This report is one of a series issued in cooperation with the ANC-17 Panel on Plastics for Aircraft of the Departments of the Air Force, Navy, and Commerce.
American Institute of Chemical Engineering Annual Conference, 2004. Austin, Texas. IT in Chemical Engineering Education: Session & Roundtable Discussion
This thesis presents a domain specific visual language designed to allow coaches to create content that exhibits the complex 2D interactions observed in the game of American football. Coaches can visually program the content by using symbols and drawing primitives similar to those that they currently use to design static...
Smart weapons promise to provide leap ahead capability with regard to accuracy and engagement range for medium and large caliber projectiles. One of the most critical components of a smart weapon system is its sensor suite that provides position, orientation, and velocity information as the projectile flies down range so...
Surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensors are versatile devices that can be configured to sense a variety of measurands such as temperature and pressure. The potential use of surface acoustic wave devices for magnetic field detection is explored in this study. Compared to current magnetic field sensors, a sensor based on...
Fire blight is a serious disease of apple and pear trees caused by the bacterium, Erwinia amylovora. This bacterium harbors a pathogenesis mechanism known as the Hrp secretory operon which induces some resistance genes and suppresses other resistance genes in the host plant following invasion. While previous researchers analyzed expression...
Currently, there is no accurate, low-cost method to track divers. Watching bubbles can
give you an approximate xy-location, and expensive underwater radios utilizing ultrasonic waves can work if the diver knows where they are. Traditional radio waves do not work well in water due to the conductive nature of water....
With the miniaturization of microelectronics and increase of processor speeds in the last few decades, thermal management is drastically affecting overall packaging and system capabilities. Due to the special needs introduced, research focusing on microscale cooling has increased. This study combines the positive characteristics of single- and two-phase flows in...
Media application on the internet has become more and more popular as the bandwidth of the network links increase. The bottleneck of the existing media systems is no longer the link bandwidth at user’s end, but the server’s ability to handle streaming requests. These existing streaming systems do not scale...
Our research was focused mainly on the field of plasma physics and the creation of plasmas in a laboratory environment. We first began our project with the goal to develop a tabletop Tokamak, a doughnut shaped device that magnetically confines plasmas at pressures greater than one atmosphere. After researching this...
During the 1970’s the United States experienced several periods of high inflation that have been at least partially attributed to positive oil price shocks. The effectiveness of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries at controlling the price of oil has varied over time, as well as the responsiveness of U.S....
Through examination of empirical evidence on individuals with Asperger’s Syndrome and related Pervasive Developmental Disorders, the author attempts to provide an overview of the social deficiencies associated with these disorders. Points of primary concern are the social deficiencies in developing competence in experience-sharing and demonstrating empathy, especially in how they...
In the fall of 2005, I studied abroad in Athens, Greece for one term. This is retelling of experiences that I had, written in the style of my memories. While I was in Greece, I kept an electronic diary, a picture diary, and a scrapbook to keep my memories vivid...
Pacific Northwest Generating Cooperative (PNGC) operates the Landfill Gas to
Energy Facility at Coffin Butte Landfill in Corvallis, OR. At this facility, three internal
combustion engines use the landfill gas (predominantly methane and carbon dioxide) as
fuel to turn generators that produce enough electricity to power 1,800 average sized
homes....
The Chlamydiaceae are a family of obligate intracellular bacteria with a unique biphasic developmental cycle. The replicating, metabolically active, intracellular phase bacteria (RBs) grow within a cellular vacuole know as the inclusion. Since the proteins the Chlamydiaceae secrete into this membrane are the means of host/parasite interaction, they have long...
The high cost of manually producing background characters creates a demand for a
way to automatically generate plausible behaviors. These background extras need to
behave in a manner that is believable such that they do not distract the focus of the
audience from the primary action occurring in the scene....
Massively multiplayer role-playing games (MMORPG) are becoming a popular leisure activity world-wide. MMORPG players have created a new kind of market, one for virtual possessions. Some players will buy and sell virtual goods for real-world money. Many game developers oppose this real-market trade because it threatens the control of their...
Dental disease is a very prevalent and costly disease in which the symptoms, not the disease, are currently being treated. The disease is caused by pathogenic oral bacteria, many of which are a part of the Mutans Streptococci. The objective of this thesis was to find a natural substance that...
Two strains of Escherichia coli were studied to determine the effect of constitutive expression of the SOS DNA damage repair response on the activity of ribonucleotide reductase. Activity of the reductase and cellular deoxynucleoside triphosphate (dNTP) pools were both determined before and after exposure of the cells to ultraviolet radiation....
