The purpose of this thesis was to gain insight into why female college students initiate smoking. This study examined the major factors influencing the formation of such habit among this group. The tool used to study these factors was the questionnaire. Questionnaires were administered to randomly selected female students on...
Planning is an important kind of policies making. Meanwhile it is considered as activities which specify general development strategies of a nation, sector or even a specific field; it also is the basis for developing and implementing development projects (Huong, 2005). Therefore, it is essential to recognize the challenges, opportunities...
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are known to cause adverse health effects in the human lung. Here, we evaluated biomarkers relevant for PAH toxicity in a 3D human primary bronchial epithelial cell (HBEC) model collected from normal and asthmatic donors. We previously found that PAHs decrease cellular barrier function integrity, which...
Although Latino students make up more than a quarter of the U.S. public school system, only three percent of children’s literature either features a Latino protagonist or is written by a Latino author (Machado et al.). Latinos are therefore severely underrepresented in children’s books. Additionally, studies have revealed that Latino...
Polyphenolic compounds found in foods such as fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts and grains, are an integral part of the human diet. Within polyphenols, proanthocyanidins are referred to as condensed tannins and encompass procyanidins, propelargonidins and prodelphinidins. Among these, procyanidins are the largest group. Recent interest in these compounds is related...
Background: Early and repeated patient–provider conversations about advance care planning (ACP) are now widely recommended. We sought to characterize barriers and strategies for realizing an iterative model of ACP patient–provider communication.
Methods: A total of 2 multidisciplinary focus groups and 3 semistructured interviews with 20 providers at a large Veterans...
Genetic code expansion is a technology that allows for site-specific incorporation of noncanonical amino acids into recombinant proteins at amber stop codons using engineered translational machinery. The technology allows for expanded study into proteins, derived from the integration of novel chemical functions found in noncanonical amino acids, such as fluorescence,...
The studies presented here use the B- to Z-DNA transition and Z-DNA
crystallization as model systems to determine the contribution of solvent interactions to
macromolecular structures. The substituent groups of naturally occurring and modified
nucleotide bases affect the hydration and thus the stability of right-handed B-DNA and
left-handed Z-DNA. The...
Proceedings of the Eighteenth Biennial Conference of the International Institute of Fisheries Economics and Trade, held July 11-15, 2016 at Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Center (AECC), Aberdeen, Scotland, UK.
Recently, changes in human performance following whole-body vibration (WBV) training have been attributed to enhanced neuromuscular function. However, the exact neural and muscular mechanisms responsible for these changes remain less understood. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the acute and chronic effects of whole body vibration on the...
Lateral heel wedge orthotics are designed to reduce medial tibiofemoral joint loading and pain in patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA). To date, the efficacy of long-term lateral heel wedge orthotics use among OA patients has not been determined. This study evaluated the extent to which lateral heel wedge orthotics reduced...
Rapid change-of-direction tasks have been associated with non-contact anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries and females are more likely to suffer this injury compared to males. The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the biomechanical behavior of running and three rapid change-of-direction tasks and determine whether sex differences exist across...
The objective of this study is to investigate the sustainability properties of the stock of the shrimp trawl
fishery in the Tonkin Gulf, Vietnam. Surplus production models of Verhulst-Schaefer and Gompertz-Fox
are applied to the shrimp trawl fishery, which is a typical tropical fishery with the characteristic properties
of small...
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dynamics of exploited fish populations. Chapman &
Hall, London.
CHINH, N., VAN, LV., HUY, LQ., NINH, LV
The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of back and seat rest inclination on the
kinematics of manual hand-rim wheelchair propulsion in subjects with spastic type cerebral palsy.
Subjects ranged in age from nine to twenty-one and were classified as USCPAA Class III or IV functional
ability....
Large scale disruption of natural habitats worldwide has led to concern over the
effects of habitat fragmentation on wildlife populations. Small scale experiments may be
a useful tool for discovering effects of fragmentation over larger landscape scales. I
sought to explore the potential for using voles as an experimental model...
