The RV Ronald H. Brown traveled a section of tropical Atlantic waters northeast of Barbados during January-February 2020 in an international collaboration effort known as Elucidating the Role of Clouds Circulation Coupling in Climate Campaign (EUREC4A). ATOMIC (Atlantic Trade-wind Ocean–Atmosphere Mesoscale Interaction Campaign) was the US contribution to EUREC4A focused...
Drought can have substantial negative effects on human health, creating challenges for public health departments, emergency managers, and healthcare providers. For example, drought can lead to decreased water quantity and quality, increased incidence of illness or disease, increased mortality rates, and adverse mental health outcomes, especially as livelihoods are affected....
Cell signaling under external stimulation is a critical mechanism that governs many biological processes such as cell proliferation, cell migration, and cell apoptosis, etc. For multicellular organisms, the ability to synchronize heterogeneous individual cellular responses through intercellular communication is crucial to maintain normal functionality. However, even though the biological pathways...
There are over 35 known virus and virus-like diseases of sweet cherry (Prunus avium), some with potential to cause severe economic impact by reducing vegetative growth, vigor, and/or quality of fruit. Oregon is the second-ranked state for sweet cherry production in the United States with 13,000 acres and $70.8 million...
A nickel-based Hastelloy C22 powder with a nominal composition of Ni-21.30Cr-13.36Mo-1.92Co-2.94W-3.85Fe-0.23Mn-0.3V(wt%) and particle size distribution of D₁₀=23.8±0.3 μm, D₅₀=37.5±0.2μm, and D₉₀=59.3±1.1 μm was gas atomized to be used as a feedstock in Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF). In this study, laser power and scanning speed were optimized to manufacture specimens...
The purpose of this dissertation was to contribute to deeper understanding of how men experience support seeking. The first manuscript is located in chapter 2 and titled A Qualitative Metasynthesis of Male Client Experiences of Counseling. This metasynthesis integrates sixteen pieces of qualitative research which contain first-person accounts of male...
Mental health among student athletes has gotten much more attention in the world of sport today. However, there has been a lack of research focusing on how the socioeconomic backgrounds of Division 1 student athletes can play a role in their mental health and their desire to seek out help...
Uncertainties in general circulation model (GCM) representations of marine boundary layer (MBL) shallow cloud cover contribute substantially to the spread in model predictions of future climate. Further uncertainties in GCM output arise from an incomplete understanding of cloud-aerosol interactions. For example, the Fifth Assessment Report from the Intergovernmental Panel on...
Epidemiological research on HIV/AIDS seeks to determine at-risk populations not reached by current care. In the forty years since the AIDS epidemic began, transgender people were only recently deemed “at-risk” by the CDC and more action was taken to study them. Most current research centers on transgender women, with transgender...
Production of fresh produce takes place outdoors, and therefore, is exposed to many routes of contamination (e.g., soil, contaminated water, manure, etc.) by human pathogens. Although precautions are taken to reduce this risk, pathogens can be regularly introduced to produce handling facilities. To manage the risk of cross-contamination from potentially...
This capstone project explores the efficacy of Geography Information Systems (GIS) to promote scientific literacy in secondary science classrooms and students’ preference of GIS when learning scientific literacy skills. For the scope of this project, secondary science classrooms are defined as grades 6-12 and scientific literacy is defined as 1)...
Biochar is a highly porous, carbon-rich residue produced by thermochemical conversion (pyrolysis) of plant biomass and carbonaceous organic materials under oxygen-controlled conditions. Chars produced by this process tend to have high ion-exchange capacities and, when added to soil, increase retention of water and nutrients and improve soil aggregation, porosity, and...
Naturally occurring assemblies, such as DNA and proteins, utilize intermolecular forces (i.e H-bonding and van der Waals) to assemble. Utilizing these electrostatic interactions has only just started in the past five decades to be a tool used in synthetic chemistry in what is known as supramolecular chemistry. Supramolecular chemistry has...
Best Management Practices (BMP) are widely used as a method for stormwater volume control in urban areas to prevent an overload of water on receiving water bodies and treatment facilities. BMPs ability to treat stormwater has gone under critical review in the last few decades, and their performance varies both...
