The chemistry of hafnium oxide based and materials are described in the context of ion exchange and lithography. HafSOx, represented by the composition HfO₂₋[subscript x](SO₄)x, is described to possess a significant capacity towards ion exchange in acidic and basic solutions, enabling films of HafSOx to be cleanly and readily be...
This research project is an historical case study of the conflict
which evolved from the deliberations and subsequent implementation
of bilingual education in Central School District 13J, Independence,
Oregon. The time period under consideration spans 35 months,
beginning in August 1974, when district officials first proposed bilingual
education, and ending...
An understanding of the dynamics of individual tree and stand
growth, development, and structural patterns during the immature
formative years of a commercial species is essential to determine
correct thinning practices necessary to attain desired objectives.
This study compared a natural, medium-site Douglas-fir stand
and an adjacent similar stand released...
Black liquor recovery boilers experience significant fire-side fouling problems due to the deposition of entrained particulate matter. Increased understanding of the mechanisms by which particles deposit on these surfaces will lead to more effective management of the resultant problems. There is some evidence which suggests that the sub-micron fraction of...
The present experiment examined children's memory for stereotypic
and non-stereotypic sex role content in their reading material.
Twenty-four male and twenty-four female fifth grade subjects read
two short stories, each depicting a male and female character who
exhibited an equal number of masculine and feminine traits and
behaviors. Results of...
A system to perform neutron radiographic analysis of dynamic
events taking place over the order of several milliseconds has been
developed at Oregon State University. The design consists of a TRIGA
reactor capable of pulsing to 3000 MW peak power, a neutron beam
collimator with an L/D of about 30:1,...
The purpose of this study was to identify antimutagens in yogurt active against the
experimental colon carcinogen, N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG). Our
initial experiments showed that acetone extracts of yogurt, or milk fermented by various
lactic acid bacteria were antimutagenic against MNNG and 3,2'-dimethyl-4-aminobiphenyl
(DMAB) in the Ames test (Salmonella typhimurium TA...
The purposes of this study were to find out about the associations between
hostile attributional bias and aggressive behaviors among preschool-aged children and
to identify possible sources of their hostile attributional bias. Seventy-two
preschoolers with an average age of 4.76 and their mothers acted as participants.
Children's hostile attributional bias...
This dissertation focuses on extending the application scope of surface enhanced infrared absorption spectroscopy to gas sensing. The method we propose is incorporating plasmonic nanostructures with nano-composite material, metalorganic framework, which can selectively preconcentrate certain gas molecules into the nanopores. The preconcentrating property is first demonstrated by applying metal-organic framework...
Reactor refueling is a computationally intensive
problem solving process that requires automation since
significant resources are expended upon the search for
an optimal core loading. Without imposing some
constraints upon the configurations investigated, an
extremely large number of prototype loadings may be
generated without discovery of an improved loading. As...
This thesis focuses on the problem of object tracking. Given a video, the general objective of tracking is to track the location over time of one or more targets in the image sequence. This is a very challenging task as algorithms need to deal with problems such as appearance variations,...
With the rapid growth of worldwide internet traffic in data centers and clouds, silicon photonics has been utilized to provide enormous data bandwidth and outstanding energy efficiency over electronics. Computing servers and storage servers that are connected by communication links are relying more on optical rather than electrical means mainly...
The 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill was a major perturbation of nearshore habitats of Prince William Sound, a wintering area for harlequin ducks (Histrionicus histrionicus). This research was designed to evaluate harlequin duck population recovery from the oil spill from 1995 to 1998, using a demographic approach to assess both...
The two major purposes of this study were: (1) to test the
assumption that the IT Scale for Children (standard-ITSC) can be used
as a measure of both appropriate sex role discrimination and sex role
preference with preschool aged children, and (2) to extend previous
studies in these areas by...
This dissertation addresses two fundamental problems in computer vision—namely,
multitarget tracking and event recognition in videos. These problems are challenging
because uncertainty may arise from a host of sources, including motion blur,
occlusions, and dynamic cluttered backgrounds. We show that these challenges can be
successfully addressed by using a multiscale,...
