If we are conscious beings, what ethical implications might that have? Are there inherent ethical responsibilities in consciousness? If so, what are they? Here we explore the possibility of experience within artificial general intelligence as it relates directly to the essential question of ethical responsibilities implied by human consciousness. By...
Over 70% of the Antarctic krill population exists along the Antarctic Peninsula, a region undergoing rapid climate change. Recent studies have shown a clear correlation between krill recruitment each spring and the timing and coverage of sea ice the winter before, with less sea ice and a shorter duration being...
Warm, high pressure systems are measured from a weather station on a high elevation peak in the Oregon Coast range during the winter months. Temperature observations on Mary’s Peak show abnormally warm air in relation to the surrounding areas. The goal of this study was to characterize the frequency and...
One of the surprising things about the 2016 presidential election was how much each presidential candidate was disliked. In this historic election, questions about whether voters made their decisions by supporting their candidate or voting against another have arisen. Studies have been done in the past that examine which traits...
This study evaluated the memory and visual discrimination capabilities of Enteroctopus dofleini, the Giant Pacific Octopus. Octopuses have been known to have advance sensory capabilities and through this study we challenged our specimen to remember and actively choose a specific patterned jar based on a visual pattern and positive reinforcement....
As juvenile salmon migrate from freshwater into saltwater, physiological changes must occur to allow fish to osmoregulate in the marine environment. Juvenile spring Chinook salmon migrate to the ocean at different time periods, most notably in the fall (August – November; i.e. fall smolts) and spring (February – May; i.e....
Glioblastoma Multiform
• Type of aggressive brain cancer
• Five year survival rate of 4.70%
• Not often detected until it’s in the later stages when
the symptoms appear
• Surgery is not an effective option due to invasion and
proliferation of glioblastoma cells outside of the tumor
mass before...
High resolution images of a dim companion in a binary star system can be obtained using a Digital Micromirror Array (DMA) as an optical mask. Imaging can be problematic because the intense light from the main star can saturate the detector and leave the companion unnoticed. Placement of the DMA...
Cascadia’s 1700 earthquake generated a tsunami and widespread subsidence along Pacific Northwest coastline. The tsunami deposited sandy sediments in many Oregon coastal estuaries, such as Alsea Bay. Although the recurrence of subduction-generated megathrust earthquakes and tsunami events in this region are recorded in the stratigraphy, knowledge of the full inland...
Native to the Pacific Northwest, Ceratomyxashastais a myxosporeanparasite that infects wild and cultivated salmon and has a significance impact on its population in the Klamath River basin. The study suggests that the transmission of mixed genotypes of the parasite are common in Chinook salmon but the age of the fish...
The rocky shores of the US West Coast are home to diverse ecological communities made up of species that are uniquely adapted for survival at the harsh boundary between land and sea. Even so, physical or environmental stressors regularly kill swaths of animals on the rocks. This is called disturbance....
Rectial Program
| Scherzo - Oleg Miroshnikov
| Syrinx - Claude Debussy
| Bachianas Brasileiras No. 6 - Heitor Villa-Lobos (Feat. Kaleigh Hull on flute)
| Turkisher March - Christian Julius Weissenborn (Feat. Annie Kosanovic-Brown, Andrew McKelvey on bassoon)
| Pizzicati Polka - Leo Delibes (DeArr. Mark Eubanks) (Feat. Annie...
The research revolves around membrane-assisted electrolysis to recover caustic soda from alkali processing. This research began with the lab having no experience in electrochemistry and thus conducting initial experiments to begin to understand electrochemical systems. The lab then looked at both gas production and anodic fouling behavior. The lab then...
Yaquina Bay, Oregon, has been introduced to a few The invasive species in Yaquina Bay, Oregon can have a huge effect on the native species and local ecosystem. European green crab (Carcius maenas) is an invasive species. The European green crab can be found on the mudflats competing with the...
