Solids movement in large-particle fluidized beds was studied in
an 18 in x 18 in (46 cm x 46 cm) tube-filled, cold fluidized bed
test facility. Direct measurement of local solid mass flux in two
dimensions at various locations inside the bed was made possible
by a new instrument developed...
Toxicological studies were carried out to evaluate the
susceptibility of codling moth, Cydia pomonella L. to
different insecticides. Bioassay procedures for adults and
larvae were standardized in terms of posttreatment holding
and temperature, age and sex of insects, insecticide
formulations and selection of a reference strain.
This study detected a...
The CERES-Wheat Crop Growth and Development model treats temperature,
nitrogen and water stresses as limiting factors. For each day the model calculates a
stress index for temperature, N and water, compares the magnitude of the indices,
and then adjusts the calculated daily potential growth using the index of the most...
Tax incidence involves the study of the pass-through rate of a tax. For example, does a 1 percent increase in a sales tax on a commodity cause the consumer price to go up by exactly 1 percent (full-shifting), less than 1 percent (under-shifting), or more than 1 percent (over-shifting). Theoretical...
The continental margin off the coast of Pakistan between the
Murray ridge and the Gulf of Cambay has been studied in this
work using gravity, magnetic and bathymetric data. Two dimensional
gravity and magnetic models based on free-air
gravity and residual magnetic data are developed along a north-south
profile off...
The objective of this research was to investigate
the physiological effects of body posture on cycling.
The familiar positions of bicycle riding have been the
touring posture (hands stretched on top handlebar) and
the racing posture (hands bent at the elbow, with the
back horizontal). However, a relatively new stance...
A major factor limiting the efficiency of plant improvement programs is the lack of knowledge as to which parental combinations to make when working with quantitatively inherited traits. The primary objective of this study was to provide information regarding the use of combining ability analysis to predict which cross combinations...
Compounds belonging to the vitamin K family possess anti-hemorrhagic
property, and are used in treating patients suffering
from hypoprothrombinemia and obstructive jaundice. Some of
these compounds also exhibit marked antimicrobial activity toward
various microorganisms. Vitamin K₅, 4-amino-2-methyl-
1-naphthol hydrochloride, a water-soluble analog of vitamin K
has been shown to possess...
Downy brome (Bromus tectorum. L.), a serious grass weed in eastern Oregon can be partially controlled in wheat by metribuzin [4-amino-6-tertbutyl- 3-(methylthio)-as triazin -5(4H)-one]. However, cultivars of many crops Lave been reported to differ in their level of tolerance to metribuzin. This lack of tolerance has led to the investigation...
Of great benefit, but not limited to seafloor mineral
exploration, is a technique that fairly rapidly determines the
composition of a drilled vibracore (in a time comparable to the time
involved in obtaining the core). The rapid assessment is desired to
predict whether a given region warrants further exploration by...
It is a widely accepted premise of industrial management that an
interruption in the performance of a task will be accompanied by a
decrease in operator skill level upon resuming performance of the
task. Moreover, it has been generally assumed that this loss of
skill is related to several factors...
The toxicity of aluminum (Al) to wheat (Triticum aestivum
Host) was studied under controlled conditions using a technique
designed to evaluate the recovery of root growth following a relatively
brief (48 hour) exposure to nutrient solutions containing
Al, When wheat seedlings were exposed to a minimum critical
concentration of Al,...
Characterization and biological roles of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) isotypes are well known in monogastrics, but not in ruminants. However, a wealth of information has accumulated in little more than a decade on ruminant PPARs including isotype tissue distribution, response to synthetic and natural agonists, gene targets, and factors...
This paper is an analysis of the political theology articulated by Shia clerics and the political parties they were affiliated with between 1958-1979 with specific attention paid to Ayatollah Muhammad Baqir Al-Sadr and the Islamic Da’wa Party. It begins by tracing the development of Shia clerical political activism under the...
