In recent years considerable work has been done in the development of improved logging machinery. The word improvement may bring to mind entirely new or improved systems which offer the logger greater mobility and efficient use of manpower. Logging has generally been labor intensive, however, "The need to achieve greater...
With indications that fisheries production has plateued at a global capacity of 85 million metric tons in the 1990's, further exploitation of marine stocks on a sustainable basis is unrealistic. Economic development of coastal and regional economies will benefit from new approaches to maximizing benefits from harvested products that include...
Nonpoint source pollution is a widespread problem with no easy solutions. The variable nature of nonpoint
sources and the wide range of best management practices, coupled with a multitude of managerial constraints, make management of nonpoint source pollution a difficult task. Wisconsin's Nonpoint Source Water Pollution Abatement Program overcomes many...
The use of mobile devices is increasing and these devices run on batteries. Therefore, it becomes important to save power in these devices. To do so, we need to have a mechanism that estimates the power consumption in transmission as well as power used by the CPU while processing a...
Increasing renewable energy development is often seen as an essential tool for combating global climate change, yet despite widespread support in theory, renewable energy often faces problems at the implementation stage. In the state of Washington, where voters have expressed a desire for greater renewable energy by mandating that 15%...
Concerns over climate change and energy security have spurred governments worldwide to encourage the development of renewable energy. Although public attitudes and macro-politics, in general, show moderate to strong support for renewables- in particular, wind power- largely because of the economic and environmental benefits associated with it. However, local politics...
While the U.S. energy portfolio increasingly includes renewables, social acceptance of such technologies can pose an important challenge for developers. Using survey data from a random sample of nearby households (n=524), content analysis of coverage in local newspapers, and interviews with various stakeholders (n=14), I explore local social acceptance of...
Wind energy has widespread public support; nevertheless, the emergence of local support or
opposition in response to siting proposals is often unpredictable. Uncertainty surrounding a
community’s response is problematic for both the company planning the project and for states
pursuing policies for expanded development and use of renewable energy. Given...
My internship was conducted with the Native Seed Network program within the Institute for Applied Ecology, a non-profit organization located in Corvallis, whose focus is education, applied research and active restoration and of native ecosystems. My internship goals were to increase my experience in applied restoration ecology and conservation biology...
This research is an effort to appraise the results of the 1963
legislation, especially in terms of the spatial aspect. Has it achieved
the desired purpose? How many, and what size of farms are involved?
Where are these farms located?
The research field work resulted in a definitive map showing...
Humboldt County has several areas which have naturally
high to extreme wildland fire hazards. Recent settlement within
these areas increases the likelihood of a destructive fire. This
report examines the extent and degree to which climate, slope and
vegetation influence the wildland fire hazard in Humboldt County,
as well as...
Wild horse and burro management has been a controversial topic over the past several decades, since the passing of the Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burro Act of 1971, as federal land management agencies attempt to manage wild horses and burros in a way that supports natural ecological balance. In...
Like many areas around the globe experiencing ever-growing demand for diminishing natural resources, the south-central region of Texas is facing a wicked problem in water resource planning and sustainability. This Region includes San Antonio, the seventh largest city in the U.S. With a projected population increase over one million residents...
Marine programs, particularly those related to marine conservation, utilize a suite of tools to offset the negative consequences of human activities on marine environments. However, among others, limited funding can represent a challenge for these programs in terms of achieving their desired outcomes. Using systems and organizational theory, this study...
Solar energy systems purchased in the United States have increased tenfold since 2010. As solar photovoltaics (PV) markets expand, solar energy becomes more affordable. In the last five years, the price of solar has decreased by 40 percent. Despite solar PV becoming more affordable and rising consumer demand, between 50...
The hazards-of-place model of vulnerability to environmental hazards posits that vulnerability has biophysical and social components. While biophysical characteristics are important in predicting locations of elevated wildfire risk, the social characteristics of human communities may help us predict locations of elevated wildfire impacts. We examine the relationship between biophysical and...
Corruption has important implications for the proper implementation and success of public policies. A vast literature in the social sciences has highlighted important national attributes that propagate corruption within the public sector. Despite these vast literatures, less attention has focused on individual characteristics, outside of more basic cost/benefit analysis, that...
