String theory, one of the more popular approaches to quantizing gravity, is a highly complex
theory, involving high level mathematics and physics. But the basic ideas of string theory are not inaccessible, even to the undergraduate. This document acts as report to my thesis project, the writing of A Detailed...
Quantum physics in the Copenhagen interpretation places an unsatisfying divide between the quantum and classical worlds. Decoherence -- the destruction of superposition states of the system -- helps us understand how the quantum transitions to the classical. Quantum Darwinism builds on decoherence to understand how information about the system is...
Streams and rivers play a critical role in global carbon (C) cycling by processing, storing, and transporting C. Headwater streams which make up more than 95% of the length of streams and rivers worldwide have disproportionate influence on fluvial C dynamics. The hyporheic zone (HZ) of headwater streams is a...
This study examined how annual bedload export volume and bedload characteristics were related to disturbances including logging, floods, debris slides, and wildfires over 48 to 65-year periods in small, steep catchments in conifer forests of the western Cascade Range, Oregon. Bedload – the material rolling, sliding, or saltating along the...
The details of the 1700 Cascadia Subdction Zone earthquake and tsunami can be better constrained using data from tsunami sand sheets, provided knowledge of the waveform, estuary geometry and bed roughness controls on the deposition pattern of the sand sheet. In this study, we use the hydrodynamic and sediment transport...
Corals provide a diversity of ecosystem services, are among the most biologically diverse ecosystems on Earth, and directly support ~500 million people globally; however, corals are increasingly experiencing significant threats and are undergoing severe bleaching events as the result of the warming climate. Using a two-year data set surrounding a...
Wildfires can create alternative pathways for forest development, and wildfires have expanded in size, frequency, intensity, and severity across the western United States. The purpose of this paper is to compare forest development of a mature Douglas-fir forest in western Oregon across fire severities. Postburn field measurements were collected in...
This study investigated carbon dynamics in the hyporheic zone of a steep, forested catchment in the Cascade Mountains of western Oregon, USA. Water samples were collected monthly from a headwater stream and well network during baseflow conditions from July to December 2013 and again in March 2014. We also sampled...
A transient code (TFETC) for calculating the temperature
distribution throughout the radial and axial positions of a
thermionic fuel element (TFE) has been successfully developed.
It accommodates the variations of temperatures, thermal power,
electrical power, voltage, and current density throughout the
TFE as a function of time as well as...