Transcriptome gene expression studies of sperm RNA have been utilized in a variety of different species to investigate causes of male infertility. Previous research investigators have optimized cell separation and RNA isolation techniques for each species of interest. To date, no study has been completed for dogs. The objective of...
Transgenic biotechnology holds enormous potential as a tool to address global food insecurity. Transgenic food crops have been shown to increase food availability and food system security by incorporating disease, pesticide and drought resistance. Production costs of transgenic crops are lower due to the reduced need for costly pesticides and...
Recent studies have shown that there is a significant amount of dissatisfaction and
stress associated with finances, job security, and work. There are many health related
consequences that manifest in response to this continual stress that we experience in
our professional lives. These include obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol,...
Court cases, wills, and letters are common examples of surviving primary texts
from colonial Latin America. These documents are important to historians because they
provide a unique glimpse into the lives of ordinary people who lived hundreds of years
ago. This thesis is a recreation of these types of primary...
This study looks at whether two physical characteristics, physical attractiveness and perceived competence, have an impact on student analysts finding large discrepancies between current price and target price. Equity reports published online by undergraduate and MBA students involved in student investment clubs and portfolio management classes are combined with pictures...
Freeze-drying, or lyophilization, has shown great promise in addressing many of the logistical challenges of storing and preserving red blood cells (RBCs). A crucial part of any future RBC lyophilization protocol is the primary drying temperature, which affects the sample drying rate and the dried cake’s ability to form a...
The Formula Society of Automotive Engineers (FSAE) has provided a platform
for teams like Oregon State’s own Global Formula Racing Team (GFR) to produce a
formula style race car and compete with other schools across the world. The GFR team
has used the same carbon fiber monocoque chassis since the...
Every Spring and Summer, thousands of climbers attempt to summit Mt. Rainier. Many of them stop at Camp Muir, a base camp at 10,000 feet, where they can use restrooms, camp overnight, or refill water bottles before continuing their climb. Camp Muir currently uses a gas system to melt snow...
Natural circulation is actively being pursued as a cooling system for most new nuclear reactor designs and spent fuel pools. To have a better and comprehensive understanding of natural circulation, an experimental facility was constructed to conduct experiments in natural circulation. The facility, designated as the Laser-Imaged Natural Circulation (LINC)...
We do not fully understand reasons behind extinction of populations and species. Consequently, our ability to anticipate extinction (which can be considered a permanent type of an ecological threshold) has remained elusive. In particular, it is not clear how the attributes of episodic disturbance regimes can elicit extinction. In this...
Vibrio cholerae, a Gram-negative bacterium, is the etiological agent of cholera. V.
cholerae shuttles between the human host and the aquatic reservoir, where it associates
with marine organisms such as copepods and vertebrate fish. The bacteria use the Type II
Secretion System (T2SS) to release proteins that facilitate V. cholerae...
Although U.S. Latin@s are more affected by major depressive disorder than non-Latin@ whites, they are less likely to utilize mental health services. The purpose of this project is to create a children’s book that promotes the utilization of mental health services among U.S. Latin@s with major depressive disorder. This book...
The Hawaiian Archipelago is a biologically diverse environment with dynamic interactions between human and biological populations. Political, social, and scientific communities are placing importance on sustainable management of fisheries resources throughout the islands. Many economically important bottomfish in Hawaii have declined in population size due to anthropogenic and environmental pressures....
M. avium is an opportunistic pathogen that primarily infects macrophages. In order to survive within the macrophage, M. avium secretes proteins into the host cell cytoplasm to inhibit specific functions such as phagosome acidification, altering pathways as well as initiating apoptosis. However, little is known about how those secreted proteins...
Stands of Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii ssp. menziesii Mirb. (Franco)) near the Oregon Coast are showing signs of growth reduction from the foliar pathogen Phaeocryptopus gaeumannii that causes Swiss Needle Cast (SNC) disease. To better understand the mechanisms of needle drop through disease, and to learn the degree of variability in...
On April 20th, 2010 the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico malfunctioned leading to a 4.9 million barrel oil spill. The released oil affected marine life, coastal ecosystems, and the economic framework of the Gulf of Mexico. The Gulf spill spurred research on absorbent materials and engineering...
The Oregon chub (Oregonichthys crameri) is a small minnow (Family: Cyprinidae) endemic to Oregon’s Willamette Valley. In 1993, the Oregon chub was listed as endangered because of habitat loss and predation and competition by nonnative fishes. Conservation efforts by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) and other agencies...