It is not unusual to see stranded or washed-up marine animals and birds along any
coastline. Various networks nationwide exist to report marine mammals and sea birds,
yet, we have been unable to find a network in Oregon or nationally to report other
stranded marine animals, namely fish, cephalopods, and...
Voter preference on the issue of comprehensive land use
planning in Oregon was analyzed through various population
characteristics in order to determine the factors
contributing to public preference in this issue and how they
were distributed spatially. Two statistical models were
developed to analyze the correlations between voting outcome
in...
In August 2011, the final Upper Willamette River basin salmon and steelhead recovery plan was adopted by NOAA Fisheries and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. The plan highlights a variety of activities that need to be taken by both public and private entities in order to recover these...
"This report is organized as follows. First, the
objectives and methods used are outlined. Background
information follows, including what is known about the
extent, past alterations, and condition of wetlands in
Oregon today; the status of wetland restoration in the U.S.
and in Oregon; definitions of important terms; the functions...
Water in the U.S. West faces considerable challenges and uncertainties. Climate change has intensified weather extremes, threatening the water sources that support the region’s many stakeholders. Urban water providers are among the stakeholders contending with the challenge of providing reliable water supplies to their growing populations. Recognizing the critical role...
Stormwater has traditionally been conveyed off a developed site as quickly as possible, primarily through pipes. This runoff is often stored in large ponds and/or treated in central facilities. As cities grow and development continues, more runoff is generated via impervious surfaces. Excessive runoff impacts the water quality of water...
Several environmental and cultural factors were studied to
explain the distribution of western juniper (Juniperus occidentalis Hook.)
in an area one mile northwest of Millican, Oregon. In the study area juniper
grows densely on upper south slopes and only sparsely occurs on upper
north slopes. Juniper moisture stress was found...
The WEPP (Water Erosion Prediction Project) application computes soil loss and sediment yield from a field based on the data on crops, management practices, and operations. In order to make WEPP, which is a Windows-based application, easily accessible, Web WEPP (Web-based WEPP) was developed by our research group.
Web WEPP...
Web-Site Generator 3 (WebSiteGen3) is a rapid application development (RAD) tool that generates ASP.NET forms to insert, query, update and delete data stored in the user tables in a SQL Server 2000 database. WebSiteGen3 uses a graphical user interface to show the user tables in a hierarchical tree based on...
In this project we implemented WebSiteGen2, which is a software tool that automatically generates HTML pages and server-side scripts for a Web-based database application. A user of WebSiteGen2 can select the tables and columns for which HTML pages and server-side scripts are generated. The menus for this selection process are...
Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) is a standard for estimating soil loss caused by rainfall and overland flow. The current software tool that implements this standard is RUSLE 1.06b, which is a stand-alone DOS application. In this project, we converted the DOS application to a Web application, which we...
WebGen 5 is a software tool for automatically generating Web scripts that display Web forms and operate on data in a database. WebGen 5 is implemented as a collection of templates. Each template, combined with a corresponding configuration file, generates one of the following six types of Web scripts: search,...
We have developed a framework for Web-based GIS/database applications which allow users to insert, update, delete, and query data with a map interface displayed by Web browsers. The framework was designed so that a Web-based GIS application that uses ArcIMS as a map server can be easily created, customized, and...
We have developed a framework for Web-based GIS/database (WebGD) applications
that allow users to insert, query, and delete data with map interfaces displayed by Web
browsers. The framework uses such open source software packages as Minnesota
MapServer, PostGIS, and PostgreSQL. With this framework, we can create the map
interface of...
WEPP (Water Erosion Prediction Project) is a stand-alone Windows application for predicting water erosion from overland flow on a hillslope. This application was developed by the National Soil Erosion Research Laboratory (NSERL). To make the WEPP application more accessible and easy to use, we created a web version of WEPP,...
Web-based Pesticide Screening Tool (Web-PST) is a web-based software application for evaluating the potential risk of pesticides on the surrounding environment. It uses the formulas and standards specified by the Soil/Pesticide Interaction Screening Procedure Version II (SPISP II). Web-PST closely models the stand-alone Windows application Windows Pesticide Screening Tool (WIN-PST)....
