Victoria blight of oats is caused by the fungus Cochhobolus victoriae. This fungus is pathogenic due to its ability to produce the host-selective toxin victorin. Previously, a 100-kD protein that binds victorin in vivo only in susceptible genotypes was identified as
the P protein of the glycine decarboxylase complex (GDC)....
Scientists in the biological sciences need to retrieve information from a variety of data collections, traditionally maintained in SQL databases, in order to conduct research. Because current assistant tools are designed primarily for business and financial users, scientists have been forced to use the notoriously difficult command-line SQL interface, supplied...
Learning disabled students in special education
programs have not been demonstrating equal achievement
gains in reading when compared to their non-handicapped
peers.
The purpose of this study was to determine the effects
of Accelerated Learning methods in teaching reading to ten
learning disabled middle school students in southwest
Washington.
Accelerated...
Organismal tolerance to abiotic environmental stresses contributes significantly to setting the distribution limits of organisms, as demonstrated by vertical zonation patterns in the marine intertidal zone. In this thesis, the ultimate (evolutionary) and proximate (mechanistic) causes of tolerance to temperature and emersion stresses associated with the intertidal zone were examined...
The ability to interpret graphical information is a prime concern in physics as
graphs are widely used to give quick summaries of data sets, for pattern recognition, and for analysis of information. While visual graphs have been developed so that their content can be readily and concisely discerned, there is...
Adolescent pregnancy is a major social problem which results in negative psychological, medical, developmental,
economic and educational consequences for both mother and child. A review of the literature examined psychological and sociocultural factors and negative consequences associated with adolescent pregnancy. There has been little research on age specific differences between...
This research compared the effectiveness of an interactive video training program with an instructor-led program for teaching working adults the personal computer (PC) application WordPerfect. The objectives of the study were to develop a research methodology and instrumentation in order to determine whether instructor-led training resulted in significantly different reaction,...
There is considerable uncertainty associated with stand
establishment in coastal Oregon. Several species can gain
control of the site depending on stand conditions as well as
management practices. In this study, three cover type
transition models were developed using data from the Siuslaw
National Forest to predict stand establishment patterns...
Police officers are frequently viewed as being unable
to perform the duties assigned to them by society.
Criticism has focused on inappropriate reaction to social
unrest and an inability to control crime. Improving the
selection process of police officers has been proposed as
an appropriate means of improving police officer...
Smoking patterns were described and compared retrospectively for 5395 participants in the Lung Health Study at 12 and 24 months. 3592 participants were assigned to a special intervention (SI) group that received a counseling assisted smoking cessation intervention that included nicotine gum and 1803 participants were assigned to a usual...
The primary question to be answered as a result of the
research was: Do native English-speaking undergraduate
students learn CD-ROM database search skills more
effectively through the use of conventional instruction
method or by training confined to a written manual self-instructional
method? Thirty-seven Oregon State
University students were randomly assigned...
Research studies indicated that differences in cognitive
processing style influence individual behavior on various types of
tasks. This study investigated the effect of the cognitive style
dimension, field independence-dependence, on the metacognitive
functioning of individuals involved in three problem tasks which
varied in inherent structure.
Twenty-six subjects were randomly selected...
Alcohol use/abuse among college students is a serious concern for
higher education. Despite efforts to address this problem student
use/abuse of alcohol continues. The purpose of this study was to
determine which of three alcohol education instructional approaches
more significantly impacted students' attitudes regarding the acceptance
of alcohol use/abuse. Three...
The present study was conducted to examine the effects of early orientation of counseling related students to the two most prevalent paradigms of psychodiagnostic decision-making on first, the integration of the model, and second, on the ability to make proficient diagnostic decisions while in training.
Using an experimental, pretest posttest...
A computational model for a resonantly coupled alpha free-piston Stirling cooler
is presented. The cooler consists of two isothermal working spaces for compression and
expansion connected by a regenerator consisting of a stack of narrow parallel channels.
