Sweetpotatoes are a highly nutritious staple crop, playing an important role in global nutritional security. Although the majority of research in the United States (U.S.) focuses on the cultivation of the storage roots, both the leaves and roots are edible. Sweetpotatoes are indigenous to the Andes Region of South America;...
Quick and accurate measurements of nanoparticles have important applications in biology, environmental and non-proliferation areas. Calculation of isotopic ratios, particularly in special nuclear materials, has relied on integration of nanoparticle counts and limited the capability of counting minor isotopes. Rapid transient detection method of nanoparticles has demonstrated the effectiveness of...
The frequency of devastating disasters has increased in the United States due to the presence of climate change. Human subject research is often conducted in these post-disaster areas to gain valuable data and insights. In recent years, discourse regarding the ethical nature of research conduct in these exposure areas has...
Background/Purpose: US public health, criminal justice, and many other social and scientific processes are affected by the quality of data obtained about death. Yet, little research has focused on how death investigations are conducted. The overall goal of this research was to examine the process by which information was obtained...
The process of coming out by an individual of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ+) community involves recognition and disclosure, and it is a personal and important part of identity development. The process of coming out is also a symbol of the LGBTQ+ community’s self-disclosure of their sexual...
Ocean Drifters are a low-cost and easy-to-use platform that are commonly used for studying ocean currents. With added interest in studying the ocean, emphasis has been taken to make it more accessible. A pilot course focused on introducing the topic of ocean sensing was announced. The HC 407 course will...
Small, private forestland owners own about 12% of Oregon’s forestland and have the unique ability to implement innovative forest management activities. In southwest Oregon, extreme ecological variability occurs over small spatial scales and requires fine-scale silvicultural treatments that match the precise ecological setting and management objectives of the forests in...
Sugar pine and western white pine are widely distributed, economically valuable, and ecologically important native tree species in North America. However, white pine blister rust (WPBR), caused by a non-native fungal pathogen, Cronartium ribicola J.C. Fisch. in Rabh., has substantially affected populations of these species. Cronartium is an obligate parasite,...
Deep learning is now being utilized widely in applications where sensitive data is being used for model training, for example, in health care. In this scenario, any data leakage will cause privacy concerns to whose data records are used to train the model. An attacker can actively cause privacy leakage...
I examine the strong co-variability between the surface divergence and vorticity and how it varies with latitude in the Pacific Ocean using surface vector winds from reanalysis and satellite scatterometer observations. This analysis was motivated in part by a significant correlation between divergence and vorticity over the global oceans that...
Mathematics outreach typically consists of community events that show the exciting applications of mathematics, particularly to K-12 students. The goal of mathematics outreach events is to increase student interest and involvement in mathematics-related activities. Students start to develop a stigma against mathematics by the end of elementary school. Outreach events...
Recent advances in robotics have led to interest in exploring soft robotic technologies as an engineering control for reducing the risk of radiation exposure for workers in the nuclear industry. These emerging “soft” technologies offer many advantages over traditional rigid robotic systems and can perform a wide range of tasks...
To investigate the viability of staging hydraulic air compressors (HACs), a model for HACs operating with a closed loop water cycle powered by a pump was made. This model was used to simulate how these HACs would respond to variable heights and mass flow ratios for both single-stage and multi-stage...
This thesis is in two sections. The first is, "Truths: Memoir & Poetry," and the second, “Larger Truths: Fiction & Poetry.” The entire thesis is drawn from my experiences in America as a Black woman. "Truths" contains the beginning of a memoir about growing up with a domineering matriarch, and...
Organic vegetable growers rely on legume cover crops as an economical source of plant-available N. This research evaluated N contributions to summer vegetable crops by cover crops (CC) residues by monitoring soil nitrate (NO3-N) concentrations during the summer crop growing season. Replicated field plots were established with three CC mixes:...
Organic vegetable growers rely on legume cover crops as an economical source of plant-available N. This research evaluated N contributions to summer vegetable crops by cover crops (CC) residues by monitoring soil nitrate (NO3-N) concentrations during the summer crop growing season. Replicated field plots were established with three CC mixes:...
This thesis explores the mechanical properties of hemp fiber reinforced polylactic acid (PLA) composites. Fused filament fabrication (FFF) was used to compare the performance of three different weight percentages of hemp fiber reinforced PLA against PLA and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS). It was found that as the weight percentage of...
