Hume’s division of truth into agreement with matters of fact or relations of ideas casts doubt on our capacity to have moral knowledge, as moral propositions do not seem to fall obviously into either category. This thesis looks at how two views, ‘descriptive moral functionalism’ and ‘moral concept essentialism’, try...
Non-toxic species of desiccated blue-green algae, or cyanobacteria, may offer potential for use as a fertilizer on irrigated crops. Here, the non-toxic cyanobacteria species Aphanizomenon flos-aquae (AFA), collected from Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon, was evaluated for use as a biofertilizer in a controlled experiment on Swiss chard “Bright Lights” (Beta...
I defend robust realism from arguments that raise epistemological challenges to it based on considerations about either moral disagreement or the genealogy of our moral beliefs. The first argument is the “Argument from Conciliationism,” which contends that the moral disagreements that obtain between moral peers give us reason to believe...
Phycocyanin, a photosynthetic pigment-protein complex produced by cyanobacteria, has critical value in the medical field at high purity. Costs associated with the extraction of this pigment are high, emphasizing the importance of optimal growth conditions. The aim of this study was to investigate potential commercial producers of phycocyanin by evaluating...
We construct a website to explain how Gaussian mixture models can be optimized using the expectation maximization algorithm. Previous free, online material on this process has been extremely limited. All sources surveyed failed to entirely describe our identified criteria for an in-depth description and useful visualizations. After surveying a variety...
Institutionalized oppression is a large multifaceted system that is regularly unrecognized and misunderstood. Marilyn Frye’s birdcage analogy of oppression (1983) demonstrates why this complex system is often invisible, yet always immobilizing. In this analogy, Frye relates the various manifestations of oppressions to the wires of a birdcage, demonstrating that it...
This research examined the potential for using peanut husk as a fiber alternative to wood in the production of melamine-formaldehyde (MF) particleboard. MF resin was used to produce panels with one, three, six, nine or 12 percent resin contents. Modulus of Rupture (MOR), Modulus of Elasticity (MOE), Internal Bond (IB)...
Previous studies have revealed distinctive ecotypic differences between garter snakes living in the meadow and lakeshore environments around Eagle Lake in California. Snakes from these contrasting environments have significantly different growth rates, litter sizes, adult body size, annual survival, and coloration. To try and explain these differences, bird predation was...
Sports, being one of the most popular forms of social play for children (Felfe et al., 2016), can contribute to a child’s development, as they are associated with “physical growth, biological maturation, behavioral development, psychological, and social well-being” (Bailey et al., 2015). The purpose of this study was to attempt...
This is the first study to link exercise with adult romantic attachment style in a university setting. Previous research has associated insecure attachment styles, particularly those associated with high levels of anxiety, with increased pain sensitivity. This thesis hypothesizes that the mechanism responsible for this relationship will correlate with the...
Our experiments aimed to investigate responses of the marine cyanobacteria Prochlorococcus and Synechococcus to toxic arsenic species, such as arsenate, and to understand cellular mechanisms that contribute to arsenic tolerance. We used two strains of Prochlorococcus, a high-light adapted MED4 and low-light adapted MIT9313, both axenic, for cultivation experiments. For...
Nitrous oxide is an important greenhouse gas that has both natural and anthropogenic sources in the modern atmosphere (Ciais et al., 2013). This project expanded the knowledge of the history of atmospheric N2O in the geologic past by measuring N2O concentrations in air trapped in very old polar ice. A...
The equation of state for a fluid described by the Weeks-Chandler-Andersen (WCA) potential was solved to determine at what pressures and temperatures the fluid will theoretically freeze. A Monte Carlo (MC) algorithm was used to sample a system of 256 spheres for a set of thermodynamic averages to locate and...
In this work we introduce some basic concepts within homotopy type theory (HoTT), a proposed alternative mathematical foundation to classical set theory. In particular, our discussion revolves around the Axiom of Choice (AC). In Part I, we introduce the classical AC and some of its most important equivalents. In Part...