Global environmental change is causing local extinctions of species. When species depend on one another, as in the mutualistic relationship between plants and pollinators, loss of one interaction partner may cause cascading effects within the community – such as additional extinctions and reduced pollination services. Network theory provides a way...
The body of work aims to contribute to the area of Quantitative analysis in Environmental Sciences, and is focused on the microbiome. The underlying theme for the dissertation is methods and workflow. The unique bioinformatics workflow used for the analysis of genomic data was used to answer distinct and pressing...
Daily cyclical changes of light are brought on by the axial rotation of the Earth while seasonal changes in light are caused by Earth’s tilt as it revolves around the sun. Major life history traits, such as development, which are tied to metabolic processes, have a strong link to the...
Emerging data showing the presence of atmospheric microplastics (MPs) has recently raised awareness surrounding the potential of human nanoplastics (NPs) exposure. Due to factors such as weathering, UV exposure, and other biodegradation processes, plastic pollution in the environment breaks down over time into micro (<5 micrometers) and nanoscale (<1000nm) particles....
Research into the phenomenon of adaptation has surged in recent years as people across the globe face evolving climate situations. The role of women in this adaptation research, and in policy discussions, is often unclear or entirely unaddressed. An array of literature exists on the inclusion of women into environmental...
Intimate partner violence (IPV) against American Indian/Alaska Native (AIAN) women is a significant public health issue, requiring deeper understanding on how to better support Native women survivors. This mixed-methods project utilizes both quantitative and qualitative methods to examine factors associated with support-seeking behaviors and explore how women seek support and...
One of the most economically important genes in squash (Cucurbita spp.) is the B gene which conditions precocious depletion of chlorophyll in preanthesis fruit. The B genes are found naturally occurring in at least three of the five domesticated species of Cucurbita, including C. pepo, C. maxima and, most recently...
Offshore wind and wave energy have the potential to be significant sources of future global electricity production, reduce carbon emissions, decrease dependence on energy importation, and stimulate economic growth in coastal and remote areas. Fixed-foundation and floating offshore wind and wave energy technologies are at different stages of development, but...
Pseudomonas syringae are plant pathogenic bacteria that cause disease by rapidly multiplying within the aboveground tissues of host plants. Growth of P. syringae within plant host tissues requires the disarmament of host immune defenses that limit microbial growth. To combat host defenses, P. syringae deploys a type III secretion system...
Hop (Humulus lupulus L. var. lupulus) is a diploid, dioecious plant with an extensive history of cultivation and use in brewing, as a textile, and for its therapeutic properties. Hop is prized for its ability to produce a variety of aromatic and flavor compounds, as well as compounds with anti-microbial...
This work explores contemporary human-nonhuman relations in the Columbia River Basin of the Pacific Northwest United States. Specifically, it draws from Columbia sea lions to illustrate how salmon-sea lion-human relations are entangled in the North American Wildlife Management model of nonhuman genocide. It follows a multispecies ethnographic design where over...
This dissertation argues for rooting genealogies and origin stories of Disability Studies and Mad Studies in women of color feminist scholarship-activism. Turning to women of color feminist work as “alternative origin stories” shifts Disability Studies and Mad Studies away from limiting and often racist eurowestern models of Madness/disability. Women of...
Ph.D. candidate Qi Wei's thesis consists of two projects: Chemotherapy Project: a study based on the research paper "Predicting chemotherapy response of various cancer types using a variational auto-encoder approach" submitted to the bioRxiv preprint archive and accepted by the BMC bioinformatics; and Wound Monitor Project: implementing and assessing analytics...
There is a growing body of research that describes the benefits of place-based environmental education (EE) within the schools, including improved competencies, better interpersonal skills, decreased gaps in social divides, increased pupil engagement in learning, increased community awareness, and increased environmental stewardship. Though the benefits are many, few schools utilize...
Breast cancer is the leading cancer in women with an estimated 13% of women in the United States developing a form of invasive breast cancer in her lifetime. The survival rate is estimated to be 85%, but the American Cancer Society estimates that early detection of breast cancer in the...