Research overwhelmingly suggests that Black and Brown students face unjust and inequitable environments in K-12 schools in the United States (Bradshaw et al., 2010; Carter et al., 2017; Coles & Powell, 2020). These injustices often occur as a result of systemic racism and are replicated because of embedded racist policies...
Understanding how spatial variation in climate correlates with phenotypic variation among individuals may offer insights about local adaptation, population performance, and species’ response to climate change. Desert bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis nelsoni) in the Mojave Desert of southern California experience a broad range of temperature and aridity, inhabiting mountain ranges...
The literature on first-generation South Asian American (SAA) mental health is limited despite the increased focus of studies on help-seeking behaviors and subjective well-being over the past decade. Therefore, we designed a web-based survey seeking to address two research questions. Research Question 1 informed Study 1 of this dissertation project:...
YouTube has turned creating, watching, and interacting with videos into a mainstream activity and has substantial impact on modern society as the most popular video sharing site in the world. However, there is a lack of published research using statistically designed experiments which can aid content creators in making and...
Background. Since August of 2016, , more than 119 women and girls have come forward and spoken about the abuse that they faced at the hands of USA Gymnastics, Michigan State University, and Lawrence Nassar.
Methods. I reviewed 16 primary sources to describe athlete-identified themes (“bins”) associated with gymnastics reform....
Asphalt pavements constitute more than ninety percent of the nation’s roadway network. Besides serving the key role of providing a smooth and durable all-weather surface that benefits a range of users, they are also the lifelines of the nation and the world and contribute tremendously towards economic and social development....
Wilderness character monitoring (WCM) is an interagency strategy created in 2008 in collaboration between the four federal land management agencies that manage designated wilderness (Forest Service, National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service and Bureau of Land Management) and other contributors (Landres et al. 2008a). The reports created from this...
Buddleja davidii (butterfly bush) is a highly adaptable landscape plant known for pollinator attraction. Unfortunately, it is also regarded as an invasive plant in highly disturbed environments across the globe. It is an invasive species in Oregon, officially classified as a class B noxious weed in 2004. Currently the state...
Transmit beamforming is an important technique employed to improve efficiency and signal quality in wireless communication systems by steering signals towards their in- tended users. It often arises jointly with the antenna selection problem due to various reasons, such as limited number of radio frequency (RF) chains and energy/resource effi-...
Visualization and simulation software serves an important role in education, especially in the education of abstract topics. The field of computational theory, and specifically the topics of formal languages and finite automata are well suited to visualization. When done properly, this improves the learning experience for both students and educators....
Fusarium proliferatum is a fungus found in soils which produces the mycotoxin group known as fumonisins. Of human concern due to hepato-, nephro- and neurotoxicity, the threat of fumonisins lies within several food items, including corn, wheat sorghum, asparagus and, more recently, garlic. Manifesting as ““garlic rot”,” F. proliferatum infection...
The purpose of this study was to determine the viability of a mobile socially assistive robot (SAR) in a children’s free play environment. The researchers hypothesized that the SAR would prompt more movement among the participants. In order to test this, the researchers utilized a matched pair study in which...
In Oregon, outdoor recreation activities have continued to grow in popularity, as has the overall Latin@ population of the state. With the continual population increase of this ethnic group, researchers have focused on understanding their outdoor recreation habits through an environmental justice lens. This includes accessibility, affordability, and other barriers...
This report assesses how current management actions are adhering to the original mandate set by the Wilderness Act of 1964 by monitoring the five qualities of Wilderness character (untrammeled, natural, undeveloped, opportunities for solitude/unconfined recreation, and other features of value) as they pertain to this specific Wilderness area.
The City of Bend’s current urban forest management strategy consists of a series of city codes and ordinances, tree protection and planting standards, and two different plans created by the Bend Park and Recreation District. The analysis of these documents, as well as review of existing management approaches in Boise,...
Climate change, wildfire, timber harvest, and land conversion alter the availability of downed wood in forests of the western United States. Numerous taxa rely on downed wood for temperature and humidity refugia, and downed wood may play a key role in enabling the persistence of climate-sensitive, low-vagility species like terrestrial...
This study investigates whether existing interventions in USDA-defined food deserts have been effective in improving access to healthy foods and improving dietary quality. A systematic literature review was conducted using articles from MEDLINE database using “food desert” and “intervention” as search terms. Exclusion and inclusion criteria resulted in selection of...
