The influence of fertilization on disease severity is unknown in most forest pathosystems. Fertilization treatments were randomly applied to 0.01 ha plots centered on individual dominant or co-dominant Douglas-fir trees in ten Douglas-fir stands from coastal Oregon to the foothills of the Oregon Cascade Range, USA. This region is affected...
The current study examines the effects of Head Start on the development of school readiness outcomes for children living in non-parental care. Data were obtained from the Head Start Impact Study, a randomized controlled trial of Head Start conducted with a nationally representative sample of Head Start programs and families....
Understanding the transport and retention of radionuclides in the environment is important for protecting freshwater supplies and minimizing impact to biologic systems. Technetium-99 (Tc⁹⁹) is a radionuclide of interest due to its long half-life (2.13 x 10⁵ years) and toxicity. In the form of pertechnetate (TcO₄⁻), Tc is expected to...
Cryopreservation of adherent cells may be advantageous for cell types that are difficult to
preserve in suspension or when it is necessary to preserve characteristics of the adherent cultured cells. Vitrification is a promising procedure for the preservation of adherent cells that prevents ice crystal formation and the resulting dissociation...
Stabilization of the Yaquina Bay shoreline along the northeastern edge of the Hatfield Marine Science Center (HMSC) campus became necessary to halt erosion that threatened both HMSC critical infrastructure (seawater storage tank) and public access to the HMSC Nature Trail. A Dynamic Revetment (gravel beach) was installed in November, 2011...
Spatial coherence between predators and prey has rarely been observed in pelagic marine ecosystems. We used measures of the environment, prey abundance, prey quality, and prey distribution to explain the observed distributions of three co-occurring predator species breeding on islands in the southeastern Bering Sea: black-legged kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla), thick-billed...
More than 30 members of the diverse amphidinolide family of biologically active macrolides have been isolated over last three decades. From this family, amphidinolides C and F stand among the most complex and densely functionalized affiliates. Recently, we have accomplished the first total synthesis of amphidinolide F. The all-carbon framework...
Identifying effective strategies for increasing access to quality care for children from low-income families has important implications for society. This study examined the effectiveness of expanding child care assistance for low-income families (capping expenses at 10% of income and raising eligibility to 200% of the federal poverty line) to purchase...
Our understanding of the effects of land use regulations and other aspects of urban form has been hindered by limited aggregate data and gradual temporal changes in policies. More widely available GIS data on land use and land economics presents opportunities to overcome these obstacles. This study was undertaken to...
There are many different types of automatic data collection technologies that have been used in transportation system applications such as pneumatic tubes, radar, video cameras, inductive loops detectors, wireless toll tags, and global positioning systems (GPS). Nevertheless, there are still multiple examples of important and helpful transportation system data that...
The present study investigated a direct assessment of behavioral self-regulation (the Head-Toes-Knees- Shoulders; HTKS) and its contribution to early academic achievement among young children in Germany and Iceland. The authors examined the psychometric properties and construct validity of the HTKS, investigated gender differences in young children’s behavioral self-regulation, and explored...
The discovery on Mars of recurring slope lineae (RSL), thought to represent seasonal brines, has sparked interest in analogous environments on Earth. We report on new studies of Don Juan Pond (DJP), which exists at the upper limit of ephemeral water in the McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV) of Antarctica, and...
Most studies dealing with the use of ecological indicators and other applied ecological research rely on some definition or concept of what constitutes least-, intermediate- and most-disturbed condition. Currently, most rigorous methodologies designed to define those conditions are suited to large spatial extents (nations, ecoregions) and many sites (hundreds to...
Assessing the ecological importance of clouds has substantial implications for our basic understanding of ecosystems
and for predicting how they will respond to a changing climate. This study was conducted in a coastal Bishop pine
forest ecosystem that experiences regular cycles of stratus cloud cover and inundation in summer. Our...
Because rapamycin, an inhibitor of the nutrient sensor mammalian target of rapamycin, and dietary restriction both increase life span of mice, it has been hypothesized that they act through similar mechanisms. To test this hypothesis, we compared various biological parameters in dietary restriction mice (40% food restriction) and mice fed...
