Focus is published by Oregon State University College of Forestry. Our goal is to keep Forestry alumni, friends, faculty, staff, and students informed about the College of Forestry and its many activities and programs.
Focus is published by Oregon State University College of Forestry. Our goal is to keep Forestry alumni, friends, faculty, staff, and students informed about the College of Forestry and its many activities and programs.
Individuals who are parents and students on TANF experience challenges accessing and persisting in higher education. This study explored the experiences of TANF recipients who are navigating a return to higher education and the impact of college on how they construct a future self. Two theoretical frameworks were used to...
Road racing shoes have recently evolved to incorporate maximal midsole cushioning and an embedded carbon fiber plate. Shoes in this category have been labeled ‘Advanced Footwear Technology’ (AFT) and may significantly contribute to improvements in running economy, in part due to biomechanical changes at the foot and ankle. However, little...
The black-footed ferret is a meso-predator within the Great Plains region of North America. Before the 1900s, black-footed ferret populations were self-sustaining in large ecological patches throughout the geographical range of the Great Plains. During the 1900s, various factors such as the systematic extermination of prairie dogs (the primary food...
The present study explores the topic of Multiracial Identity Development and how parents play an important role in the identity development of children. The role of parents becomes crucial for parents of Multiracial children as they transmit cultural values, beliefs, language, and practices. Although models of racial identity development exist,...
Quality relationships among families and teachers in early care and education (ECE) hold
promise to nurture resilience among children impacted by adversity. However, little is known
about how adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) may also affect the interactions between
families and teachers. This study uses quantitative survey data from families (N...
This thesis compares the implementation of additive manufactured suspension uprights against subtractive manufactured suspension uprights from concept generation, design, and validation through simulation. Additive manufactured suspension uprights were designed for Global Formula Racing’s 2023 electric vehicle. Utilizing Siemens NX, Nastran, Fusion 360, and Ansys Workbench both subtractive and additive manufactured...
This research explores the mechanisms of Track III diplomacy employed by EcoPeace Middle East, in the context of environmental peacebuilding within the Jordan Basin region. Focusing on how these mechanisms contribute to improving water quality and quantity, the study delves into their processes in facilitating cooperation among conflicting parties—Israelis, Palestinians,...
The purpose of this capstone is to provide a reassessment of the emergence of biophilia in interpretive programs conducted in California State Parks. More specifically, this project examines what effect natural resource interpretive programming has on the emergence of biophilia practices and if participants are more likely to be more...
The current study aimed to further explore the relationship between internalized racism and depression, using racial identity (centrality) as a moderator. The current study was guided by two hypotheses. First, it was hypothesized that internalized racism would predict depression. Second, it was hypothesized that racial identity (centrality) would moderate the...
This essay examines community narratives around Keep Virginia Beautiful's Green
Grants initiative. Green Grants is a signature annual program that awards grants to organizations
throughout Virginia in support of projects aligned with one of Keep Virginia Beautiful’s three
pillars: recycling, litter prevention, and community beautification. The primary research
questions are...
The Northern Rubber Boa (Charina bottae) is a small, secretive boa native to the Pacific Northwest. Despite this being possibly the highest latitude boas and one of only two boas native to the continental U.S., it has received surprisingly little attention. Most of the research on the natural history of...
The experiences of Latinx youth are well-studied in U.S. schools, yet, few studies have focused on their experiences in Community Based Educational Spaces (CBES). CBES continue to be on the periphery of Education research despite the potential affordances of youth-led work in such out-of-school spaces (Baldridge, 2020). At the same...
The pregnancy and postpartum periods are full of major life transitions. So often, the focus of the literature is about the unborn baby and physical changes a woman experiences throughout this timeframe. Many sources often overlook women’s personal experiences in the perinatal period. Despite an increase in perinatal mood and...
As urban populations increase, the presence of well-maintained trees provide a cost-effective solution to combat the effects of climate change, specifically the urban heat island effect. Unfortunately, the associated ecological, social and economic benefits of trees are not distributed equitably in the landscape due to lingering effects of redlining policies....