This thesis project explores Tim O’Brien’s use of fiction to go beyond simply recounting an experience in the Vietnam War to write a true war story through examination of his writing, interviews, and their impact on me as a reader. I dissect three of O’Brien’s fictional narratives for their similarities...
Oregon high schools are required to provide comprehensive sex education to students, but there is anecdotal evidence that this is not consistently being carried out across all schools. Despite the significant amount of literature that exists on the topic of sex education, there is a gap in regards to what...
The Missoula Floods occurred approximately fifteen thousand to thirteen thousand years ago during the last ice age. The floods occurred when waters held back by a finger of the Purcell Ice Lobe gave way allowing water which covered present day Missoula, Montana to inundate areas of Idaho, Washington, and Oregon....
Triathlon is an endurance sport consisting of back-to-back swimming, cycling, and running. There are four popular distances: sprint (.75k m swim, 20km bike, 5km run), Olympic (1.5km swim, 40km bike, 10km run), half-ironman (1.9km swim, 90km bike, 21.1km run), and ironman (3.8km swim, 180km bike, 42.2km run). Even at the...
We do not fully understand reasons behind extinction of populations and species. Consequently, our ability to anticipate extinction (which can be considered a permanent type of an ecological threshold) has remained elusive. In particular, it is not clear how the attributes of episodic disturbance regimes can elicit extinction. In this...
Inner shelf hypoxia has occurred along the Oregon coast between the latitudes 44ºN
and 45ºN since 2002 with increasing duration and intensity, posing a threat to marine
life. The objective of this research was to determine whether variation in respiration
rate explains spatial and temporal variation in hypoxia. Dissolved oxygen...
Evaporation synergy is a phenomenon that occurs between different classes of soil and allows for a greater amount/quantity of soil water evaporation. 20 of the 66 soil texture class combinations have been shown to exhibit evaporation synergy (Fisher, 2012), however the impact of column width on the functionality of this...
Competitive exclusion is a key concept in ecology describing the exclusion of one species by another from access to a limited resource. Competitive interactions between chipmunk species in the Great Basin, documented by James Brown in 1970, are often used as a textbook example of competitive exclusion. Whether competitive interactions...
This study examines climatological influences, particularly that of snowpack, on tree growth and stable carbon isotope discrimination (Δ¹³C) from ~1980 to 2013 at two sites located in the upper reaches of the McKenzie River watershed of the Oregon Cascade Mountains. We tested the use of Δ¹³C values from latewood, corroborated...
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...
The purpose of my thesis is to recognize the social injustice that existed in France 20 years ago and continues to result in social dysfunction today. I have used the film La Haine (dir. Mathieu Kassovitz, 1995) to examine past events in France’s history and have compared them to more...
Food webs are extraordinarily complex, containing myriad direct interactions and indirect effects. Determining how this network of interactions and effects influences a food web’s qualitative dynamics is a challenging task, especially because data on food web structure and individual interaction strengths is unknown in virtually all real-world ecosystems. The goal...
Lithium serves an unparalleled role for high energy-density storage applications and is vital for the continued advancement of the world economy. However, global supply is heavily reliant on lithium deposits situated in select locations, creating unpredictability in the price and concerns for the sustained production of the resource. Additionally, future...
Under the Paris Agreement, parties submitted documents outlining their commitments to climate change mitigation and adaptation, called Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), which are set to be updated to increase ambition by 2020. Costa Rica and México are known for their significant national actions on climate change, so comparing these two...
Understanding the relationships between land use, water quality, and groundwater is crucial for ecological, economic, and water management decisions. This study aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of the land use activities and hydrologic processes influencing the water quality of Oak Creek watershed. Objectives of this study were: 1) to...
As the zebrafish (Danio rerio) becomes increasingly popular as a biomedical model for various laboratory studies, the need for efficient and accurate diagnostic assays for the pathogens that infect it has grown. The most common pathogen infecting laboratory zebrafish is Pseudoloma neurophilia, a microsporidium that has been known to cause...
Only within the last few years have literary critics
come to recognize in the short story a definite type,
one having its own individual characteristics and limitations.
It differs from the novel in a brevity not
merely accidental which prohibits the too extensive development of the three elements of the...
