This paper examines the invasion of exotic wilding conifers on the native tussock grasslands of Aotearoa New Zealand. The investigation includes two studies and aims to better understand the structure of Pinus contorta seeds across tree crown positions and the viability rates of P. contorta seeds produced during a trees...
Streptococcus pneumoniae and Influenza A Virus both primarily infect the upper respiratory tract, with more severe disease occurring during coinfection than would be caused by either pathogen independently. Until recently, characterization of the interactions between these two pathogens has occurred exclusively in the context of a host or using host-derived...
This study examined water scarcity and vulnerability in Quintana Roo, along the northern Caribbean coast of Mexico where rapid growth of tourism in the past 40 years has limited the ability of rural and urban communities to obtain safe, reliable, and equitable access to water services and critical water infrastructure...
Emerging research shows that individual differences in how people use technology sometimes cluster by socioeconomic status (SES) and that when technology is not socioeconomically inclusive, low-SES individuals may abandon it. To understand how to improve technology’s SES-inclusivity, we present a multi-phase case study on SocioEconomicMag (SESMag), an emerging inspection method...
River ecosystems throughout the arid southwestern U.S. are imperiled. Water management infrastructure, climate change, unsustainable water use, and political conflict harm the region's aquatic and riparian ecosystems. This case study surveys one such desert river, an endemic fish species, and conservation efforts in southwestern Utah. The analysis focuses on the...
Climate change, wildfire, timber harvest, and land conversion alter the availability of downed wood in forests of the western United States. Numerous taxa rely on downed wood for temperature and humidity refugia, and downed wood may play a key role in enabling the persistence of climate-sensitive, low-vagility species like terrestrial...
Chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) are often used for the study of plant genetics and evolution. Plastid and mitochondrial genome sequences have allowed us to investigate plant evolution on a genetic level to infer molecular evolutionary rates, population-genetic processes, co-evolutionary phenomena, and numerous evolutionary questions and hypotheses. Ficus...
As the global demand for seafood increases each year, there is a growing need to expand sustainable aquaculture in the interests of food security and resilience of coastal communities. Pacific oysters, Crassostrea gigas, are grown in West coast estuaries - where cultures often overlap with the federally protected native eelgrass,...
It is estimated that for every 1 kg of cheese produced, approximately 9 kg of whey is created. For smaller producers something needs to be done to keep it out of water ways and potentially to valorize it. However, access to efficient secondary whey processing to isolate protein and lactose...
Across from the Memorial Union on Oregon State University’s campus sits Milam Hall, the former site of the Department of Home Economics. The building is named for Ava Milam Clark, the dean of home economics for thirty-three years, from 1917 to 1950. I aim to understand Ava Milam’s early career...
The integration of low-pressure membrane filtration and aerobic granular sludge (AGS) reactor leads to a novel environmental biotechnological process with strong potential to overcome membrane fouling and demonstrate excellent wastewater treatment performance. However, membrane fouling mechanisms in the AGS based membrane bioreactor (MBR) are lack of systematic elaboration. In the...
Mycobacterium avium subspecies hominissuis (M. avium) is a ubiquitous, acid-fast organism found in water and soil. This opportunistic pathogen is a common causative of pulmonary diseases in immunocompromised individuals and prevalent infection in HIV/AIDS patients. As a primary defense response against infection, immune cells such as macrophages phagocytize M. avium...
Quinone outside Inhibitor (QOI) fungicides are one of the most widely used fungicide classes (FRAC 11) in the world. This popularity is the result of their ability to effectively manage a wide array of economically important pathogen species on a broad range of crops. While having mostly preventative activity, some...
Mental health among student athletes has gotten much more attention in the world of sport today. However, there has been a lack of research focusing on how the socioeconomic backgrounds of Division 1 student athletes can play a role in their mental health and their desire to seek out help...
New delivery methods for radiotracers are constantly being proposed. Two key properties of the delivery method must be analyzed: dose to patient and effectiveness of delivery. In this work, the localized skin dose for intranasal administration of 18F was determined utilizing MCNP code. An anatomically accurate nasal cavity was constructed...
Italian ryegrass [Lolium perenne L. ssp. multiflorum (Lam.) Husnot] resistant to multiple herbicide sites of action continues to limit winter wheat production in western Oregon. In addition to impacting wheat production, multiple resistant Italian ryegrass may threaten the market for annual ryegrass seed for cover crops if wheat fields with...
This thesis focuses on performances of masculinity by British Royal Flying Corps (RFC) airmen in the charged landscape of the First World War prisoner of war (POW) camp. I examine how captive airmen coped with imprisonment by reasserting the familiar homosocial communities of pre-capture squadron life, particularly through practices associated...