Variation in cheese quality due to geographic location is important to cheese producers, consumers, and retailers on a global level. Understanding the impacts of geographic location of cheese plants may be useful to businesses for marketing, cost reduction, and quality improvement. Many aspects of variation due to geography have been...
Despite an increase in the number of people who rely on manual wheelchairs, there are still substantial economic barriers to affordable and accessible localization systems. As a result, there is a pressing need to build a versatile yet low cost localization system for manual wheelchairs. Such systems allow users to...
Community-Engaged Research (CEnR) is a strategy for integrating community needs, priorities, and concerns into the research design, data collection strategies, and subsequent analysis of data. CEnR shares similar properties with both citizen science and community-based participatory research (Woolley et al., 2016). Before the COVID-19 pandemic, CEnR occurred predominantly via face-to-face...
This study explores how a star CEO winning a prestigious award and prior firm performance relative to competitive aspirations, defined as the performance of industry peers, influence competitor CEOs’ risk-taking. Using a difference-in-differences methodology, we find that when a star CEO wins a prominent award, competitor CEOs increase their risk-taking....
Motion planning is a cornerstone of autonomous robots, enabling robots to safely and efficiently perform tasks such as package delivery, infrastructure inspection, and manipulation. However, as the field of robotics matures, robotic systems are being developed that (1) are challenging to analytically model, (2) require computationally expensive model-based controllers, and...
There is significant evidence that an increase in social media usage causes changes to mood and feelings about the self. It has also been found that there is a significant relationship between the extent of social media usage consumption and self-perception. Mimicking social media exposure, I focused on how participants...
There is significant evidence that an increase in social media usage causes changes to mood and feelings about the self. It has also been found that there is a significant relationship between the extent of social media usage consumption and self-perception. Mimicking social media exposure, I focused on how participants...
This thesis aims to explore the effects of organizational and management principles within the context of a student club – an international Formula Student team. Research on the effects of organizational structuring on student club performance tends to be qualitative in nature. While considering the inherent complexity of the human...
Sonification, or the “technique of rendering sound in response to data and interactions” [1], is an alternative to visual graphs and has the potential to make data more interpretable and accessible. As a combination of the arts (music) and the sciences (data), sonification is an interdisciplinary tool for connecting people...
The 24:1 Community is a growing community with ongoing concerns over historical residential segregation, minority-exposure to environmental hazards, and sparse tree canopy coverage. This paper presents a comprehensive review of the current state of the community’s urban forest through an assessment of the urban forest. It also highlights the need...
When pavement markings on roadways are removed, scarring can occur leaving behind traces of where the marking used to be called ghost lines. These ghost lines can confuse drivers on the roadway and divert their attention from the correct lane markings leading them into the false lane. Previous research has...
In some legislative bodies, the use of terms like climate change and global warming is frequently seen as taboo. In the United States, voters who identify as right-leaning have reported little concern about the environment or climate change. This lack of interest is mirrored by Republican legislators who often publicly...
Distributed version control allows developers to manage software evolution among distributed development teams. But it does not eliminate all consistency and concurrency issues, and instead introduces additional complexity when merging code. And resolving merge conflicts is nontrivial when automated merging fails. In such cases, developers are forced to inspect the...
This research explores the prospects of legislation in Michigan to authorize statewide use of Overdose Fatality Review Teams (OFRTs) to address the escalating opioid crisis. OFRTs consist of multidisciplinary teams that collaborate for overdose prevention. These teams operate on a local to statewide level and are comprised of individuals from...
Improvement behaviors, specifically double loop, have been linked to successful lean implementations. Although the lean literature supports individual cognitive transformation to double loop learning as an important element of lean success, there remains a strategic methodology to achieve sustainable double loop behavior. Perceptions toward behavior and employee satisfaction have been...