This research looks at the demographics, industry, and land use shifts over the past decades in the John Day Region of Eastern Oregon in order to better understand the shifting rural community in the United States. Census data was collected and analyzed to describe the shift. Published literature and interviews...
This study aimed to investigate if diversity exists among faculty members in (20) twenty universities in sociology, political science, and chemistry departments situated in a variety of cities on the American West Coast. By conducting a content analysis composed of official university websites and individual Curriculum Vitae, each listed faculty...
Parathyroid hormone (PTH) is directly involved in breast cancer (BC) metastasis, as well as the severity of metastatic tumors. Excess PTH, caused by insufficient dietary calcium, may be an important and preventable factor affecting BC metastasis to bone. PTH levels increase with age in most women, largely due to insufficient...
HafSOx is a dielectric material that also functions as an insulator. It is able to be spin-coated onto a silicon substrate, creating a thin, amorphous film. It is very dense, which helps lead it to a high dielectric constant, making it ideal for electronic devices through the use of lithography....
Being present in an area of play can create a dynamic experience of exploration, movement, and interaction with objects and peers. These are required to foster positive development across cognitive, social, and physical domains (1).
Children with disabilities may experience limitations in mobility impacting their early exploration, socialization, and play...
The preceding empirical research examines the traditional and evolutionary research surrounding youth deviance. Deviance is routinely discussed as an adverse impact in a plethora of theories and it is imperative to further develop the knowledge of deviance as society progresses. In this report, the utilized sample group approximately (n=13583) was...
In this study, the effects of A and B site cation substitution of the distorted perovskite YCoO₃ on crystal structure and thermoelectric properties were investigated. Polycrystalline samples of Y₁₋ₓCaₓCoO₃ (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.20) and YCo₁₋ₓRhₓO₃ (0 ≤ x ≤ 1.0) were prepared by solid state reaction. Optimal synthesis conditions...
Prostate cancer is one of the most prevalent types of cancer in the U.S. and is among the leading causes of death in men of all races. One predictor of advanced prostate cancer and aggressive tumor behavior is the overexpression of the histone methyl transferase EZH2.
EZH2 functions in the...
Prostate cancer is one of the most prevalent types of cancer in the U.S. and is among the leading causes of death in men of all races. One predictor of advanced prostate cancer and aggressive tumor behavior is the overexpression of the histone methyl transferase EZH2.
EZH2 functions in the...
Understanding charge transfer in organic semiconductors is important for developing devices like organic light emitting diodes and flexible electronics. Optical tweezers have been used in many disciplines for trapping, manipulating, and analyzing microscopic objects such as microspheres, micro-organisms, and other colloidal particles. Using optical tweezers, studies have measured the average...
This study examines how students were interacting with pre-lecture videos via the BoxSand website. Students of the Fall 2015 and Fall 2016 introductory physics courses at Oregon State University were studied. The course was taught as a flipped classroom in which the instructional material was provided via BoxSand. BoxSand is...
Farensoid X Receptor (FXR) is a very flavoring protein for the treatment and prevention of the many conditions related to metabolic syndrome. Our experiment explores the binding activities of FXR when introduced to various natural and synthetic ligands. Currently, an initial assay showing the Stern-Volmer relationship of our date supports...
This internship project (Dr. Dawn Wright—Department of Geoscience) was a synthesis of several aspects of the research process. The documentation of methods consisted of: primary data collection of soil samples, geographical coordinates, georeferencing, basemap creation, laboratory machine operation, laboratory methods, laboratory quality control planning, statistical analysis, and geo-statistical analysis using...
Carcinus maenas is an invasive marine predator. Its generalist feeding strategies make it one of the most effective invaders. Carcinus maenas has invasive populations throughout the world, and was recently introduced to the west coast of North America. This study looks at the abundance and growth of C. maenas in...
The European green crab, Carcinus maenas, is a generalist predator that has established invasive populations throughout the
world, including the west coast of North America. In Oregon, strong cohorts of green crabs recruit only during major El Niño
events. The goals of this study are to: 1) compare the abundance...
