Biologists need tools to see the structural relationships encoded in biological sequences (strings). The Walking Tree heuristics calculate some of these relationships. I have designed and implemented graphic presentations which allow the biologist (user) to see these relations. This thesis contains background information on the biological sequences and some background...
Basic biological information is stored in strings of nucleic acids (DNA, RNA) or amino acids
(proteins). Teasing out the meaning of these strings is a central problem of modern biology. Matching and
aligning strings brings out their shared characteristics. Although string matching is well-understood in the
edit-distance model, biological strings...
The fungi that cause mold and stain of freshly sawn lumber result in millions of dollars in losses to the forest products industry. Stain and mold are typically prevented by either kiln drying or by application of a topical fungicide. While these treatments are effective, kiln drying is costly and...
Basamid^R (3,5-dimethy1-1,3,5,2H-tetrahydrothiadiazine-
2-thione) is a crystalline powder used as a soil sterilant.
This fumigant acts in soil by decomposing to methylisothiocyanate
(MITC), the primary active ingredient, as well as
hydrogen sulfide, methylamine, and formaldehyde. In wood,
Basamid decomposes too slowly to be efficacious against
decay fungi unless amended with various...
Studies of physiological effects of fungicides on fungi are critical for understanding
modes of action and mechanism of resistance; however, studies are difficult to perform
on filamentous fungi because of the inability to produce homogeneous a biological
system using a mass of mycelium. Moreover, the presence of rigid cell wall...
Lagrangean relaxation is presented as a solution
technique to solve flow constrained area-based harvest
scheduling problems. The best set of multipliers in the
Lagrangean approach is obtained through the subgradient
method. Guidelines to set some parameters to compute the
step size in the subgradient algorithm are provided. An
additional procedure...
In spite of the lack of accurate information about the
treatability of western wood species with waterborne wood
preservatives, consumption of these products continues to
increase. Western wood species, notably Douglas-fir, are
notoriously difficult to treat with waterborne systems, yet
there is relatively little data on the effects of wood...
Fluorinated alkyl substances, which can be persistent, toxic, and
bioaccumulative, have been quantitated in many densely populated and
remote regions, including in air, surface waters, groundwater, and biota;
however, little is known about their transport or behavior in the environment.
Wastewater effluent is one of the principal routes for introducing...
Metham sodium or NaMDC is one of the four major soil
fumigants that are currently registered for controlling
internal decay of wood products in use. Fumigants are used
primarily in utility poles but are also applied to piling,
timbers and other large wood members.
NaMDC must decompose to fungitoxic compounds...
The root systems of Douglas-fir trees infected with
Verticicladiella wagenerii and assigned by crown color and terminal
growth characteristics to several stages of decline were excavated at
three widely separated sites in the Coast Range of Oregon. Data were
gathered on insect species present, extent of colonization of the root...
