The western purple martin (Progne subis arboricola) is a species of conservation concern throughout the Pacific Northwest. In western Oregon, the purple martin nests in three major ecosystem types: inland open-water, coastal, and upland forest. The availability of suitable breeding habitat is a major limiting factor for western purple martin...
This thesis examines the postmodern confrontation of representation throughout the oeuvre of Martin McDonagh. I particularly look to his later body of work, which directly and self-reflexively confronts issues of artistic representation & masculinity, in order to gain a more nuanced understanding of his earliest and most controversial plays. In...
Research on grief has been studied for nearly a century to understand its many facets, expressiveness, and timing. In the field of counseling, many changes in theories, models, and the lenses through which loss is responded to have been accomplished. However, one constant in the U.S. culture is that definitions...
Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a ubiquitous gram-negative bacterium that is capable of causing infections in people who are immune compromised. The bacterium can live in a variety of environments due to the variety of virulence factors it can produce. It is well adapted to living in iron-stringent conditions because it can...
High nitrogen (N) accumulation in terrestrial ecosystems can shift patterns of nutrient limitation and deficiency beyond N toward other nutrients, most notably phosphorus (P) and base cations (calcium [Ca], magnesium [Mg], and potassium [K]). We examined how naturally high N accumulation from a legacy of symbiotic N fixation shaped P...
When iron levels are low, the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa secretes the high-affinity iron-binding siderophore pyoverdine. The cognate ferripyoverdine receptor, FpvA, has gained attention as the most divergent gene in the organism’s genome, showing substantial evidence of positive selection. S-type pyocins, bacteriocins with specificity to Pseudomonads, enter cells through FpvA...
Cooperative behaviors in bacteria are increasingly appreciated for their relevance to microbial ecology and utility as model systems for social evolution. One example is the secretion of siderophores, a structurally diverse group of compounds that chelate extracellular iron. Siderophore production is considered cooperative because the benefits can be shared with...
An interdisciplinary study into the theory of design decisions has yielded a model for tracking design changes in hardware/software systems, but it still needs to be applied to a larger system to test its efficiency at tracking important data. This thesis creates an implementation of PLEXIL, a language in development...
Correctness and efficiency are important properties of programs. However, to support maintenance and debugging, the programs should also be understandable. Program explanations also play a vital role in educational settings, enhancing the understanding of programs among students.
Proof trees provide a sound basis for generating dynamic explanations of programs. But...