Arthropod communities in pear are conceptualized as hierarchically
organized systems in which several levels of organization or subsystems
can be recognized between the species population level and the community
as a whole. An individual tree is taken to be the community habitat with
arthropod subcommunities developing on leaf, fruit and...
The focus of this thesis is to design, characterize, and apply novel computational methods and molecular systems to interrogate heterogeneous human gut microbiome-related phenomena. In Chapter 2, I design, implement, and characterize a method for embedding co-occurrence patterns derived from massive 16s amplicon datasets. I use this method to 1....
Microscopic organisms inhabit virtually every niche on this planet, where they perform functions vital to all life on earth. Accordingly, humans host a complex community of microorganisms (i.e. the gut microbiome) that inhabit the gastrointestinal tract and modulate host physiology. Insight into the specific mechanisms through which gut microbes influence...
This dissertation consists of two articles to be submitted for publication. The first,
a literature review, makes visible common influences on science teaching self-efficacy
beliefs and also points to potentially invisible validation concerns regarding the
instrument used. The second investigates the participants' invisible science teaching self-efficacy
beliefs and, through the...
Freeze/thaw cycles are numerous in agricultural soils of the Pacific Northwest. Potential loss of soil by erosion is high whenever a soil thaws from the surface creating a saturated soil overlying an impermeable frozen layer. Field studies were conducted to investigate the effect of surface residue on soil freezing. Residue...
Agricultural and companion animals are integral to our way of life as they provide us with nourishment, financial resources, transportation, and companionship. However, pets, managed animals in the agricultural industry, as well as wild populations of food animals are all subject to health and mortality risks. The gut microbiome is...
Because of the fuel crisis and problems associated with thermal
pollution there is new impetus and urgency for developing more
efficient energy conversion systems for power generation. A preliminary
analysis was undertaken to determine the potential of staged
Rankine cycle systems for substantially higher efficiency. It was
necessary to optimize...
Studies of anisotropic and isotropic Raman line shape yield information about the rotational motion (rotational correlation function) and non-reorientational (vibrational) lifetimes. The rotational motion of carbon disulfide has been studied previously by the techniques of Raman spectroscopy (6, 43), Rayleigh scattering (43, 46) and direct measurement (47). This work was...
This analysis is the study of Oregon's wildlife resources from
the period prior to white settlement up to the present time, including
critical projections, based on present trends and expected conditions
for both human and wildlife populations in the state up to the year 2010.
Prior to white settlement Oregon...
Gaseous transport through soil in the presence of soil
microorganisms has been investigated. More recently, modeling of
gaseous transport in the unsaturated zone has been investigated.
However, the problem of mathematical model of oxygen and carbon
dioxide transport through soil, as affected by the climatic
conditions, the transport of soil...
The purpose of this study was to develop a valid and reliable
instrument to measure the organizational climate of the community
college as perceived by community college administrators, faculty, and
classified staff.
There were three phases in this study. The first was to develop a
pool of test items based...
Forest soils with low bulk densities are often considered less
susceptible to compaction than soils with higher bulk densities. The
objective of this study was to determine if soil strength controlled the
compression of soils with low bulk density. Four soils were selected
for this evaluation. Three of these were...
Experiments were conducted to study the effect of pore size
distribution on the diffusion of 2, 4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (carbon-
14) through water saturated porous media. Eight size fractions of
glass beads were used representing the porous media. It was found
that as the average particle radius, and hence pore radius,...
Temperature and water potential effects on the growth,
transpiration, total nonstructural carbohydrate (TNC) content, and
nutrient uptake of sudangrass (Sorghum vulgare var. piper) were
investigated in laboratory experiments. The effect of nitrogen supply
on the growth and nutrient uptake at constant soil water potential was
also investigated in this study....
All mammals host communities of commensal microbes in and on their bodies. Recent technological advances, combined with experimental studies in laboratory animals, are beginning to reveal the ubiquitous links between the gut microbiome and host disease, metabolism, immunity, and numerous other host functions. A new challenge of microbiome research is...
In higher vertebrates, normal digestion and absorption by the
gastrointestinal tract are dependent on the orderly and controlled
transit of intraluminal contents. A relationship between fluid
passage through the gut and absorption from the gut has yet to be
examined in fish. In marine teleosts, the osmolality and ion concentration...
