The ability to focus light through strongly scattering materials is opening up exciting new avenues in many fields, such as optics, computer vision, biology, and medicine, which utilize light delivery and imaging techniques. Efficient, high resolution wavefront shaping and optimization methods are crucial to enabling this new capability.
In this...
The common choice in computational approximations, from 0 K to room temperature, of solid materials is to assume the structure remains unchanged at low temperatures. Often such an approximation is a very reasonable assumption. However, this approximation is not absolute and can break down even for relatively simple materials such...
Crystals are solid materials with periodic and symmetric molecular patterns. The structure of a crystalline solid determines its properties, making it essential to study its structures. From the principle of minimum energy, a crystal will choose a structure with the lowest free energy F = U – TS. At low...
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...
Several compounds have been recently identified which are effective against dengue virus, a tropical arbovirus highly prevalent in southeast Asia and central America. Initial intrinsic fluorescence characterization of the mechanism of action of compound B reveals binding affinity to the dengue capsid protein. A molecular beacon unwinding assay and malachite...
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...
The inhibitory effects of Corexit 9500A, Alaska North Slope Crude oil (ANSC), and mixtures of the two on the ammonia-oxidizing bacteria, Nitrosomonas europaea, and the ammonia-oxidizing archaea, Nitrosopumilus maritimus, were investigated. Corexit 9500A was found to be minimally toxic to both microorganisms with concentrations of 2000 and 3000 ppm yielding...
As conventional energy sources begin to deplete, the need for alternative, renewable
energy becomes more necessary. Dimethyl ether (DME) fuel cells are a promising
energy source that could fulfill these demands. Compared to well-known fuel cell
fuels, such as methanol, DME has a low toxicity and high energy density.
Experimental...
Over the past few decades, the ratio of women to men in many traditionally maledominated fields has become much more equal. However, in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields the ratio has not improved at the same rate. In computer science the ratio is still very uneven. Today women...
China’s global influence in the realm of science and technology (S&T) has increased dramatically in recent times. China and the United States are now each other’s main partner in scientific collaboration. As a major research university, OSU is one of the institutions with a large stake in this international collaboration....
Vitiligo is a disease characterized by depigmented patches of skin. The disease is known to involve the loss of melanocytes in the basal layer of the skin in affected areas, but the underlying mechanisms are unknown. Recent evidence suggests oxidative stress and disruptions to antioxidant pathways contribute to an autoimmune...
School-based comprehensive sex education (CSE) can reduce adolescent sexual health problems. However, only 49-55% of adolescents receive CSE that meets national standards. African American youth (AAY), particularly males, are less likely to receive CSE. AAY evidence a high prevalence of STIs/teen pregnancy. Internet-based CSE offers a supplemental option. We examined...
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is a cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy approach developed for the treatment of women struggling with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). Derived from classical Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT), DBT emerged to treat patterns of behavior seen in female patients with BPD who were difficult for therapists to treat, such as...
To determine the best poly-ion layers to be used in encapsulation of pyrrolizidine alkaloid degrading anaerobic microbes, a study was carried out to test three layers on coating ability and ability of the bacteria to grow after being coated. Two positive layers, poly(allylamine hydrochloride) (PAH) and poly-L-lysine, and one negative...
Chemical compounds produced by organisms, or natural products, are excellent sources of inspiration for anticancer pharmaceutical discovery (Rodrigues et al., 2016). Microtubule targeting agents are a specific class of compounds, often discovered from natural sources, that have been developed as clinically successful anticancer therapies (Steinmetz and Prota, 2018). In the...
The relationship between physicians and patients is undeniably unique. To understand the qualities of a healing relationship, it is essential to analyze the perceptions that influence physician behavior. Metaphors and relationship models are often used in bioethics to analyze the construction of perceptions. The goal of this study is to...
This paper was written for GEOG 323 Climatology in the Spring of 2021, and was awarded the Writing in Culture Award within the College of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences.
Modern technology has enabled the advancement of biological research through the use of powerful machines and computers as well as innovative computer programs. Advances in sequencing technology and software enable us to make de novo assemblies of organism genomes, and the development of specialized computer programs can automate routine but...
