We explore the interactions between charge transfer exciton states (CTEs) and an optical microcavity by testing the effects that cavity resonance has on the CTEs and if CTEs can be coupled with a photon to create quasiparticles known as polaritons. Exciton polaritonics is becoming a booming area of research mainly...
Blueberry stem galls in Pacific Northwest are often attributed to Agrobacterium tumefaciens. The disease also is associated with indole-3-acetic-acid (IAA) producing bacteria, as described on cranberry stem gall. Lack of studies makes it difficult to conclude whether these two types of bacteria could be the causal agent of stem gall...
Pantoea vagans C9-1 (C9-1) is a biological control agent sprayed onto apple and pear trees during bloom for suppression of fire blight, a devastating bacterial disease caused by Erwinia amylovora. Prior bioinformatics studies of C9-1 focused on predicted phenotypes associated with the three native megaplasmids, pPag1, pPag2, and pPag3, and...
Perdeutero-spiropentane (C₅D₈) has been synthesized and infrared and Raman spectra are reported for the first time. Wavenumber assignments are made for most of the fundamental vibrational modes. Gas phase infrared spectra were recorded at a resolution (0.002 cm⁻¹) sufficient to resolve individual rovibrational lines and show evidence of strong Coriolis...
This study investigated the composition and character of organic matter on suspended particulate material (SPM) in the Columbia River estuary system to determine the contribution of biological activity in lateral bays to the greater nutrient cycle of the river. Water samples were collected during neap and spring tidal forcing (25...
The intent of this thesis is to develop three creative non-fiction essays exploring the experience of being an undergraduate woman in a STEM field. The essays will all take on variations in form, humor, and perspectives. The purpose is to explore the position of women in STEM and the different...
It has been observed and documented that Pisaster ochraceus has very striking colors, but the reasons behind the coloration are still unknown. Three coloration categories were determined and used for a feeding trial study to investigate the effects of diet on coloration in Pisaster ochraceus. This study involved 30 hand...
The Remember Center (TRC) is a long term care center for previously trafficked children. In Ghana, there is a huge child trafficking problem because of the impoverished state the country is in and the lack of involvement from the government. With the fishing industry depleting because Lake Volta is running...
BCL11B, a gene regulatory transcription factor, is known to be a regulator of T cell development in the immune system, and has been identified as a tumor suppressor for T cell leukemias. Defining the molecular events that regulate the activity of BCL11B will provide potential drug targets that will aid...
In the realms of psychology and sociology two new theoretical models have arisen to describe the forces influencing altruistic human behavior. The first is the Empathy-Altruism Hypothesis (EAH), by C.D. Batson. The second is the Conceptual Continuum of Altruism (CCA), by K.R. Monroe. Both models have proven to be highly...
In the realms of psychology and sociology two new theoretical models have arisen to describe the forces influencing altruistic human behavior. The first Empathy-Altruism Hypothesis (EAH), by C.D. Batson. The second is the Conceptual Continuum of Altruism (CCA), by K.R. Monroe. Both models have proven to be highly useful in...
Objective: To perform a systematic review and meta-analysis on the prevalence rate of mental health disorders including anxiety, depression, and insomnia during the COVID-19 pandemic in Eastern Europe in the general population, as well as within select sub-populations (i.e., students, general healthcare workers, and frontline workers).
Data sources: Articles in PubMed,...
Approximately 2,000 workers in the United States sustain work-related eye injuries that require medical treatment every day. While the majority of eye injuries are not fatal, they can cause temporary or permanent vision loss and result in a decrease in the quality of life of the individuals affected. Unlike blindness...
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...
Background: Uterine inflammation (e.g., endometritis) causes negative economic effects in the beef industry by reducing reproductive performance. Current treatments for endometritis in beef cattle involve hormones and antibiotics, which can be expensive and are often ineffective. The endometrial immune response regulates the release of cytokines and chemokines in response to...
Domestic cats have been shown to form secure attachment bonds with humans, allowing them to use their owners as a secure base and giving them comfort and confidence when exploring an unfamiliar environment. Many cat owners believe that cohabitation with other cats is beneficial for their pets, and that cohabitant...
In order to reduce the cost of lignocellulosic ethanol production, a model was previously developed to predict the amount of fermentable sugar released based on parameters concerning both biomass and enzymes. To validate this model, enzymatic hydrolysis must be carried out using individual purified cellulase enzymes. Endo-1,4-β-D-glucanase I (EG I),...
