This thesis primarily investigates nonhumans in the writings of 12th century historians. Where these writings may typically be seen as having little room for nonhuman agency, this thesis investigates how divinity, as an important part of medieval life, creates a space for nonhuman agency that is otherwise overlooked. In chapter...
Earthquakes a . tsunamis pose significant threats to port and harbor
communities in the Pacific Northwest. Developing effective mitigation and
preparedness plans requires a comprehensive understanding of community
vulnerability. Research presented here focuses on the vulnerability of ports and
harbors to earthquake and tsunami hazards and includes a regional study...
Organizational values are an important factor in the work of many organizations and can guide both day-to-day decision-making and long-term strategic planning. Little previous research has documented the impact of core values on individual performance in military environments nor the effect of core values on leadership attributes. In this study,...
In this thesis we construct compatible discretizations of Maxwell's equations. We use the term compatible to describe numerical methods for Maxwell's equations which obey many properties of vector Calculus in a discrete setting. Compatible discretizations preserve the exterior Calculus ensuring that the divergence of the curl and the curl of...
Optimization of reservoir operation is involves various competing objectives for a scarce resource (water). To find the optimal operation of reservoirs, it is essential to consider multiple objectives simultaneously. There are various sources of uncertainty associated with the reservoir operation problem that should be considered as well.
The overarching goal...
There are three chapters of manuscripts in this dissertation and all of them are talking about a specific theme: stochastic control, but with completely different perspectives.
In the first manuscript, we solve the optimal barrier strategy for dividend distribution in a complicated Lévy system. In this system, the capital of...
Sweet corn (Zea mays L.) yields in the Willamette Valley of Oregon have been declining since the early 1990’s. Studies were done to determine if there is a relationship between ear weight and several disease parameters including necrotic crowns or stalk nodes, nodal root rot, radicle root rot, and sub-crown...
My thesis is comprised of two articles, titled "Journeying Through (An)Other World: Examining the Role of Magic and Transformational Otherness in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" and "Magic, Muggles, and Mudbloods: Examining Magical Otherness in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter Series." The introduction frames the thematic, theoretical, and critical connections...
Lycopodium alkaloids have generated enormous amounts of interest from the scientific community, both as synthetic targets and for their medicinal properties. Herein is described work towards a unifying approach to large segments of the Lycopodium family. An organocatalyzed intramolecular heteroatom Michael reaction method, for the construction of piperidine and piperizine...
The Mariana Swiftlet (Aerodramus bartschi) (Aves: Apodidae) is endemic to the Mariana Islands, where it currently occurs on Saipan, Aguiguan, and Guam. An introduced population of Mariana Swiftlets is also present on O'ahu in the Hawaiian Islands. Sparing interference with the endangered population in the Marianas, the introduced, surrogate population...