Dalmatian toadflax (Linaria dalmatica) has become a prolific invasive plant of rangelands in Oregon since its arrival in the early 20th century. In 2001, the Oregon Department of Agriculture initiated a release program promoting the distribution of the stem-boring weevil, Mecinus janthinus as classical biological control agent to reduce densities...
Seagrass ecosystems are considered some of the most productive coastal habitats in the world. One such seagrass within estuaries of the Pacific Northwest, Zostera marina (eelgrass), is recognized to be an ecosystem engineering species that provides many important ecosystem functions and services. In 2010, construction of the National Oceanic and...
People will spend a large amount of their lifetime indoors where the air is filled with both indoor and outdoor allergens. Exposure to allergens can have a range of effects on the health of building occupants. Textiles make up a vast majority of the surfaces, such as draperies, sofas, pillows,...
Flexible electronics processing techniques were applied to integrate a glucose sensor with a hormone-delivery catheter in order to create a cheap and minimally invasive method for patients with type 1 diabetes to continually monitor and control their blood sugar levels. Ultimately, this work intends to move toward the development of...
Software maintenance tasks often require finding information within existing code, which is time-consuming and difficult even for professional programmers. For example, programmers may need to know what code implements certain functionality or what is the purpose of certain code. In response, researchers have developed tools to help programmers find information...
Models of ecosystem carbon (C) balance generally assume a strong relationship between net primary productivity (NPP), litter inputs, and soil C accumulation, but there is little direct evidence for such a coupled relationship. Using a unique 50-year detrital manipulation experiment in a in a mixed deciduous forest and restored prairie...
Pleuropogon oregonus Chase is a rare wetland grass endemic to eastern Oregon. The species is composed of two widely separated populations, one in Lake County and one in Union County. In order to reduce the risk of extinction, the Oregon Department of Agriculture Native Plant Conservation Program initiated several reintroduction...
We investigate a search and coverage planning problem, where an area of interest has to be explored by a number of vehicles, given a fixed time budget. A good coverage plan has a low probability of a target remaining unobserved. We introduce a formal problem statement, suggest a greedy algorithm...
Space radiation biology is an emerging field of research with a focus on improving the
health and safety of astronauts in low-Earth orbit (LEO) and deep-space missions. Eye
health is especially important to astronaut functionality. Recent studies have found an
increased risk of cataract formation in astronauts with higher lens...
The motivation for undertaking this research was to increase the understanding of processing colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals and thin films metallic glasses to enable their wider application in future devices. This research covered two unique materials, lead selenide (PbSe) nanocrystals and thin film metallic glass alloy of zirconium copper aluminum nickel...
Participation in regular physical activity is important for individuals with a mobility disability to decrease risk of chronic disease, improve quality of life, and maintain and improve functional ability. Consequently, there is a need for programs that can facilitate the adoption and maintenance of regular physical activity for adults with...
The steel diagrid structural system is a recent load bearing and lateral resisting structural system for tall building structures that is relatively unexplored in the western United States. One possible reason for the little use of diagrid systems in earthquake prone regions is the lack of guidelines and application examples...
Fidelity to breeding sites in colonial birds is an adaptive trait thought to have evolved to enhance reproductive success by reducing search time for breeding habitat, allowing earlier nest initiation, facilitating mate retention, and reducing uncertainty of predator presence and food availability. Studying a seabird that has evolved relatively low...
Successful cell division requires proper chromosome movement, including accurate congression to the metaphase plate and proper segregation to spindle poles. Errors that occur in either event can cause chromosome aneuploidy in daughter cells, which may lead to cell death, genetic diseases and cancers (Matson and Stukenberg,2012, Compton, 2000). The force...
The International Handbook of Evaluated Reactor Physics Benchmark Experiments contains detailed descriptions of many different reactor facilities. A large portion of these experiments have not been fully modeled due to the unavailability of computational power at the time of the experiment’s execution. With the advent of renewed interest in Sodium...
Characterizing the hydrophobicity of nanoparticles can help us understand their fate and transport in the environment, as well as how nanoparticles may interact with biological systems. However, contact angle and partition coefficient have limitations in measuring the hydrophobicity of nanoparticles, thus promising methods to measuring the hydrophobicity of nanoparticles are...
The ability to quickly generate torque of the triple extensors is critical during rapid movements, especially when there is not enough time to reach peak torque. Rate of torque development (RTD), which is the rate of rise of the torque-time curve, is a commonly used measure of rapid torque generation....
A key application of microchannel process technology (MPT) is its implementation in heat exchanger devices, since a larger surface contact area can be realized than in conventional approaches, thus achieving high heat transfer efficiency. To justify high volume production of configurations validated as prototypes, and to select from among the...
Managers and policy-makers across broad disciplines and organizations are calling for a better understanding of public opinion on natural resource issues. One such issue is that of fire and its role in the management of our forests and rangelands. Public perceptions of fuel reduction techniques, with a particular emphasis on...
In the U.S. there are increasing energy demands that require an ever-increasing need for the large-scale use of new energy resources. Specifically, sporadic renewable energy sources are being incorporated into utility energy portfolios. Thus, supporting stationary energy storage technologies are needed to make these renewable sources reliable and feasible for...