Background: The uneven distribution of recombination across the length of chromosomes results in inaccurate estimates of genetic to physical distances. In wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) chromosome 3B, it has been estimated that 90% of the cross over events occur in distal sub-telomeric regions representing 40% of the chromosome. Radiation hybrid...
Over the last two decades, farmers markets have gained prominence based on their contributions to local economies, support of small-scale farmers, and ability to reconnect consumers and producers of food. Farmers markets vary substantially both in the goals they set and the outcomes they achieve. This study examines whether and...
This study employs interdisciplinary methods to make transnational feminist sense of the microfinance phenomenon. Drawing upon a combination of discourse approach, textual analysis, political economics and critical theory construction, I fused a feminist critical discourse approach to excavate microfinance from neoliberalism. I designed an economic justice framework and executed an...
Understanding of techniques that can be used to develop software for various parallel machines has not fully matched the dramatic progress in hardware in recent years. Most parallel programming techniques have been closely tied to specific hardware. Different machines have different primitives and architectures. Programming and porting an application with...
The outsourcing of data storage and related infrastructure to third-party services in the cloud is a trend that has gained considerable momentum in the last decade due to the savings it affords companies in both capital and operational costs. Although encryption can alleviate some of the privacy concerns associated with...
Hop (Humulus lupulus L. var. lupulus) is a diploid, dioecious plant with an extensive history of cultivation and use in brewing, as a textile, and for its therapeutic properties. Hop is prized for its ability to produce a variety of aromatic and flavor compounds, as well as compounds with anti-microbial...
We describe a series of novel computational models, CERENKOV (Computational Elucidation of the REgulatory NonKOding Variome) and its successors CERENKOV2, CERENKOV3, and Convolutional CERENKOV3, for discriminating regulatory single nucleotide polymorphisms (rSNPs) from non-regulatory SNPs within non-coding genetic loci. The CERENKOV models are designed for recognizing rSNPs in the context of...
The silviculture of mixed dipterocarp forests of Peninsular Malaysia can potentially be improved by developing quantitative tools and guidelines for this forest type. This thesis addresses three key objectives; 1) to test the hypothesis that a maximum size-density relationship can be identified in hill dipterocarp forests of Peninsular Malaysia, 2)...
Structural engineered wood manufacturers need a quantitative measurement technique to determine the ratio of wood to adhesive failure in their shear specimens. Visual estimation of percent wood failure has long stood as an extremely subjective quality control approach according to ASTM D5266 – Standard Practice for Estimating the Percentage of...
The concept of construction industrialization, first raised in the 1960s, refers to the transfer of on-site construction work to an off-site factory to improve quality and reduce cost, time, and safety issues. In some countries, industrialization of construction projects is highly recommended and promoted by governments and local construction institutions...
Performing autonomous robotic tasks in the field, such as ocean monitoring and aerial surveillance, requires planning and executing paths in dynamic environments. In these uncertain and changing environments, it is not uncommon to see a large difference between the path planned by the robotic vehicle and the path that the...
This dissertation primarily uses observations made during the 2005 Kashmir earthquake relief effort and available disaster literature to address problems that impede effective and efficient disaster preparedness and response. Three manuscripts form the body of the dissertation. The manuscripts are thematically linked through the Emergency Management Cycle. Each manuscript examines...
While safety improvements have been made in the construction industry, construction still experiences one of the highest numbers of fatalities annually compared to other industries in the United States with over 970 fatalities in 2016 alone. This number of fatalities drives researchers and safety managers to improve safety measures and...
This dissertation incorporates coalition formation and probabilistic planning towards a domain-independent automated planning solution scalable to multiple heterogeneous robots in complex domains. The first research direction investigates the effectiveness of Task Fusion and introduces heuristics that improve task allocation and result in better quality plans, while requiring lower computational cost...
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...