The safety of the chemical glyphosate, the active ingredient in the herbicide RoundUpTM, has been questioned on numerous occasions. Previous studies suggest that glyphosate-containing herbicides have deleterious effects on a variety of organisms; other studies suggest that these effects may be minor, transient, or non-existent altogether. Proper maintenance of microbial...
This project calculates the melting temperature as a function of pressure for a system defined by the Lennard-Jones 12-6 potential using molecular dynamic simulations. In a single atomistic simulation, the initial conditions are manipulated such that both a liquid and solid phase exist when thermal equilibrium is reached. Phase coexistence...
Exciton-polaritons are a form of light-matter coupling that have potential applications as photonic transistors and logic gates. In order for a photonic transistor or logic gate to be integrated with room temperature fiber-optic technology, excitons-polaritons need to be stable at room temperature and compatible with the red and near-infrared wavelengths...
With a growing minority population in Oregon classrooms, the demand of knowledge from both minority parents and teachers has grown. Minority parents want to learn more about navigating the education system in Oregon and teachers want to learn how to help them. In this paper I analyzed data from TEAMS...
This thesis is an illustrated look at my own everyday experiences with depression. By exposing the personal aspects of the symptoms, I hope to help contribute to society’s understanding of depression as a whole. Art in particular provides us an avenue unlike any other to express ourselves, and doing so...
The WWC family consists of three proteins‐ KIBRA/WWC1, WWC2, and WWC3. The three proteins share a similar primary structure and interact with a common set of proteins. Each paralog contains two WW domains which recognize proline‐rich sequences of the type PPxY (P is proline, Y is tyrosine, x is any...
Dynamic bipedal locomotion is among the most difficult and yet relevant problems in modern robotics. While a multitude of classical control methods for bipedal locomotion exist, they are often brittle or limited in capability. In recent years, work in applying reinforcement learning to robotics has lead to superior performance across...
The prevalence of obesity and diabetes in the United States and globally has been rising in the last few decades and it continues to climb. One of the causes for this increase is the over consumption of sugars and/or carbohydrates. Among medications available to treat obesity and diabetes are the...
The rise of digital streaming has largely impacted the way the average listener consumes music. Consequentially, while the role of album art has evolved to meet the changes in music technology, it is hard to measure the effect of digital streaming on modern album art. This research seeks to determine...
Predicting recruitment, which is dependent on parent stock size and climate, is vital for forecasting productivity of fish stocks. The effects of climate can be analyzed via the use of climate indices. Three climate indices, the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, the North Pacific Gyre Oscillation, and the Oceanic Niño Index, describe...
The purpose of this thesis is to propose swiveling behavior as a potential speech transitioning device and to discuss the methodology behind qualitative and quantitative analysis of swivels in relation to subjects’ partners. Due to the impacts of gaze and body orientation direction on speech transitioning, it is deduced that,...
Bacteria are critical to the health of eukaryotes and the ecosystems in which they persist. Some symbiotic interactions are mutualistic in which both microbe and host benefit from the partnership. Other interactions are parasitic, and the microbe typically benefits at a cost to the host. Rhodococcus is a genus of...
Using X-ray computed tomography (CT) scanning to characterize the physical characteristics of soil and sediment cores allows scientists to observe and analyze stratigraphy without destroying the integrity of different layers. Microbiologists often work with geologists to characterize the microbial communities in such cores; however, X-rays are known to be destructive...
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...
Dendrimers are well-defined, polymeric nanomaterials currently being investigated for their biomedical applications. Initially, higher generation (size) dendrimers were of interest because of their drug carrying capacity. However, increased generation was associated with increased toxicity. The objective of the present study was to investigate the role of surface charge and generation...
A primary target of Mycobacterium tuberculosis is the human alveolar macrophage.
Infection by this bacterium can lead to a variety of responses, such as apoptosis,
autophagy, and necrosis, which may be involved in controlling the infection. M.
tuberculosis has evolved mechanisms to evade or use the host-mediated processes to its...
There is a growing US interest in UAVs for many applications ranging from agriculture to military. One area of improvement that can be realized in each category is propulsion. Engines with greater efficiency would result in longer mission duration, leading to cost savings and increased usefulness for UAV owners and...
Testing the many potential chemoprevention agents from dietary sources in animal or human models is expensive and takes a long time. In vitro models can be useful for screening the right compounds to use in larger studies. We tested the MatTek™ EpiIntestinal™ small intestine epithelial 3D cell culture model for...