The current knowledge on the microstructural evolutions and mechanical properties of selective laser melting (SLM) produced H13 tool steel components is limited. This research is focused on optimization of SLM processing parameters for H13 tool steel and investigation of microstructure and mechanical properties of H13 tool steel components after SLM...
In order to support first-year women in engineering, a program was designed to help their transition to college and promote connection with other women. The program focused on three main areas based in research: mentor matching with mentee input, regular formal meetings in small mentoring groups, and the formation of...
Deutschland hat das best entwickelte Handelschul system der Welt. Einige Dchulen werden von Kaufmanns Vereinen unterstützt, andere von Städten und einige wenige vom Staat.
Information about social and economic attributes of fisheries, fishing communities, and fishery participants is important for marine resource management because the focuses of agency efforts are on managing society's impacts to the marine environment. This thesis addresses two questions. First, what are the perspectives of managers, scientists, and commercial and...
Unintended pregnancy has been found to be one of the most prominent challenges that the public health system is forced to overcome due to the financial and social burdens that accompany it (Yazdkhasti et al., 2015). With nearly 48% of reproductive-age American female patients having experienced at least one unintended...
The detection of white-nose syndrome (WNS) in King County, WA in 2016 prompted the National Park Service to mobilize region-wide bat monitoring and disease surveillance. One of the goals of the Pacific West Region WNS response plan was to implement acoustic monitoring to determine the distribution of bat species and...
The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) provides open access data products including sub-daily precipitation amounts and biweekly stable water isotope concentrations at sites across the United States. Stable water isotope (ẟ2H, ẟ18O) concentrations are often used in hydrometeorological studies and models, however the relatively infrequent biweekly sampling intervals of NEON...
Our laboratory is exploring the mechanism of action of a novel broad spectrum antiviral, ST-669. This compound has activity against a variety of different viruses and the obligate intracellular bacterium, Chlamydia. In this study, we explored the effects of ST-669 when the cell cycle of the host cells was altered....
Following their extirpation due to the maritime fur trade, northern sea otter (Enhydra lutris kenyoni) reintroduction in the 1960s has facilitated their recolonization in southeast Alaska. Sea otters are now sympatric with wolves (Canis lupus), which are widespread in southeast Alaska, and a colonizing coyote population (Canis latrans). Recent studies...
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...
One method for CO2 sequestration is to store the liquid form of CO2 in small cement wells in the ground. An issue with this method is the susceptibility of cement to fracture and thus release the CO2. One proposition is to fill these cracks with biofilm of the bacteria Sporosarcina...
Severe cases of COVID-19 have been associated with cytokine storms, leading to widespread inflammation, tissue damage, and organ failure. Pro-inflammatory cytokines have also been shown to play a role in liver diseases, including alcoholic liver disease. To investigate alcohol consumption as a risk factor for SARS-CoV-2 infections and COVID-19 severity,...
Background: This study investigated the relationship between gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and orofacial cleft (OFC). The association between GDM and OFC has been debated, therefore this systematic review focused on presenting a synthesis of the previous studies in this field.
Methods: PubMed was searched using MeSH terms for articles published...
This thesis investigates the effect of participating in political activism on mental health. Participants (N = 187, 72% female, N = 135, 77% female) from an Oregon university were randomly assigned to one of three or four conditions (depending on the study) in which they participated in activism related to...
Synthesizing perspectives from Bruner (1957), and the Mind Only School of Buddhism, the current study examined the effect of a persons’ own behavior on knowledge activation. Both social cognitive psychology and the Mind Only School posit that perception is based on previously learned knowledge. Knowledge is accumulated through an individual’s...
The aging process is a biological phenomenon in mammals that heavily contributes to the onset of chronic diseases. While there are many theories that attempt to explain the biological onset of aging, one emerging theory involves chronic inflammation. Chronic inflammation has been previously linked to several age-related diseases and is...
Endurance athletes set the intensities of training sessions using blood lactate data from a maximal graded exercise test. Specifically, these intensities are set as a percentage of heart rate (HR) at lactate threshold (LT). Often, however, gas exchange threshold (GET) data is used as a predictor of LT as it...
