The Environmental Conditioning System (ECS) was designed to evaluate the
water sensitivity of asphalt concrete mixtures. The ECS subjects asphalt concrete specimens to a series of conditioning cycles including water flow, elevated and/or lowered temperature, and repeated axial loading. The purpose of this research was to: (1) evaluate the ECS...
The role of nanotopographical extracellular matrix (ECM) cues in vascular endothelial cell (EC) organization and function is not well-understood, despite the composition of nano- to microscale fibrillar ECMs within blood vessels. Instead, the predominant modulator of EC organization and function is traditionally thought to be hemodynamic shear stress, in which...
Asphalt concrete pavement is subjected to several damaging actions from traffic
loads, water (from precipitation and/or groundwater sources), and temperature. The
durability of the asphalt-aggregate mixture, its ability to withstand these damaging
actions for long periods, is a very important engineering property. While the durability
of the asphalt-aggregates mixture depends...
We examined 120 vexillifer larvae of Echiodon dawsoni and 40 of Carapus bermudensis collected from the continental shelf and slope of the Gulf of Mexico and the western North Atlantic to Nova Scotia. Age was estimated for a subset of vexillifers, from which otoliths (sagittae) were excised and growth increments...
We sought to improve net ecosystem exchange (NEE) estimates for a tall, dense, mature Douglas-Fir forest in the Oregon Coast range characterized by weak flows, systematic wind directional shear, and limited turbulent mixing throughout the diurnal period. We used eddy covariance (EC) observations at two levels and concurrent biological measurements...
Water conservation and water quality are rapidly increasing in importance in all areas of the world. The ability to accurately measure soil water content and salinity, over a wide variety of conditions, is key to meeting this need. A set of forward prediction models and waveform interpretation algorithms to extract...
Environmental factors such as temperature, air, and water can have a profound
effect on the durability of asphalt concrete mixtures. In mild climates where good
quality aggregates and asphalt cement are available, the major contribution to
deterioration may be due to traffic loading and the resultant distress is manifested
in...
The atmospheric transport and deposition of semi-volatile organic compounds (SOCs), including current and historic use pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), to mountain ecosystems may result in the exposure of tadpoles to these SOCs. This exposure has been implicated in amphibian population declines in California. Tadpoles encounter...
The influence of polyphosphates upon the emulsification of
enzymatic hydrolyzates of casein and lactalbumin and upon salt-soluble
meat proteins was determined by a model system in which
oil-in-water emulsions were formed.
Sodium acid pyrophosphate, sodium tripolyphosphate and
sodium hexametaphosphate were mixed together in a weight ratio
of 4:2:4, respectively, to...
The work presented in this dissertation highlights the various techniques available to characterize the increasingly complex surfaces of engineered biomaterials. The methods used range from the simple measurement of a contact angle with a smartphone to a complex synchrotron technique like near edge x-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy to...