How can software practitioners assess whether their software supports diverse users? Although there are empirical processes that can be used to find “inclusivity bugs” piecemeal, what is often needed is a systematic inspection method to assess software’s support for diverse populations. To help fill this gap, this thesis introduces InclusiveMag,...
Sphaerulina musiva is a fungal pathogen that causes Septoria leaf spot and stem canker on susceptible Populus species and hybrids. In this thesis, host and pathogen contributions to Septoria stem canker disease were explored through: 1) a greenhouse study associating Septoria stem canker phenotypes with molecular markers from a genetic...
Fungi have long been used for discovery of new chemical scaffolds. In the clinical setting, the fungal natural products penicillin, statins, and cyclosporine have revolutionized medicine to treat diseases and infections. In the environment, fungal natural products have been used as herbicides, fungicides, and insecticides to protect crops, livestock, and...
Electrospinning and electrospray are both nano-scale material fabrication techniques, based on related phenomena of electrically charged fluid spray from a droplet of liquid. Material is dissolved in liquid, then a spray is generated by applying a high voltage, creating an electric field, between the fluid dispensing capillary and a grounded...
Fungi from the genus Chlorociboria are known for their production of the blue-green quinonic pigment xylindein. Extracted xylindein has been the subject of investigations ranging from fabric dying to use a coloring agent in paint, and shows potential as an organic semiconductor in organic photovoltaics (OPVs) and other technologies. However,...
Natural dyes have been used to color textiles for centuries, but with the shift to mass production, the use of synthetic dyes has increased due to their lower cost and easy manufacturing volume. However, synthetic dyes (such as disperse blue dyes 106 and 124) have been reported to cause skin...
Anammox (anaerobic ammonium oxidation) bacteria are capable of providing low-cost nitrogen removal for numerous types of wastewaters. However, low growth rates cause long startup-times and inhibition by oxygen and metabolic substrates necessitate close process control to maintain performance. Incorporation of Simultaneous Anammox and Denitrification (SAD) into constructed wetlands could provide...
Mensacarcin is a stereogenic complex polyketide with potent anti-tumor activity produced by a soil-dwelling Streptomyces bottropensis. The US National Cancer Institute (NCI) 60 human tumor cell line anticancer drug screen (NCI-60) reveals mensacarcin’s cytostatic properties in almost all tested cell lines and distinct cytotoxic properties specifically in eight melanoma cell...
Airports are required by the Federal Aviation Administration to perform deicing of aircraft pavement during icy conditions. Until recently, there were no discharge controls in place and deicing fluid contaminated nearby water bodies from storm water runoff. EPA regulations now require airports to collect the deicing fluid and meet discharge...
Mixed-initiative programming entails collaboration between a computer system, and a human to achieve some desired goal or set of goals. Often these goals change or are amended in real time during the course of program execution. As such, the plans these programs are based on must adapt and evolve to...
Douglas-fir provides social, economic, and ecological benefits in the Pacific Northwest (PNW). In addition to timber, forests support abundant plant and animal biodiversity and provide socioeconomic viability for many rural communities. Products derived from Douglas-fir account for approximately 17% of the U.S. lumber output with an estimated value of $1.9...
The dairy industry has indicated that milk hauling sporadically compromises milk quality, but often the reason is unknown. Milk hauling practices are an underexplored area of research, and are in need of attention because during hauling milk is most exposed to the external environment in comparison with any other step...
Symbioses are a spectrum of interactions between organisms living in closeassociation. These intimate interactions range from mutualism, in which bothorganisms benefit, to parasitism, where one organism benefits at the expense ofthe other. Horizontal gene transfer is the acquisition of genes independent ofvertical transmission and demonstrably promotes the transition of bacteria...
Phytophthora ramorum continues to cause extensive mortality of tanoaks in southwestern Oregon. Rain readily washes inoculum down through the canopy, causing new infections on the lower parts of the tree and neighboring host plants. Although this aspect of dispersal is well understood, the relative importance of infested soil and leaf...
Drawing on Deborah Brandt’s “literacy sponsorship,” this thesis examines ways English language learners (ELLs) in the Corvallis Multicultural Literacy Center (CMLC) act as literacy sponsors, sharing their expertise in language, textiles, and cooking, based on nine in-depth interviews with ELLs at the center. The findings of this thesis are presented...
We explored an optofluidic sensing mechanism from inkjet-printed droplets on diatom biosilica using surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). Our study revealed a new biosensing strategy that combines the microscopic fluidic flow induced by the droplet evaporation and the photonic crystal effects of diatom frustules, which can provide an ultra-sensitive, cost-effective biosensing...