In current nanotoxicology research, there is a lack of standardization in reporting of zebrafish exposure media and sonication practices. This lack of standardization in use and reporting methods has made reproducing nanoparticle (NP) toxicity results between labs a common issue. It is important to have a standardized way of reporting...
The increased severity of unseasonal drought conditions in the American Southwest have resulted in herbivorous species, like the desert bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis nelsoni), receiving lower quality forage in their diet at less reliable frequency. The Mojave Desert and the Peninsular Mountain ranges also contain large variations in elevation, which...
Behavioral studies have observed facial recognition bypass attentional limitations when performed with non-facial recognition tasks (e.g., a digit task). Awh et al. (2004) proposed this was due to multi-channel processing, where non-facial objects utilize a feature-based channel leaving the configural-based channel available for facial processing. We tested this hypothesis using...
Plant species diversity plays an important role in maintaining ecosystem function and the services that ecosystems provide. Diversity is threatened by habitat loss, invasive species, and global climate change. Willamette Daisy (Erigeron decumbens), an endangered species, has been reintroduced at two different sites
(Field 29 and 8N) within William L....
Sweetpotatoes are a highly nutritious staple crop, playing an important role in global nutritional security. Although the majority of research in the United States (U.S.) focuses on the cultivation of the storage roots, both the leaves and roots are edible. Sweetpotatoes are indigenous to the Andes Region of South America;...
Motivation: It can take considerable amounts of time and effort to use existing computational tools to analyze a small RNA sequence for the purpose of determining if it is characteristic of microRNA. It is similarly tedious to search for homologs to known microRNA sequences in the rapidly growing collection of...
This study investigates the occurrence of beaver (Castor canadensis) in lentic habitat (lakes and ponds) near Mount St. Helens in Washington, 40 years after the 1980 eruption. At the coarse spatial scale, I surveyed lakes for sign of beaver establishment (lodge or den) across multiple volcanic disturbance zones. At a...
Accurate estimation of the amount of water used by trees is important for a variety of agricultural applications. There are several current methodologies for measuring sap flow and water use in trees, however the heat ratio method has been identified as the ideal due to its ability to measure low...
Barley and cereal yellow dwarf viruses (B/CYDV) are a suite of aphid-vectored pathogens that affect diverse host communities, including economically important crops. Coinfection of a single host by multiple strains of B/CYDV can result in elevated virulence, incidence, and transmission rates. We develop a model for a single host, two...
Aging is a complex biological phenomenon that alters many different physiological processes. Although many age-related phenotypes, such as neurodegeneration, weakening circadian rhythms, and inflammaging, are well-studied, the links between them are not. To elucidate these links we created an inflammation-like state in Drosophila melanogaster by overexpressing Relish (Rel), an NFκB...
Background: Chronic heavy alcohol consumption is a risk factor for bone fracture.
Using a non-human primate model of voluntary alcohol self-administration, we have recently shown that alcohol consumption suppresses intracortical bone remodeling. The current study extends this investigation to asses the effect of alcohol consumption on cancellous bone mass, architecture,...
Grasslands and croplands located in temperate agro-ecologies are ranked to be the best places to install solar panels for maximum energy production. Therefore, agrivoltaic systems (agricultural production under solar panels) are designed to mutually benefit solar energy and agricultural production in the same location for dual-use of land. However, both...
The lionfish (Pterois volitans) is a successful invasive predator with large impacts on native fish populations in the western Atlantic. Lionfish predation may affect competition between prey species so it is important to understand whether lionfish display preferences between prey species. I investigated lionfish and native graysby grouper prey preference...
With cannabis use increasing globally, it is important to understand its acute and chronic impacts on human physiology and behavior. It is proposed that cannabis use is linked to impairments in emotion processing, and brain regions that underlie these processes. The purpose of this review paper is to provide the...
Soil respiration has been identified as one of the largest natural sources of CO₂ to the global carbon cycle. Small alterations in the magnitude of soil respiration can have potentially large effects on concentrations of atmospheric CO₂ , making the rate at which respiration occurs of great scientific interest (Martin...