We have developed a web-based software tool for evaluating the potential risk of pesticides on the surrounding environment. The software tool is called Web-based Pesticide Screening Tool (Web-PST). It uses the formulas and standards specified by the Soil/Pesticide Interaction Screening Procedure Version II (SPISP II). Web-PST closely models the stand-alone...
We developed a Web-based GIS/database application designed to help motel businesses reach target customers effectively. By using an interactive map along with a relational database, users can view any particular area of the map and perform some basic operations as their groups privileges permit. With different types of privileges, users...
GEM-GIS is a prototype of a web-based GIS/Database application for managing a germplasm collection. This application include a database, a map interface, a set of web forms for database access, and an analysis module. The analysis module perform statistical analysis for the accessions of a species selected by the user...
Collaborative governance strives to address complex environmental problems by building cooperation and consensus among stakeholders. While there are many successful examples of collaborative governance, all too frequently collaborative groups come to an agreement in the meeting room only to struggle to bring their plans to fruition. What are the factors...
Algorithms and MP1 parallel C programs are developed for constructing wavelet expansions of long-range potential functions with O(n) time complexity. A new high frequency correction algorithm is introduced. The emphasis is on the common potential expansion encountered in physics that behaves as l/r in three-dimensions. The central B-Splines are used...
The Johnson Creek Basin, Oregon
is an example of the physical and jurisdictional
problems often associated with watershed
urbanization. Implementation of solutions
to problems of water quality and
quantity in the basin have been hindered
by political and social constraints. Reasons
for the failure of previous management proposals
are analyzed...
In attempting to provide modern water and
sewerage services to the non-indigenous inhabitants of
Canadian Arctic communities, engineering modifications are
necessary owing to the presence of a continuous permafrost
zone and a severe climate. Modifications are constraints
on communities in that the costs of providing water and
sewerage services are...
Boreal and temperate biomes host nearly half of the earth’s forested ecosystems. The temperate rainforests of the Pacific coast of North America constitute nearly half of all temperate rainforests on earth. Along the northern extent of this region, the perhumid and sub-polar rainforests of southeast and southcentral Alaska are among...
California public schools receive 2-5% of their annual budget from education support organizations (ESOs), such as parent groups, booster clubs, and education foundations. Anecdotal evidence suggests voluntary contributions are in high demand due to shrinking budgets and because California’s highly centralized education funding system is insufficient to meet the demands...
Many studies have looked at human settlements around individual volcanoes for
volcanic risk analyses, but few have done a comparative study to identify possible global
patterns. With the use of Landsat ETM+ data, this study identifies and compares urban
proximity to the Decade Volcanoes to identify volcanic settlement patterns. These...
Thermal oxidation of methyl oleate was studied over a range of temperatures from 50 C to 150 C for periods of time up to 30 min. Degradation was quantitatively followed by gas liquid chromatography (GLC) and liquid scintillation counting of the products of methyl oleate-U-14C heated under a stream of...
Uploading everyday information about food intake, sleep, number of steps and then generating consolidated peer visual reports for participants in large-scale health studies, often divided into multiple treatment groups, can be challenging.
This challenge is even bigger if subjects are young teenagers between the age of 14-19 active in sports,...
A cluster of computers can be used to render large amounts of data at very high resolutions. One application of clusters is scientific visualization, which often involves the display of large data sets. This paper describes a prototype system that allows oceanographers to interactively view oceanographic data using a cluster...
Graphics hardware in mobile devices has become more powerful, allowing rendering techniques such as ray-cast volume rendering to be done at interactive rates. This increase of performance provides desktop capabilities combined with the portability of a tablet. Volumes can demand a high amount of memory in order to be loaded...
Structure Query Language (SQL) is widely used to access data stored in relational database systems. Although a powerful and flexible language, SQL can also be complex and hard to learn. For most new SQL users, it's easy to write SQL statement by following SQL grammar and syntax rules, but it's...
Grandfather Mountain (North Carolina) has been attracting people from all over the world since it opened as a park in 1952. In addition to its mild summer climate, extreme weather patterns, and breathtaking views, Grandfather Mountain is an area of high ecological significance. Although the Grandfather Mountain Steward Foundation (GMSF)...