Many Gram-negative bacteria use a type III secretion system (TTSS) to establish a relationship with a host. Pathogens can use the secretion system as a way to deliver proteins known as type III effectors (TTEs) into a host cell and block host defense. The variation and redundancy of the type...
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in hrp-inducing
media (Huynh et al., 1989; Rahme et al., 1992; Xiao et al., 1992).
It is a
Understanding the aggregation behavior of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) in aqueous environments is essential to understanding their fate, transport, and toxicity. Because naturally occurring colloids will likely be present at much higher concentrations than ENMs in environmental systems, heteroaggregation and attachment with these natural colloids could significantly influence ENM fate and...
Many Gram-negative bacteria use a type III secretion system (T3SS) to establish associations with their hosts. The T3SS is a conduit for direct injection of type-III effector proteins into host cells, where they manipulate the host for the benefit of the infecting bacterium. For plant-associated pathogens, the variations in number...
Conflicts and disasters displace millions of populations worldwide. There is a need for rapid and affordable housing to cater to the needs of the displaced and unhoused population. Experience from previous post-disaster responses shows that temporary housing should be rapidly deployable, planned for months to years, and should be environmentally...
Enzymatic hydrolysis is a critical process in the conversion of lignocellulosic biomass into biofuels and biochemicals. Achieving high efficiencies and productivity during the enzymatic hydrolysis of biomass is the key for the commercially viable process. Downstream processing challenges require high product titers which in turn require the use of high...
Alaska pollock (Gadus chalcogrammus) is a schooling whitefish native to the Bering Sea that is prized for its fillets, surimi, roe, and milt. Fillets are frequently used for popular products such as fish and chips. If collected, roe and milt are commonly exported to South Korea and Japan. However, no...
Northern anchovy (Engraulis mordax) are a dominant forage fish in the California Current large marine ecosystem (CCLME). However, little is known about northern anchovy abundance, distribution, age structure, or population fluctuations relative to ocean conditions in the eastern boundary upwelling system off the U.S. West Coast. This thesis includes three...
The characteristics of Northern squawfish
(Ptychocheilus oregonensis) and the feasibility of utilization
of this species for human consumption were investigated. In
the first experimental phase, the iced storage characteristics
of squawfish were determined. Quality changes were monitored
over 24 days of storage by chemical, physical, microbiological
and sensorial methods of...
Although legumes have been widely studied for their nitrogen-fixing ability, it is uncertain to what extent legume cover crops achieve their nitrogen-fixing potential under the climatic conditions encountered in western Oregon. Furthermore, it is unknown what factors control the proportions of legume cover crop N that are either sequestered into...
Research into the phenomenon of adaptation has surged in recent years as people across the globe face evolving climate situations. The role of women in this adaptation research, and in policy discussions, is often unclear or entirely unaddressed. An array of literature exists on the inclusion of women into environmental...
Natural products (a.k.a. secondary metabolites) are produced by living organisms that are not essential for their growth, development, or reproduction, but may play a role in their survival or adaptability in nature. Many secondary metabolites isolated from plants and microbes have found use as molecular probes, drug leads, or medicine...
Previous observations of light levels and phytoplankton abundances along the Oregon coast demonstrated that phytoplankton attenuated light sufficiently to potentially limit the growth of intertidal macrophytes and therefore structure local intertidal communities. Inspired by this observation, in spring 2004, I initiated a study to quantify the direct and indirect benthic...
The purpose of this study was to examine pressure at
five selected sites on the plantar surface of the foot and
adaptations in running kinematics among fourteen male
varsity collegiate distance runners on five different
surfaces--asphalt, cinders, concrete, grass, and tartan.
Pressure data were collected with an Electrodynogram system
(EDG)...
BACKGROUND: As it becomes increasingly possible to obtain DNA sequences of orthologous genes from diverse sets
of taxa, species trees are frequently being inferred from multilocus data. However, the behavior of many methods for
performing this inference has remained largely unexplored. Some methods have been proven to be consistent given...
