Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) flux is an important mechanism to convey soil carbon (C) from aboveground organic debris (litter) to deeper soil horizons and can influence the formation of stable soil organic carbon (SOC) compounds. Aboveground litter quantity and quality was manipulated for 20-years in an old-growth Douglas fir forest...
Municipal watersheds attempt to balance growing and conflicting demands for water for human use and for ecosystems. The Mill Creek basin, a 295 km2 basin in southeast Washington, exemplifies these conflicts. Since the late 1800s, the City of Walla Walla has withdrawn water from Mill Creek for municipal use. However,...
Biosphere models predict the transport of radionuclides in the environment with an end goal of assessing the possible risk to humans. Little data exists to support these mathematical biosphere models. The objectives of this work were to verify foliar uptake in biosphere models using experimental data, compare existing biosphere models...
This study discusses common struggles of first-generation Polynesian football players’ university experiences with cultural adaptation. There is little research on this topic. Because of the importance of these issues and the exploratory nature of this study, a qualitative approach was needed. Interviews were conducted with 15 first-generation Polynesian football male...
This research details the adoption, implementation, and outcomes
of Project C. 0. R. E. (Careers Oriented Relevant Education)
in District #19 junior high schools in Springfield, Oregon. Information
was gathered from teachers, students, and parents associated
with each District #19 junior high school via questionnaires, interviews,
and by field observations....
Two experiments were conducted looking at both acute and sub-acute laminitis. An acute nutritional induction model was used to examine whether blood profiles and gene expression are similar to other studies conducted using an endotoxin induction model. Twelve sheep were randomly assigned to three treatment groups which were control, 4-hour...
Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC) originates from organic matter. Climate and vegetation have been found to alter DOC production. The goal of this study was to determine where the differences in DOC production originate from. Mineral soil and substrate including maple leaves, needles, old wood, and sticks were collected from the...
Soils, with their potential to store and stabilize carbon (C), are an essential resource for sustaining forest productivity, as well as for efforts to reduce atmospheric C concentrations. Protecting existing soil C and harnessing the sequestration potential of our soils require an improved understanding of the processes through which soil...
The central purposes of this study were to review the
historical sources of David Kolb's formulation of experiential
learning theory, and to determine the effect and
application of Kolb's theory and Learning Style Inventory
as reflected in the literature between 1971 and 1990.
It was found that Kolb based his...
Sixteenth century Elizabeth I of England has long been a figure of interest to Renaissance scholars, and their work largely focuses on how her gender impacted the power, politics, and culture of her day. Many have perceived her to be a heroine whose ingenuity and determination circumvented the limitations imposed...
In this dissertation I explore the Arms representation and activities for teaching quantum mechanics invented at Oregon State University. In the Arms representation students embody quantum states. The Arms activities are presented as an exemplar of the unique physics classroom culture of the upper-division Paradigms in Physics program. In the...
First recorded as a problem in 2003, wildfire smoke has been found to affect wine grapes and lead to alterations to a wine’s flavor profile. Smoke can carry organic volatile compounds over vast distances, which can then be deposited on grapes and are absorbed into the grape’s cells. These compounds...
The rise of social networking is more prevalent in today's society than ever before. Of the existing social networking platforms, Twitter is widely recognized as operating within the social networking elite. With this rise in social networking comes the challenge to develop new strategies of navigation when presenting one's identity...
Debris flow initiation is controlled by a complex interaction of geology, geomorphology, climate, and weather. In the Cascade Range of Pacific Northwest and mountainous areas globally, patterns of temperature and precipitation are being altered by climate change, which may in turn impact debris flow initiation. Temperature has increased and patterns...
As the number of international students continues to increase on campuses throughout the world, many institutions are turning to pathway programs (college preparation programs) to ensure that these students are able to successfully transition into the host culture and campus environment (Andrade, 2006; Dooey, 2010; Hanover Research, 2010; Perez-Pena, 2014,...
The ongoing “method war” in literary criticism that has manifested as the impasse between Critique and Postcritique, which are identified respectively with paranoid and reparative modes of reading, raises existential questions about criticism in the face of its declining social value under neoliberalism. This thesis enters that impasse to suggest...
Reflection on a stage management experience for a musical produced at Oregon State University. Comparison from previous high school experiences in stage managing to the university level of stage management. Reference to the texts and resources examined for the growth of knowledge in stage management. Analysis of each stage of...
In her novel, Nightwood (1936), Djuna Barnes examines the relationships and identities of diverse characters during the early 20th century. My paper investigates the depiction of inversion and how it challenges heteronormative structures. However, I argue that the depiction of queer relations is only available between feminized queer subjects. The...
Physics sensemaking is a growing topic of study within the physics education community. Many lenses have been used to study sensemaking but few have considered how time and instruction can impact student sensemaking practices and ideas. In this dissertation, I present four studies that address four major questions: What sensemaking...
Multivariable functions permeate physics, mathematics, and other sciences. Understanding how quantities in multivariable relationships change together – or co-vary – is important for studying physical systems. In this project, we asked junior-level physics majors to describe the covariation of quantities in a multivariable context given a 2D graph. We identified...
The effectiveness of a three-hour nutrition education workshop
for home economics teachers given in 18 locations in Oregon was
evaluated based on responses from 138 teachers. Changes in knowledge
of and attitude toward four nutrition topics (fast foods, vegetarianism,
weight control, and food exchanges) were measured using
questionnaires completed at...