The purpose of this study was to determine if
students' school-related attitudes are significantly
affected by teacher classroom discipline management based
upon concepts contained in Judicious Discipline: A Constitutional
Perspective for School Rules (Gathercoal, 1986).
The data relative to student school-related attitudes
of elementary, middle, and high school students toward...
Over the past twenty years, the national three-year graduation rate for community college students has ranged from 44% to roughly 31% in 2013 (NCES, 2013). As a way to address such low graduation rates, colleges have implemented a myriad of services and programs (i.e., tutoring, mentoring, etc.). Another intervention is...
Purpose of the Study
The study was designed to determine whether the amount of
formal education industrial education teachers have completed does
affect their (1) attitude toward teaching and (2) performance in the
classroom. The specific questions formulated to investigate this research
were:
1. Will the amount of formal education...
Recent trends in higher education have led to the development of
alternatives to traditional on-campus graduate degree programs. There is a
concomitant need to understand student experience in field-based programs
which support continuing education and career development for employed
adults. The central purpose of this research was to explore the...
Purpose of the Study
The purposes of this study were to (1) identify the educational
and socioeconomic characteristics of Latin American students who
have graduated from the California State College system, (2) to identify
those characteristics which significantly affect academic success,
utilization of training and return home to Latin America...
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study was to determine and analyze criteria
and procedures used in the selection of occupational advisory committee
members in Oregon community colleges. The existence of a
common core of criteria and procedures for selecting occupational
advisory committee members was investigated. Further, the...
The influence of boundary layer pumping on an externally-forced
synoptic-scale flow is examined. The results follow earlier theories of
stratified incompressible Boussinesq flow. These theories state that
the spin-down time scale and the penetration depth of the influence of
boundary layer pumping are inversely proportional to the stratification
and directly...
Purposes of the Study The study had several purposes, the major one being to
determine the common professional education competencies needed by
community college instructors of trade and industrial education. Two
other purposes of the study were to determine if differences existed
among community colleges according to scores trade and...
The study was designed to determine if students using the individualized
instruction method, scored significantly higher on a 30 question
achievement test than did students in more traditional group paced
programs. The study also attempted to determine if attitudes displayed
by educators, as measured on an attitude scale, aided in...
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study was (1) to identify the educational and
socio-economic characteristics of enrollees in the In-School Neighborhood
Youth Corps Program and (2) to determine those educational
and socio-economic characteristics that would predict potential achievement
in the In-School Neighborhood Youth Corps Program.
Procedures
A...
The purpose of this study, to examine the relevance of U.S.
graduate education in agriculture to careers in agricultural
development of East African agriculturalists, was examined in
terms of three problems:
Problem 1: Was U.S. graduate education in agriculture
relevant to careers in agricultural development of East
African agriculturalists?
Problem...
This qualitative study describes and interprets the interactions of participants in a
community college writing class delivered by computer-mediated communication
(CMC). The class represented a best practice model of learner-centered instruction in a
CMC class. The description and the discussion are framed by five aspects of CMC
instruction: (1) context;...
The purpose of this study was to improve instructional system design at Small
Business Development Centers by developing a best practice model for assessing client
training needs. Two research questions were addressed:
1. Is self-directed learning an appropriate framework for instructional system design at
Small Business Development Centers?
2. What...
The principles of continuum mechanics provide a consistent
framework for the derivation of mathematical statements describing
transport of water and solute, and growth in plant tissue. These
derivations are based upon the explicit consideration of the tissue as
a mathematical continuum composed of a cell wall matrix, water, and
solute...
Teacher efficacy continues to be an important area of study in educational research. This study tested an instrument designed to assess the perceived efficacy of agricultural education teachers when engaged in lessons involving mathematics instruction. The study population of Oregon and Washington agricultural educators utilized in the validation of the...
The purpose of this study is to explore through their own stories and journeys (storjourns), how lesbian leaders influence and transform dominant community college culture. Five lesbian leaders participated who held the position of Director, Associate Dean, Dean, Executive Vice President, and President/Executive Dean. This microethnographical inquiry divulges and makes...
Osteoporosis is a common metabolic bone disease, affecting a third of women and a fifth of men over age 65. In the US, annual health care costs associated with osteoporosis are estimated to be over $20 billion. Osteoporosis is associated with increased fracture risk, which has been demonstrated to predict...