This paper contains a review of the literature that inspired and informed my final Master’s art project for Applied Ethics, as well as an explanation and analysis of the art project itself. The review of literature begins with a lens into modern development, and how a history of colonization and...
This report describes "VIGRAM" (Visual Programming) which is a program understanding and complexity metric analysis tool for Pascal programs. VIGRAM is implemented on the Macintosh as one part of the "O.S.U." (Qregon Speedcode Universe) project. With VIGRAM, the source code of a Pascal procedure can be displayed as a visual...
Aerial videography in combination with GPS were used to monitor the
active surge of Alaska's Bering Glacier. The large aerial extent of the study area and the
unpredictable weather in coastal Alaska required innovative techniques to be used in
order to successfully monitor the surge environment. A portable aerial videographic...
With the increase in demand for streaming media capabilities across the Internet, the focus has shifted from traditional client-server to peer-to-peer approaches. Content Distribution Networks (CDNs) have also recently moved from web acceleration to media streaming. P2P CDNs can be used both as a delivery mechanism and as an independent...
This report presents an efficient method for semi-supervised video object segmentation – the problem of identifying foreground pixels occupied by a target object. The target is specified by the ground-truth mask in the first video frame. While the state of the art achieves a segmentation accuracy greater than 80%, it...
Composition and structure of Oregon ash
(Fraxinus latifolia) woodlands in the William L. Finley
National Wildlife Refuge, Oregon are described. Twenty
stands dominated by Fraxinus latifolia were sampled with
500 m2 circular macroplots in which floristic microplot
data were collected for plant community synthesis. Plant
communities were identified by computer-assisted...
Since the early 1900s, widespread agricultural abandonment has occurred in western New York leading to a general increase in forested areas through old-field succession. Even-aged stands typically follow these large-scale disturbances, resulting in a pattern of development with identifiable stages (Oliver 1980). At each stage, changes in vegetation dynamics encourage...
Climate change represents an increasing threat to northeastern temperate forests. Nearly all forest communities have been affected by climate change and require climate-adaptation management (Jandl et al. 2018). Climate-adaptation management (CAM) promotes the viability of forested systems and the ecosystem services they provide under current and future climatic conditions (Bolte...
This project focuses on the classification of
vegetation as a habitat for wild turkeys. The
vegetation classification discussed here is only one
part of a study looking at habitat requirements,
seasonal use patterns, and brood-rearing habits of
wild turkeys in Southern Oregon. The vegetation
classification was performed for an area...
Mitchell Marsh, a tidal salt marsh in the Salmon River Estuary, was diked in the
early 1960s. Restoration of the marsh, which began in late 1978, consisted of partial dike
removal. Several studies have been conducted in the marsh, addressing the status of the
developing salt marsh plant communities. Species...
Summary of results. After implementing the plain ID3 algorithm, I experimented with
various modifi cations. Two improvements of the process of finding a legal phoneme/stress
could be made by using statistical information about the letter to phoneme/stress-mapping
in the training set.
Adding the CHI-SQUARE test to the ID3 algorithm was...
Based in part on previous work by this researcher, variables assumed to play a minor part in the process/ response system examined by the OSU Alsea Bay Hazard Study Team (1985-87)--river input and subsequent variations in hydrology--were more completely analyzed for their range of effects on the stability of Alsea...
With the development of technologies in genome sequencing and variant detection, a huge number of variants are detected. To further analyze the variants, it requires an efficient tool to annotate the functional effect of variants. This project managed to develop an efficient program to annotate the functional effect of variants...
In recent years there has been a growing debate in the field of public administration over whether public employees are essentially self interested. Public choice theory contends that all people are self-interested utility maximizers, and as a result that public employees would seek to use their position for personal gain....
Energy security is a vital but often unmet requirement for community resiliency. Electricity availability is essential to the functioning of the economy, individual households, and the collective essential services that provide health, safety, and the basic human needs to sustain life. Coastal communities in Oregon face special vulnerability because they...
The Eastern black rail (laterallus jamaicanesis) is the smallest of the rail species and facing catastrophic decline throughout its home range. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the black rail population has decreased as much as 90%, leading to its proposed Federal listing as threatened under the Endangered...
