Commercial whaling during the 20th century drastically reduced many populations of great whales in the Southern Hemisphere. The Antarctic blue whale, for example, is estimated to have been reduced to less than 0.1% of its original abundance based on catch records and population dynamic models. Despite this population bottleneck, several...
Currently the production of biofuel from algae is not economically competitive with petroleum fuel. However, co-production of high-value products may be able to justify the cost of large-scale algae cultivation. The basic goal of this study is to develop a techno-economic analysis (TEA) and Life-cycle assessment (LCA) for the production...
Northern highbush blueberry is a long-lived perennial crop that is well adapted to low soil pH conditions. The plants are often shallow rooted and absorb primarily the ammonium (NH₄) form of nitrogen (N) rather than nitrate-N (NO₃-N). Traditionally, commercial blueberry fields have been irrigated with overhead sprinklers and fertilized using...
The first committed step in DNA biosynthesis occurs by direct reduction of
ribonucleotides. This reduction is catalyzed by ribonucleotide reductase (RNR), an
enzyme which uses a unique radical mechanism to facilitate the transformation. All four
DNA precursors are synthesized by a single enzyme. Therefore, an intricate pattern of
regulation has...
Using recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) as a replacement for natural aggregate in new concrete is a promising way to increase the overall sustainability of new concrete. This has been hindered, however, by a general perception that RCA is a sub-standard material due to the lack of technical guidance, specifically related...
Potato varieties characterized by non-conventional skin and flesh colors (purple, red, yellow) have the potential to revitalize consumer demand for fresh market potatoes because of their unique appearance and health benefits. Red and purple potatoes contain anthocyanins, which are flavonoids responsible for red, blue, and purple pigments in plants. Yellow...
Zebrafish, Danio rerio, are widely used as vertebrate research organisms yet little is know about their responses to husbandry stressors. This dissertation examined the whole-body cortisol responses of zebrafish to husbandry stress. Additionally, the effects of stress on the susceptibility to mycobacteriosis and microsporidiosis (Pseudoloma neurophilia) were determined including effects...
Oregon's estuaries are important ecosystems for scientific study. Consequently, knowledge of what research has been conducted helps us identify benchmarks and plan new projects. A comprehensive bibliography of published research, technical reports, local documents, and data sets is one means of recording this knowledge. For these reasons, the Guin Library...
Oregon's estuaries are important ecosystems for scientific study. Consequently, knowledge of what research has been conducted helps us identify benchmarks and plan new projects. A comprehensive bibliography of published research, technical reports, local documents, and data sets is one means of recording this knowledge. For these reasons, the Guin Library...
Summarizes information on wood as an engineering material.
Presents properties of wood and wood-based products
of particular concern to the architect and engineer. Includes
discussion of designing with wood and wood-based products
along with some pertinent uses.
In computer science, learning abstract fundamental programming concepts requiring students to understand memory management can be very difficult and lead to misunderstandings that carry on into advanced topics. This is especially true in data structures with abstract data types. Understanding how novice students think and reason about data structures is...
Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) are the most energetic explosions in the Universe, producing up to $\sim10^{53}$ ergs of energy in the first few seconds of their emission -- the so-called prompt phase that is dominated by high energy X-ray and $\gamma$-ray photons. The very large luminosities released in these events...
The use of natural and nature-based features for coastal hazard mitigation, particularly emergent vegetation such as mangrove forests, have become increasingly popular. However, the protection that these systems can provide has not been fully quantified for engineering design, and the uncertainties in parameterized equations have not been fully defined. In...
The environmental health science community recognizes polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) as a re-emerging class of environmental pollutants due to their persistence and prominence in mixtures of concern. Due to their widespread distribution in the environment, exposure to PAHs often occur as complex chemical mixtures. Exposures are linked to numerous adverse...
The influence of increasing temperatures on human health has been widely established across multiple health disciplines. Short-term temperature changes are associated with an increased risk of hospitalization and death overall and in a variety of health conditions, such as cardiovascular disease. Even as humans can self-regulate heat stresses, the elderly,...