Weed management is one of the main challenges for organic agriculture. Soil solarization has been shown to be an effective mitigation strategy for weeds and soil borne plant pathogens but few studies have been conducted in cooler climates such as the Pacific Northwest.
Soil respiration has been identified as one of the largest natural sources of CO₂ to the global carbon cycle. Small alterations in the magnitude of soil respiration can have potentially large effects on concentrations of atmospheric CO₂ , making the rate at which respiration occurs of great scientific interest (Martin...
We found that a strains of Yersinia pestis (KIM5) which lacked the nhaA gene was fully attenuated in a plague model. This gene produces a protein of the sodium-proton antiporter family which expel sodium ions from the bacterial cytoplasm in exchange for hydrogen ions, or protons, from the surrounding environment....
Fine and gross motor skills are essential for healthy development. Studies suggest that children in lower socioeconomic status (SES) families present a delay in these essential motor skills and, therefore, are at risk for poor motor skill development.This study aimed to correlate fine and gross motor skills with family socioeconomic...
In this study, we compared the behavior of bottle fed lambs verses mother fed lambs in three testing scenarios; the sociability test, the paired attachment test, and the mismatch attachment test. The tests sought to determine if a familiar human can serve as a secure base for lambs in a...
As global temperatures continue to rise there has been an increase in forest fire frequency and severity. With larger areas of forest being burned it is increasingly important to understand how forest fires effect snow processes. Previous research shows that burned areas will accumulate more snow and that this snow...
Host-selective toxins (HSTs) secreted by the pathogenic isolate of Pyrenophora tritici-repentis, BFP, are major pathogenicity factors in tan spot disease of wheat. Along with characterized HSTs such as Ptr ToxA (ToxA), BFP secretes at least two more uncharacterized toxic components. In an attempt to identify these additional components, 12 candidate...
Saccharina sessilis, lettuce kelp, is a macroalgae that contributes to the primary production in the intertidal zone off of the Oregon Coast. Macroalgae can serve as a bioindicator of increased nutrient input, water quality, and shifts in the intertidal environment. Competition for light exists between macroalgae species and with other...
Kinesins are intracellular motor proteins that transform chemical energy into mechanical energy through ATP hydrolysis to move along microtubules. Kinesin roles can vary among transportation, regulation, and spindle alignment within most cells. Many kinesin have been found to move towards the plus end of microtubules
at a steady velocity. For...
Three key tectonic domains of western North America, the Walker Lane Fault Zone (WLFZ), northwestern Basin and Range (NWBR), and Cascade arc, intersect in south-central Oregon. Bounded by Cascade arc volcanoes in the west, the Klamath Graben is traditionally regarded as the western-most extent of the Basin and Range extensional...
Upon entering a residential drug and alcohol treatment, typically clients are directed to complete a risk assessment form. Risk assessment forms are anonymous, self-reported questionnaires that inquire about demographics, health, sexual behaviors, as well as drug and alcohol use. The YES house is a youth treatment facility in Corvallis Oregon...
Throughout Cane, a colon is representative of both characters’ thought and dialogue in a quasidrama technique that perpetuates the idea of a staged performance (Foley 233). Through this form, Cane encapsulates the non-authentic expression that African Americans were subjected to by a means of acting and/or pretending in fear of...
The idea for this research projected stemmed from research I conducted during my Economics 439: Public Policy course. This research project examines the idea of Voter Identification Laws and Regulations and their effect on voter turnout and participation in the United States of America. I previously found that economists studied...
A research project looking into the feasibility and impact of adding a mentorship program to improve the academic and professional success of international students in the Oregon State University College of Business.
The acquired ability of Salmonella to express varying morphotypes when placed in nutrient-limited conditions is hypothesized to predict increased resistance to food processing interventions. Two of the morphotypes expressed by Salmonella are Red, Dry and Rough (RDAR) and Smooth and White (SAW). Increased resistance is predicted for the RDAR morphotype...
