Motion planning is a cornerstone of autonomous robots, enabling robots to safely and efficiently perform tasks such as package delivery, infrastructure inspection, and manipulation. However, as the field of robotics matures, robotic systems are being developed that (1) are challenging to analytically model, (2) require computationally expensive model-based controllers, and...
One of the pervasive problems arising in our modern, digital world surrounds data breaches where an adversary, through zero-day exploitations, phishing, or old-fashioned social engineering attacks, gains access to a service’s data stores. Our society increasingly relies on these cloud-based services for everything from our taxes to personal communication. As...
The objective of this dissertation is to enhance the monitoring of forest ecosystems through the utilization of remotely sensed data to address the exigencies posed by the Anthropocene. On a global scale, rising temperatures and fluctuating precipitation patterns have strained forests and produced shifts in natural disturbance regimes. Additionally, the...
The focus of this thesis is to design, characterize, and apply novel computational methods and molecular systems to interrogate heterogeneous human gut microbiome-related phenomena. In Chapter 2, I design, implement, and characterize a method for embedding co-occurrence patterns derived from massive 16s amplicon datasets. I use this method to 1....
In this study, I investigate how target value uncertainty may lead to acquirer mispricing of an acquisition target and how the mispricing may be a determinant of goodwill impairment. To the extent the mispricing leads to both high and low industry-adjusted purchase price multiples (PPMs are my proxies for overpayment...
Ph.D. candidate Qi Wei's thesis consists of two projects: Chemotherapy Project: a study based on the research paper "Predicting chemotherapy response of various cancer types using a variational auto-encoder approach" submitted to the bioRxiv preprint archive and accepted by the BMC bioinformatics; and Wound Monitor Project: implementing and assessing analytics...
There are over 35 known virus and virus-like diseases of sweet cherry (Prunus avium), some with potential to cause severe economic impact by reducing vegetative growth, vigor, and/or quality of fruit. Oregon is the second-ranked state for sweet cherry production in the United States with 13,000 acres and $70.8 million...
Managing Microdochium patch on intensively manicured annual bluegrass putting greens is a challenge for turfgrass professionals in cool-humid climates similar to the Pacific Northwest. Fungicides are the predominant means to mitigate damage caused by this fungal pathogen, however pesticide restrictions are making it even more challenging to suppress Microdochium patch....
Natural Language Comprehension is a challenging domain of Natural Language Processing. To improve a model’s language comprehension/understanding, one approach would be to enrich the structure of the model to enhance its capability in learning the latent rules of the language.
In this dissertation, we will first introduce several deep models...
With the increasing international focus on transboundary cooperation as a part of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Framework, there is global recognition of transboundary water cooperation as a tool for improved governance and management of transboundary surface and groundwaters. Yet, there is not an agreed upon definition of transboundary water...