Investigating the insectivorous diet of the Trowbridge’s shrew (Sorex trowbridgii) across forest types can illustrate how forest management affects biotic communities. I used DNA metabarcoding methods with ANML primers to identify stomach and intestines contents from shrews caught in pitfall traps in the HJ Andrews Experimental Forest (HJA) and Willamette...
Atmospheric carbon dioxide has increased by approximately 40% since preindustrial times from 280 ppm (parts per million) to 400 ppm. The rise in Pco₂ is causing the ocean to become more acidic due to the uptake of carbon dioxide by the water, termed “ocean acidification”. As the Pco₂ in the...
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,...
Cannabis use rates have been escalating in recent years within the United States. The effects of cannabis on motivation and effort-based decision making have been of increased interest. Amotivational syndrome is a term used to refer to a lack of motivation, passive personality, non-productive behavior, and lowered educational attainment due...
Genetic sampling is used in many wildlife fields to gather data on populations or individuals. In noninvasive genetic sampling, animals do not need to be captured. DNA can be gathered from hair, scat, or other residue shed into the environment. However, this can result in degraded DNA, so it is...
Though people generally seem to be able to interpret data, they are subject to errors and biases that are influenced by the format of the graphical visualization itself. The current study sought to assess whether individuals could interpret bar graphs with min/max range bars, whether they could use this information...
Our laboratory group is studying the molecular target of a novel, broad-spectrum antiviral compound known as ST-669. This compound has activity against a variety of different viruses and also obligate intracellular bacteria in the genera Coxiella and Chlamydia. The goal of this thesis project was to help elucidate the mechanism...
On the surface, the written works of the Marquis de Sade appear to be nothing more than pornographic mania articulated, the narrative trajectory of which oscillates between illicit words and acts. Yet his life and works are important to historians, if not due to their inherent quality then because they...
M. avium is an opportunistic pathogen that primarily infects macrophages. In order to survive within the macrophage, M. avium secretes proteins into the host cell cytoplasm to inhibit specific functions such as phagosome acidification, altering pathways as well as initiating apoptosis. However, little is known about how those secreted proteins...
In order to improve photosynthetic hydrogen production, initial work has begun on a flux balance analysis of Synechocystis sp. strain PCC 6803, a model H2-producing organism. The mathematical model developed includes reactions relevant to photoautotrophic growth: glycolysis, the tricarboxylic acid cycle, the Calvin cycle, the photosynthetic electron transport chain, the...
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are known to cause adverse health effects in the human lung. Here, we evaluated biomarkers relevant for PAH toxicity in a 3D human primary bronchial epithelial cell (HBEC) model collected from normal and asthmatic donors. We previously found that PAHs decrease cellular barrier function integrity, which...
Synechococcus is one of the most abundant groups of primary producers in the marine environment. They play a crucial role in the food web by being the main source of alimentary energy to many marine organisms that contribute to human nutriments. The ability of Synechococcus to use light as a...
The behavior of small atomics cluster largely depends on their geometry,
due to the high ratio of surface atoms to interior atoms. One interesting aspect
to study clusters centers around characterizing the transition behavior between
nite and bulk materials, where the ratio of surface atoms to interior atoms is
very...
Indigenous management and coordinated co-management of natural resources is an emotionally filled topic, especially for those within the Puget Sound region of Washington, but has yet to be studied in depth from the emotional perspective of residents. This research used sentiment analysis to find the overarching sentiment of indigenous fisheries,...
Heightened cortisol levels are a typical physiological response to stress. The many responsibilities of animal shelter workers can lead to increased stress levels and negative effects on their job satisfaction and overall wellness. As a result, workers are subject to burnout and compassion fatigue. While working in shelter environments may...
This study sought to explore the differences between the varied academic advising models in the College of Science at Oregon State University through the feedback of its undergraduate students and advisors. Using parallel surveys of students and their academic advisors, it found that the decentralized and centralized models each had...