We investigated an alternative means for quantifying daytime ecosystem respiration from eddy-covariance data in three forests with different canopy architecture. Our hypothesis was that the turbulent transport by coherent structures is the main pathway for carrying detectable sub-canopy respiration signals through the canopy. The study extends previously published work by...
Organic aerosols are important atmospheric components, and their formation and sources represent important aspects of urban air quality and health effects. Asia, including India, is the largest global source of aerosol particles due to regional natural advection (e.g. desert and soil dust) and anthropogenic activities (e.g. emissions from traffic, industry...
We describe an upper-division experiment in thermal physics where students measure the tension
of a rubber band as a function of temperature and length, and use a Maxwell relation to find the
change in internal energy and entropy for an isothermal stretch. This allows students to experimentally check the predictions...
In this dissertation, a group of vehicle dynamics simulation tools is developed with two primary goals: to accurately represent vehicle behavior and to provide insight that improves the understanding of vehicle performance. Three tools are developed that focus on tire modeling, vehicle modeling and lap time simulation.
Tire modeling is...
Falls are a common problem among older adults, including those who are relatively healthy and living independently. Exercise has been recommended as an intervention to reduce falls by slowing and/or reversing age-related declines in balance, strength, and mobility. However, it remains unclear which types or combinations of programs are most...
We report here on recent developments and advances in pore-scale x-ray tomographic imaging of subsurface porous media. Our particular focus is on immiscible multi-phase fluid flow, i.e., the displacement of one immiscible fluid by another inside a porous material, which is of central importance to many natural and engineered processes....
Emerging evidence suggests that the tumor microenvironment plays a critical role in regulating cancer
stem cells (CSCs) and tumor progression through both autocrine and paracrine signaling. Elevated
production of bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) from human ovarian cancer cells and stroma has
been shown to increase CSC proliferation and tumor growth....
This thesis presents a low power DC-DC converter suitable for harvesting energy from high impedance thermoelectric generators (TEGs) for the use in body powered electronics. The chip has been fabricated in a 130nm CMOS technology. To meet the power demands of body powered networks, a novel dual-path architecture capable of...
Hops (Humulus lupulus L.) are primarily used to provide specific characteristics to beer, such as bitterness, aroma, flavor, and microbial stability. The chemical composition of hops, relative to how they are used during the brewing process, dictates the expression of these characteristics. Of the raw ingredients that go into making...
Because animal studies are labor intensive, predictive equations are used extensively for calculating metabolizable energy (ME) concentrations of dog and cat pet foods. The objective of this retrospective review of digestibility studies, which were conducted over a 7-year period and based upon Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) feeding...
In the last decade, there has been renewed interest in the use of granulocyte transfusions to treat infections in individuals with compromised immune systems. However, granulocytes only remain functional for about a day after isolation and this short shelf life is a significant drawback. Cryopreservation would allow long term storage...
Patterns of nest attendance behavior by breeding birds represent a parent-offspring trade-off in which adults balance self-maintenance with parental care decisions.
Incubation, in particular, is of interest because adults must provide an environment
suitable for embryonic development through nest-building and contact-incubation.
We evaluated how adult incubation constancy and nest visitation...
This paper introduces a new perspective/direction on assessing and encouraging creativity in concept
design for application in engineering design education and industry. This research presents several
methods used to assess the creativity of similar student designs using metrics and judges to determine
which product is considered the most creative. Two...
A framework for an empirical parameterization (EP) of heterogeneous nucleation of ice crystals by multiple species of aerosol material in clouds was proposed in a 2008 paper by the authors. The present paper reports improvements to specification of a few of its empirical parameters. These include temperatures for onset of...
DNA has a well-defined structural transition-the denaturation of its double-stranded form into two single strands-that strongly affects its thermal transport properties. We show that, according to a widely implemented model for DNA denaturation, one can engineer DNA 'heattronic' devices that have a rapidly increasing thermal conductance over a narrow temperature...
The trenchless technology known as pipe ramming for construction of culverts and buried pipes under roadways or other infrastructure has gained significant popularity due to its cost-effectiveness and ability to alleviate surface disruptions associated with open-cut trenching. Although the experience with pipe ramming is increasing, there has been remarkably little...
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Tadesse Meskele, Author
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The research work presented herein would have
This publication discusses the use of granular matrix sensors (GMS) for monitoring soil moisture content. It explains how to install GMS and use the recorded data for irrigation scheduling.