Average monthly temperatures (maximum and minimum) and precipitation patterns are expected to change as a direct consequence of anthropogenic climate change. Temperatures are expected to be warmer in the future but precise estimates vary depending on factors like number of ensembles and emission scenario. For this study, we used 100...
This study evaluated the memory and visual discrimination capabilities of Enteroctopus dofleini, the Giant Pacific Octopus. Octopuses have been known to have advance sensory capabilities and through this study we challenged our specimen to remember and actively choose a specific patterned jar based on a visual pattern and positive reinforcement....
Accurately modeling the chemistry of conventional and alternative liquid transportation fuels in combustion technology is vital to predicting important quantities such as the burning rate, heat release, and pollutant emissions. However, incorporating detailed chemical kinetic models into reactive-flow simulations poses a significant challenge due to the associated high computational expense...
Since this treatise is to deal only with the
construction of one special machine it is unnecessary
to go into an extended discussion of dynamo electric
machinery in general. Some of the parts common to all
electric machinery of this character will be mentioned
and then a short account of...
Myxozoans are microscopic parasites, related to corals and jellyfish. Most Myxozoa probably have two-host lifecycles that require a vertebrate (typically fish) and invertebrate (annelid or bryozoan). However no life cycle is known from the Sphaerospora lineage.
I hypothesized that the life cycle of Sphaerospora elegans, a myxozoan parasite of three-spined...
Marine protected areas (MPAs) are used in ecosystem-based management (EBM) to increase the abundance and biomass of targeted species and protect their ecosystems by restricting certain human activities. Marine reserves (i.e. no-take MPAs) aim to achieve this by prohibiting harvest in the area. While MPAs are currently evaluated through assessments...
The goal of my thesis is to (a) help reveal to the Corvallis community who comprises this local population and (b) to share with local resource agencies what potential gaps are present from the perspectives of the homeless individuals who call Corvallis home. We interviewed eight (8) individuals who have...
The value of the student experience beyond just the academic classroom setting has been well established by a number of scholars in the higher education field. In more recent years the literature has intentionally expanded beyond the “typical” student demographics in order to examine the unique aspects, challenges, and needs...
Dungeness crab (Cancer magister) is an important commercial species along the west coast of North America, and its population dynamics are highly influenced by interactions between environmental variability and early life history distribution. However, the distribution of the early larvae stages of Dungeness crab offshore is poorly known. To fill...
Chlamydiae encode a family of proteins named the polymorphic membrane proteins, or Pmps, whose role in infection and pathogenesis is unclear. The Rockey Laboratory is studying polymorphic membrane protein expression in Chlamydia abortus, a zoonotic pathogen that causes abortions in ewes. C. abortus contains 18 pmp genes, some of which...
Thomas Stearns Eliot’s 1922 modernist poem The Waste Land presents itself as an alternative to the decaying society Eliot found himself inhabiting. It begins as a personal means of pulling together one’s fragmented consciousness, but in doing so Eliot manages to present a solution to a world of selfishness—looking beyond...
In recent years, there has been a steady increase in the number of English Language Learners (ELL) in the United States. According to the Education Commission of the States, ELLs have significantly lower achievement levels than their non-ELL peers. Further, numerous research studies report that teacher education programs lack ELL...
Ceratonova shasta is a myxozoan fish parasite that impacts hatchery and wild populations of salmon and trout in the Pacific Northwest. Levels of the parasite in river water can be effectively monitored through direct filtration of parasite spores from water, extraction of total "environmental DNA" (eDNA), then quantitative polymerase chain...
Vaccines are an incredibly important piece of preventative medicine, yet trends have emerged of parents refusing to vaccinate their children. My goal was to create an illustrated storybook that summarizes what a vaccine is, and how it enhances the body to fight disease. The book is designed to be read...
Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) can be used as markers to infer population genetic structure. For Mycoplasma cynos, a pathogen associated with infectious respiratory disease among canines and other animals, SNPs may help to elucidate ecological and evolutionary relationships among the strains that reside in the upper respiratory tract of canines...
Background: 250,000+ individuals injure an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in the United States annually. Individuals post-ACL surgical reconstruction (ACLR) are at elevated risk for ACL re-injury, potentially from kinematic and kinetic asymmetries. While studies have examined asymmetries at the hip and knee post-ACLR during landing, less is known about asymmetries...