The present study examined whether semantic activation for words occurs by encoding whole word shape in addition to individual letters. We used LEET stimuli, where digits were used as parts of words, such as “R34DING” instead of “READING”. Previous studies have suggested that LEET stimuli are encoded in a letter-like...
The present study examined whether semantic activation for words occurs by encoding whole word shape in addition to individual letters. We used LEET stimuli, where digits were used as parts of words, such as “R34DING” instead of “READING”. Previous studies have suggested that LEET stimuli are encoded in a letter-like...
Fat Studies (FS) is a new interdisciplinary field that addresses oppression based on body weight, shape, and size as it intersects with oppression based on other areas of difference. As such, FS incorporates a weight-neutral approach to health, Health At Every Size® (HAES), that decries weight bias, promotes body self-acceptance...
The presence of nitrates and nitrites in food is associated with an increased risk of gastrointestinal cancer and, in infants, methemoglobinemia. Nitrites are produced endogenously through the oxidation of nitric oxide and through a reduction of nitrate by commensal bacteria in the mouth and gastrointestinal tract. Despite the physiologic roles...
Sea stars are well known on the Pacific coast as being keystone species. Pisaster ochraceus plays a major role in controlling the lower limits of the high zone mussel beds, normally preying on medium to large-sized species. Leptasterias hexactis is often found feeding on smaller prey. According to the competitive...
Phytochemicals from the genus, Fagonia, have been attracting increasing attention due to their potential beneficial effects on human health, particularly, anti-cancer properties. Certain Fagonia species contain various types of phytochemicals such as saponins, alkaloids, cardiac glycosides, flavonoids, terpenoids, and tannins. In this study, we investigated the phytochemical composition of a...
Spiropyrans are a family of photosensitive molecules their hydrophobic properties when irradiated with light. Since spiropyran can be controlled by light, it can be used to regulate transport across membrane media. The ability to control the release of a substance onto a platform is promising in reducing the cost of...
A literature review for a research project being done in partnership with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Columbia River Intertribal Fish Commission, which will look at non-breeding California sea lion males in the Columbia River Basin that have been preying on migratory salmon. This will be...
In order to reduce the cost of lignocellulosic ethanol production, a model was previously developed to predict the amount of fermentable sugar released based on parameters concerning both biomass and enzymes. To validate this model, enzymatic hydrolysis must be carried out using individual purified cellulase enzymes. Endo-1,4-β-D-glucanase I (EG I),...
In order to reduce the cost of lignocellulosic ethanol production, a model was previously developed to predict the amount of fermentable sugar released based on parameters concerning both biomass and enzymes. To validate this model, enzymatic hydrolysis must be carried out using individual purified cellulase enzymes. Endo-1,4-β-D-glucanase I (EG I),...
Parents play an essential role in their child’s development of the skills needed for self-regulation. The current study examined the relationship between parental marital status and child self-regulation. Analyzing a sample of 328 preschool children, results indicate having married parents is related to higher self-regulation in children. These results suggest...
One of the largest ecosystems in the United States, sagebrush-steppe communities are currently in peril and threaten to impact at least 150 species of vertebrates (Hagen 2011). The decline of sagebrush habitat is exacerbated through an interaction of threats and feedbacks, including fire and invasive species, making the management of...
Optical trapping is a tool used throughout a wide variety of disciplines rang- ing from precisely probing and manipulating sub-micron organisms in biol- ogy to analyzing fundamental charge transfer in colloidal physics. This thesis presents research involving optical tweezer force measurements of polystyrene and silica microspheres. In addition, preliminary work...
This thesis looks at the third harmonic voltage response of a small incandescent lightbulb. The third harmonic voltage, or 3 omega (3ω) voltage, arises from applying a 1ω sinusoidal voltage across a resistive material. The 3ω voltage carries with it information about the thermal conductivity of the material. A lock-in-amplifier...