The regenerator is assumed to have a linear temperature distribution along its axial...
In current practice, design documentation often fails
to support the activities of design understanding,
communication, and redesign. A Design History Tool has been
developed to improve current design documentation. This
tool is a computerized design history that represents and
plays back important information generated during the
process of designing a...
The concept of large-scale natural resources planning and
management is not new. The idea that resources and their human users occur as systems over large geographic areas has a long established tradition in forest, range, water, and air management sciences. Recent trends in this thinking concern the recognition of the...
Women entrepreneurs are an economic force within the American and Oregon economy. Women are starting businesses at two to five times the rate of men. There has been significant research detailing the demographics, barriers, and business management skills of women business owners. Yet, the research to date has been limited...
The current study was a content analysis of court opinions on grandparent
visitation rights using the method of grounded theory. The research questions
addressed in this study were: (a) On what bases were grandparents granted legal
standing to petition for visitation with their grandchildren? (b) What was the legal
reasoning...
The continuum theory provides a framework in which the growth
of a plant root as a dynamic process involving interactions among
transport of water and solute, cell division, and the subsequent cell
elongation can be described. A plant root is modeled as a one-dimensional,
multi-phase, mathematical continuum. The network of...
The concept of ecosystem management requires that management prescriptions account for economic and environmental goals that are measured in non-commensurate units. This study examines the economic and environmental trade-offs associated with planting a riparian buffer in trees to reduce stream temperatures in the Mohawk watershed, Oregon. The detrimental effects of...
This work describes the modeling framework and initial results for CLAWS (Coupled
Landscape And Water System), a physically-based, spatially-distributed hydrologicgeomorphic model that has been coupled with a vegetation dynamics simulation. Spatial variability of topography, soil, vegetation, and climate drive a hydrology module that calculates the water budget at given time...
The successful educator must be cognizant of and accommodate individual learner needs. The mediation of learning between the educator and learner is at the very root of
successful teaching and learning. Recognizing and acknowledging that educators have preferred methods of operation (teaching style preferences) and students have preferred methods of...
A natural resource science education program for members of the Warm Springs
Indian Reservation was designed and developed in partnership with tribal members. The
intent of the project was to create a culturally relevant program supported by culturally
reflective educational materials which met local needs. The goal of the project...
The subject of drug and alcohol abuse on college campuses across the
country is the concern of many college administrators. There exists a relatively
high consumption pattern of drug and alcohol abuse among college students when
compared to the general population. This pattern of alcohol abuse has remained
stable despite...
The central purpose of this research was to investigate the relationship of
locus of control and academic success in selected medical office assisting students.
The instrument for locus of control assessment was the Adult Nowicki-Strickland
Internal-External Scale (ANSIES). Structured interviews were used to elicit
personal responses for the purpose of...
The purpose of this study was to analyze four
contemporary approaches to moral education from the sociological perspective of Durkheim. These four approaches were inculcation, values clarification, the moral discussion approach, and the just community approach. In this study Durkheim's theory of morality and moral education were identified, and the...
Reasoning about any realistic domain always involves a degree of uncertainty.
Probabilistic inference in belief networks is one effective way of reasoning under
uncertainty. Efficiency is critical in applying this technique, and many researchers
have been working on this topic. This thesis is the report of our research in this...
The study was designed to assess the efficacy of Lou and Charlson's
(1991) social cognition training program for deaf adults. Sixteen deaf
adult subjects who were vocational rehabilitation clients, and who had
been identified as experiencing difficulties in social functioning, were
assigned to receive a eight-week training program designed to...
The flooding phenomenon can be defined as the maximum attainable flow
condition beyond which the well defined countercurrent flow pattern can no longer
exist. Thus the countercurrent flow limit (CCFL) or the flooding limit may be thought
of as the flow condition at which the strong interaction between the two...
The purpose of this research was to determine a causal model of factors affecting
age integrated/age segregated neighborhood preference during retirement. Data were anaLzed for 1299 preretirers in four states: Idaho, Michigan, Oregon, and Utah, collected in a mail survey in 1990 by the Western Regional Agricultural Experiment Station Committee...