In order to estimate wind turbine residL2;characteristics
in the presence of atmospheric turbulence, the important atmospheric
sources for the force excitations felt by the wind turbine system
must be identified and characterized. The goal of this research
is to develop the wind turbulence input model for horizontal axis
wind turbines....
This thesis is an account of investigation on the natural products deriving from various marine algae and has resulted in the discovery of eleven novel bioactive metabolites. Isolation and characterization of these new molecules were carried out using different chromatographic techniques and by analyses of different spectroscopic data, respectively. Using...
The main objective of this study was to estimate the demand for
and value of Oregon ocean sport-caught salmon fishery. The primary
technique employed to estimate the recreational demand was an
aggregated zone average travel cost method (TCM).
The willingness of an angler to pay was deduced from the
estimated...
Pacific madrone, tanoak, and California black oak are the most economically promising native California hardwoods. Volume and value data indicate upward trends in growing stock levels and prices received for their products. These trends are likely to continue. They suggest research is particularly needed for: (1) seed fall and
regeneration,...
Writing a program that performs well in a complex environment is a challenging task. In such problems, a method of deterministic programming combined with reinforcement learning (RL) can be helpful. However, current systems either force developers to encode knowledge in very specific forms (e.g., state-action features), or assume advanced RL...
We are witnessing the rise of the data-driven science paradigm, in which massive amounts of data - much of it collected as a side-effect of ordinary human activity - can be analyzed to make sense of the data and to make useful predictions. To fully realize the promise of this...
Fuel loading patterns which have a minimum power peak are
economically desirable to allow power reactors to operate at the highest
possible power density and to minimize the possibility of fuel
failure. A computer code called SHUFLE was developed for pressurized
water reactors which shuffles the fuel in search of...
The U.S. farm sector has undergone dramatic structural change during the
past fifty years, a chief result being that the number of large farms has increased
relative to the number of small farms. Numerous agricultural policies have been
instituted, with the partial objective of preserving the family farm. At the...
In this work, we study the problem of learning and improving policies for probabilistic planning problems. In the first part, we train neural network policies for probabilistic planning problems modeled as factored Markov decision problems. The objective is to train problem-specific neural networks via supervised learning to imitate the action...
In this work, I examine the problem of understanding American football in video. In particular, I present several mid-level computer vision algorithms that each accomplish a different sub-task within a larger system for annotating, interpreting, and analyzing collections of American football video. The analysis of football video is useful in...
This thesis considers the problem in which a teacher is interested in teaching action policies to computer agents for sequential decision making. The vast majority of policy
learning algorithms o er teachers little flexibility in how policies are taught. In particular,
one of two learning modes is typically considered: 1)...
Most technological problems associated with man-machine conversations
have been solved and are well documented in both the
contemporary technical and lay literature. The major remaining
technological problem is the real time conversion of a human's vocal
uterances into a "written" phoneme sequence representing the information
content of speech. The work...
This dissertation explores and analyzes the performance of several Bayesian anytime inference algorithms for dynamic influence diagrams. These algorithms are compared on the On-Line Maintenance Agent testbed, a software artifact permitting comparison of dynamic reasoning algorithms used by an agent on a variety of simulated maintenance and monitoring tasks. Analysis...
The histopathological and histochemical effects on the snail
Oxytrema siliqua, caused by the larvae of Nanophyetus salmincola,
have been studied. The parasite causes damage to the organ by increased
pressure, active ingestion of the hepatic tubules, and by
the increased burden placed upon the snail in disposing of the waste...
A conceptual model of the tidal flat system, emphasizing the
sulfur cycle was presented. Measurements were made of the vertical
distribution within tidal flat deposits of total aerobic and sulfate
reducing bacteria, total sulfides, redox potential, volatile solids,
and particle size. Variations in dissolved oxygen and free sulfides
in the...
Bluegill sunfish, Lepomia macrochirus, and cutthroat trout,
Salmo clarki, were exposed to a rapidly declining oxygen tension
for a period of time sufficient to just cause loss of equilibrium in
the fish. During recovery from the stress, measurements of
oxygen uptake, blood lactic acid, blood glucose, liver glycogen,
muscle glycogen,...