This data contains the survey responses used to explore the safety and user perceptions of auxiliary bike lanes as posed in “SPR869 – Safety and User Perceptions of Auxiliary Bike Lanes.” Data includes two datasets corresponding to each survey by user perspective: drivers and cyclists. In each data set are...
The Endangered Species Act (ESA) is one of the strongest pieces of legislation enacted for the protection of imperiled species in the United States but has often spurred controversy among resource users for its emphasis on species protection and recovery above all other resource uses. In recent years, the Section...
Emotional understanding is important for social connection and fulfilling relationships across the lifespan. Without these skills, relationships with others can feel chaotic, unpredictable, and unattainable, affecting a person’s health and well being. Early childhood is a critical time to learn and practice foundational emotional skills that build into skills needed...
Research has identified seven characteristics—value congruence, shared interests, perceived demographic similarity, needs-supplies match, goal similarity, common workstyle, and complementary attributes—on which group members simultaneously evaluate their perceived person-group (PG) fit. Most of extant research has focused on how each characteristic or them as a composite predicts outcomes. However, these variable-centered...
Given the abundance of images related to operations that are being captured and stored, it behooves firms to innovate systems using image processing to improve operational performance that refers to any activity that can save labor cost. In this paper, we use deep learning techniques, combined with classic image/signal processing...
There has been much discussion in the conservation and policy realms of COVID-19 as a zoonotic disease, or a disease transmitted from wildlife to humans. However, wildlife consumption in China is not only a potential source of disease but also a practice embedded in complex beliefs about health. This paper...
Septoria canker remains the most important disease of poplars in intensively managed forest plantations. Genetic resistance has long been considered the best way to manage for this disease. Transgenic resistance mediated by RNA silencing against pathogens and pests (HIGS: host-induced gene silencing) has shown promise in other pathosystems but has...
The accumulation of fuels in fire prone landscapes, and changing climatic conditions, have resulted in increasingly volatile fire behaviors. As a result, social and operational risk, management expenditures, and budgetary requirements for responsible agencies are increasing. The United States Forest Service (USFS) manages 193 million acres across the United States...
Managing invasive species is vital to preserving native species and maintaining the integrity of environments and ecological roles. Rats are one of the most prolific and intrusive invasive species that have successfully cohabitated with humans over centuries as we have expanded and advanced our societies. Thus, rats have historically been...
Access to broadband internet is vital for rural communities in the digital age, but persistent barriers impact adoption and availability. This topic is analyzed through the lens of the Community Capital Framework (Emery & Flora, 2006). By surveying county commissioners, the research aims to better understand rural broadband challenges and...
Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) systems aim to improve users’ understanding of AI but rarely consider the inclusivity aspects of XAI. Without inclusive approaches, improving explanations might not work well for everyone. This study investigates leveraging users’ diverse problem-solving styles as an inclusive strategy to fix an XAI prototype, with the...
Systemic hypertension, a persistent elevation in systemic arterial blood pressure (BP), is a well-recognized disorder in cats. Failing to diagnose it accurately could lead to organ damage or unnecessary lifelong therapy. Doppler ultrasonic flow detectors are commonly used for indirect BP measurements in cats. However, whether the audible static from...
We present student perceptions of a new first-year engineering programming class that was designed by informed research practices. While the College of Engineering at Oregon State University saw a lot of major switching in the first year, there were not many students switching into computer science (CS). This could have...
There is a growing need for individualized instructional designs in 4-year institutions due to: 1) growing undergraduate enrollment trends across the U.S., 2) broader diversity in students backgrounds, and 3) the growing prevalence of asynchronous remote learning. With the growth in computer technology in education, tools such as adaptive intelligent...
The enactment of the Patient Protection Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2010 marked a critical moment in American healthcare history. The ACA introduced Medicaid expansion, a policy designed to extend healthcare coverage to a larger population of low-income Americans. This policy quickly became a topic of debate and led to...
This set of studies delve into the complex realm of healthy sexuality within sexual addiction treatment, where diverse perspectives often lead to confusion and suboptimal outcomes. The primary goal of most treatment models is guiding clients toward a healthier sexual experience.
