An age-wave is upon us where many older adults are reaching retirement. Technically experienced older adults have skills that could be directly applied to free/open source software (FOSS) communities, such as project management, programming, and/or knowledge of a rapidly growing end-user population. FOSS is a widely popular, low-cost way to...
Artificial collectives are useful for accomplishing tasks that require teamwork from multiple simple robots. Multiple robot and collective testbeds have been developed, yet none stay committed to leverage the local interactions, group size, and imperfect information assumptions that strengthen biological collectives. A review of the collective and multiple robot literature,...
This dissertation presents novel, field-activated smart material systems for the actuation and control of autonomous robots. Smart materials, a type of material whose properties can be changed with an external stimuli, represent a promising direction to expand upon existing robotic control and actuation methods, particularly in the sub-fields of soft...
This thesis analyzes the ways in which the practices of yoga, mindfulness and meditation can be of benefit to hospice and palliative care practitioners in addressing job-related stress. The research suggests that these contemplative practices can be effective in addressing compassion fatigue among hospice and palliative care professionals. The thesis...
Coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) (D. Don) Endl. is a host for Phytophthora ramorum but it was unclear if the pathogen represents a significant disease risk to this tree species. In this study the susceptibility of coast redwood seedlings and the likelihood of sporulation on redwood were examined. Two methods were...
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JenniferL. Parke
Coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) (D. Don) Endl. is a host for
Phytophthora ramorum continues to cause extensive mortality of tanoaks in southwestern Oregon. Rain readily washes inoculum down through the canopy, causing new infections on the lower parts of the tree and neighboring host plants. Although this aspect of dispersal is well understood, the relative importance of infested soil and leaf...
The sudden oak death pathogen, Phytophthora ramorum, is present in southwestern Oregon, and while an eradication effort is underway, the potential impact of the polyphagous pathogen on surrounding vegetation is unknown. Plant communities in the area are substantially different from those affected in California, although tanoak (Lithocarpus densiflorus), evergreen huckleberry...
Disaster response and surveillance operations will increasingly incorporate Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV)s due to their cost-effectiveness and maneuverability. This trend has driven the research on small-sized quadcopters for varying indoor applications. Small-sized quadcopters' payload and computational capacity limit the usage of complex vision-based collision avoidance algorithms that are employed by...
Nurseries are an important part of the agriculture industry of the United States. The nursery industry provides ornamental, forest, restoration and specialty products to many markets in N. America. The disease sudden oak death, caused by Phytophthora ramorum, has devastating environmental and economic impacts on forested land, the urban-forest interface,...
Tanoak (Lithocarpus densiflorus), along with some other members of Fagaceae, are susceptible to sudden oak death caused by the oomycete Phytophthora ramorum. Symptoms of the disease include dying crowns, bleeding cankers, and eventually death of infected trees. The cause of mortality is not well understood, but recent research indicates that...
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JenniferL. Parke
Tanoak (Lithocarpus densiflorus), along with some other members of