Flow cytometry is a highly-extensible technology for performing rapid multi-parametric particle analysis. The use of flow cytometry has proliferated with the advent of smaller, intuitive, and more affordable instruments, along with a perpetual increase in research and medical applications. However, the technology is still largely inaccessible due to cost and...
Polyfunctional thiols are sulfur containing compounds that are important to the flavor and aroma profile of some foods and beverages. S. Cerevisiae has been shown in wine yeast that it is capable of producing these thiols to create a fruity aroma and flavor profile. IRC7, a gene that codes the...
Chlamydia trachomatis is an obligate intracellular pathogen that affects millions of people worldwide via ocular or reproductive tract infection. Despite obvious differences in site of infection, there has been shown to be high levels of sequence conservation across C. trachomatis. This high level of sequence conservation is hindered with a...
Chlamydia trachomatis is an obligate intracellular bacterium that causes diseases of the eye and urogenital tract in humans. It is the cause of the sexual transmitted infection (STI) chlamydia, the most prevalent STI worldwide, and the ocular disease trachoma, the leading cause of infectious blindness. To date there is no...
Since the advent of graphene, research on 2D materials has exploded. Countless experiments have uncovered novel properties that emerge when different layered crystals are cleaved down to only a few atomic layers in thickness. The most popular of these non-graphene 2D materials is MoS2, a semiconductor which has been of...
Knowledge of the pore solution composition and pore solution resistivity can be helpful for determining the durability of concrete structures. Most notably, pore solution resistivity can be used in the calculation of the formation factor of concrete, which is a ratio of the electrical resistivities of concrete and its pore...
_____________________________________________________________________
O. Burkan Isgor, Committee Member, representing Civil and Construction Engineering
In recent decades, the occurrence of large, high severity wildfires has increased substantially in many parts of the world, including the western United States. These fires have the potential to impact water quality, aquatic ecosystems, and downstream communities for many decades. As such, it is increasingly important to understand the...
Designing and building a home Media Center can be a daunting task given the multitude of available options and configurations. The goal of this project is to build a home Media Center, and in the process, create a guide that a less technically knowledgeable person could use to build their...
The present study examined whether the nature of the greeting between a writing
assistant and a student influenced the subsequent rapport that developed over the course
of the writing center session. Eighteen Oregon State University undergraduate and
graduate students were greeted in one of three ways by two confederates: with...
Koi herpesvirus (KHV) is a new emerging viral pathogen of koi and common carps. It has been demonstrated that KHV becomes latent in the white blood cells in the recovered koi. The latent KHV can be reactivated under stressful conditions, such as heat and injury, and the reactivated viruses can...
Pb(Zr₁₋ₓTiₓ)O₃ (PZT) is a common piezoelectric and ferroelectric thin film material with a wide variety of applications, including ferroelectric random access memories, novel thin film transistors, and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). The most common substrate for PZT in all of these areas has been platinum-coated silicon. Alternative substrates are desired for...
A project to restore and increase the native riparian habitat on a 1½ acre site along Oak Creek will begin in spring 2013. In order to carry out long-term monitoring and evaluation of the efficacy of the restoration effort, it is necessary to know what is growing there now. To...
A lead slowing-down spectrometer (LSDS) was modeled in the hopes of beginning a nuclear data development campaign at Oregon State University. An LSDS can be used for neutron interrogation techniques, such as determining isotopic inventory of a sample of unknown components or determining the cross section of a sample of...
With the various options available when it comes to online clothing subscription services, there are many attributes that affect an individual's decision to purchase a product or service over another. This results in ultimately affecting the consumers’ preference and willingness to pay for a product and/or service. This paper provides...
Methane hydrates and biohydrogen are two disparate subjects that are of interest in the growing field of alternative energy research. However, before commercial use becomes a viable option, each has challenges that need to be overcome. Methane hydrates require large investments of time and capital to locate. In this thesis,...
T. pseudonana biosilica and live cells was explored as a biosensor for detection of the explosive compound 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) in aqueous solution. The diatom frustule is an intricately nanostructured, highly porous biogenic silica material derived from the shells of microscopic algae called diatoms. This material emits strong visible blue photoluminescence...
Presented here is an investigation and comparison of two entrapment methods of algae. Conventional calcium alginate bead entrapment is compared to a recently described modified bead entrapment method, utilizing poly(ethylene glycol) and calcium alginate, which results in void or capillary formation within the beads. It is shown that algal growth...
