The dynein molecule is a peculiar motor protein recognized for its unique stepping behavior. Sometimes it steps forwards. Other times it steps backwards. It has even been observed to occasionally shuffle by beginning a step with the same domain many times in row. These motions make dynein an interesting object...
The memristor is a resistive switching random access memory (RRAM) with a basic metal/insulator/metal (MIM) structure. These nano devices are nonvolatile, have a conceptually simple crossbar device structure, are power efficient and have the capability of switching between high and low resistance states in nanoseconds making them promising to replace...
Agrivoltaics, which integrates photovoltaic power production with agriculture in the same plot of land, has the potential to reduce land competition and crop irrigation. To optimize agrivoltaic systems for crop growth, energy pathways must be characterized. While solar panels shade the crops, they also emit longwave radiation. At the end...
There are few modern isotopic ages of igneous rocks and polymetallic (Pb-Zn-Ag-Cu-Au) hydrothermal mineral veins of the Mt. Thompson quadrangle in southwestern Montana. Lithology ages of this region vary from approximately 85-80 Ma Butte granite(Kbg) (Lund et al. 2002) to 48.6 Ma of Lowland Creek Volcanic Field (LCVF) (Dudas et...
Mt. Hood, in north-central Oregon, has experienced 13 M ≥ 3.0 earthquakes since 1980. 1812 earthquakes that range in magnitude from -1.1 to 4.5 have been recorded in the region during the same time frame. This paper analyzes four of the larger earthquakes to provide moment tensor solutions and relocated...
Every Spring and Summer, thousands of climbers attempt to summit Mt. Rainier. Many of them stop at Camp Muir, a base camp at 10,000 feet, where they can use restrooms, camp overnight, or refill water bottles before continuing their climb. Camp Muir currently uses a gas system to melt snow...
: _______________________________________________________________
John Parmigiani, Thesis Mentor
Every Spring and Summer, thousands of climbers attempt to
Pollen, the male product of the flower, is a crucial component in plant reproduction, as it transmits the sperm cells to the female structures, enabling fertilization and subsequent seed production. A major transition of the pollen life cycle, triggered upon pollination of female floral tissue, is from a dormant pollen...
Empathy is considered a significant motivator of prosocial behavior. Increasing evidence suggests that feelings of personal distress associated with empathy may be stronger or weaker according to the form of perspective taking that an empathizer utilizes. The aim of the present study was to further quantify the stress consequences and...
Swelling soils cause millions of dollars of damage to buildings every year in the Unites States alone. One essential piece to understanding these soils is to understand how water moves through them. Hydraulic conductivity is a measure of how easily water flows through a soil. Currently, the most common method...
Although the question of free will has persisted throughout the history of philosophy as an important metaphysical consideration, rarely does the inquiry include empirical evidence from other disciplines concerned with human behavior. In this interdisciplinary paper, I combine the wisdom of psychologists, metaphysicians, and philosophers of science to comment on...
The Colombian emerald deposits are globally unique because they are hosted in hydrothermally altered black shales on either side of the Cordillera Oriental. We used electron microprobe analysis to study variations in trace element concentrations in transects across emeralds, and used the ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating method to determine the age of...
This thesis explores the relationship between design cycle models and knowledge management systems applied to various physical prototypes that the author developed from 2020 to 2023. The author walks through the process of prototyping a potty-training device in OSU’s Prototype Development Lab and an automated testing fixture for her Senior...
Organizational values are an important factor in the work of many organizations and can guide both day-to-day decision-making and long-term strategic planning. Little previous research has documented the impact of core values on individual performance in military environments nor the effect of core values on leadership attributes. In this study,...
Electroencephalogram (EEG) signals have recently gained attention to classify associated hand movement. This is particularly useful for amputees with prostatic hands or people who are unable to move their hands voluntarily. Among the decoding algorithms used to classify hand movements are support vector machines and multilayer perceptron networks. In this...
This project examines the results of current-voltage conduction mechanism analysis techniques simulated under assumed conduction conditions. Thermionic emission and Fowler-Nordheim tunneling conditions are simulated and analyzed. The resulting plots show how devices behave under different condition mechanisms. The effects of different conduction mechanisms on the results of various analysis techniques...
A period of over forty years (1913-1954) of gold dredging dramatically changed
the landscape of Sumpter Valley, Oregon into a rocky, uninhabitable terrain. The Defrees
Ranch LLC used cattle feeding to increase top soil, vegetation, and habitat on the dredge
tailings. This thesis investigated the use of feeding cattle as...
Loss of a limb can severely impact everyday way of life. Prosthetics provide a way to return functionality to the user and improve quality of life. However, most prosthetic systems currently available in the market lack sensory feedback making them comparatively more difficult to use resulting in prosthetic abandonment. Therefore,...
