The purpose of this study was to explore, from current Native American and Alaskan Native undergraduate students, what their experiences were as first year college students on the Oregon State University campus. In addition, it was important to learn how these experiences contributed to their success, satisfaction or dissatisfaction, and...
Growing emphasis on ecosystem and landscape-level forest management across North America has spurred an examination of alternative management strategies which focus on emulating dynamic natural disturbance processes, particularly those associated with forest fire regimes. This topic is the cornerstone of research in the Blue River Landscape Study (BRLS) taking place...
Satellite remote sensing is an effective tool for mapping snow covered area. However, complex terrain and heterogeneous land cover, due to vegetation and patchy snow cover, present challenges to snow cover mapping. This research compares two techniques for mapping snow covered area: binary and enhanced fractional snow cover mapping techniques....
An empirical statistical model is developed that relates the non-tidal motion of the ocean surface currents off the Oregon coast to forecasts of the coastal winds. The empirical statistical model is then used to produce predictions of the surface currents that are evaluated for their agreement with measured currents. Measurements...
This study investigated variation in xylem anatomy, hydraulic properties, and the relationship between anatomy and properties within Douglas-fir trees at multiple scales. The hierarchical scales in the study included fertilization treatments (fertilized and unfertilized), trees within the treatments, and positions within the trees. Tracheid diameter, tracheid length, percent latewood, number...
I studied small-mammal communities and their response to grazing in mixed-conifer forests and oak woodlands in the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument in southern Oregon. My objectives were to (1) compare small-mammal communities among forest types and grazing intensities, (2) identify riparian affiliated species, and (3) describe microhabitat associations. Over two years,...
The goal of this research was to characterize thermal habitat requirements for juvenile redband steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss gairdneri) in the South Fork John Day River (SFJD), Oregon using physiological indicators of fish condition. Physiological indices of fish condition measured were whole body lipid content and heat shock proteins, specifically...
This study was commissioned and funded by the Coastal Oregon Marine Experiment Station (COMES) to 1) identify the scientific and management issues constraining the advancement of the Oregon bay clam commercial industry, 2) explore scientific, management, and economic opportunities for the enhancement of the fishery, 3) outline and suggest mechanisms...
The goal of this research was to characterize thermal habitat requirements for juvenile redband steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss gairdneri) in the South Fork John Day River (SFJD), Oregon using physiological indicators of fish condition. Physiological indices of fish condition measured were whole body lipid content and heat shock proteins, specifically...
Magmatic sulfides from Yerington, Nevada, and Yanacocha, Peru, were analyzed by laser ablation-inductively coupled mass spectrometry (LA-ICPMS) and electron microprobe to determine copper, gold, and silver concentrations and ratios in order to examine the relationship to the metal content of related magmatic-hydrothermal ores. The magmatic sulfides occur in plutonic rocks...
Protein secondary structure prediction plays a pivotal role in predicting protein folding in three-dimensions. Its task is to assign each residue one of the three secondary structure classes helix, strand, or random coil. This is an instance of the problem of sequential supervised learning in machine learning. This thesis describes...
The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a disability awareness unit implemented into secondary level physical education curricula, on acceptance and knowledge of students without disabilities. One hundred twelve students in the 7th and 8th grades participated in this study. Predetermined classes of students were randomly...
We hypothesized that calpain activity is elevated in response to muscle damage. To test this hypothesis, we examined the degradation of α-fodrin into its 150 and 145 kDa fragments following either 20 eccentric or isometric contractions. In addition, experiments were performed in the presence or absence of E-64-d, a calpain...
Curricular models and teaching techniques that support college students as the primary authors of their writing-across-the-curriculum experiences remain largely unexplored. This thesis addresses that research gap by investigating the use of a start-of-term writing self-assessment and goal-setting questionnaire (STQ) for upper-division undergraduates taking writing-intensive (WI) college courses in their majors....
The objective of this research is to determine the correlation of lacustrine micro-fossils in Lake Tanganyika to changes in climate and lake levels during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene.
Lake Tanganyika is the second deepest and one of the oldest lakes in the world. The horst and graben geometry...
Thermohaline interleaving is an important mechanism for laterally fluxing salt, heat, and nutrients between oceanic water masses. Interleaving is driven by a release of potential energy resulting from the vastly differing diffusivities of heat and salt in seawater. The flows are composed of stacked intrusions that flux more buoyant and...
The Tobin Range of central Nevada lies in the Basin and Range extensional province near the transition between more extended terrane (>50%) to the south and east, and generally less extended terrane to the north and west. Geologic mapping, 40Ar/39Ar dating and whole-rock geochemical analysis were employed to establish the...
Structure-forming invertebrates belong to a polyphyletic group of primarily sessile and sedentary megafauna that can significantly enhance the complexity of physical habitats. A number of these organisms, including cold-water corals and sponges, are known to be slow growing and vulnerable to physical disturbance. In addition, as filter feeders, these invertebrates...
Growing societal demand for forest products is pressuring managers to increase productivity from a finite land area, and it is expected that increased supply will come mostly from expansion of intensively managed stands. The USDA Forest Service and numerous collaborators created the Long-Term Soil Productivity (LTSP) network of research sites...
Ceratomyxa shasta is a myxozoan parasite of salmonids and requires the freshwater polychaete, Manayunkia speciosa to complete its life cycle. The parasite’s distribution is currently limited to the Pacific Northwest region of North America and has been reported to cause substantial losses of both wild and hatchery salmonids. The spatial...