Climate change will require families to withstand and adapt to potentially novel impacts in their forests, requiring both ecological and social resiliency. When facing a future of complex and uncertain conditions, family forest owners need more information on the magnitude and direction of change, which can be best accomplished through...
This study explores an underground museum located in Pendleton, Oregon. Using the method of Critical Discourse Analysis, I identify the ways Whiteness and Chinese as “the Other” are visually and verbally depicted. This study uses a qualitative approach to identify the ways both groups are presented on the tour. The...
Studies suggest that higher investment in human capital boosts economic growth by increased productivity. Education is considered to improve human capital, but it takes relatively long to achieve progress in education. Literacy of female population holds particular importance as it has both direct and indirect effect on growth. Apart from...
Soil contains approximately 75% of the carbon pool on land - three times more than the amount stored in living plants and animals (Schlesinger 1999). Therefore, soils play a major role in maintaining a balanced global carbon cycle. Models of the soil carbon ecosystem assume a strong relationship between organic...
Recent work in moral philosophy has displayed a renewed interest in ethics and ontology that consider the social constitution of the subject. However, these approaches to ethics, exemplified in Judith Butler’s work in Giving an Account of Oneself, often neglect the problem of antiblackness, which Afro-pessimist scholars argue operates at...
Improved cookstoves (ICS) have been distributed by many in the international development community to address the dangers faced by billions of people worldwide who use traditional open-fire cooking methods. Yet, impact evaluations of these ICS interventions have not always shown positive impacts. This case study followed the ICS adoption study...
Through the creation of a children’s book, this project aims to educate children and adults about the act of banning books in the United States. This non-fiction picture book targets readers between four and ten years old. Research on the history of book banning and questions about why it happens...
Any work of literature is a product of its time revealing truths about its culture. My thesis explores how pre-selected inspiration, personal experiences, and current events play a role in the devising process of a script. The inspiration for this particular devised play is Letters to a Young Poet by...
Honey wine, also known as mead, is one of the oldest alcoholic beverages known to man. Made primarily from honey, water, and yeast, this beverage has recently been experiencing a resurgence in popularity. It is imperative that commercial producers focus on consistently creating quality products to differentiate themselves from competitors...
The Expedition of Whispers is a one-act play about five adventurers who enter an ancient temple in search of a lost historical artifact. Each member of the expedition has a closely guarded secret, and must confront one another as those secrets are revealed.
The Expedition of Whispers was performed by...
Quantum mechanics is increasingly being taught with a spins-first approach where instructors use simple spin systems to introduce the principles of quantum mechanics rather than systems with wavefunctions. One of the defining characteristics of a spins-first approach is that systems studied have discrete bases, whereas systems with wavefunctions have continuous...
Physicists seek to understand the world and often use mathematics to aid in attaining that goal. Thus when doing mathematics they often interrogate their results in order to ensure that they align with their expectations and to gain new insight into how the world works. This seeking of coherence between...
When a person is tasting wine, they first evaluate the appearance and then the aroma. The smell of wine is a crucial part of tasting and the aromas emanating from the wine should be pleasant. Aroma quality perceived in wine is determined by multiple interactions of the components found in...
The 1920’s was a period of immense growth of consumer and celebrity culture, that brought changes in film, art and the creation and presentation of identity. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Tender is the Night reflects these changes, particularly with respect to how cultural shifts challenge prevailing views about individual autonomy and...
In this two-article thesis, I argue that an opposition to Eurocentrism may be articulated without ethnic or identarian determinisms but through a critical engagement with the categories of ethics and truth in a global frame. I build upon the work of Frantz Fanon and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak to accomplish a...
The purpose of this research was to investigate the
effectiveness of using an early childhood language intervention
program with children who had been determined to be
language delayed at the ages of 3, 4 and 5 and to determine
how the early childhood langauge intervention program was
associated with changes...
Before we can write intelligently concerning
any subject, we must understand exactly what we are
writing about. As the title tells us, this thesis
deals exclusively with the work and incidentally with
the lives of Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, two
notable nineteenth century poets.
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted most institutions and individuals in some capacity, and college students are no different. The unique perceptions and experiences of college students during the COVID-19 pandemic has the potential to be interesting social phenomena that could prove useful for institutions such as universities, governments, and public...
This thesis examines alternative modes and forms of production in texts by Willa Cather and Virginia Woolf. Applying queer methodologies drawn from the work of Michel Foucault, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Lee Edelman, and Elizabeth Freeman, I show how Cather’s The Professor’s House and Woolf’s To the Lighthouse demonstrate and interrogate...
This thesis invokes Black Jesus as an abstract figure in two seemingly disparate early twentieth century American novels and, in doing so, intervenes in ongoing debates about the ethical capacities of literature as means of grappling with difference. The Christ figure is a literary trope of waning importance in contemporary...
A study of nutrient intakes was conducted on the Southwest
Oregon non-reservation Indian population during June and July of
1980. Participating households were selected by random methods from
a Southwest Oregon Indian Health Project listing of Indian
households in the six-county area. Twenty-four-hour dietary recalls
were obtained by interview method...
This thesis offers a textual analysis of Emily Bronte's
novel Wuthering Heights and, to a lesser extent, her poems
in an effort to understand fully the complicated
relationship of gender to time that characterizes her
artistic imagination.
The study emphasizes the interplay of religious,
psychological and sexual forces inherent in...
Over the past decade, the explosion of social media has secured the Internet as a venue for political discussions of all sorts; as well as a realm of consumption and commodification. One population of women that has utilized social media in this way is the plus-sized fashion ("fatshion") community on...