The purpose of this meta-synthesis was to investigate why students from the U.S. receive the scores they do on the international TIMSS and PISA science exams. This work sought to shed light on the perceived disparity between science performance of U.S. students and students from other countries. To do so,...
Recent interest in nano aerial vehicles (NAVs) has sparked an increase in research on the mechanics of biological flapping flight. The ability of NAVs to fly in confined spaces and perform tight maneuvers make them a valuable technological asset. Researching the mechanisms behind small-scale flapping flight promises progress toward the...
Gonadectomy has been associated with a 1.5-2 fold increase in the occurrence of canine hip dysplasia and a 2-3 fold increase in the occurrence of canine anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury. In intact dogs, luteinizing hormone (LH) is secreted from the adenohypophysis to stimulate the synthesis of gonadal hormones, which...
Microtubules (MT) are highly dynamic cylindrical-like structures within cells whose growth is controlled by motor proteins, a class of biological machines that walk along the MT while simultaneously regulating MT growth. Here we are interested in the behavior of kinesin-14 motor proteins. Although processive behavior of kinesin-14 motors has been...
Glioblastoma, which occurs in adults primarily between ages of 40 to 70 years and accounts for 15% of all brain tumors, is a devastating diagnosis with a median survival rate of less than a year. Invasiveness of glioblastoma cells significantly reduces the effectiveness of current treatments, highlighting the importance of...
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...
Multi-party computation (MPC) is a field of study focused on devising cryptographic protocols that allow participants to learn the output of some function of their private inputs without trusting a third party to perform the computation. This is usually done at a large scale between data centers, with little emphasis...
Work engagement is demonstrated when employees are involved with, committed to,
enthusiastic, and passionate about their work. The goal of this study was to summarize
relevant information on work engagement, produce a working coding system to identify
evidence of work engagement, and discuss the implications of work engagement on an...
The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is a crucial organelle in the cell where protein folding and processing occurs, and conditions that negatively affect ER functions are highly detrimental to the cell. The accumulation of unfolded/misfolded proteins in the ER leads to a condition known as ER Stress. The ER has developed...
Thymocytes, cells of the thymus gland, undergo developmental steps that
enable them to properly mature into T-cells. Errors in gene expression may lead to
improper maturation and potentially mass proliferation of dysfunctional thymocytes,
a hallmark of leukemia or lymphoma. BCL11B is a tumor suppressor and
transcriptional regulatory protein that is...
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...
Humanitarian intervention by the United States has increased since the end of the Cold War. This thesis examines the cases of Somalia, Rwanda, Libya and Syria as to explore why the US chooses to offer various amounts of aid to some failed or fragile nation states and not others. Rwanda...
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...
A topic of concern for feminists, film critics, media researchers, and film scholars
alike who believe in a causal connection between film violence and real life violence have
found an enemy in the slasher film. Critics of slasher films, a subgenre of horror, often
charge these films are uniquely violent...
This study examines healthcare policy preferences of Oregon State University students through the lens of Political Culture Theory, as pioneered by Mary Douglas and Aaron Wildavsky in the 1980’s. The primary goal of this study is to examine the impact of cultural traits as described by Political Culture Theory on...
Hydrophobic titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles (NPs) are prevalent in industry and manufacturing. They are known for their white pigmentation, are found in sunscreens, paints, cosmetics, and are frequently used in wastewater treatment. Understanding the physicochemical properties of TiO2 P-25 NPs, such as hydrophobicity, are essential when determining their fate, transport,...
This study applied a virtual rendition of the Morris water maze, which is commonly used for assessing spatial memory in rodents, to an examination of age-related differences in spatial learning among 42 younger (18-30 years) and older (>60 years) male human participants. Virtual Morris water maze performance was measured by...
The proliferation of light emitting diodes (LEDs) are increasing human light exposure, yet the long-term effects of such exposure remains unknown. The current study aims to address this by measuring the longevity of Drosophila melanogaster kept in several light conditions. Initial longevity testing determined that flies kept in daily light-dark...
The potential of red blood cell (RBC) and platelet damage was studied for a novel microfluidic hemoperfusion device currently in development at Oregon State University for use in treating sepsis. COMSOL 4.4's computational fluid dynamics (CFD) module was used to examine shear rate profiles in laminar, Newtonian blood flow throughout...