The following dissertation consists of six sections: a general introduction, three manuscripts, a general conclusion, and an overall bibliography. The three manuscripts report on: (1) identifying genetic interactions in diverse germplasm developed during introgression of a major gene conferring resistance to stem rust (Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici), (2) mapping...
Animal welfare is an essential component of agricultural production and animal use in teaching and research. However, defining animal welfare is intrinsically difficult because of how history and societal values and perceptions have shaped the term. Animal welfare encompasses three main ideas: physical well-being, normal affective/emotional states, and the ability...
Efficient time-series analysis can impact multiple application domains such as motif discovery in gene analysis or music data, extracting spectro-temporal patterns in acoustic scene analysis, or annotating and classifying electrical bio-signals (such as ECG, EEG, and EMG) for medical applications.
Time-series analysis involves a variety of tasks.
To predict future...
Microbial ecology has been transformed by metagenomics, the study of the genetic in-formation in entire communities of organisms. In the following we develop metagenomic tools arising from the classic Wasserstein metric as applied to questions regarding the diversity between microbial communities. We provide a novel proof of the characteriza-tion of...
Biodiversity loss in highly diverse systems such as coral reefs has been linked to significant declines in the ecosystem functions and services provided by marine species. Ecological functioning of coral reefs and the resistance of coral reef fish communities to disturbance depend on the functional traits of species that promotes...
Predatory lionfishes (Pterois volitans and P. miles) were introduced to Florida waters during the mid to late 1980s, and eventually established self-sustaining breeding populations in the tropical western Atlantic. These invasive species are now widespread along the southeastern seaboard of the United States, across the Caribbean Sea, and in the...
Full Text:
, Maria Kim,
Kyla, Emily Machernis, Caitlin “Shades” O’Brien, Jean Pearson, and Madeline
Weniger.
I
Marine bivalves are globally recognized as ecologically and commercially valuable species and, for over a century, researchers have been studying their feeding, digestion and other related physiological processes. These studies have shown that marine bivalves have complex feeding and particle processing behaviors to maximize growth in dynamic environmental conditions. Additionally,...
A simulation model capable of execution on a programmable
calculator was developed to study voluntary intake,
liveweight change, and fertility of grade Zebu cows in the
Llanos of Colombia. Organic nitrogen in the diet and meta
bolic weight were used to predict intake; age, liveweight,
and energy concentration were the...
This dissertation describes the cloning and characterization of the TOUSLEDlike kinases genes of maize (ZmTLKs). The TOUSLED-like kinases (TLKs) are a conserved family of nuclear Ser/Thr kinases in higher eukaryotes. The maize genome has three TOUSLED-like kinase genes (ZmTLK1, ZmTLK2, and ZmTLK3). Based upon sequence similarity, the ZmTLKs are divided...
Vertebrates communicate with one another and coordinate intraspecific reproduction by using a variety of sexually dimorphic signals, such as plumage, ornaments, sounds, and/or scents. These sexual dimorphisms are maintained by physiological factors, typically sex-specific hormones (though see Chapter 3 for an exception). The purpose of the research in this dissertation...
The fact that 80 percent of Mexican forestlands are under common ownership impacts the competitiveness of the forest products industry and forest sustainability. Community forest enterprises (CFE) are a heterogeneous group of forest industries managed by indigenous and local communities for livelihood and profit. Many CFEs face inner competitiveness problems,...
Throughout the 20th century, windthrow has affected forests in the Bull Run watershed, a 26,500 ha basin that is the principal water source for the city of Portland, Oregon. Windthrow from storms in 1973 and 1983 was mapped into a geographic information system (GIS) and compared to a 1931 windthrow...
Experiments focusing on plant growth regulators’ concentrations and combination, mineral salt formulations and TDZ pretreatment formations were conducted to optimize in vitro shoot regeneration from leaf and petiole explants of 'Marion' blackberry. Optimum shoot formation was obtained when stock plants were incubated in TDZ pretreatment medium for three weeks before...
In this dissertation, I examine the process of building a Sámi food movement in northern Sweden. Using 15 months of ethnographic research that included observation of food events (n=100) and semi-structured interviews with food producers and activists (n=47), I describe how Sámi individuals are incorporating global food activism frameworks into...
