Hypermediation, as described by Jay Bolter and Richard Grusin in their book Remediation, is a style of writing, recording, presenting, etc. that “makes us aware of the medium or media and (in sometimes subtle and sometimes obvious ways) reminds us of our desire for immediacy” (34). This mode of production...
This thesis examines two cultural productions of the Harlem Renaissance: Aaron Douglas's mural series, Aspects of Negro Life, and Nella Larsen's novel Passing. I read these works together because, more than their shared time period, they showcase an attention to the visual. Both Larsen and Douglas's works are concerned with...
Social media sources such as Twitter represent a massively distributed social sensor over diverse topics ranging from social and political events to entertainment and sports news. However, due to the overwhelming volume of content, it can be difficult to identify novel and significant content within a broad topic in a...
Flexible aerodynamic surfaces have been shown to favorably influence flight characteristics at low Reynolds numbers by increasing lift, angle of attack at stall, and resistance to perturbation. The objective of the research presented within this thesis is to investigate the influence of two aspects of flight observed in biological flyers,...
Given its abundance and accessibility, exploiting solar energy is a powerful approach to reduce dependency on fossil fuels for energy generation. Thermochemical reactions using concentrated solar power at high temperature are an attractive method of energy storage in support of concentrated solar power (CSP). Thermochemical energy storage of on-sun thermal...
Vibrio cholerae (Vc), the etiological agent of cholera, has developed many mechanisms to combat the great fluctuations in pH, ion content and osmotic conditions of the vastly differing environments it encounters through its infections of the human host. A series of cation antiporters are found in the Vc membrane to...
Approximately 37.6% of Fiji’s population is comprised of individuals that have
Indian descent (2007 census). This is primarily due to the recruitment of Indian
indentured servants to work on the sugar plantations of Fiji during British colonial
rule in the 1880s. Many descendants of these servants have since moved to...
Participation in school garden programs improves health outcomes in K-12
student and is an effective tool for experiential learning. Although most schools in the Corvallis School District have a school garden, none are currently integrated into the curriculum. Using a cross-sectional,online survey, I learned that the majority of parents of...
Robotic global navigation is often based on the assumption that the world is static. It assumes that obstacles present in maps will be there later and new obstacles will be dealt with by a local planning algorithm. When robots interact in an environment inhabited by people, this assumption does not...
The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) is a ligand-activated transcription factor that is an important regulator of immune responses in various disease models. In the non-obese diabetic (NOD) mouse model of type 1 diabetes, activation of this receptor leads to suppression of the autoimmune response and limits immune cell infiltration of...