The purpose of this study was to examine the physical activity patterns of older
adults with intellectual disabilities (ID) in comparison with younger adults with
ID and older adults without ID. A sample of 109 participants was included in the
study. Sophisticated data reduction, time stamped technology, and multiple objective...
Microclimate variables such as air temperature and relative humidity influence habitat conditions and ecological processes
in riparian forests. The increased relative humidity levels within riparian areas are essential for many plant and wildlife
species. Information about relative humidity patterns within riparian areas and adjacent uplands are necessary for the
prescription...
This thesis examines the Schultz Fire as a case study to explain the complex history of fire suppression management in America’s forests, and to gain further understanding of how management practices have affected the increase in fire severity levels and how forests respond to such a disturbance. The thesis objectives...
Explica el uso de los sensores matriciales granulares para la medición de la tensión de humedad del suelo. Explica cómo instalar estos sensores y cómo usar los datos registrados para la programación del riego. (Discusses the use of granular matrix sensors (GMS) for monitoring soil moisture content . Explains how...
According to the World Health Organization, there are an estimated 1.4 million blind children in
the world, of whom approximately 300,000 live in Africa. About one-half of these cases of
childhood blindness could have been prevented. Each year, an estimated half a million children
become blind (nearly one per minute),...
Lead zirconate titanate (PZT) is well known to exhibit some of the strongest piezoelectric responses, explaining why it is at the heart of piezoelectric-based microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) research. The use of pulsed laser deposition (PLD) to synthesize PZT offers many advantages over alternative deposition techniques, mainly regarding its ability to...
Spent nuclear fuel (SNF) resultant from the generation of nuclear power is a chemically and radiologically diverse system which is advantageous to chemically process prior to geologic disposal. Hydrometallurgy is the primary technology for chemical processing for light water reactor spent fuels, where spent fuel is dissolved in an acid...
Phase Locked Loops(PLLs) are an integral part of almost every electronic system. Systems involving low frequency clocks often require PLLs with low bandwidth. The area occupied by the large loop filter capacitor and resistor in a low bandwidth PLL design makes the realization of traditional charge-pump PLL architecture impractical on...
The current study examined relations between temperamental reactivity at 6 months and social competence in first grade, including if emotion regulation at 54 months played a role as mediator and/or moderator between temperamental reactivity and social competence in first grade. Previous studies have shown that children who are high on...
In this work, flow through synthetic arrangements of contacting spheres is studied
as a model problem for porous media and packed bed type flows. Direct numerical
simulations are performed for moderate pore Reynolds numbers in the range,
10 ≤ Re ≤ 600, where non-linear porescale flow features are known to...
The role and function of school counselors remains a consistent source of concern in the school counseling profession. Aligning school counseling activities with comprehensive school counseling practice is a way to standardize the profession. Creating a school board policy for counseling is a strategy to gain support for and institutionalize...
In-situ vapor extraction is performed by applying a pressure differential across a hydrophobic porous membrane that forms a wall of the channel as a means of reducing the local quality of flow boiling within the channel. As the local quality is reduced, the heat transfer capability can be improve while...
Wireless sensor networks are becoming important in several monitoring and sensing applications. Ultra low power consumption in the sensor nodes is important for extending the battery life of the nodes. In this dissertation, two low power BFSK receiver architectures are proposed and verified with prototype implementations in silicion.
A 2.4...
The purpose of this manuscript style dissertation was to increase understanding of the experiences of counselor's with compassion fatigue as they participated in a yoga intervention. Compassion fatigue is a condition that creates both physical and psychological impairment as a result of working in the helping role. Yoga is an...
The proliferation of body worn autometric devices has been enabled by advances in low-power electronics and fueled by the quantified-self movement. These devices range in complexity from pedometers to clinical vital sign measurement. They all share the same drawback, typically the most expensive and heaviest component, the battery. The future...
The nuclear industry has long relied upon bounding parametric analyses in predicting the safety margins of reactor designs undergoing design-basis accidents. These methods have been known to return highly-conservative results, limiting the operating conditions of the reactor. The Best-Estimate Plus Uncertainty (BEPU) method using a modernized version of the Code-Scaling,...