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...
Wildfires are increasing in frequency. One area of research interest centers on the pollutants within wildfire smoke, including but not limited to particulate matter and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. These chemicals are associated with exacerbation of respiratory, cardiovascular, dermatological, reproductive, oncological, gastrointestinal, and infectious conditions. As wildfires becoming increasingly prevalent, it...
Dynein is a motor protein which transports cargo along tracks inside the cell. Like related motor proteins kinesin and myosin, dynein uses cellular energy to take steps with its two foot domains. Unlike kinesin or myosin, dynein’s stepping pattern is highly varied: it can take steps between zero and 60nm...
Dynein is a motor protein which transports cargo along tracks inside the cell. Like related motor proteins kinesin and myosin, dynein uses cellular energy to take steps with its two foot domains. Unlike kinesin or myosin, dynein’s stepping pattern is highly varied: it can take steps between zero and 60nm...
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,...
The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted family dynamics, specifically with mothers experiencing unique stressors and challenges. This study explored the association between mothers' anxiety induced by the COVID-19 pandemic and their children’s executive function outcome during preschool. A quantitative approach was used with a sample of 219 families in Oregon, utilizing...
The purpose of this paper was to consider whether the integration of
complementary and alternative medicine within coordinated care organizations would be
possible and beneficial. Per capita health expenditures in the Unites States are greater
than any other nation’s in the world. However, many complain that the organization and
distribution...
Between Oregon State University and DHBW Ravensberg, Global Formula Racing produces two Formula style vehicles every year for competition. This thesis has served as a pre-development project in the ergonomics and driver interface of the team's vehicles. This project will determine the position of the seat back, steering wheel, and...
Interest in organizational culture has grown enormously over the last twenty years and much
effort has gone into investigating the relationship between organizational culture and
performance. Because most research to date has focused on large organizations, we chose to
investigate the culture in a community bank undergoing a cultural transformation....
Modern product development is a complex combination of multidisciplinary processes ranging from market research to design, engineering analysis, and logistics. The product development process has a significant impact on the success or failure of new product launches. The majority of consumer product launches fail, resulting in significant sunk cost in...
OVERVIEW OF INTRODUCTION - This is a combined thesis for both disciplines of BioResource Research (BRR)Interdisciplinary and International Degree (ID) Programs OSU. The first chapter encompasses the BRR research, which is a preliminary study utilizing immunohistochemical method to characterize melanomas in bigenic mice with activated Cdk4 protein and Retinoid-X-Receptor α...
The rate of melanoma among Asian American has been steadily increasing in the past
five years, while in other Asian countries, such as Japan, the incident rate remains relatively the
same. Does the culture and societal attitudes toward skin cancer make a difference in the incident
rate of melanoma? This...
Inclusive design is important in today's software industry, but there is little research about how to teach it. In collaboration with 9 teacher-researchers across 8 U.S. universities and more than 400 computer and information science students, we embarked upon an Action Research investigation to gather insights into the pedagogical content...
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...
Characterizing a mindset landscape within the physics classroom is crucial to portray the variation and context of mindset in the classroom. This paper will be looking at students enrolled in Oregon State University’s PH20x series, which is a series of three algebra-based introductory physics courses. This project is an exploratory...
In the West, the growth of the modern, androcentric medical establishment can
be shown to be correlated with the decline in women’s authority and status in the
healing arts. As the world of science and medicine expanded exponentially, the
understanding of the body changed through the studies of anatomy and...
Drone strikes have become a defining strategy in the US War on Terror. Since the first combat drone strike in 2001, the executive branch has intentionally increased the deployment of drones for counterterrorism operations throughout the Middle East and North Africa. This thesis explores the moral and legal justifications for...
An intersection without a traffic light could be a potentially dangerous place to travel through depending on the mindsets of the of the travelers within it. When travelers are traversing an intersection, they generally have one of two different mindsets that influence the actions they do. One mindset they could...
This study investigates the evaluation of Return on Investment (ROI) in education from the perspective of high school students, introducing a theoretical model that encompasses both financial and non-financial aspects, with a primary focus on the unique insights provided by high school students. Drawing from a literature review and survey-based...