Sex addiction, a complex phenomenon, involves compulsive sexual behaviors,...
Coral reefs, found in tropical regions, are renowned for their rich biodiversity and their contributions to ecological, cultural, and economic aspects worldwide. The success of coral reefs hinges on the symbiotic partnership between corals and their dinoflagellate algae, from the family Symbiodiniaceae. The algae reside within the coral host’s gastrodermal...
Human-robot teams involve humans and robots collaborating to achieve tasks under various environmental conditions. Successful teaming requires robots to adapt autonomously in real-time to a human teammate's state. An important element of such adaptation is the ability for the robot to infer the tasks performed by their human teammates. Human-robot...
Humans have always been fascinated with whales; from prominent features in mythology, to stories of terrifying monsters on the high seas, to globalized utility, to symbolic wildness and radical environmentalism, to figures and statistics, how have human relationships with whales been understood throughout time? Because humans have a need to...
This study examined water scarcity and vulnerability in Quintana Roo, along the northern Caribbean coast of Mexico where rapid growth of tourism in the past 40 years has limited the ability of rural and urban communities to obtain safe, reliable, and equitable access to water services and critical water infrastructure...
In Oregon, the effects of climate change on agriculture are already being felt. In the Northwest, climate change impacts agricultural pest pressure, especially insects, whose life cycles are tied directly to weather and climate. The goal of this research was to record and analyze Oregon fruit and vegetable farmers’ relationships...
The dehumanization of Black, Indigenous, people of color (BIPOC) and marginalized communities does not end once an individual is released from an institution. The dehumanization process is kept alive with ineffective community supervision and the stigma associated with an individual’s incarnation history. Evidence of this continual dehumanization process is reflected...
The use of genetic algorithms to compose music and generate sounds is an area of interest in the artificial intelligence field. Music and instrument sounds have known rules and structures that can be followed which make them well-suited for genetic algorithms. However, genetic algorithms still struggle to generate sounds comparable...
The impact that Andrew Tate has on his audience paired with the platform he holds has made Andrew Tate one of the most infamous names related to misogyny and “male empowerment”. His ability to connect to his audience and convince them of the superiority of his beliefs allows him to...
Having valid measures of college student FI is essential for justifying basic-needs services for students. But college student food insecurity (FI) rates vary significantly across institutions, perhaps partially due to differences in non-response bias resulting from participant recruitment strategies. We tested for effects of recruitment method on measured levels of...
The development of simple, rapid, and sensitive methods for thiophenol detection is of great importance in various fields, including environmental monitoring and food quality. Here, we present a novel approach for the colorimetric detection of thiophenols using gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) as the sensing platform. AuNPs aggregate in the presence of...
The present essay discusses themes of dehumanization and reliance on a biomedical model of care within U.S. psychiatric systems in treating individuals diagnosed with psychosis. This model is contrasted with alternative treatment approaches that are person-centered rather than disease-centered. These include Open Dialogue, Soteria, and Hearing Voices Movement. In the...
Populated and developed areas at the fringes of or intermixed with undeveloped landscapes are referred to as the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI). There are many unique benefits associated with living in the WUI that understandably attract people to move to them. However, there are also potential wildfire-related risks particular to...
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...
Cell signaling under external stimulation is a critical mechanism that governs many biological processes such as cell proliferation, cell migration, and cell apoptosis, etc. For multicellular organisms, the ability to synchronize heterogeneous individual cellular responses through intercellular communication is crucial to maintain normal functionality. However, even though the biological pathways...
Autonomous robotic agents are on their way to becoming in-home personal assistants, construction assistants, and warehouse workers. The degree of autonomy of such systems is reflected by the manner in which we specify goals to them; the abstraction of low-level commands to high-level goals goes hand-in-hand with increased autonomy. In...