This paper addresses how the implementation of North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has affected the use of Information Technology (IT) in Mexico. In order to answer this question this thesis analyzes the direct and indirect effects of NAFTA on Mexico’s economic and regulatory environment, and how this influences the...
The LIGO interferometers have reached their designed sensitivity level which is greater than any other interferometer ever built. At this point, it is important to have a proper understanding of small perturbations that might still exist (until now these issues did not come to the forefront because other more critical...
The computer game industry continues to progress toward realistic-looking character motion. However, even in state-of-the-art games, the use of motion capture data in character animation may result in errors such as “foot slipping,” where the feet do not match up with the floor properly during translation. Various algorithms have been...
High-throughput culturing (HTC) consisting of extinction culturing in autoclaved seawater has led to the isolation and characterization of many novel strains of oligotrophic marine bacteria. Strain HTCC 2207 was isolated from the Oregon coast by the HTC method. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequence showed that this strain...
Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in men, but rates around the world vary greatly. Americans have the highest incidence rates in the world, 4 to 5 times those of Spain. The hypothesis of this thesis was that vitamin D metabolism is a factor in prostate cancer development...
Science is difficult for even its researchers to understand. Science journalists must understand scientific discoveries well enough to write clear, accurate explanations of scientific discoveries for laypeople. A sense of ethical judgment will help journalists ensure that their accounts are reliable and appropriate. Responsible science journalists will maintain a working...
This thesis explores a three month period that I spent abroad working in medical clinics and hospitals in Ecuador. My work was conducted in three distinct areas: the urban landscape of Quito, Ecuador’s capital; Puyo, a small town bordering the Amazonian rainforest; and a small community located in the heart...
This thesis describes the implementation of an interface for querying established correspondences between anatomical structures across species. I was the main developer of this query engine, called the Comparative Anatomy Information System. My work involved developing methods to query the knowledge base, perform the specified comparison, display the anatomical hierarchies...
Wind energy is a cornerstone to the world of renewables. It is widely used in many parts of the world as a clean and effective form of power generation. However, wind power has a number of drawbacks, which limits its use in many regions. Solar power has been used not...
In order to combine my passion for creativity, my love for children, and my engineering background, I decided to create a very personalized thesis project. Princess Catie Goes to College is a children’s book about a young girl whose older sister leaves for college. I chose to write about this...
America’s rural Hispanic population is growing at an unprecedented rate. Many of the Hispanic people that are settling in rural communities are immigrants or first generation Americans. If changes to current healthcare systems are required to accommodate the health needs of this growing, low-income rural population they have not been...
Myxobacteria represent an interesting class of Gram-negative soil bacteria. These bacteria utilize organic materials from the environment as a food source by the action of their extracellular hydrolytic enzymes. They grow vegetatively in the presence of adequate nutrients. During starvation conditions, however, they aggregate and form multicellular structures called fruiting...
The North Pacific subtropical gyre (NPSG), once considered to be a biological desert due to low primary production (PP) and its associated variability, has been found more productive and variable than previously thought. The environmental conditions controlling this relatively high PP variability are yet to be elucidated, despite important implications...
Four studies were conducted on late-summer diet quality and quantity of cattle (Bos taurus), mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus hemionus), and elk (Cervus elaphus) in response to prior grazing by cattle and elk on mixed-conifer rangelands and on related research techniques. In our first study we assessed a photographic technique to...
Pygmy rabbits (Brachylagus idahoensis) in Oregon and Washington are a sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata spp.) obligate species of concern because of declining populations and extirpation from much of their range. Efforts are underway to establish a captive bred population of the Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit in Washington state for reintroduction into...
Experiments were conducted to characterize the nongenomic effects of
progesterone (P4) on binding of oxytocin (OT) to the ovine oxytocin
receptor (OTR) and signal transduction. The dose-response relationship of
P4 to OT binding to the OTR in endometrium was examined. Progesterone
interfered with the binding of OT to the OTR...
A need exists to develop a non-destructive testing technique that can identify
the formation and propagation of diagonal tension cracks in conventionally
steel reinforced concrete deck girder (RCDG) highway bridges in the State of
Oregon. Such a technique could be included into a structural health
monitoring (SHM) system installed on...
As broadband Internet becomes widely available, Peer-to-Peer (P2P) applications over the Internet are becoming increasingly popular. Such an example is a video multicast application in which, one source streams a video to a large number of destination nodes through an overlay multicast tree consisting of peers.
These overlay multicast-based applications,...
There is a continual interest in developing robust, flexible, durable, lightweight, waterborne polymer barrier coatings which are increasingly resistant towards both chemical warfare agents as well as an ever growing number of toxic industrial chemicals. In this study, barrier films were prepared with poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVOH) and varying amounts of...