An approach for developing a computer-based aid to
assist in monitoring and assessing nuclear power plant
status during situations requiring emergency response has
been developed. It is based on the representation of
regulatory requirements and plant-specific systems and
instrumentation in the form of hierarchical rules. Making
use of inferencing techniques...
I used satellite remote sensing to examine the key factors controlling the natural revegetation of Mount St. Helens since its eruption in 1980. The study required three stages: determining the amount of vegetation present; characterizing vegetation change; and analyzing the influence of factors affecting vegetation change. To determine the amount...
The most important part of parallel computation is communication. Except in the most embarassingly parallel examples, processors cannot work cooperatively to solve a problem unless they can communicate. One way to solve the problem of communication is to use an interconnection network. Processors are located at nodes of the network,...
This study investigated some functional and
biochemical characteristics of a bacteriolytic protein in
the salivary glands of adult Aedes aecupti. A method for
the isolation of this protein from other mosquito salivary
gland components is also described. Based on some of its
biochemical properties, this bacteriolytic protein can be
classified...
The concept of marketing, with its primary focus on
meeting customer needs, is being adopted by federal agencies
such as the U.S. Forest Service who are in the business of
providing, among other things, recreation opportunities for
their visiting public. Although not a new concept, the
notion of applying marketing...
Adsorptive bubble-separation processes are used to
remove adsorptive contaminants from wastewater. A
mathematical model was developed for the adsorptive bubble
separation processes in a countercurrent column. The model
included an assumption that linear adsorption of the solute
occurred on the gas bubbles. Predictions indicated that
aqueous column height has less...
The counterflow pipeline concept was originated by Sproull et. al.[1] to demonstrate the concept of asynchronous circuits. The basic premise is that a simple architecture with only local communication and control and a simple regular structure will result in increased performance. This thesis attempts to analyze the performance of the...
In order to understand better the defect structure and dynamics associated
with lower valent dopants complexed with native defects in group IV oxides, In/Cd
perturbed angular correlation spectroscopy was performed in ceria and zirconia. Examining
the orientation symmetry axis of defects in ceria single crystals at low temperature
has allowed...
Training of woodsworkers is described as important for the logging industry in
Oregon. There has been little documentation of training gains or research that measures
the effects of training from the perspective of the logging firm. Learning theories are
evaluated and Towill's form of learning curves are selected for an...
A model has been developed to predict the long-term
oxidation rate of Zircaloy-4 for ex-reactor (autoclave) and
in-reactor (PWR) environments and operating conditions. A
computer program has been written to solve the oxygen
diffusion equation by employing a fully implicit finite
difference method for a one dimensional cylindrical
geometry. The...
The research involved development of two ecological
simulation models to explain the complex dimensionality of
chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) life history
structure (represented by the age composition of the
spawning stock) and management difficulties entailed in the
complexity.
Since different sizes of chinook salmon are thought to
adapt differently to...
The role of viral proteins in the pathogenesis of infectious hematopoietic necrosis
virus (IHNV) was studied at the molecular level. The expression of the viral genes at the
protein and RNA level, and their cellular localization, were characterized to further our
understanding of viral pathogenesis. The pathogenic effect of individual...
Controversy regarding moral development research has given rise to a proliferation of theories competing for acceptance. For all these researchers, the work of Lawrence Kohlberg is the pivot point for comparisons, contrasts, and discussions. Still, no theories to date adequately describe and document a theoretically complete conception of moral judgment...
Calcium alginate gels are widely used in the biotechnology, food, and pharmaceutical industries for cell immobilization, food additives, and controlling the release of therapeutic agents. Different gelation conditions can lead to different gel structures which affects the diffusion of solutes in gels, thus mathematical models were developed to describe diffusion...