Learning to recognize objects is a fundamental and essential step in human perception and understanding of the world. Accordingly, research of object discovery across diverse modalities plays a pivotal role in the context of computer vision. This field not only contributes significantly to enhancing our understanding of visual information but...
This study investigates the evaluation of Return on Investment (ROI) in education from the perspective of high school students, introducing a theoretical model that encompasses both financial and non-financial aspects, with a primary focus on the unique insights provided by high school students. Drawing from a literature review and survey-based...
This edition contains research updates and a comprehensive list of publications summarizing research conducted by faculty of the Oregon Wine Research Institute at Oregon State University. Dr. Elizabeth Tomasino, OSU associate professor, and Quynh Phan, OSU doctoral candidate, open the newsletter with an article on Pinot noir wine lipid composition....
This edition contains research updates and a comprehensive list of publications summarizing research conducted by faculty of the Oregon Wine Research Institute at Oregon State University. Drs. Alexander Levin and Achala KC, both assistant professors at OSU-Southern Oregon Research and Extension Center (SOREC), along with Cody Copp, graduate research assistant,...
This edition contains research updates and a comprehensive list of publications summarizing research conducted by faculty of the Oregon Wine Research Institute at Oregon State University. Dr. Elizabeth Tomasino, OSU Associate Professor, opens the newsletter with an article on the influence of two compounds on Pinot noir aroma. Drs. Laurent...
The agricultural sector is one of the largest contributors to global climate change but is also one of the most vulnerable to its impacts. Farmers are at increasing risk of livelihood loss, which produces risks for their physical and emotional wellbeing on a global scale. Swift and effective adaptation is...
In this August issue, we focus on the grape berry. Articles within cover topics of cluster thinning, berry ripening, harvest., and various pests that can damage berries. Also, we provide information about how to conduct vine nutrient sampling at véraison to be sure to keep up with your nutrient program....
In this issue, our group of winegrape researchers throughout the state has comprised a summary of the statewide incidence and damage caused by Short Shoot Syndrome and mites over the past few years. Be sure to check this out as it provides some interesting information! Also, a vineyard update has...
The growing season has come to an end and everyone is feverishly trying to harvest fruit before rain and/or frost, depending on the specific vineyard location throughout the state of Oregon. Here at OSU, we’ve been busy over the past few months providing programming to growers and winemakers. During August,...
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a prevalent gastrointestinal disorder experienced by 10–15% of the global population, manifesting as chronic abdominal pain, bloating and inconsistent bowel habits. The search for effective treatments remains ongoing. One promising contender in this realm is kappa-casein glycomacropeptide (GMP), a milk-derived peptide. Its potential benefits stem...
Over the last several decades, potato production has increased globally as it has been recognized as an important component to improving food security. However, potato production has been continuously challenged by pests. Current pest management practices rely heavily on chemical pesticides. Unfortunately, the overuse of pesticides can be harmful to...
Professional school counselors are tasked with providing effective and relevant career counseling and career-focused activities with all K–12 students; however, the career domain remains the area where school counselors feel least efficacious and competent to broach as part of their role. Addressing the career domain in schools is vital as...
Government regulation is an established policy tool for inducing technological innovation in a market. For example, many environmental regulations prescribe performance requirements that industry complies with by innovating aspects of the product design. These design innovations might include updated components, new functionality, or a revised product architecture. However, the effect...
There could be a geospatial and socio-ecological intersection between climate change, energy production, and sustainable fisheries management in the United States. Marine renewable energy generation efforts are currently being planned, studied, and initially implemented in the country as a response to climate change. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is...
Pregnant people have been criminalized for their pregnancy outcomes even after Roe v Wade established some rights to reproductive autonomy. Fetal personhood theory, changing societal conceptions of motherhood, and existing racial and class-based biases have fueled an increasing and complex patchwork of punitive policies and interpretations. This study analyzed 35...
This dissertation examines college students' reflections on gender-related topics within a social justice course of a teacher preparation program. Using critical and feminist approaches, this study explores how a strategically designed curriculum focused on the study of gender enhances students' understanding of sexism, gender oppression, and masculinity. The curriculum employs...