The respiratory tract is lined with a mucous blanket which is
motivated by a ciliated epithelium. This blanket includes a lower
serous layer of fluid through which the cilia beat and an upper viscid
layer into which particulates from the inhaled air are deposited.
The movement of the mucous blanket...
The ethyl acetate extract of the culture filtrate of the marine Ascomycete,
Leptosphaeria oraemaris (Linder) yielded a novel metabolite
designated by the common name leptosphaerin. An x-ray crystallographic
structure analysis was disproved by the synthesis of 3-acetoxy-S-(1,2-dihydroxyethyl)-
3-pyrrolin-2-one 1, starting with N,N-dibenzylhydroxylamine
47 and D-mannitol 44. Oxidation of 47 followed...
The study was conducted in order to learn of the extent to which
attrition exists among students enrolled in the first-year accounting
course in Oregon community colleges, the factors tending to contribute
to the problem, and the approaches which might be used to
help alleviate the problem.
The design of...
This dissertation approaches the problem of how to design process
measurements by identifying process attributes which are common to all product
development processes. By classifying the generic attributes of a product
development process and their relationships, a framework is established which
gives definition and context to individual measurements. At the...
Ambifunctional axially chiral 2,2',6,6'-tetrasubstituted biphenyls containing nucleophilic (or basic) functional groups juxtaposed with hydrogen-bond donors were synthesized and their properties studied. Applications for the prepared biaryls as potential organocatalysts for enantioselective carbon-carbon bond forming reactions were examined. Processes investigated included: aldol, Michael, nitroaldol (Henry), and Baylis-Hillman reactions.
The novel amidoamine...
The objectives of this study were to: (1) determine if individual
differences in the learner characteristics of field dependence, state
and trait anxiety, age, sex, and prior computer experience were related
to performance in operating a computer system; (2) to determine if
differences in performance would occur as a result...
Objective of this study was to compare accuracy of
several travel cost methods, by employing Monte Carlo
simulations in the single site framework. Estimates from
five methods were compared to the "true" travel cost
coefficient and "true" consumer surplus. Each method was
ranked, using the root mean squared error (RMSE)...
Most students arrive at game-focused physical education (PE) with neither the skills nor the tactical knowledge to be successful (Metzler, 2000). Although the Teaching Games for Understanding (TGFU) approach can enhance both on- and off-the-ball skills in game play performance (Griffin et al., 1995; Harvey et al., in review, Harvey...
Instability and turbulence in sheared, salt-fingering favorable stratification are studied
using three-dimensional direct numerical simulations (DNS). Salt-fingering favorable
stratification is gravitationally stable, because the unstable vertical gradient of salinity
is stabilized by temperature (warm, salty over cool, fresh water-masses). Salt-fingering
instability can occur at the interface of these different water-masses....
Significant inputs of hydrocarbons are continually released into the environment from anthropogenic and natural sources. Some of the most toxic hydrocarbon compounds are polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are known for their ability to absorb ultraviolet light and enhance toxicity. Generally, PAHs exert their toxicity via narcosis but UV-absorbing...
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William A. Stubblefield
Significant inputs of hydrocarbons are continually released into
Part I: Plasmonic color filters can be manufactured at lower cost since they can be fabricated in single lithographic process step as compared to Fabry-Perot based filters. In addition, they have narrow passband making resolving sharp features in sample spectrum possible. Due to these benefits, in this thesis, Plasmonic color...
The deglacial behavior of the sub-Arctic North Pacific is poorly constrained, with many published records suffering from limited age control due to extensive post- depositional biogenic carbonate dissolution. Potential alternative dating methods could include the correlation of stable-isotopic and/or paleomagnetic secular variation records to an independently-dated regional template, however no...
Bayesian optimization (BO) aims to optimize costly-to-evaluate functions by running a limited number of experiments that each evaluates the function at a selected input. Typical BO formulations assume that experiments are selected sequentially, or in fixed batches. Moreover, these experiments can be executed immediately upon request and have the same...
