This research effort considers bicyclist’s left-turn behavior at roadway intersections with varying levels of traffic control; specifically, seeking to address the question where do bicyclists look to acquire information. A demographic comparison was made to determine if factors such as gender or experience influence the nature of how a bicyclist...
DNA segments in the fungus Fusarium graminearum were identified as possible genes encoding for chromodomain proteins (CDPs), and targeted for genetic manipulation. Targeted single-gene deletion strains, as wells as GFP-S tag fusion strains, were generated from wildtype F. graminearum protoplasts, and verified strains were screened for phenotypic differences, such as...
For many years, engine overhearing has been the major cause for vehicle breakdowns and engine malfunctions for most teams in Endurance events at Formula Society of Automotive Engineers (FSAE) Series competitions. Additionally, with a growing importance of aerodynamics to the overall success of the Global Formula Racing at these events,...
The purpose of this project was to research, design and build a shoe press for a local company called Soft Star Shoes. Soft Star Shoes were looking for different ways to replace their barging process, which is the process of attaching the rubber sole of the shoe to the upper...
Firemaster 550 (FM550) is an additive flame retardant mixture used within polyurethane foam and is increasingly found in house dust and the environment due to leaching. In this study, we sought to investigate mono-substituted isopropylated triaryl phosphate (mITP), a major component of FM550, which has been shown to cause cardiotoxicity...
The purpose of this study is to explore kernel machine learning methods for species distribution modeling. Previous studies have shown the success of Generalized Boosted Regression Models, however kernel methods have been unexplored for species distribution modeling. Using the eBird dataset, four machine learning methods were tested for accuracy and...
The Interactive Virtual Laboratories (IVLs) are a series of two-dimensional simulations designed to help students conceptually learn difficult concepts in thermodynamics. Three studies were performed to help elucidate how the IVLs affect student learning. In the first study, eight students were observed while completing one of the IVLs. The students...
As a metafictional work of science fiction literature, A Novel Elysium explores the timelessness of
both the human mind and its literary surroundings, comparing the self-awareness of its characters to
the sometimes tragic or empowering metaphysical realizations of human beings. Within this
framework, any concrete place or time is unimportant;...
The ATRIAS agile humanoid robot, along with a number of other spring-mass walking
machines, currently have two instabilities: one resulting from inertial forces on the torso
which cause the robot to spin like a top, and another resulting from stiff ground collisions
which cause chattering of the point-contact toes. This...
The lionfish (Pterois volitans) is a successful invasive predator with large impacts on native fish populations in the western Atlantic. Lionfish predation may affect competition between prey species so it is important to understand whether lionfish display preferences between prey species. I investigated lionfish and native graysby grouper prey preference...
Particleboard is a commodity composite panel made from the residual materials of other wood products manufacturing companies. The industry operates on low profit margins and thus produces high volumes of differing panel grades. Slight inefficiencies over the course of a year can mean a significant loss in profit. Previous calculations...
Presentation entitled : The Challenge of Finding Where SOD Gets Zinc: Identifying Novel Techniques to Recombinantly Express Metallothionein / by Nick B. West, Joseph Beckman and Daniel Sudakin
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....
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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 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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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 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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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 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...
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...
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...
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...