This paper identifies 51 best practices of interpretive programming in relation to the topic of climate change and applies those practices to interpretive programs delivered by Natural Lands, a Pennsylvania environmental non-profit organization, and specifically at the Glades Wildlife Refuge, one of Natural Lands’ nature preserves. The best practices are...
Tenure has often been situated as a non-negotiable tenet of modern academia, a status granted after a probationary period and extensive review, and critical for academic freedom. However, the processes by which promotion and tenure (P&T) are vetted depart in practice from the meritocratic ideal that is frequently used to...
Healthcare access exhibits differing levels of complexity, often requiring multi-disciplinary approaches to study its barriers and enablers. Though Argentina has achieved nominal universal healthcare coverage through its public healthcare system, full effective coverage has not been achieved. The public system also has a parallel private care system, adding further complexity...
Legged robots have consistently captured our collective imagination through various forms of media, from Hollywood films, anime, and viral Youtube videos of robots accomplishing incredible feats of acrobatics. These robots have the potential to navigate our environments, capable of completing tasks that would otherwise require human intervention. However, developing controls...
The conservation community has long recognized the critical role that agricultural landowners play in efforts to improve fish and wildlife habitat in order to recover threatened and endangered species. In many rural areas dominated by agricultural working landscapes, government agencies like the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) struggle to...
Emerging research shows that individual differences in how people use technology sometimes cluster by socioeconomic status (SES) and that when technology is not socioeconomically inclusive, low-SES individuals may abandon it. To understand how to improve technology’s SES-inclusivity, we present a multi-phase case study on SocioEconomicMag (SESMag), an emerging inspection method...
The red tree vole (Arborimus longicaudus) is an arboreal Arvicoline rodent endemic to conifer dominated forests of western Oregon and northwestern California. While commonly associated with old forests, often inhabiting stands over 80 years old, tree voles have also been found in young forests between 20 and 80 years old....
Sediment convergence and divergence zones create subaqueous morphological features that range from ripples O (cm) to coastlines O (km). However, there is a gap in knowledge associated with quantifying the contribution of small-scale ripple mobility to the evolution of large-scale morphology. To address this gap, we investigate how small-scale ripples...
The counseling profession has historically adopted a one-size-fits-all approach toward addressing bereavement. However, there is an emerging paradigm-shift in grief therapy that has been enabled by recent research that differentiates, for example, between types of grief and styles of grieving. This research project contributes to this nuanced approach to grief...
Marine protected areas (MPAs) are an area-based tool used to manage and protect areas along the coasts and ocean that face impacts from development and climate change. Local communities both impact and are affected by the creation of MPAs and as such, it is important to include their knowledge and...
Background:
The number of people diagnosed with chronic physical conditions is increasing in the United States. Chronic mental illnesses are also common in the country. Low-income women and those on Medicaid bear a disproportionate burden of chronic conditions and these conditions significantly contribute to obstetric morbidity. Prioritizing preventive measures and...
Scientists have long recognized that bees and other insects respond to floral color, including ultraviolet (UV) floral patterns that are invisible to the human eye. While previous research has focused on isolating and capturing these UV markings in laboratory settings, methods that could be used in natural settings needed to...
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of community trust in state systems. Consideration of community concerns by public health agencies may help to establish more equitable policies, engaging community in emergency response and promoting inclusivity and trust. This paper outlines varying definitions of trust, then describes key considerations in...
The seafood industry has a problem of underutilization of harvested and processed fish. Up to 60% of the weight of the fish is considered a byproduct that is typically made into fishmeal for livestock and aquaculture feed, a low-value and non-food grade product. Two species that make up major fisheries...
This paper examines the recent evolution of aggrieved entitlement and social fragility in young white American males and the subsequent violent backlash that certain individuals in this group have unleashed upon women, the LGBTQ community, Jewish people, Black people, and other socially vulnerable populations. Throughout the past decade, America at...