This thesis focuses on the application of the cosmogenic nuclide Beryllium-10 (10Be) in an effort to better constrain the thickness history of the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet (FIS) at the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and into the Holocene, as well as begin to answer the long-standing question regarding the age
and...
Popular applications such as P2P file sharing, multiplayer gaming, videoconferencing, etc. rely on the efficiency of content distribution from a single source to multiple receivers. Most users of these applications are on the widely prevalent source constraint networks such as the Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) and wireless networks. Overlay multicast...
The microbial loop plays a crucial role in remineralization of organic matter and fuels recycled production in the aquatic environment. The capability of microbes to utilize particular compounds can be examined through their ectoenzyme (found outside the cell) activities using fluorogenic substrate analogs. These catalysts hydrolyze polymers otherwise too large...
Ultra-wideband (UWB) communication has emerged as a very promising
technology for short-range wireless applications, including
high-speed multimedia transmissions and sensor networks. UWB
system designs involve many different aspects covering analog and
digital processing, channel estimation and modeling, and
modulation and demodulation. Although UWB still faces many
challenges, significant progress has...
Recent catastrophic wildfires have forced the forest management community to develop new strategies for reducing forest fuels. Tightly spaced understory trees often create a fire ladder allowing surface fires to encroach into the crowns of overstory trees. This situation can lead to intensive, catastrophic, stand-replacement forest fires. Mechanical removal or...
An experiment was conducted with 27 multiparous Holstein and 27 multiparous Jersey cows to determine if nicotinic acid (NA) supplementation during the prepartum phase of the transition period decreases lipolysis and improves dry matter intake and to determine if Holstein and Jersey cows respond similarly to NA supplementation. Cows were...
Groundwater nitrate contamination is a well-documented issue in the Southern Willamette Valley (SWV) of Oregon, as a Groundwater Management Area (GWMA) has recently been declared. As a GWMA, groundwater nitrate monitoring must occur until regional concentrations are below 7 mg/L NO3-N. However, the presence of temporal variability can make it...
Heavy timber framing relies primarily on bracing to withstand lateral loads due to earthquakes and wind events. Bracing configurations in heavy timber framed buildings vary widely and include cross bracing, knee bracing, and other geometries. Many heavy timber frames constructed during colonial American times are still standing, exceeding the expected...
Remote areas are frequently homes to regional subpopulations of endangered green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) and their essential habitat. Local communities are often the users and primary stewards of this valuable and charismatic resource. Recognizing this, a Hatohobeian community group in Palau has engaged in longterm monitoring and conservation management...
Stream temperature, as an important component of stream ecosystems, can be affected by forest harvesting through removal of riparian shade and changes in hydrology. Riparian Management Areas
(RMAs), as implemented through the current Oregon Forest Practice Rules, are designed, in part, to maintain stream temperature following forest harvesting. However, effectiveness...
The effects of alongshore variability in topography (banks and capes) and spatial variability in the wind forcing, including the wind-stress curl, on coastal ocean circulation are studied using a combination of observations and model simulations. Satellite sea surface temperature observations are used to describe the seasonal evolution of temperature fronts...
A study was made of the possibility of producing pulp of viscose rayon grade from three Chilean hardwoods, coigue, tepa, and ulmo. Unbleached pulps were made from the three woods by (1) the neutral sulfite semichemical process with and without steam prehydrolysis, (2) a water prehydrolysis-sulfate process, and (3) the...
The purpose of this study was to explore, from current Native American and Alaskan Native undergraduate students, what their experiences were as first year college students on the Oregon State University campus. In addition, it was important to learn how these experiences contributed to their success, satisfaction or dissatisfaction, and...
Growing emphasis on ecosystem and landscape-level forest management across North America has spurred an examination of alternative management strategies which focus on emulating dynamic natural disturbance processes, particularly those associated with forest fire regimes. This topic is the cornerstone of research in the Blue River Landscape Study (BRLS) taking place...
Satellite remote sensing is an effective tool for mapping snow covered area. However, complex terrain and heterogeneous land cover, due to vegetation and patchy snow cover, present challenges to snow cover mapping. This research compares two techniques for mapping snow covered area: binary and enhanced fractional snow cover mapping techniques....
Butterfly bush (Buddleja davidii), an ornamental native to China, is an invasive species in Oregon and many other areas. In Oregon, butterfly bush invades disturbed areas, particularly riparian areas. The Oregon nursery industry has the highest farm-gate value of all agricultural commodities and butterfly bush is a significant plant to...
This study examined the validity of the WA PPA process which was developed to assess teacher candidates for licensing purposes. Three validities were investigated using Messick’s view. Content validity was addressed using the raters’ judgment to
establish alignment between the WAC standards and the INTASC. Evidential validity refers to the...