BCL11B, a gene regulatory transcription factor, is known to be a regulator of T cell development in the immune system, and has been identified as a tumor suppressor for T cell leukemias. Defining the molecular events that regulate the activity of BCL11B will provide potential drug targets that will aid...
The neutron capture cross sections of ¹⁰⁶Cd, ¹⁰⁸Cd, ¹¹⁰Cd, ¹¹²Cd, ¹¹⁴Cd and ¹¹⁶Cd were determined in the present project. Four different OSU TRIGA reactor facilities were used to produce redundancy in the results and to measure the thermal cross section and resonance integral separately. When the present values were compared...
Crime rates affect everything from home values, to the quality of education. Through the use of Social Disorganization Theory this paper will support the hypothesis that there is a correlation between neighborhood upkeep and crime rates within neighborhoods. Social Disorganization theory itself aims to show the correlation between the place...
The project objective was to characterize stabilization of human recombinant Factor VIII (FVIII) with two surfactants, Pluronic® F-68 (F68) and Polysorbate 80 (PS80). Factor VIII is an essential blood clotting protein manufactured for treatment of Hemophilia A. Factor VIII has multiple hydrophobic regions requiring the use of amphiphilic molecules, such...
To model the behavior of the spring run Chinook salmon, we expanded the current dataset of salmon counts at the Winchester Dam, Winchester, Oregon, to include historical data from 1991 through 1997. These counts were used to identify Chinook salmon behavior that resulted in defining preferable water conditions during their...
The Min protein system in Escherichia coli helps the cell division process by identifying the center of the cell [1, 7]. This system has been modeled succesfully computationally under standard conditions. There has been recent experimental interest in the cell division process for significantly perturbed cell shapes. We take the...
Research in Dolan lab focuses primarily on the adaptive immune system and ways it can be better utilized to eliminate infected or transformed cells. Research focuses on the major histocompatibility (MHC) class I antigen presentation pathway, which plays an important role in alerting the immune system of the presence of...
Widespread mercury contamination threatens aquatic ecosystem functions due to its capacity to bioaccumulate, biomagnify, and induce toxicity in food webs. Methylmercury (MeHg), the organic form of mercury, bioaccumulates more efficiently and tends to be more toxic than the inorganic form. One important impact of mercury exposure is inhibition of effective...
The current American free-roaming horse (Equus caballus) population far exceeds the appropriate population limit set by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to preserve resources on public lands. Several techniques have been tested to assist in decreasing repopulation rates. The purpose of the present study was to analyze two contraceptive...
Pedometers have become a frequently used tool to measure physical activity. The accuracy of pedometers has been an interest of many researchers given the popularity of the tool. When, pedometers are employed, there are many potential sources of error, including missing data. Because previous studies indicated that the amount of...
This thesis presents a measurement of the resonance integral and thermal cross section – which together represent the total neutron absorption cross section – of the naturally occurring isotopes of platinum that emit gamma radiation upon neutron absorption. The measurements were made via neutron activation analysis. Platinum samples were bombarded...
This investigation expands on earlier methods of using surface polarization reflection (SPR) to characterize the first few monolayers of a surface. Past research measured intensities of light reflecting off an SiO₂ optical flat inside a vacuum. Pressure of applied gas was changed to view a change in reflection. In an...
Cystic ovarian disease (COD) is one of the main causes of infertility in dairy cattle and has a high economic impact on farmers. COD is caused by an endocrine imbalance within the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis which prevents the mature Graafian follicle from ovulating. The cause at the molecular level is not...
This report provides an overview of selected findings from the 2019 NSSE survey completed at OSU. It focuses on two particular subsets of the survey results: Engagement Indicators and High-Impact Practices. The report outlines the insights drawn from the survey to look at the undergraduate student experience at OSU.