An important by-product of the kraft pulping process, black liquor is currently used in most pulp mills to produce steam in a recovery boiler. Two important black liquor characteristics are viscosity and burning (firing) characteristics, which determine the operating efficiency of the recovery boiler. Kraft black liquor is a complicated...
Demanding task environments (e.g., supervising a remotely piloted aircraft) require performing tasks quickly and accurately; however, periods of low and high operator workload can decrease task performance. Intelligent modulation of the system’s demands and interaction modality in response to changes in operator workload state may increase performance by avoiding undesirable...
The objective of this study was to identify the varying effects of altering the rumen fluid: substrate ratio on the outcomes of in vitro rumen fermentation. In vitro fermentation is a useful tool for evaluating the energy value of feedstuffs and the effect of feed additives on Volatile Fatty Acid...
A combined experimental and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) study of single-phase liquid nitrogen flow through a microscale pin-fin heat sink is presented. Such cryogenic heat sinks could find use in applications such as high performance computing, spacecraft thermal management, and hydrogen storage thermal management. A circular pin fin heat sink...
This thesis examines the dielectric properties of two systems based on the perovskite materials
barium titanate and strontium titanate. A solid solution was created starting with these base
materials and then adding varying amounts of bismuth-zinc titanate and sodium niobate. These
compositions were calcined and sintered at temperatures determined to...
Previous research on WWII veterans in their 70’s and 80’s has shown that positive and negative appraisals of military service mediate between combat exposure and PTSD symptoms in late life. This thesis extends this research in two ways, first by determining how these variables relate to functional health in later...
A new thermal management method for hotspots on microprocessors is under development that employs confined pool boiling with vapor extraction at pre-determined nucleation sites. Extraction is accomplished by locating a vacuum chamber constructed out of a glass tube and a hydrophobic membrane directly above a nucleation site. In order to...
Youth in the United States of America are disproportionately affected by the School-to-Prison Pipeline, especially low-income and/or BIPOC youth. This is a result of centuries of historical classism and racism that serve as the foundation of the United States and is directly correlated with mass incarceration and the Prison Industrial...
Aggregate piers are a method of ground improvement used to increase the strength and bearing capacity of the native geological soils for the support of new civil infrastructure. The understanding of the bearing failure mechanism of aggregate piers remains largely unstudied. The effects of design variables in the failure mechanisms...
When the Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010, eligibility for Medicaid was expanded to include people whose income was less than 138% of the federal poverty level. In 2012, the Supreme Court ruled that states could choose whether to expand their Medicaid programs or not. The objective of this...
Xenobiotic exposures may induce alternative splicing in the pre-mRNA of nuclear hormone receptor (NHR) genes, yielding unpredictable patterns of gene expression that may promote adverse drug events and promote environmental disease. Informed by observations in the androgen receptor (AR; class I NHR), whereby alternatively-spliced AR transcripts induce ligand-independent hormone signaling...
BACKGROUND: The association of vitamin D with heart attack and stroke remains unclear.
METHOD: Using data from the Osteoporotic Fractures in Men Study (MrOS), we collected
dietary vitamin D data from 5,995 participants and serum (25)OH vitamin D from 1,606
participants. The association of vitamin D with prevalent heart attack...
Carbon dioxide emissions greatly affect the carbon chemistry mechanisms within the ocean. Carbon absorbed by the ocean, drops the pH level and creates an environment that is acidic. Acidic conditions prevent calcification mechanisms in coralline algae, and hinder their ability to establish within the intertidal. Coralline algae display structural relevance...
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a class of contaminants ubiquitous in the environment and result from the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels. Many PAHs have been identified as procarcinogenic, and are metabolized to form DNA adducts; however, other mechanisms also may contribute to toxicity and help explain differences in toxicity...
Oysters are a large part of the American aquaculture market, and the oyster farming industry was valued at over 1 billion dollars in 2021. However, oyster farmers often face issues surrounding the mortality rates of their stock. One cause of this is infections caused by Vibrio coralliilyticus (Vcor), a bacterium...
As genetically modified products come under greater production, tensions surrounding the potential benefits and harms of the technology have appeared in divergent policy between the European Union (EU) and certain member states. The purpose of this thesis is to consider whether some type of international law, also called an environmental...
The wellbeing of the Willamette basin in Oregon depends on the river ecosystem’s microbial communities, which control primary production and the biological processing of nutrients, pollutants, and organic matter. Yet, only a few studies have investigated the diversity of the microbial communities of the Willamette basin. This paper examines how...