Wave dispersion and fracture are phenomena that involve. mechanisms triggered at the scale of a material's internal structure. Experiments were performed with a candidate material to judge the hypothesis that wave dispersion measurements can be used to nondestructively predict fracture strength. Wood-based particleboard was chosen as the candidate material because...
The purpose of this study was to determine the importance and
the frequency of use of certain communication skills to job-entrylevel
mechanics as assessed by employers, educators at various levels,
and entry-level industrial mechanics. The study was conducted in
Lane County, Oregon. Communication skills investigated for importance
and for frequency...
The purpose of this study was to determine the concerns of past participants of the Summer Agriculture Institute regarding the use of agriculture as a context for teaching and to determine how they implement curriculum integration. The study used the Concerns-Based Adoption Model as a theoretical framework, which resulted in...
The continuum theory provides a framework in which the growth
of a plant root as a dynamic process involving interactions among
transport of water and solute, cell division, and the subsequent cell
elongation can be described. A plant root is modeled as a one-dimensional,
multi-phase, mathematical continuum. The network of...
Sudden changes occur where the mean values associated with two adjacent non-overlapping
windows of data are anomalously different, and the transition between the
window means occurs over a scale that is small relative to the scale of the windows.
Positions of sudden changes can be economically retrieved. The sudden change...
Atmospheric boundary layers become stably stratified at night over land when the surface becomes colder than the air layer above. In stable nocturnal boundary layers (SNBL), turbulence becomes weak and intermittent, terrain-induced phenomena such as drainage currents or gravity-waves emerge and the surface heterogeneity is enhanced. Because of their complexity...
Gamma-gamma directional correlations were measured
in Ba¹³⁴ at ten angles between 90 degrees and 180 degrees in ten
degree increments using a scintillation spectrometer. The spectrometer
which used NaI crystals, differential energy selection,
and standard coincidence techniques was tested by measuring the
directional correlation of the two cascade gamma rays...
The very stable boundary layer is a region of the atmosphere typified by large
vertical gradients of temperature and momentum. Analysis of very stable atmospheric
flows is complicated by the presence of nonlinear interactions among gravity waves, shear-driven
overturning circulations, two-dimensional vortical modes and intermittent turbulence
in various stages of...
The use of efficient basis functions to model and represent flows with
internal sharp velocity gradients, such as shocks or eddy microfronts, are
investigated. This is achieved by analysing artificial data, observed atmospheric
turbulence data and by the use of a Burgers' equation based spectral
model. The concept of an...
Laboratory experiments were used to investigate the mechanism
of plant response to water stress by determining the sensitivity of leaf
elongation, photosynthesis and transpiration in young corn plants to a
decrease in leaf water potential.
In initial experiments, 9 day old corn plants were grown at soil
water potentials of...
In this dissertation, we investigate three numerical methods for inverting the Laplace transform. These methods are all based on the trapezoidal-type approximations to the Bromwich integral. The first method is the direct integration method: It is a straightforward application of the trapezoidal rule to the Bromwich integral, followed by convergence...
Globally intermittent turbulence is characterized by sudden switching from significant turbulence to weak turbulence and back on time scales ranging from seconds to tens of minutes as opposed to microscale intermittency, which is due to organization of small scale gradients by individual eddies on scales as small as the Kolmogorov...
Sulfur-coated urea (SCU) is a slow release nitrogen fertilizer
manufactured by the Tennessee Valley Authority. Urea granules are
sprayed with molten sulfur, then holes in the sulfur coating are sealed
with a layer of wax sealant. The sulfur coatings are mixtures of
amorphous and crystalline allotropes of sulfur. Coating thickness...
Douglas-fir seedlings were inoculated with different species of
ectomycorrhizae-forming fungi in order to test the concept that
ectomycorrhizae enhance the drought tolerance of seedlings and to
investigate the mechanisms responsible for this effect.
Seedlings were transplanted at age 6 to 8 weeks into pots
containing pasteurized loam soil and inoculated...
A number of investigators have proposed equations to predict
the permeability of porous media. Most of their equations are based
on the distributions of the sizes of the various contributing pores in
the medium. Presently the pore size distributions of agricultural
soils are most commonly obtained from soil water release...
One of many important physical properties that must be known
to understand transport phenomena in soils is pore size distribution.
Presently the pore size distributions of soils are most commonly
obtained from soil water characteristic curves. The soil water characteristic
curves are usually obtained by the pressure plate technique.