In the mid 1970's, two critical forest planning directives were legislated by Congress. The Forest and Rangelands Renewable Resoures Planning Act (RPA), mandating that the U.S. Forest service undertake long-range planning initiatives, was passed in 1974. The National Forest Management Act of 1976 amended the RPA planning process. Together, these...
The Geographic Information System (GIS) is an invaluable tool in manipulating and
interpreting world scale datasets. In recent years it has become the standard link between
water resource study and the ever-increasing numbers of high quality data sets. This
paper describes the use of Geographic Information Systems for gathering and...
Abstract:
Resource managers and policy face challenges in forecasting the demand for natural resources replenishment (where possible) of natural resources due to changes in human lifestyle, population change and economic development. The year 2020 demonstrated this challenge on several fronts, including the realm of natural resources. Additionally, much competition for...
Outreach is a key element in natural resource public participation processes in order to create an engaging, thoughtful, and productive environment for citizen involved decision-making. This project examined the utility of a needs assessment as an initial outreach tool within the context of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries...
Desktop widget engines have emerged as an alternative for completing simple tasks without the need for a full-blown application or constant user interaction. Widgets can simply display data in a compact and visually appealing manner (such as stock tickers, weather forecasts, and news notifications), or go so far as to...
Most research on U.S. hunger and food insecurity is at the household level, where it occurs. Because policy to address food insecurity is created and implemented at the national and state level, hunger research at the state level provides important contextual information. By including weather data with state level economic...
We developed a scientific information management system to facilitate remote access and analysis of earth and space science data, using the Component Model of software development provided by the Java language. The data sets are part of the Earth Observing. System project, being carried out at the College of Oceanic...
This research uses the Institutional Development Analysis (IDA) framework to examine the relationships between the individual levels of enforcement and the commercial trawl fishermen in Newport, Oregon, to determine if there is a difference in relationships and whether those differences impact compliance. While a difference in the relationships between the...
The Himalayan mountain range is one of the world’s largest sources of fresh water, and Nepal, situated at the foothills of the Himalayas, is endowed with ample water resources. In spite of this water abundance, drinking water supply in many parts of the country is inadequate, particularly in the capital,...
Purpose:
Natural resources education and extension is at the intersection of diverse disciplines, where effective practice and policy decisions rely on the impartial evaluation and synthesis of multiple sources of information. This investigation examines contemporary information sources describing attributes of Oregon family forest owners, with the objectives of identifying potential...
In Washington State, regional leaders have acknowledged the intrinsic value of nature and are striving to provide equal consideration to both human and nonhuman nature in the quest to restore the Puget Sound. But watershed-based committees supporting this work have faced challenges to effectively consider human wellbeing (HWB) in their...
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), a group formed in 1960 and often blamed for the oil shock of 1973, is treated as a cartel that aims to limit oil production and hold oil price at a level above market equilibrium. Recent research has offered a counter theory that...
As the role of tourism in Oregon's coastal economy grows, associated economic and resource management issues gain heightened importance. Outdoor recreation associated with natural resources is now the main component of tourist activity on the Oregon coast, and facilities and programs that address this public interest are growing in Oregon,...
Machine learning models are powerful tools which may aid in the prediction of survival outcomes of cancer patients. This study evaluated eight classification models and eight regression models on their ability to predict survival outcomes on breast cancer and prostate cancer data sets from the SEER database. The most accurate...
Machine learning models are powerful tools which may aid in the prediction of survival outcomes of cancer patients. This study evaluated eight classification models and eight regression models on their ability to predict survival outcomes on breast cancer and prostate cancer data sets from the SEER database. The most accurate...
This study analyzes food access patterns on the Southern Oregon Coast using GIS technology. The utility and capacity issues of GIS technology are explored as well as the ability for community-based organizations to apply GIS analysis at a local level. A comprehensive literature review is presented which addresses the definition...
Environmental DNA (eDNA) detection of aquatic invasive species is at the forefront of aquatic conservation efforts because of decreased costs, increased response times, and increase of sensitivity for intercepting invasions with low density populations. Developments in eDNA technologies have improved detection probabilities for rare, indicator, and invasive species over the...