Toxic
cyanobacterial
blooms
in
freshwater
sources
are
of
increasing
concern
due
to
the
production
of
toxins
that
pose
a
threat
to
human
health.
Both
toxic
and
non-toxic
strains
of
Microcystis
aeruginosa
cohabitate
with
one-another,
in
vivo.
However,
environmental
conditions
play
a
large
role
in
determining
the
dominance
of
toxic
or...
The purpose of this project is to examine the effect of the slot gap spacing on a multi element rear
wing. A three element rear wing is used in order to produce maximum downforce at the relatively
low speed of Formula SAE competitions. These high lift configurations serve to increase...
Coral reef health has been in severe decline around the globe in the past several
decades, in many cases due to direct human impact. Human action, such as overfishing,
habitat destruction and nutrient loading, has caused coral coverage to drop to record lows,
threatening the future of these critically important...
Some evidence suggests a connection between outdoor recreation participation and
stronger environmental worldviews. This study finds little evidence supporting
participation in outdoor recreation activities and stronger environmental worldviews and
some evidence supporting a weak connection between appreciative outdoor recreation
and stronger environmental worldviews. Additionally, the study documents greater
participation in...
Though previous genetic research studies performed on Caenorhabditis elegans
found that high levels of endogenous oxidative stress resulted in decreased health, and
that mitochondrial DNA deletions accumulated with age in these organisms, no studies
have been conducted to link these two separate findings. This study correlated these
separate results by...
This undergraduate honors thesis was designed to investigate the relationship between students’ appearances and their college exam performance. The hypothesis was that if a student wears clothing that causes him or her to feel fashionable, professional, attractive, or otherwise well put together, then that student will earn higher marks on...
With changing climate conditions and human impacts on ecosystems becoming a
big focus of study, it has become even more crucial to understand how our ecosystems
work. Community structure within rocky intertidal habitats is governed by a mix of
environmental conditions and species interactions. This project examined the effects of...
Past healthcare reform has been blinded by the presence of competing philosophies and
ideologies that ultimately yielded ineffective compromises or short-terms solutions. With
the ever-shifting political and economic landscapes, the future of our nation’s healthcare
is in great peril. This paper is a meta-analysis on obstructions to healthcare reform that...
The novella follows a protagonist named Charlie Tinger and his daughter Rainy. The purpose of this novella was to highlight the complexity of a father-daughter relationship, projecting a quirky and special bond between the two. Written with the intent of eliciting emotion in the form of humor and sadness, I...
Synthesizing perspectives from Bruner (1957), and the Mind Only School of Buddhism, the current study examined the effect of a persons’ own behavior on knowledge activation. Both social cognitive psychology and the Mind Only School posit that perception is based on previously learned knowledge. Knowledge is accumulated through an individual’s...
The newest pilot project at Tarangire National Park (TAR) is Income Generating Programs (IGP) where community groups organize themselves around an activity that earns income. TAR initiated the project by paying for ten members from each of the three existing community groups on the park’s northern end and fifteen members...
Innovative nanoelectromechanical switches (NEMS) have the prospects to reduce device actuation voltages as compared to traditional semiconductor devices. Current research on NEMS seeks to avoid irreversible adhesion at the nanoscopic level, which results in device failure. Minimizing leakage currents and increasing device longevity are additional goals of this approach. The...
Climate change, population growth, aging infrastructure, poor water management, and aquifer depletion are reducing US water supply. Increasing water scarcity will lead to an inability to support agriculture, industry, energy, and municipal demand that will negatively affect US economic growth and national security. Traditional water policy measures of expanding supply...
It is no doubt that the face of Ernesto "Che" Guevara is recognized
globally as it appears on currency, merchandise, at protest marches, and in art.
However, there is little agreement on what this handsome face represents or what
the Argentine revolutionary fought for. Some view Guevara as a humanitarian...
In today’s media driven society where images stand in for words, we see an increase of attractive people selling us ideas and products. We begin to view their attractiveness as powerful, and influential on our own opinions and they gain credibility with us because of this. But what if it...
In this investigation, six different endogenous thyroid hormone derivatives—T₄, T₃, TA₄, TA₃, T₁-Amine, and N-Acetylated T₁-Amine—were tested to gain insight into their permeability coefficients and efflux ratios across a monolayer of Madin-Darby Canine Kidney (MDCK II) cells. The results indicate that T₃ and T₄ were unable to traverse the membrane...