The scarcity of wireless spectrum resources and the overwhelming demand for wireless broadband resources have prompted industry, government agencies and academia within the wireless communities to develop and come up with effective solutions that can make additional spectrum available for broadband data. As part of these ongoing efforts, cognitive radio...
Over the past ten years, reports of piracy and other forms of maritime violence have been dramatically on the rise. As these reports increase, so too does international attention toward how to solve this. This thesis examines the development of cooperative maritime security efforts in both Southeast Asia and the...
The vast majority of U.S. farm bill spending goes to nutrition assistance, on the one hand, and farm safety net programs, on the other. Although these programs are a major part of federal government expenditures, controversial and governed by a common bill, they have rarely been quantitatively analyzed together. To...
Increased dependence on fossil fuels and concerns of anthropogenic climate change have led to increased interest in alternative energy sources. Liquid fuels derived from renewable raw materials have gained attention in recent years due to their similarity to petroleum-based fuels. Biofuels derived through hydrodeoxygenation have been found to be one...
Drone strikes have become a defining strategy in the US War on Terror. Since the first combat drone strike in 2001, the executive branch has intentionally increased the deployment of drones for counterterrorism operations throughout the Middle East and North Africa. This thesis explores the moral and legal justifications for...
Author Nella Larsen and photographer James VanDerZee are two of the most canonical figures of Harlem Renaissance studies, whose respective novels and portraits have been explored extensively, if separately, by scholars. Both Larsen's 1929 novel Passing and VanDerZee's studio portraiture of the 1920s and 1930s have been read in terms...
Background: The use of high-Z nanoparticles as radiation dose enhancers has been researched thoroughly over the past decade. High-Z nanoparticles introduced to a medium increase the probability of photoelectric absorption. This leads to an increase in the production of short range characteristic and Auger electrons and, thus, local radiation dose....
Recent statistics suggest that the construction industry continues to experience poor project performance. Specifically, construction productivity has witnessed a meager annual growth of 1% over the past 20 years while the industry constantly records both a high number of fatalities and a high fatality rates relative to other industries. The...
Autonomous vehicles bring great societal benefits but also potential impact and disruption to road safety, traffic congestion, and driving behaviors. One important technology that is indispensable to the success of such systems is vehicular networks. Vehicular networks provide the backbone for ensuring communication and connectivity among vehicles, all crucial to...
Before 2002, almost all of the approximately 40,000 acres of land in the Wood River Valley, Oregon were used for intensive, flood-irrigated summer cattle grazing, as it had been for over 100 years. Conservation activity in the valley was limited to a couple of wealthy landowners. But a year after...
Cancer cell migration in three-dimensional extracellular matrix is a major cause of death for cancer patients. Although extensive studies have elucidated detailed mechanism of single cell 3D invasion and cell-ECM interaction, 3D collective cancer invasion is still poorly understood. 3D collective migration models have unveiled unexpected degrees of diversity and...
Wheat (Triticum aestivum) is a highly valuable crop that makes up a large portion of the world’s food. However, breeding for improved varieties with desirable characteristics can be a challenge. This research examined two different issues wheat breeders deal with throughout the selection process all the way to production of...
This work is concerned with the modeling and analysis of lossy planar dielectric
optical waveguides. Loss mechanisms which affect propagation characteristics are
reviewed, and various representations of the propagation constant in the lossy case
are defined. Waveguide structures which are susceptable to absorption and/or to
leakage loss, in particular silicon-based...
The first goal of this master’s thesis was to investigate the linkage between a non-destructive testing method, surface resistivity, and premature concrete deterioration brought on by chloride ingress and or freeze-thaw cycling. The experimental method for this project consists of taking surface resistivity measurements of reinforced concrete slabs after they...
Wave energy conversion devices are a rapidly growing interest worldwide for the potential to harness a sustainable and renewable energy source. Due to the oscillatory nature of ocean waves, the power generated from a permanent magnet linear generator (PMLG) for ocean wave energy conversion is pulsed. Focusing on direct drive...