It...
The purpose of this study was to understand the experiences of first-generation persons of color attending and persisting at a community technical college. Students of color continue to be an increasing population in our higher education system. Many of these persons of color are choosing to attend two-year institutions. A...
Post-secondary education institutions across the United States are increasingly allocating resources to promote international education exchange programs as a pedagogical praxis to develop students into global citizens. Underlying such notions of global citizenship is the assumption that students will also develop a stronger post-national or cosmopolitan identity as a result...
This literature seeks to broadly examine historical literature and information pertaining to developmental education in the community colleges and its relationship with the college success. Contextually, the review will examine factors that affect student perception to academic success while being required to participate in remedial course work. Although issues surrounding...
:
________________________________________________________________________
Larry D. Roper
This literature review seeks to broadly examine historical literature and
Community colleges today are experiencing monumental shifts in their operating
environments. Some of these changes are known, but many of them are not. They
include shifts in curriculum, funding, and societal expectation to name a few. Through
the constructs of high quality work environment and organizational fluidity theory, this
research...
Multiple use of waste heat from power plants may become an
important consideration in the development, siting, and certification
of these plants. A multiple use system of components that can
beneficially utilize waste heat may include home heating and cooling,
greenhouses, animal enclosures, open basins for single cell protein
production...
Interpretive rangers serve as one of the major educational resources that visitors may encounter during their visit to a park or other natural area, yet our understanding of their professional growth remains limited. This study helps address this issue by developing an instrument that evaluates the beliefs of resource interpreters...
In regions where soil temperatures limit plant growth, artificial
soil warming may be an economically feasible practice. This hypothesis
was evaluated in a soil warming experiment near Corvallis, Oregon.
This experiment was prompted by the observation that multiple
use of waste heat discharged in the condenser cooling water of thermal...
The influence of soil moisture stress and soil temperature on
transpiration has never been determined explicitly. This relationship
has been neglected mainly because of the lack of a satisfactory method
to control soil moisture stress.
A technique was developed to evaluate this relationship by
controlling soil moisture stress with osmotic...
This study investigates how teachers develop and extend their understanding and knowledge of teaching and learning with digital technologies in a primarily online Master of Science program. The investigation focuses on exploring the relationship between developing an online community of learners and the construction of technological pedagogical and content knowledge...
This case study of leadership in crisis at Meadow View
Community College (fictitious name) was undertaken to add to
the practical and theoretical knowledge and understanding of
presidential leadership issues that actually occur in
American community colleges. The college under study
one of nearly one-third of the community colleges in...
The effect of a static quadrupole interaction on the 133-482 Kev
gamma-gamma angular correlation in Ta-181 has been studied by the
delayed coincidence method. Using a source of Hf-181 in polycrystalline
hafnium metal, the anisotropy was measured as a function of
time between the formation and decay of the 482...
The purpose of this study was to determine if there were common
factors influencing student decisions to terminate course work at the
College of San Mateo, San Mateo, California.
The following six null hypotheses were tested:
1. There will be no significant difference in responses
among those enrolled in transfer...
There is considerable evidence that the growth and elongation of
plant roots increases linearly or almost linearly with increasing water
contents or decreasing moisture-tension of soil. If this is true it is
difficult to distinguish the effects of different water contents on absorption
phenomena such as water or ion uptake...
At present the adsorption kinetic of ions by soil particles is considered to be a surface reaction. When the transport of solutes in soils is described using the one-dimensional flow equation, it becomes a serious problem that lateral diffusion of ions from the bulk solution towards the soil surfaces is...
This investigation was designed to determine the
relationship of student teachers' commitment to the set
of values, attitudes, and behaviors that are characteristically
fostered and rewarded by bureaucratic organizations
and their verbal classroom behavior under actual
teaching conditions,
The purpose of the study was expressed by the
formulation of an...
The focus of this study was to examine the administrative legacy of two African American women administrators, Maxine Buie Mimms and Wintonnette Joye Hardiman, who administrated The Evergreen State College-Tacoma, Washington (TESC-T) campus for more than three decades. TESC-T is nationally known for its community-based curriculum and pedagogy, high retention...
The National Research Council has aggregated research evidence on the pedagogy of science teaching and learning (NRC, 2012), culminating in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). These standards support emphasis on eight scientific practices as an important component for teaching science as inquiry to K-12 students. This latest framework for...