An oscillating plasma glow discharge detector for gas
chromatography is used to obtain fingerprint information
about an analyte by combining both the average cell
current and oscillation frequency signals. Five homologs
each of the n-alkanes, 1-alkenes, 1-alkynes, 2-ketones and
aldehydes are studied. Although triplicate determinations
had some scatter due to...
The increasing demand for meals eaten away from home has increased the interest in
developing a more complete understanding of the food-away-from-home (FAFH)
consumption patterns in the United States. Previous studies have examined factors that
explain variations in FAFH expenditures in the aggregate. However, no previous
examinations have dealt with...
A new general method is developed for the optimization of
HPLC ternary or pseudo-quaternary mobile phases which are
represented by the trilinear coordinate system. This method can
predict the global optimum of the mobile phase composition. The
global optimum composition along each edge of the triangle and
the corresponding selectivity...
An atmospheric pressure argon glow discharge is shown
to detect trace levels of carbohydrates in aqueous flowing
systems, using either of two glow discharge solution
interface configurations. The first configuration consists
of an oscillating glow discharge sustained between a flowing
aqueous cathode and platinum anode. Picomole and micromolar
mass and...
Despite the critical ecological roles of structural features in forests, ecologically
relevant quantitative measures of structure that allow comparisons among forest stands
are still limited. A new index, the structural complexity index (SCI), was developed to
characterize and compare the structural complexity of different forests. Point patterns
of stem-mapped trees...
Quantum field theory has enjoyed much success, indeed for ordinary flat spacetime applications it has been experimentally verified to a great deal of accuracy. However on general cursed spacetime backgrounds there is no canonical method for constructing a quantum field theory. In 1975, Abhay Ashtekar and Anne Magnon made progress...
A nonlinear wave equation is developed, modeling the evolution in time of shallow water waves over a variable topography. As the usual assumptions of a perfect fluid and an irrotational flow are not made, the resulting model equation is dissipative due to the presence of a viscous boundary layer at...
The light-frame wood structure is an assemblage of
several components such as walls, floors and roof connected
by intercomponent connections such as nails or metal plates.
The behavior of the full-structure is determined by the
behavior of the individual components and connections.
Whereas individual substructures were investigated both
experimentally and...
Design of commercial aircraft structure, composed of composite material, requires the
prediction of failure loads given large scale damage. In particular, a fuselage of
graphite/epoxy lamination was analyzed for damage tolerance given a standard large
crack that severed both skin and internal structure. Upon loading, a zone of damage is...
The objective of this study was to develop a numerical model for the movement
and fate of chlorinated phenols in groundwater. In the first part, a numerical model for
several different equilibrium and nonequilibrium sorption processes under isothermal
conditions is developed for one-dimensional, steady-state water flow in soil columns.
The...
Coal continues to be burned by direct combustion in packed or moving bed in
small size domestic furnaces, medium size industrial furnaces, as well as small power
stations. Recent stringent restrictions on exhaust emissions call for a better
understanding of the process of combustion of coal in beds.
The present...
The semiconductor gallium arsenide (GaAs) has many potential
advantages over the more widely used semiconductor silicon (Si).
These include higher low field mobility, semi-insulating substrates,
a direct band-gap, and greater radiation hardness. All these
advantages offer distinct opportunities for implementation of new
circuit functions or extension of the operating conditions...
Statistically, travel by air is one of the safest forms of transportation. Yet we
continue to experience aviation tragedies. Do we fully understand flight safety or is
there another way of looking at the problem? In this work a new way of approaching
the question of flight safety is developed,...
The microscopic, momentum space, optical potential description of spin 1/2 x 1/2 scattering is extended to include the coupling of the singlet-triplet spin channels and
the exact handling of the Coulomb force. Computing performance in constructing
the optical potential and in solving the coupled-channels Lippmann-Schwinger equations
is enhanced by parallelization...
As the performance gap between processor and memory grows, memory latency will be a major bottleneck in achieving high processor utilization. Multithreading has emerged as one of the most promising and exciting techniques used to tolerate memory latency by exploiting thread-level parallelism. The question however remains as to how effective...