This thesis analyzes different aspects of the Oregon foster care system. It does this first by looking at racial/ethnic disparities across counties. Then it analyzes the relationship between foster care rates and child poverty rates, childhood food insecurity rates, free and reduced lunch eligibility rates, and unemployment rates for Oregon’s...
The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, commonly used in winemaking, baking, and brewing, also serves as a host for the production of therapeutically valuable pharmaceuticals. Recently, the Bakalinsky laboratory constructed a recombinant yeast strain expressing two zebrafish (Danio rerio) genes in order to produce a UV-protective “sunscreen” compound called gadusol. An antioxidant...
Jung, Ruthruff, Tybur, Gaspelin, and Miller (2012) reported behavioral evidence that the perception of facial attractiveness requires central attentional resources. We evaluated this conclusion using more sensitive electrophysiological measures. Participants first made an attractiveness rating on faces to validate the assigned level of attractiveness (low vs. high). They then performed...
With changing climate conditions and human impacts on ecosystems becoming a
big focus of study, it has become even more crucial to understand how our ecosystems
work. Community structure within rocky intertidal habitats is governed by a mix of
environmental conditions and species interactions. This project examined the effects of...
We present a report on a new capability for low temperature microscopy of organic
optoelectronic semiconductor materials. We may now perform photoluminescence (PL) and
conductivity measurements as a function of temperature on a microscopic level.
Testing confirmed the setup's ability to support microscopic measurements at pressures
of 10^-6 Torr and...
Self-regulation, defined as one’s ability to control their behaviors, cognitions, and emotions, is an important factor for children’s social, behavioral, and long-term academic performance. Speech/language skills have long been theorized to be important factors in the development of self-regulation and have been linked to various developmental outcomes, particularly in the...
In an effort to qualify the historical management and its effects on current stand structure, historical records, literature of the inter-mountain West, and current observations were utilized to paint a picture of the Deschutes National Forest.
Stand data were collected for the Deschutes during the summers of 2009 and 2010....
The current American free-roaming horse (Equus caballus) population far exceeds the appropriate population limit set by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to preserve resources on public lands. Several techniques have been tested to assist in decreasing repopulation rates. The purpose of the present study was to analyze two contraceptive...
When analyzing foreign policy, a significant question arises. How do nations make decisions about foreign engagement and neutrality? Understanding what factors and influences shape foreign policy decisions is often a difficult task as the motivation for action is never clear or absolute. This work will analyze whether or not the...
According to a 2017 Pew Research Study, 44% of adults in America say that they do not feel informed enough about science to understand news and new discoveries discussed on the media (Funk et al. 2019). This is concerning, because adults are not just passive consumers of media; among other...
Hemodynamic forces regulate vascular homeostasis and arterial structure through mechanical stimuli by a process called mechanotransduction. Cellular response to mechanical forces involves coordination between cell surface receptors and intracellular signaling pathways. While previous work has focused on the role of integrin receptors in mechanotransduction, little is known about the role...
Hemodynamic forces regulate vascular homeostasis and arterial structure through mechanical stimuli by a process called mechanotransduction. Cellular response to mechanical forces involves coordination between cell surface receptors and intracellular signaling pathways. While previous work has focused on the role of integrin receptors in mechanotransduction, little is known about the role...
This study used a factorial mesocosm design to quantify American bullfrog (Lithobates castebeianus) eDNA to assess the relationship between body size, density, and eDNA shedding rates.
One of the tasks that continues to prove difficult in robotics is the ability to grasp objects of varying shapes. It is time-consuming to acquire large amounts of real-world data in order to train accurate classifiers that can predict the success or failure of a grasp. To solve this issue,...
Genetic code expansion is a technology that allows for site-specific incorporation of noncanonical amino acids into recombinant proteins at amber stop codons using engineered translational machinery. The technology allows for expanded study into proteins, derived from the integration of novel chemical functions found in noncanonical amino acids, such as fluorescence,...
Being human is often portrayed as desirable in fiction. Many fictional beings, particularly robots and androids, seek out being human as a goal. Although current robotics is not advanced enough for robots and androids to be deemed sentient, the world of fiction is quickly becoming reality. With the integration of...