Following European-American colonization of North America and associated landscape changes, barred owls (Strix varia) underwent a dramatic expansion of their historical range. The barred owl expanded across the previously tree-less Great Plains that had limited their distribution, and into the forests along the west coast. In these western forests they...
As the frequency and intensity of wildfires continue to occur in the West, so does the need for measures intended to improve firefighter safety; public safety; and the protection of property, resources, and wildlife. Furthermore, as human activity in the expanding Wildland Urban Interface increases, so does the need for...
The focus of this thesis is to design, characterize, and apply novel computational methods and molecular systems to interrogate heterogeneous human gut microbiome-related phenomena. In Chapter 2, I design, implement, and characterize a method for embedding co-occurrence patterns derived from massive 16s amplicon datasets. I use this method to 1....
Boreal and temperate biomes host nearly half of the earth’s forested ecosystems. The temperate rainforests of the Pacific coast of North America constitute nearly half of all temperate rainforests on earth. Along the northern extent of this region, the perhumid and sub-polar rainforests of southeast and southcentral Alaska are among...
There is a growing body of research that describes the benefits of place-based environmental education (EE) within the schools, including improved competencies, better interpersonal skills, decreased gaps in social divides, increased pupil engagement in learning, increased community awareness, and increased environmental stewardship. Though the benefits are many, few schools utilize...
Gut-brain communication consists of bidirectional routes between cognitive centers of the brain and peripheral intestines. This bidirectional communication is the result of the interplay between enteroendocrine cells (EECs), enteric nervous system, central nervous system, the vagus nerve, and our microbiota. Multiple studies have associated gut microbial dysbiosis with neurological disorders...
New delivery methods for radiotracers are constantly being proposed. Two key properties of the delivery method must be analyzed: dose to patient and effectiveness of delivery. In this work, the localized skin dose for intranasal administration of 18F was determined utilizing MCNP code. An anatomically accurate nasal cavity was constructed...
Metal organic frameworks(MOFs) are a class of crystalline materials utilized in gas storage, chemicalsensing, and other engineering applications. Recently chemists have begun synthesizing MOFs withmoving parts in order to further these applications. A wide array of dynamic MOFs have been created andtheorized. Among them is the interlocking of a ring...
Natural landscapes around the world have experienced serious loss and degradation, which negatively impacts ecosystem service provision by these landscapes. As a result, there have been serious investments to restore natural capital. However, restoration faces complex trade-offs, such as that between restoration quality, or how closely the restored landscapes resembles...
Current neutron dosimetry methods rely on the assumption that charged particle equilibrium (CPE) is established within the tissue medium. This maintains that the kinetic energy transferred to the medium (KERMA) is equivalent to absorbed dose. However, this assumption is only valid for large volumes such as the whole body. For...