The field of geography has been transformed in recent years through the use of spatial tools such as geographic information systems (GIS) satellite and acoustic remote sensing, the global positioning system (GPS), Internet mapping and more. Studying geography and earth science in the digital age now requires a sophisticated and...
Nearest-neighbor resampling is a common procedure used by cartographers to
reproject raster data sets. This type of resampling is useful because it retains the data
from the original raster data set. However, during nearest-neighbor resampling some of
the original data will be lost as it is reprojected, while other data...
The World Health Organization defines food security as “all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life.” The reality is that one in six Americans are not food secure, even though the US produces enough food to feed its national...
An Internet Map Server (IMS) web site was constructed with the goal of
helping middle- through high-school students learn about ocean processes. This IMS was
developed in conjunction with the activities of the Science & Math Investigative
Learning Experience (SMILE) program, and for eventual use with the Oregon Coastal
Atlas,...
An Internet Map Server (IMS) web site was constructed with the goal of
helping middle- through high-school students learn about ocean processes. This IMS was
developed in conjunction with the activities of the Science & Math Investigative
Learning Experience (SMILE) program, and for eventual use with the Oregon Coastal
Atlas,...
Quantitative assessments of many West coast rockfish stocks of both major and
minor importance to commercial fisheries have shown varying declines in abundances. The population sizes of less-abundant, co-occurring unassessed species may also be
declining. However, determining stock status of the many non-targeted, minor species with high levels of certainty...
Power planning efforts in Oregon require accurate information
about hydroelectric potential. Potential uses for Geographic Information
Systems (GISs) are being investigated by three Oregon planning agencies.
This paper presents a method in which a 616 is used to help identify and
reduce uncertainty in previous hydroelectric inventories. Uncertainty with
respect...
Outdoor recreational activities on public lands have increased dramatically in the past few
decades. Americans are logging millions of recreational visitor days (RVD's) participating in
activities such as hiking, biking, wildlife viewing, photography and many others. This increased
participation though is having detrimental effects on these lands and the agencies...
Forms are an easy-to-use interface to access a database, including a remote database on the Internet. An entity-relationship (ER} diagram, which is a pictorial representation of a database schema, is widely used in designing a database. A class diagram, which shows set of classes, relationships among them, and associations, are...
Hunger is among the greatest contemporary social problems in the United States. An incredible 48 million people, or 14% of households, experienced food insecurity during 2014. At the same time, public responses to food insecurity, such as the Emergency Food Assistance Program, have increasingly relied on the “emergency food network,”...
Louisiana Army Ammunition Plant (LAAP), located near Shreveport, Louisiana, is a
government-owned contractor-operated plant. Its purpose is to manufacture, load and
assemble ammunition items. Area P has been used over the past 40 years to dump
explosive-laden wastewater into 16 unlined lagoons. In 1989 LAAP was placed on the
National...
The annual growth rate for the Corvallis-Benton County
area has traditionally been higher than the growth rate for the
State of Oregon. Corvallis is considered to be one of the most
densely settled communities in the state. Since 1972, Corvallis
has experienced a drastic decline in the number of housing...
This paper seeks to answer the question of the effectiveness of urban renewal through a decennial review and analysis of the costs and benefits of the Central Albany Revitalization Area (CARA) in Albany, Oregon. The topic is especially relevant at this time of constraining budgets, as a bright light is...
The 24:1 Community is a growing community with ongoing concerns over historical residential segregation, minority-exposure to environmental hazards, and sparse tree canopy coverage. This paper presents a comprehensive review of the current state of the community’s urban forest through an assessment of the urban forest. It also highlights the need...
In this paper I examine the impact of recent immigration, in addition to other community predictors on community counts of violent and property crimes in Austin, Texas, a multi-ethnic city. I combine data from the 2000 US census of population and housing with census tract level uniform crime report data...
In 2011, a study by Freeman and Wornell uncovered that social service providers in Klamath County believed Native American children experiencing maltreatment might be slipping through the cracks. In an effort to find out how to better serve these children and their families, the current study involved interviews with 11...
A history of fire suppression, growth in the wildland-urban interface, and changing climate conditions, have created a fire regime in central Oregon that is growing in severity and intensity, putting more people and structures at risk and requiring a greater percentage of state and federal agency budgets to manage fires....