Governments in less developed countries have recognized
in recent years the need to liberalize economic policies in
order to increase efficiency in agricultural commodity
markets. In an attempt to help decision makers assess
alternative choices, most policy studies, however, have
focused on the efficiency norm criterion without much
consideration for...
The main objective of this study was to offer an alternative methodology for
forest sector modeling in developing economies. To this effect, a policy preference
function was developed and estimated using data from the forest sector of the Cote
d'Ivoire.
The justification for this alternative framework for forest sector analysis...
The goal of this study is to test the accuracy of
various mutual fund timing and selectivity models under a
range of portfolio managerial skills and varying market
conditions. Portfolio returns in a variety of skill
environments are generated using a simulation procedure. The
generated portfolio returns are based on...
The purpose of this research was to develop methods for using geographic information system (GIS) analysis and unsupervised classification of Global Vegetation Index (GVI) images to improve carbon budget estimates of the former Soviet Union (FSU). A GIS was used to locate the geographic distribution and estimate the area of...
Although the literature is replete with techniques to assist
the researcher with the evaluation task, very few techniques
regarding an effective process for evaluating developmental
education programs have emerged. Those techniques that have
emerged have been criticized for not producing useful
results.
The central purpose of this research was to...
The purpose of this study was to explore some of the factors White
educators need to teach Black students effectively. It examined what role the
race of the teachers may play in Black students' academic success and whether
White teachers are able and willing to meet the educational needs of...
The objective of this study is to assess the quantitative
genetic structure of fitness characters in Tribolium confusum
flour beetles. Estimates of genetic variation and covariation for a
series of fitness components (two measurements of survival,
larval weight, development time, fecundity, and female
productivity) were obtained from two populations of...
A low velocity, low temperature beam of atoms is produced
from a two-dimensional magneto-optic trap known as an atomic
funnel. The funnel provides simultaneous spatial and velocity
compression of atoms and will provide a source for a three-grating
atomic interferometer. Rubidium atoms from an oven are slowed
by chirped cooling...
The purpose of this study was to improve instructional system design at Small
Business Development Centers by developing a best practice model for assessing client
training needs. Two research questions were addressed:
1. Is self-directed learning an appropriate framework for instructional system design at
Small Business Development Centers?
2. What...
To understand the effect of human-induced stresses on forests, there is a need for a method to separate effects of imposed stress from effects of natural climate stress. I developed an approach to predict forest response to climate stress using as indicators stable carbon isotopes in tree foliage and growth-rings....
A continuous process for the production of ceramic materials has been studied.
This method reacted metal and oxidizer in a diffusionally controlled process,
demonstrated by reacting a magnesium particle stream and hot water vapor. Many small
rich hydrogen/air diffusion flames provide an atmosphere of hot water vapor, hydrogen,
and nitrogen...
The purpose of this study was to identify antimutagens in yogurt active against the
experimental colon carcinogen, N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG). Our
initial experiments showed that acetone extracts of yogurt, or milk fermented by various
lactic acid bacteria were antimutagenic against MNNG and 3,2'-dimethyl-4-aminobiphenyl
(DMAB) in the Ames test (Salmonella typhimurium TA...
In the event of a small break loss of coolant accident
(SBLOCA) in a nuclear reactor, cold fluid is injected through
the reactor system high pressure injector to compensate for
the coolant loss. When this flow rate is less than a critical
value, however, the hot fluid in the cold...
This thesis is presented in five chapters. The first and fifth chapters are an introduction and summary. The second chapter, A Comprehensive Review of the Literature Relating to Chronic Neck Pain and Whiplash Injuries, reports the results of a review of the relevant literature. In the first section, commonly used...
The compressive behavior of continuous fiber composites is not as well
understood as their tensile behavior because research and industrial applications have until
recently focused on the latter. Furthermore, most theoretical and experimental studies on
the compression of composites have examined the case of unidirectional specimens with
fibers along the...