The highly conserved multi-protein mismatch repair (MMR) system is known for its ability to correct post replication errors in genomic DNA. A hallmark of MMR deficiency in all organisms is microsatellite instability. The initiating proteins in the eukaryotic MMR system are hetrodimers formed with an integral MSH2 subunit and one...
A unique, permanent root-growth arrest phenotype was observed in UV-B irradiated Arabidopsis thaliana roots lacking the DNA damage response kinase ATR. Segregation analysis suggests the dependence of this phenotype on another, unidentified gene, termed ursu. High-throughput sequencing technologies were used to map and identify the causal ursu mutation. Illumina HiSeq...
Finding renewable sources of agricultural fertilizer will be necessary to ensure a stable food supply for future generations. Phosphorus is of particular concern, since mining phosphate rock is the main source and reserves are forecasted to deplete in the next 50 – 200 years. Human urine contains substantial amounts of...
Pseudomonas fluorescens NZI7 was first isolated from a New Zealand mushroom farm in 2001. This Gram-negative bacteria can cause brown blotch disease in the basidiomycete mushroom Agaricus bisporus. P. fluorescens NZI7 can also repel grazing by the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, a natural predator of P. fluorescens NZI7. Potentially implicated in...
The goal of this thesis is to explore the possibility of an upgrade of materials used in the wing-structure of a high-performance light aircraft operating under severe aerodynamic and inertial loads. The case aircraft considered in the thesis is the Caproni A-21 SJ, an all-metal high-performance motorglider powered by two...
Many biological processes are regulated by the presence and movement of cellular Ca²⁺ ions. The concentration of Ca²⁺ in a cellular environment is regulated by IP₃ sensitive channels that lie on the surface of a cell’s endoplasmic reticulum. Little is known about the macroscopic effects of intracellular Ca²⁺ activity, so...
Cascadia’s 1700 earthquake generated a tsunami and widespread subsidence along Pacific Northwest coastline. The tsunami deposited sandy sediments in many Oregon coastal estuaries, such as Alsea Bay. Although the recurrence of subduction-generated megathrust earthquakes and tsunami events in this region are recorded in the stratigraphy, knowledge of the full inland...
Creating intelligent robotics is at the cutting edge of technology. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) are of particular interest for surveillance applications. UAVs have the potential to provide quick and cheap aerial data that would be difficult to obtain by conventional means. UAVs also have the ability to navigate without being...
In a homogenous and isotropic material, the location of the neutral axis coincides with the location of the centroid of the beam. Wood is anisotropic, meaning that it has different properties in different directions. It is also non-homogenous, meaning that the beam exhibits different properties at different locations throughout its...
This project created a stand-alone unit capable of providing on-board sensing and processing for robotic vehicles. This unit was designed to be compact, lightweight, inexpensive, and adaptable. The goal of this project is to help advance robotics research in mapping and multi-agent coordination by making it easier to equip vehicles...
Political Polarization in the United States is at a level higher today than at any point in the past few decades. Possible causes of this rise in polarization have been provided from various sources, including explanations such as mass media and income inequality. Through historical analysis and a wide literature...
This project analyzes, tests, and redesigns an environmental control system for Global Formula Racing’s (GFR) dynamometer. It seeks to develop a working system to test GFR’s car engine under air conditions similar to those faced during competition. A model is developed to predict the performance of the environmental control system,...
Coral reefs are diverse ecosystems and serve many purposes including preventing erosion on coastlines and acting as a source of food, income, and culture. Acropora cervicornis, a staghorn coral, has faced a significant 80-89% decline in the Caribbean, attributed to a poorly-characterized epizootic, White Band Disease (WBD). Previous studies showed...
Using a spectrometer and photomultiplier tube, I measured the electromagnetic radiation transmittance properties of three types of tissue-- ventral skin, cardiac muscle, and liver tissue--in the red-sided garter snake Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis between the wavelengths of 450 and 850 nanometers (nm). Control readings were taken using a 10⁻² neutral density...
On account of the abundance of the antique tussock
moth, and the ease with which material for study can be
secured in the vicinity of Corvallis, an investigation
of this insect was thought to be a fitting subject for
my graduation thesis. The work was begun in the spring
of...
It is commonly accepted that for the analysis of wood beams, the neutral axis coincides with the centroid of the beam. Although this assumption is used in analysis, wood is not an isotropic material, as it has different elastic properties in the tangential, radial and longitudinal directions, nor is it...
At This Point, an undergraduate-focused science podcast, works to expand the accessibility of science by exploring topics that, at this point, may seem too complex to understand. This thesis project describes the process of creating At This Point and demonstrates how the podcast fulfills the criteria of effective science communication....
Due to public and regulatory restrictions, genetic containment technology is critical for research and development of transgenic trees in forestry. A multi-year field trial demonstrated that the RNAi-LFY construct successfully induces sexual sterility in 6K10 poplar (Populus alba) without visible effects on vegetative development. However, its limited number of replicates...