This study was conducted to determine if a time-integrated Phillips sampler was able to estimate sediment yield when compared to a reference produced by an automated sampler. Time-integrated samplers are easier to use, more cost effective, and can withstand storm events better than automated samplers, but are not designed to...
Aquaculture is a continuously growing industry, but rising problems are disease and antibiotic resistance. A common disease-causing pathogen in oyster aquaculture is Vibrio coralliilyticus (Vcor). Vcor infection of oyster larvae causes near 100% mortality within 48 hours, which is devastating to oyster hatcheries. One potential method of controlling Vcor outbreaks...
In the face of increasing demand for and reduced supplies of water, methods to augment water supply and storage capacity are becoming increasingly important. In some areas, this has taken the form of aquifer storage and recovery (ASR), which involves injecting water into a well during a time of water...
Rockfishes (Sebastes) are important species for commercial and recreational fishing, as well as evolutionary and ecological research. It can be impractical to identify the sex of rockfishes using visual identification or lethal dissection, and the sex-determination systems of these species have not been studied extensively. The aim of this research...
Marine environments provide services for ecosystems and humans, but face many threats, including sea star wasting disease (SSWD) and ocean acidification (OA). Biological research on these threats is abundant, but there has been limited research examining the human dimensions of these threats. This thesis contains two standalone articles that explore...
This analysis seeks to (1) establish a typology of the post-medieval ceramics from the Malkin Tower site, (2) determine vessel forms and extrapolate site function, and (3) establish a tentative chronology for the site. Over four hundred post-medieval ceramic artifacts from the Malkin Tower site were analysed via descriptive and...
Microelectrode array (MEA) dissolved-oxygen (DO) sensors were built and electrochemically tested in a solution of potassium ferricyanide. MEAs are becoming more popular as DO sensors because of their small size and capacity for simultaneous measurements with multiple recording sites. The ability to measure DO with multiple recording sites is useful...
Background: Lateral gene transfer (LGT) among C. trachomatis strains is common, both in isolates generated in the laboratory and those examined directly from patients. This is a challenging concept because there are very few examples of recent acquisition of foreign DNA by Chlamydia spp. There is no understanding of the...
Chlamydia abortus, an intracellular bacterium, spreads through flocks of sheep and goats, causing ovine enzootic abortion (OAE). Chlamydiae develop within a pathogen-modified vacuole in the host cell called the inclusion, which allows the bacteria to acquire host resources. The morphology of the inclusion varies between chlamydial species. Some species fuse...
Enduracidin is an antibiotic produced by Streptomyces fungicidicus that is effective against Gram-positive bacteria. Previous work identified seventy-eight mutations in an S. fungicidicus strain that produces a significantly higher level of enduracidin than the wild type strain, ATCC 21013. Eleven mutations were analyzed individually to identify those that may contribute...
High purity isopropyl alcohol (IPA) is utilized in silicon wafer manufacturing in cleaning and drying processes. With the ever-decreasing die size, there is an increased need for even higher purity chemicals. This process was designed to further purify a 250,000 lbs/month stream high purity isopropyl alcohol stream for use in...
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are grown using plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). A modified radio frequency (RF) parallel-plate plasma etching system serves as the growth reactor. The effects of process parameters, including temperature, pressure, and C2H2:NH3 ratio, are studied. CNTs are grown on glass substrates with Al underlayers and Ni...
In recent years, simulated laboratory experiences have become more prevalent in educational curricula. These simulations, called virtual labs, can enable learning in ways that are not limited by physical constraints. The development of virtual labs is often ad hoc, resulting in unnecessary, repetitive work. The purpose of this thesis is...
........................................................................................................................ 50
Appendix D – Matlab Server Interface
Mentoring can have a great impact on students during their higher education career. This influential role of mentors can be found valuable for a wide variety of populations, and has specifically monumental influences for underrepresented students. The NASPA Undergraduate Fellows Program (NUFP) aims to facilitate the mentor-mentee relationship for historically...
Un Paseo Encantado, an enchanted walk, is a collection of my observations and experiences in a study abroad program in Oviedo, Spain. My commentary on Spanish culture is based on reading I did prior my departure, in combination with my observations while in Spain. In six chapters, I explore the...
Recently, there has been an expansion of large-scale studies looking at strain variation of Brettanomyces. These studies have found variation between strains in terms of utilization of maltose and production of volatile phenols. While there is research going into this subject, there is a gap in knowledge regarding the differences...