GRMZM2G372877 was identified as a gene with potential function in the male gametophyte based on its strong expression in mature pollen relative to other maize tissues (Chettoor et al. 2014). Identification of a Ds insertion mutation in this gene from the Brutnell/Vollbrecht collection provided further support for this hypothesis, as...
My work in the Harper Nanotoxicology Lab focuses on science communication. The Harper Lab conducts research to address data gaps regarding the toxicity of micro and nanoplastic in the environment, specifically in aquatic habitats. It is important for the public to understand what the lab does, and how they can...
IODP 351 cruise to the back arc region of the Izu Bonin contained cores with tephra layers intermitted within. These tephra layers under went electron micro probe analysis to gather major earth element abundances in order to put a parameter of a. where did the tephra originate from (volcanic source)...
We present a report on a new capability for low temperature microscopy of organic
optoelectronic semiconductor materials. We may now perform photoluminescence (PL) and
conductivity measurements as a function of temperature on a microscopic level.
Testing confirmed the setup's ability to support microscopic measurements at pressures
of 10^-6 Torr and...
ABSTRACT: In 2006 Alaska’s first artificial reef (AR) was deployed as mitigation for habitat lost due to coastal development. Surveys conducted the following year suggested AR assemblages resembled those of adjacent natural reefs (NR). However, there is little known about the ecological succession of AR’s long-term in high latitude locations....
Over half of the U.S. coastline is found in Alaska, and the majority of the state’s economic activity occurs along the coast. Increased coastal development poses a potential threat to nearshore habitats in Alaska. The installation of artificial reef (AR) systems can mitigate habitat loss; however, few AR systems have...
Dibenzo[def,p]chrysene (DBC) is a highly potent, but less prevalent, environmental carcinogen belonging to a class of compounds known as Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs). They are highly ubiquitous and arise as a byproduct of natural and anthropogenic combustion processes. Previous studies have documented carcinogenic effects upon in utero exposure of PAHs....
Nanostars have many potential applications, particularly in biomedicine, such as drug delivery, detection assays, and even cancer treatment. Seeing how their plasmon changes in response to changes to the environment of the nanostars can give us an insight to the stability of the nanostars. Our current studies involve the effect...
A better understanding of the distribution and spawning behavior of Crangon shrimp and their relationship with their predators, including the green sturgeon, Acipenser medirostris, is an important step toward the larger goal to understand food webs of the nearshore continental shelf of the northeastern Pacific. Here, I examined how the...
Using available APIs, we can have the ability to extract information from an online database and visualize the information. These information models are used to create services based on geographic, structural, and semantic data on the urban scale. Spatial data infrastructure is the arrangements used to enable the combination of...
People judge each other’s intelligence all the time for a variety of reasons such as choosing a lab partner or at a job interview, but how accurate are these judgments? This study assesses the accuracy with which individuals can judge the intelligence of another after a 5-minute face-to-face interaction. One...
Based on recent findings, our hypothesis is that the inhibition of the Receptor tyrosine kinase-like orphan receptor 2 (ROR2) enzyme can lead to tumor suppression.
ROR2 are trans-membrane proteins that are part of the receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) family. ROR2 is generally not expressed in most normal adult tissues and...
There are record numbers of immigrants in the U.S., with no indication of declining in the future. Social debates surrounding issues such as immigration are fragile. It is critical that research and knowledge put out to the public and used by policy makers to create or reform immigration legislation must...
Symbioses are intimate interactions between two different organisms. In a pathogenic interaction, one organism benefits and the other is generally harmed; whereas in a mutualistic interaction, the members reciprocally benefit. Rhodococcus is a genus of Gram-positive bacteria that persist in a variety of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Although better known...
Fusarium solani is a chronic disease that causes root rot which affects bean production worldwide. Recently, a QTL map was generated which identified several SNPs which were found to be associated with resistance to the pathogen. To be useful in a breeding program, INDELs must be identified which co-seggregate with...