This dissertation serves as a contribution to the study of the prehistory of the Central Desert region of Baja California, Mexico. Between 2007 and 2011, a trans-peninsular archaeological survey and excavation program―the Central Desert Early Prehistory Project (CDEPP)―was completed for a portion of the Baja California peninsula extending from the...
Collective robotic systems are biologically-inspired and exhibit behaviors found in spatial swarms (e.g., fish), colonies (e.g., ants), or a combination of both (e.g., bees). Collective robotic system popularity continues to increase due to their apparent global intelligence and emergent behaviors. Many applications can benefit from the incorporation of collectives, including...
Oregon's estuaries are important ecosystems for scientific study. Consequently, knowledge of what research has been conducted helps us identify benchmarks and plan new projects. A comprehensive bibliography of published research, technical reports, local documents, and data sets is one means of recording this knowledge. For these reasons, the Guin Library...
The Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management propose to adopt coordinated ecosystem management direction for the lands they administer within the range of the northern spotted owl. This Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SETS) presents as alternatives the options, with slight modifications, developed by the Forest Ecosystem Management Assessment...
For the first time in several years, the El Niño-Southern
Oscillation did not dominate regional climate conditions
around the globe. A weak La Niña dissipated to ENSOneutral
conditions by spring, and while El Niño appeared
to be emerging during summer, this phase never fully
developed as sea surface temperatures in...
Consistent with its charge under Oregon House Bill 3543, the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute (OCCRI) conducts a biennial assessment of the state of climate change science, including biological, physical, and social science, as it relates to Oregon and the likely effects of climate change on Oregon. This fifth Oregon...
Bangladesh is a developing country with burdens of environmental pollution and disparities in maternal and child health. Arsenic, manganese, and lead are pervasive environmental contaminants throughout Bangladesh with major exposures through drinking water and ambient pollution. Chronic exposures to arsenic, manganese, and lead in sensitive populations such as pregnant women,...
The Second Pandemic had a profound impact on the people of Europe. In the few years between 1347 and 1350, a new epidemic disease spread across the entirety of Europe and killed between one third and two thirds of the population. While this initial wave was important, the real significance...
Neptunium, with its rich redox chemistry, has a special position in the chemistry of actinides. With a decades-long history of development of aqueous separation methods for used nuclear fuel (UNF), management of neptunium remains an unresolved issue because of its not clearly defined redox speciation. Neptunium is present in two,...
Estuaries are once again emerging as important ecosystems for scientific study. Consequently, knowledge of what research has been conducted helps us identify benchmarks and plan new projects. A comprehensive bibliography of published research, technical reports, local documents, and data sets is one means of recording this knowledge. Yaquina Bay, located...
A comprehensive tribal-level classification for the world's subfamilies of Hesperiidae, the skipper butterflies, is proposed for the first time. Phylogenetic relationships between tribes and subfamilies are inferred using DNA sequence data from three gene regions: 943 bp of cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) (in the mitochondrial genome), 739 bp of...
Rockfish of the genus Sebastes are important components of Oregon reef communities. I examined patterns of age and growth in young-of-year rockfish across two nested spatial scales – local and regional – along the Oregon coast. Using otolith microstructural examination, I examined the relative importance of local versus regional factors...
The Cretaceous Merín aborted-rift basin of eastern Uruguay is composed of sub-alkaline Paraná-Etendeka province basaltic flows and shallow intrusives (~133 to 131 Ma), rhyolitic ignimbrites (~130 to 128 Ma) and associated mildly alkaline to alkaline intrusions and volcanic rocks (~128 to 127 Ma). Four intrusive complexes from 20 to >30...
Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) has a wide distribution in North America and is one of the
tree species most widely distributed outside its natural range. The species has been introduced to
Europe, New Zealand, South America, and elsewhere around the world. At present, Douglas-fir
is an accepted and integral part of...
Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) has a wide distribution in North America and is one of the
tree species most widely distributed outside its natural range. The species has been introduced to
Europe, New Zealand, South America, and elsewhere around the world. At present, Douglas-fir
is an accepted and integral part of...