Over the course of the last century, a successful history of fire suppression has contributed to unsuccessful present day control over wildfire. In the absence of fire and the janitorial and ecological services it provides, drier inland forests are shifting in species composition and exceeding densities that cannot survive and...
Phytoplankton and microzooplankton comprise the base and the first link of the marine food web, respectively. These microbes are key drivers of marine carbon and nutrient cycles. Phytoplankton convert atmospheric CO₂ into organic carbon, and microzooplankton consume phytoplankton, packaging phytoplankton carbon into particulate forms that have a variety of fates:...
The Moderate or Intense Low-oxygen Dilution (MILD) combustion regime has received interest from the industrial furnace and gas turbine engine industries due to attractive properties of reduced NO[subscript x] emissions and high thermal efficiency. MILD combustion is characterized by low oxygen concentrations (i.e. 3%-9% by volume) and high reactant temperatures....
Previous investigations have failed to show benefits of low level laser therapy (LLLT) for tendon healing in horses, contrary to reports in other species. We hypothesized that delivery of LLLT at manufacturer-recommended energy fluence through equine cadaver skin to equine tendon-derived fibroblasts in vitro would increase cell proliferation, metabolic activity...
The effects of alfaxalone (A-HPCD), propofol (P), ketamine-diazepam (KD) and tiletamine-zolazepam (TZ) administered IV in dogs on cardiovascular and respiratory systems, acid-base balance and electrolytes have been reported in the literature, but a study that compares IV TZ to the other induction protocols (IP) is needed. Six dogs enrolled in...
Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is one of the most important crops in the world. It has been and continues to be one of the main sources of food for humans and animals. Although traditional wheat breeding has contributed greatly to the improvement of wheat both in productivity and biotic/abiotic stress...
Reports of foodborne outbreaks have increased in the last decade, posing a public health risk to consumers. In an attempt to mitigate this risk, the newly established Food Safety and Modernization Act (FSMA) takes a preventive rather than reactive approach to food safety. Under FSMA, producers are required to validate...
Neotropical characiform fishes form one of the most diverse freshwater ichthyofauna in the world. Knowledge of evolutionary processes that generated and maintain the immense characiform lineage and morphological diversity is still poorly understood. When did characiform lineages diversify? How have major geological and environmental changes affected diversification? Why are some...
Fuel accumulation and climate shifts are predicted to increase the frequency of high-severity fires in ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Dougl. ex Laws) forests of central Oregon. The combustion of fuels containing large downed wood can result in intense soil heating, alteration of soil properties, and mortality of microbes. Previous studies...
Methane is a flammable gas that is the main component of natural gas. It is a highly potent greenhouse gas, and accounts for about 20% of greenhouse gas emissions. Methane is routinely flared in many industrial processes without harnessing any of its energy. The environmental impact and wasted energy potential...
For adult learners to succeed in their educational endeavors, adult educators and event planners must meet their needs and goals (Storksdieck, Ellenbogen, & Heimlich, 2005). The learning environment affects how adults learn and what outcomes they achieve (e.g., Hamilton & Tee, 2010; Knowles, 1990; Lim, Morris, & Kupritz, 2007; Young,...
The level of reactive oxygen species (ROS) is tightly regulated in biological systems as overproduction can lead to oxidative stress and result in a number of diseases. Due to its negative effects, antioxidants are studied and used against ROS in medicine, pharmaceuticals and therapeutics. Because of issues with the uptake...
With the resurgence in the interest of using natural textile dyes, a solution must be found that will overcome the limitations of traditional natural dyes. This solution must also be safer for both humankind and the environment than are synthetic dyes. This study compares the colorfastness of commercially available synthetic...
Moderate wine consumption, particularly pigment-rich red wine, is thought by many to be beneficial for the cardiovascular system. Both ethanol and phytochemicals are thought to contribute to this cardioprotective property. Metabolic disturbances associated with overconsumption of food are related to the initiation and progression of many chronic diseases, and cardiovascular...
Managed honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) colonies are important pollinators of many cultivated crops. Honey bee colony declines averaging 30% annually in the United States for the past 7 years have caused significant concern and hence have been a topic of intensive investigation. These declines are reportedly due to multiple...
Ectomycorrhizal fungi (EmF) form symbioses with trees. These symbioses profoundly influence forest ecology. Certain EmF form specialized profusions of hyphae, known as ectomycorrhizal fungal mats (mats) which are visible to the naked eye, alter forest soil biogeochemistry, substantially contribute to soil microbial biomass/respiration and support unique microbial communities. Piloderma and...
Forests are one of the largest repositories of terrestrial C. Understanding factors that drive organic matter transformations and nutrient efflux from these systems is therefore highly important. Temperate forests are of particular significance due to the large fraction of C that is stored below ground in the soil. Characterizing nutrient...