An estimated 5.7 million Americans are currently living with the dementia stage of Alzheimer’s disease, impeding health and wellbeing for individuals diagnosed, caregivers, families, and communities across the country (Alzheimer’s Association, 2018). Studying early indicators of age-related cognitive decline and pathological cognitive impairment (e.g., Alzheimer’s disease) is crucial to inform...
The numerous different types of nanomaterials and paucity of reliable in vivo information on toxicity has resulted in enduring uncertainties associated with health and safety risks, thereby slowing progress in nanotherapeutic assessment and development. This dissertation explores how the embryonic zebrafish model can be applied to prioritize commonly used nanomaterial...
As the negative impacts of a fossil fueled electricity market are becoming more prevalent and destructive, the necessity for alternative energy techniques increases as well. However, before commercial implementation is underway, these alternatives must be assessed from three important perspectives: environmentally, economically, and socially, which are known as the three...
This dissertation consists of three papers studying optimization, conservation
and valuation of contingent claims in economic resource nianagement under
uncertainty.
In the first paper the Markovian optinial policies are studied for resource
management in a finite time horizon. Under sonic conditions, in particular, when
the prices are stochastic and there...
Swash zone processes are of significant importance to foreshore morphologic change. This thesis addresses the importance of the uprush and backwash fluid motions and flow duration effects to the resulting sediment transport. The analysis relates the field observations to well known sediment transport formulations as well as investigates the importance...
Understanding continental crust formation and modification is a fundamental and longstanding geologic problem. Influx of mantle-derived basaltic magma and partial melting of the crust are two ways to drive crustal differentiation. This process results in a low density upper crust and denser, more refractory lower crust, creating significant and vastly...
Renewable energy is a topic of significant interest and importance in the world today. Ocean wave energy, particularly in areas such as the Oregon Coast, has considerable potential as a renewable resource. However, to rightly evaluate the overall cost of energy for wave energy converters, survivability and maintenance issues must...
Although the effects of extrinsic barriers to dispersal have increasingly been shown to
play a large role in the structuring of contemporary genetic diversity, describing the
relationship between landscape structure, stochastic disturbance, and genetic diversity
remains a major challenge. Here, environmental features for 27 barrier-isolated
populations (2,232 individuals) of coastal...
Seasonal emergent wetlands in the Pacific Northwest have not been regarded traditionally as fish rearing habitat, despite access to such habitat when river flows overtop riverbanks and connect to the floodplain. As a result, restoration and enhancement projects to remediate for the loss of such wetland habitat are being implemented...
Redband trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss gairdneri) are found over a wide range of environmental conditions and are known for their variability in life history traits among watersheds or even within streams. Life history traits and population structure of these trout can be influenced by a variety of anthropogenic changes including habitat...