This thesis explores the differences in puppetted and teleoperation control of robotic hands, using the Asterisk test as a benchmark. Two hands were tested, including modified versions of the Model Q and Model Q developed by Yale's GRAB Lab. Small differences were observed between the puppetted and teleoperation control of...
Xanthan gum, a naturally produced polysaccharide, is biocompatible, and it is commonly used as a food additive. When combined with trivalent ions, such as chromium (III), a gel can form. Various concentrations of xanthan gum and chromium (III) nitrate were combined to evaluate the sol-gel transition of this system. Samples...
An Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) is an important part of a freestanding bipedal robot's state estimation system.
IMUs return translational accelerations and rotational velocities, which must be numerically integrated to obtain a robot's orientation.
This thesis documents the implementation of the IMU alignment and integration systems for the ATRIAS robot....
Organic aggregates and transparent amorphous metals are transforming opto-electronic devices such as highly efficiency solar cells and flexible displays. We present a fundamental optical study of how local morphology critically impacts the device performance of both stacked, conjugated organics and In-Ga-Zn-O (IGZO) transparent metallic materials. Derivatives of anthradithiophene (ADT): ADTTES-F,...
For the past twenty-seven years, Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) has become a worldwide pandemic. Due to the properties of HIV, such as its fast replication rate and error-prone reverse transcriptase, researchers have been unsuccessful in finding a cure or vaccine. Researchers have, however, developed a treatment regimen...
Studying human’s ability to estimate temporal durations could lead to a greater
understanding of our cognitive abilities as well as the processes that underlie temporal
estimation. It has been shown through previous research that time and number may be
interconnected cognitively and that the magnitude of one may alter the...
A great deal of research has been focused on the microbiomes of terrestrial angiosperms (flowering plants), but much less research has been performed on the microbiomes of aquatic angiosperms (Turner et al. 2013). Eelgrass beds are extremely productive ecosystems that provide habitat for many marine organisms, such as fish, shellfish,...
An understanding of creativity’s emergence is critical as our society faces new challenges. Despite a growing body of research emphasizing nature’s influence on the creative process, we now spend record amounts of time indoors, disconnected from nature. Biophilic design has been afforded as a panacea, with research supporting the incorporation...
The purpose of this thesis is to engage in a linguistic-conceptual inquiry into what it
proposes might for analytical purposes be conceived—and which it hence stipulatively
defines—as Applied Value Words. After constructing the conceptual framework through
which to identify, and within which to characterize Applied Value Words, this thesis then...
Industrial Engineering is a broad discipline, with a wide range of definitions for the field and the knowledge areas that make up its parts. A conceptual gap exists between the definition of the field of Industrial Engineering and the definitions of each of these parts. To facilitate advancement of the...
In response to climate change and limited resources this paper reviews cohousing as a possible option for sustainable development. Sustainable design practices that incorporate economic, environmental and social issues need to be present in our neighborhoods. Other development methods incorporate one, but not all three, of the triple bottom line...
The inhibitory effects of (Ag⁺) and silver nanoparticles (Ag NP) 3-5 nm in diameter (stabilized with polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP)) and 20 nm (stabilized with citrate) on nitrification rates of the model ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) Nitrosomonas europaea were investigated. Experimental solutions contained HEPES buffer and ammonia (NH₃) in the presence and absence...
Recent work in machine learning concerns the detection and identification of bird species from audio recordings of their vocalizations. Such analysis can yield valuable ecological information concerning the activity and distribution of species in the wild. Current species-identification methods require individual syllables of bird audio as input, but field-collected audio...
The purpose of this thesis is to explain why the reservation system manifested so
disappointingly for the Native American groups of Southwest Oregon. It seeks to characterize the
struggle that raged in Southwest Oregon from 1850 to 1856 between three main groups there:
indigenous peoples, white squatters and miners, and...
The United States of America is founded upon immigration, and Germans are one of the first European ethnic groups to settle en masse in North America. The common narrative of immigration is that of the “melting pot”; characterized by assimilation of cultures into one ‘super’ culture. German immigration has often...
Juniper (Juniperus spp.) encroachment into the sagebrush steppe ecoregion is one of the main causes of sagebrush degradation and can alter the understory vegetative community by outcompeting native shrubs and grasses, which reduces the available forage and cover for small mammals. Coyotes (Canis latrans) are generalist, omnivorous predators in the...
A method has been developed to measure the thickness of ZnS thin films on Si using optical interference. Thin film optical interference fringes are dependent upon the thickness of the film, and for this reason the thickness can be determined by measuring reflectance spectrum of a thin film. A grating...
Seeds are an essential component of plant life histories, and seed endophytes have the potential to influence germination, seedling establishment and development. That said, seed endophytes are a relatively new area of study, both in the factors that influence which taxa are present and how these microbes alter plant function....