Distance-based algorithms are machine learning algorithms that classify queries
by computing distances between these queries and a number of internally stored
exemplars. Exemplars that are closest to the query have the largest in
uence on
the classi cation assigned to the query. Two speci c distance-based algorithms, the
nearest neighbor...
For the purpose of investigating the fundamental nature of the
interannual oscillation observed in the tropical Pacific in conjunction with
El Nino/Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the Comprehensive Ocean
Atmosphere Data Set was analyzed. Based upon this analysis, an
"intermediate" tropical atmosphere-ocean coupled model was developed.
For reason of their particular importance...
Although the public schools have spent billions of dollars on computer
technology, only a few teachers are integrating them into their teaching. The
purpose of this study was to determine barriers to the integration of computers into
teaching and potential teaching strategies to encourage integration. Teachers (N=122) from 14 elementary...
The purpose of this study was to examine the
relationship between parental attitudes and student
attitudes toward the consumption of alcoholic beverages,
between parental attitudes toward the consumption of
alcoholic beverages and the reasons students drink alcoholic
beverages, and between parental attitudes toward the
consumption of alcoholic beverages and the...
Access to health care in North Dakota, a frontier state, has been a widely debated policy issue. Historically, the focus of North Dakota health policy efforts has been directed to issues pertaining to the provision of health care services. During the economic recession of the I 980s, an out-migration of...
Combustive Synthesis or Self-Propagating High-Temperature
Synthesis (SHS), is an energy-efficient combustion
method of producing metallic, ceramic and composite
materials from their constituent powders.
This thesis presents the results of an experimental and
numerical evaluation of the propagation velocity for the SHS
solid-solid reaction of titanium and carbon, as well as...
This study investigated the job satisfaction of
elementary school counselors in the Pacific Northwest,
defined as Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. The purpose of
the study was to (a) describe current elementary counselor
characteristics, duties and functions; (b) determine the
overall level of job satisfaction of elementary school
counselors; (c) investigate...
The application of laser generated ultrasonics was first
demonstrated in the mid-seventies and has shown good potential
when applied to isotropic materials. However, its use with
composite materials is still in the early stages of development.
This study explores the potential for application of laser
generated Rayleigh and Lamb waves...
Reinforcement Learning (RL) is the study of learning agents that improve
their performance from rewards and punishments. Most reinforcement learning
methods optimize the discounted total reward received by an agent, while, in many
domains, the natural criterion is to optimize the average reward per time step. In this
thesis, we...
The emphasis of this work has been in two areas of optical materials - the
crystal-chemical development of new optical frequency converters and the synthesis
and study of new hosts for Cr³⁺ luminescence and lasing.
A simple method has been developed to identify promising frequency-doubling
materials containing triangular oxoanions by...
Eight foodborne pathogenic and spoilage Gram-positive bacteria were
evaluated for their spontaneous resistance frequencies to the peptide
antimicrobial nisin. In brain heart infusion (BHI) medium, nisin resistance
frequencies were in the range of l06 to l08 when exposed to nisin at
concentrations 2 to 4 times the minimal inhibitory concentrations....
The purpose of this study was to investigate Peer Collaborative
Mentoring (PCM) as a professional development model for international
graduate teaching assistants at an American university. Data were gathered
from interviews and observations of three American peer mentors
(Intracultural Peer Mentors/IAPMs), five Chinese Graduate Teaching
Assistants (Intercultural Peer Mentors/IEPMs), and...
The purpose of this paper is to describe the flow oscillations which occur in the
AP600 long term cooling test facility at Oregon State University. The AP600 system is
an advanced pressurized water reactor design utilizing passive emergency cooling
systems.
A few hours after the initiation of a cold leg...
The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between student-teacher ratios (STR) and caseload sizes and feelings of success and satisfaction and three factors
of burnout as reported by Oregon teachers of students with mild disabilities. The target population of this study (N = 1347) were teachers of...