This thesis addresses a common knowledge gap that was identified amongst the Society of
Automotive Engineers (SAE) competition design teams at Oregon State University. Students
that join the SAE teams at Oregon State University typically do not have experience using
physically collected data during a design process. This leads to...
Hydraulic conductivity of hemp stems under water-stress conditions was investigated. When plants face with water-stress conditions, embolies (cavitation) are triggered in xylem channels and water transport from the root to the leaves is affected. The relation between percentage loss of water transfer ability within the xylem channels can be described...
With an ever-growing urban population there is a continued interest in urban agriculture as a viable option to improve access to fresh produce and enhance food security in an increasingly urbanized world. As the primary method of urban agriculture in the United States, community gardens also provide a range of...
Visitors to waterways need a way to securely lock up their non-motorized watercrafts to allow for exploration of the local area and communities. The Willamette Water Trail Steering committee recognized this problem and approached the Oregon State University Prototype Development lab to develop and fabricate a solution. The engineering design...
Data from mark-recapture study on cinnabar moths conducted at Cogswell Foster, OR, from 1986-05-29 through 1986-06-12. Data on captured and marked moths includes a number identifier, gender, wing wear (low, high), post-release behavior (mobile or immobile), capture/recapture locations (X/Y coordinates of study area, plot number, and categorical location relative to...
Xanthomonas hortorum pv. carotae (Xhc) is an epiphytic, plant pathogenic bacterium that causes the disease bacterial blight of carrot (Daucus carota subsp. sativus). Infection with Xhc can result in blighting of leaves and umbels and reduce quality and yield of carrot seed crops. Carrot production in the United States approaches...
All the datasets used in Kovasi's (2022) masters thesis. Chapter 2: The datasets are elemental concentrations for 25 elements from samples of the
saxicolous lichens Umbilicaria phaea (n = 51), Rhizoplaca melanophthalma (n = 20), and the epiphytic lichen
Letharia vulpina (n = 16) from the southern Sierra Nevada and...
Climate change is expected to increase the occurrence of many climate-related natural hazards. Confidence that the risk of heat waves will increase is very high given strong evidence in the peer-reviewed literature, consistency among the projections of different global climate models, and robust scientific principles that explain why temperatures increase...
Climate change is expected to increase the occurrence of many climate-related natural hazards. Confidence that the risk of heat waves will increase is very high given strong evidence in the peer-reviewed literature, consistency among the projections of different global climate models, and robust scientific principles that explain why temperatures increase...
There has been serious interest in hydrogen as a source of energy in the United States due to its capability of delivering a sustainable, carbon-free energy future. Currently, most hydrogen in the United States is produced via the steam methane reforming of natural gas, which converts methane to hydrogen through...
Several large-scale marine heatwave events occurred during the last 10 years in the North Pacific. A particular extreme marine heatwave in the North Pacific called the blob created an unprecedented high peak of sea surface temperature (SST) during 2013/14. MHW events had significant impacts on downstream weather and precipitation patterns...
The State of Oregon possesses a tumultuous relationship with the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and currently experiences one of the lowest participation rates in the country despite attempting several policy reforms. The State of Washington has exhibited a comparatively similar relationship. However, it has adopted a distinctive policy supplementation...
The greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus: hereafter; sage-grouse) population in Modoc County California is geographically isolated and has been subsidized by translocation to prevent inbreeding depression since 2005. Despite significant efforts to increase the population through translocations and habitat improvement by cutting encroaching western juniper (Juniperus occidentalis), only a single lek...
The certified organic blueberry (Vaccinium sp.) market has continued to expand in the last two decades, including in Oregon. The development of an industry-public research coalition has fostered expansion. In 2015, a survey consisting of on-site, in-person interviews with certified and transitional organic growers in Oregon found the majority of...
The European green crab (Carcinus maenas) has persisted in Oregon and Washington coastal estuaries since the late 1990s. A strong year class arrived during the 1998 El Niño, but numbers decreased and remained below 1 per trap per day until the arrival of the 2015-2016 El Niño. Since then, numbers...
Communities throughout the world have grappled with the positive and negative impacts of tourism for years. Oregon State University’s (OSU) Sustainable Tourism Lab was created in 2021 to support such global destinations and help them pursue a sustainable path – inclusive of economic, community, and environmental perspectives. Our first step...