The purpose of this study is to examine the role of a Filipino American college student organization at a Predominantly White Institution, and uncover elements of the organization that influence or limit the development of critical consciousness of its members. This study focuses on the aspect of critical consciousness that...
Prior research has noted the changing demographics of higher education since the Civil Rights Movement and the expanded need for multicultural education. Armando Hernandez Morales (2003) wrote that, “A multiculturally competent person is aware of and knowledgeable about cultural differences, their own cultural identity, and the history and contemporary struggles...
The major purpose of this research was to characterize partially degraded proteins
appearing in the ocular lens during aging and cataract, and to identify the responsible
proteolytic activities. This research is significant, because increased protein
degradation is associated with lens opacification and cataract. Determining the sites
where lens proteins become...
Graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) from science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) are important in the teaching of undergraduate students (Golde & Dore, 2001). However, they are often poorly prepared for teaching (Luft, Kurdziel, Roehrig, & Turner, 2004). This dissertation addresses teaching effectiveness in three related manuscripts:
1. A position paper...
Faculty-led short-term programs are the most popular type of study abroad experience for undergraduate students in the United States. The rise of the FLST model has created new challenges for institutions and faculty. This study undertakes a critical analysis of the practice of faculty-led short-term (FLST) study abroad at U.S....
Gut microbiota plays an essential role in health and diseases, a fact already established. With the explosive increase in obesity and its main complication, Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2D), there is an immediate need for novel methods of diagnosis, prevention and treatment of these conditions. In the last one and...
Foliar B sprays have increased fruit set in 'Italian' prune
(Prunus domestica L.) by 2 fold in some trials and had no effect
in others. This work was conducted to identify reasons for this
inconsistent response. Since B levels in flowers are associated
with the amount of fruit set, factors...
A high-spectral resolution laser-excited molecular fluorescence
system was developed that utilizes a pulsed supersonic expansion to
simplify the fluorescence excitation spectra of large, gas-phase
aromatic molecules diluted in an excess of a monatomic gas. A
microcomputer was used to control and synchronize the instrumental
components, which included a Chromatix CMX-4...
Two problems involving high-resolution reconstruction from nonuniformly sampled data in x-ray computed tomography are addressed. A technique based on the theorem for sampling on unions of shifted lattices is introduced which exploits the symmetry property in two-dimensional fan beam computed tomography and permits the reconstruction of images with twice the...
For a certain class of Z²-actions, we provide a proof of a conjecture that the ratio of the Perron eigenvalues of the transfer matrices of the free boundary restrictions converge to the entropy of that action. Also, a novel method for computing the entropy of Z²-actions is conjectured.
Interactions between surface winds and meanders in mid-latitude sea surface temperature
(SST) fronts with horizontal length scales of 100-1000 km are investigated
from satellite observations and numerical simulations. Observations from the Sea-
Winds scatterometer on the QuikSCAT satellite show that the magnitude, direction,
curl, and divergence of the surface wind...
Polygalacturonase produced by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp.
lycopersici was purified by chromatography on DEAE cellulose, CM
cellulose, and hydroxylapatite. Removal of large amounts of carbohydrate
by chromatography on hydroxylapatite did not affect heat
stability of the enzyme. A large proportion of the remaining carbohydrate
appeared to be covalently linked to...
This research was conducted on three study areas on elk winter
ranges in Northeast Oregon. One was on the Starkey Experimental
Forest and Range and the others were in the same vicinity. Plant
appendages, spring and fall defoliation and fall growth of bluebunch
wheatgrass were evaluated in terms of quality...
A simple matrix method for the analysis of protein circular dichroism (CD) spectra is presented and used to compute the secondary structure of globular proteins in their native and denatured states. The method uses singular value decomposition and generalized inverse algorithms, and a basis set of CD spectra for proteins...
In 1976 and 1977 I examined three broad problems associated with the recruitment of young mallards, Anas platyrhynchos, in the Prairie Pothole Region of North Dakota. The three problems studied were: the effects of interspecific nest parasitism on production; the chronology and magnitude of total-brood loss during the brood-rearing period;...
To learn more about the role β-galactosidase plays in rate of
acid production in milk by lactic acid bacteria, several lactobacilli
were examined for this enzyme. Cells from different species were
grown in lactose broth to induce β-galactosidase activity. The specific
activities of whole, solvent treated cells, and of cell-free...