ContributorsGunderson, Evan (Author) / Phelan, Patrick (Thesis director) / Villalobos, Rene (Committee member) / Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
Description
My proposed project is an educational application that will seek to simplify the<br/>process of internalizing the chord symbols most commonly seen by those learning<br/>musical improvisation. The application will operate like a game, encouraging the<br/>user to identify chord tones within time limits and award points for successfully<br/>doing so.
ContributorsOwens, Kevin Bradyn (Author) / Balasooriya, Janaka (Thesis director) / Nakamura, Mutsumi (Committee member) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
Description
Using two interviews with local Phoenix professional chamber musicians, this document aims to compare their experiences across musical styles to find common ground and understand the value of chamber music as a professional and educational tool.
ContributorsGrahmann, Robert (Author) / Libman, Jeffrey (Thesis director) / Compitello, Michael (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Music, Dance and Theatre (Contributor)
Created2023-05
Description
This thesis explores the likely impacts of climate change on agricultural production globally and in the state of Arizona, and on agricultural supply chains. It shows increases in severe weather, including hotter temperatures and droughts, will have a negative impact on crop production in the state and on global agricultural supply chains. It also shows the effects on the environment caused by our current cradle-to-grave supply chains. As a partial remedy, this thesis explores the benefits of vertical farming systems and shows how they could be of value to the residents of Arizona.
ContributorsKing, Emily Marie (Author) / Kirby, Andrew (Thesis director) / Carter, Craig (Committee member) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05