Using repositories to store product design information can provide additional and extensive design knowledge to the global design community. Using repository data in the design of new products can be especially impactful for DfX design objectives, such as product sustainability, about which many engineering designers have limited knowledge. Furthermore, repositories...
The dissertation focuses on the engineering of light-matter interaction using plasmonic nanoparticles and metamaterials to achieve enhanced luminescence and based on which to improve the performance of biosensing and light-emitting technologies. We designed and fabricated a spectrum of nanostructures to exhibit particular dispersion relations capable of controlling the spontaneous emission...
For more than 30 years, researchers have investigated the effects of whole body vibration (WBV) platforms on athletic performance. WBV is a modality in which an individual stands on a vibrating platform to obtain performance effects. Frequency and amplitude of the vibration are the commonly adjusted parameters. The use of...
Soluble butane monooxygenase (sBMO), a three-component di-iron monooxygenase complex
expressed by the C2–C9 alkane-utilizing bacterium Thauera butanivorans, was kinetically
characterized by measuring substrate specificities for C1–C5 alkanes and product inhibition
profiles. sBMO has high sequence homology with soluble methane monooxygenase (sMMO) and
shares a similar substrate range, including gaseous and...
RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) is the current method of choice for characterizing transcriptomes and
quantifying gene expression changes. This next generation sequencing-based method provides unprecedented
depth and resolution. The negative binomial (NB) probability distribution has been shown to be a
useful model for frequencies of mapped RNA-Seq reads and consequently provides...
Phytophthora root rot decreases availability and quality of rhododendrons produced in the USA. Symptoms of Phytophthora root rot include root necrosis, leaf chlorosis, stunting, and permanent wilt. The purpose of this thesis was to better understand the impact of root damage, soil moisture, nitrogen fertilizer application, and pathogen species on...
Pseudomonas syringae are plant pathogenic bacteria that cause disease by rapidly multiplying within the aboveground tissues of host plants. Growth of P. syringae within plant host tissues requires the disarmament of host immune defenses that limit microbial growth. To combat host defenses, P. syringae deploys a type III secretion system...
Acetylene is a slow-binding inhibitor of the Ni- and Fe-containing dimeric hydrogenase isolated
from Azotobacter vinelandii. Acetylene was released from hydrogenase during the recovery from inhibition.
This indicates that no transformation of acetylene to another compound occurred as a result of the interaction
with hydrogenase. However, the release of C2H2...
This study represents a novel approach for intraoperative ovarian cancer treatment based on the combinatorial effect of a targeted photodynamic therapy (PDT) associated with suppression of the DJ-1 protein, one of the key players in the ROS defense of cancer cells. To assess the potential of the developed therapy, dendrimer-based...
In this dissertation, I present experimental observations of multiply charged atomic ions (MCAI) generated from interactions of atomic/molecular clusters with moderately intense nanosecond laser pulses. This process is also known as Coulomb explosion (CE) and it has been extensively studied in intense laser fields using ultrashort pulses. Several prevailing theories...
We studied the problem of resource allocation in large scale distributed applications such as Online Social Networks (OSN) and Cloud Computing. In such settings, resource allocation schemes need to efficient as well as adaptive to the time-varying environments. The abstract resource allocation problem concerns with how to optimally use resources...
Poor aqueous solubility of a large number of newly discovered chemical entities is posing a significant challenge for the formulation industry and is delaying their drug development. The number of formulation techniques available to solubilize these poorly soluble molecules is very limited. In addition to that, traditional formulation methods involve...
Plasma biochemistry and hematology reference intervals are integral health assessment tools in all medical fields, including aquatic animal health. As sablefish (Anoplopoma fimbria) are becoming aquaculturally and economically more important, this manuscript provides essential reference intervals (RI) for their plasma biochemistry and hematology along with reference photomicrographs of blood cells...