This creative nonfiction thesis is an attempt to create a conversation between personal and collective truths. All four of the essays share the subject of music: one focusing on a band’s strange performance, another on an artist and his album, another on a cover band’s live show, and the last...
SMEs with high-mix and low-volume (HMLV) operations face special challenges when implementing lean manufacturing practices due to scarcity of resources and ever changing market conditions. This is especially critical for manufacturers that need to deliver orders to a high variety of customers with varying time response requirements. The objective of...
Diatoms are single celled eukaryotic microalgae that self-assemble complex SiO₂
nanostructures by sillafin proteins within their cell wall. There has been increasing
interest in mimicking the diatom’s silica self-assembly process for fabricating metal
oxide nanoparticles, namely germanium dioxide (GeO₂). GeO₂ has a higher refractive
index than silica, enabling it to...
From the formation of reservations, Native Americans have faced many
difficulties and continue to deal with cultural barriers today. Particularly within a medical
setting, there is a worldview disconnect between western medicine and traditional Native
healing. It would be useful to interview Native pupils to learn about their uses of...
Modern electronics have created increased demand for innovative cooling solutions. Typical forced convective cooling systems consist of pumps that circulate cooling fluid. However pumps can be unwieldy for many applications. This research is a continuation of work done at Oregon State University and Auburn University on the passive pumping of...
As a major biological model for biomedical research, maintaining healthy
zebrafish (Danio rerio) is imperative for accurate and consistent lab results. This
retrospective study focuses on Pseudoloma neurophilia, a microsporidium, because it is
the most common pathogen found in laboratory zebrafish. An online database maintained
by the Zebrafish International Resource...
For the past 50 years, open-field burning has served as the main method to manage postharvest residue in grass seed fields within the Willamette Valley. Recently, farmers have implemented the full straw load and clean-nonthermal methods to remove straw after harvest. We hypothesized that these two alternative methods have caused...
As the climate conditions in regions shift, research seeks to gain more
understanding of agricultural producers’ behavioral choices specifically in relation to
climate change and alternative practices. This research aims to compare elicitation tools
to find the most appropriate method to elicit agricultural producers’ choices and attitudes
toward changing production...
Rapid changes in global climate have put many species at risk, particularly niche
specialists. The Chisel-toothed kangaroo rat, Dipodomys microps, is thought to specialize on the desert shrub Atriplex confertifolia. Because of this close relationship, D. microps was presumed to have tracked the shrub as its distribution shifted south during...
Truckload carriers operating under a Point-To-Point (PtP) dispatching method seek to minimize miles driven with empty loads. This results in driving tours keeping drivers away from their homes for weeks at a time causing high turnover rates industry wide. One proposed solution combines Relay Network dispatching with existing PtP. This...
This study explored factors that affect acquisition and proper use of contraception among the college-age Latina population at Oregon State University. Interviews were conducted with eleven health care providers at OSU’s Student Health Services during the spring of 2014. Using content analysis we identified individual-level barriers including lack of knowledge...
Flame retardants are in many home products including couches, chairs, and electronics. The most commonly used flame retardants contained polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) until 2004, when the majority of these chemicals were phased out. PBDEs were found to be persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic to both humans and the environment. Organophosphate...
Coastal dunes are dynamic and unique ecosystems. On the Pacific coast, dunes are generally dominated by the beach grasses, Ammophila breviligulata and Ammophila arenaria, two invasive species introduced in the early 1900’s to stabilize sand and create foredunes that serve to protect people who live behind them. Recently, a novel...
Geologic CO₂ sequestration is a climate change mitigation strategy that involves the injection of supercritical CO₂ into deep underground rock formations. This thesis focuses on capillary trapping in which capillary forces immobilize CO₂ bubbles at the pore scale. During injection of supercritical CO₂, brine is displaced in what is known...
This study examines the relationships between player salaries and performance in the
National Basketball Association, by analyzing team salaries and statistics for the five seasons between 2008 and 2013. We find that the teams are able to achieve more wins by
outspending their competitors, even if that means incurring a...
Dutch elm disease (DED) is a disease of elm trees caused by three species of Ascomycota fungi: Ophiostoma ulmi, Ophiostoma novo-ulmi, and Ophiostoma himal-ulmi. There are also two subspecies of O. novo-ulmi: subsp. americana and subsp. novo-ulmi. The pathogen is spread by bark beetles, which inhabit and traverse different elms....