Digital Commons Network^™

Fixed Bottom Wind Turbine Wave-Wake Interaction, Ondrej Fercak

Dissertations and Theses

The interest and benefits of offshore wind energy has also brought along legitimate design challenges for engineers. Most notably, the complex interaction between wind and turbine is further complicated by the addition of dynamic ocean waves. This dynamic coupling between wind, wave, and turbine is not fully understood. Even small improvements in wind turbine performance are welcome, so characterizing a fundamental dynamic in offshore energy is necessary to optimize design. Experimentation and simulation have been used to characterize inflow and turbine wakes and separately, wind-wave interactions. But only simulations have just begun to look at the wind, wave, and turbine …

Temperature-Induced Activation Of The Reproductive Axis Through Melatonin-Mediated Changes In Thyrotropin, Treven J. Winters

Dissertations and Theses

An animal's ability to synchronize life-history events or stages with optimal environmental conditions is paramount to successfully reproducing and maximizing fitness. Additional events including migration, foraging, rearing of young, and emergence from hibernation are all examples of processes under environmental control in one species or another. An exciting new mechanism involving neural thyroid hormone metabolism has been elucidated that links environmental control to the neuroendocrine reproductive axis. In birds and mammals with seasonal breeding cycles, this neuroendocrine pathway is activated by photoperiod-induced changes in thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH, also known as thyrotropin) production within the pars tuberalis region of the …

Simulation Of Light Propagation Captured By Photoemission Electron Microscopy (Peem), Nabila Islam

Dissertations and Theses

The Photoemission electron microscopes (PEEM) is a powerful tool capable of synchronously imaging wave nature of light manifested by interference patterns as well as its particle nature through the energy exchange between the incident photons and the photoemitted imaging electrons. PEEM offers a non-invasive high-resolution approach for studying light propagation and interaction phenomena within a nanophotonic waveguide [7,8]. The electric field intensity variation of the interference pattern yielded by the interaction between the incident light and the guided mode coupled into the waveguide produces varying photoemission yields creating contrast in PEEM image. The guided modes cannot be excited simply by …

Ancillary Data For Refining Computer Adaptive Algorithms For The Assessment Of Anomia, Emily Kathryn Tudorache

Dissertations and Theses

Computer adaptive testing formats, based in item response theory (IRT), are becoming an increasingly popular approach to testing in healthcare because they offer numerous psychometric and practical advantages to assessment when compared to static tests that rely on classical test theory. Fergadiotis and colleagues (2015) have developed computer adaptive versions of the Philadelphia Naming Test (PNT) short-forms, which have demonstrated acceptable precision and standard error of measurement when compared to the static short-forms and original full-length assessment. This study sought to use synthetic data simulations using the catIrt R package (Nydik, 2014) to investigate possible advantages of the use of …

Women's Work: A Feminist Standpoint Theory Study Of Scholarship, Voice, And Resistance In The Academic Generation Of Knowledge, Linnea Angelica Spitzer

Dissertations and Theses

More women than ever are earning doctoral degrees and are taking research or teaching positions at universities. However, the number of tenured women in full professorships have not yet achieved parity with the number of men in similar positions. Of the many reasons proposed for the disproportionate representation of women in the higher ranks of academia, one of the most commonly cited is the lower rates of publication by women in scholarly journals, an important criterion for promotion and tenure. However, women faculty are not unproductive. As scholars, they produce research and publish their findings in mainstream academic journals. In …

Incarceration And Suicide: Do The Risk Factors Differ For Civilians And Veterans?, Rheannon Gail Ramsey

Dissertations and Theses

Suicide is one of the leading causes of death in United States jails and prisons. Many researchers have looked at suicides in prisons and what can potentially cause suicidal ideation but there are conflicting findings among civilian incarcerated populations and United States military veteran incarcerated populations.

The intent of this study is to examine which risk factors are most prevalent among adults in custody, with a focus on mental health and substance use or abuse and how these risk factors differ between incarcerated civilians and incarcerated veterans. Using survey data from the 2002 Survey of Inmates in Local Jails conducted …

Transformative Health Care: Integrating The Perspectives And Lived Experiences Of Transgender And Gender Diverse Patients Into Health Care Education And Delivery, Shammarie Raquel Mathis

Dissertations and Theses

Prior research studies have found transgender and gender non-conforming (TGNC) patients at increased risk for poor physical and mental health as a result of disparities in health care access and treatment. Research has shown that perioperative patient education can improve patient outcomes, as well as promote increased knowledge, preparedness, and recovery post-surgery. For TGNC patients, gender affirming perioperative education classes are especially important for prospective patients as they not only provide comprehensive information about perioperative topics but also serve as a mechanism to promote personal empowerment through knowledge acquisition. The Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) Transgender Health Program (THP) …

Spread Like Wildfire: Assessing The Utility Of Local Facebook Groups To Inspire Citizen Communication During A Disaster, Colby Riehl

Dissertations and Theses

As traditional sources of local news and information decline, community-oriented social media services (e.g. Nextdoor, Facebook groups) are expanding (Masden, Grevet, Grinter, Gilbert, and Edwards, 2014). Thus far, community-oriented social media use remains relatively understudied. Not only do we not understand how citizens utilize these resources, we are also generally unaware of the content that they create and access using them. A survey of residents of Oregon City, OR and its environs, which were impacted by the Oregon wildfires of 2020, was conducted to assess the differences among citizens who use a local Facebook group & those who do not. …

Testing Functional Variation In Thermal Properties For Antarctic Mosses, Andrew Forrest Clements

Dissertations and Theses

As the maritime Antarctic ecosystem continues to warm, glacial retreat will further expose subterranean permafrost to warmer conditions. One of the most visible changes in the ecosystem is the colonization of the new ice-free areas by bryophytes, particularly mosses. These bryophytes are having important effects on terrestrial thermal properties, but little is known about differences among Antarctic moss species in their thermal properties. Here, I measured the thermal conductivity, specific heat capacity, and the water content of moss species on King George Island to understand the insulation ability of Antarctic mosses, Polytrichastrum alpinum, Sanionia georgicouncinata, Chorisodontium aciphyllum, …

Politeness Strategies Used In Invitations In Japanese, Natsuko Llewellyn

Dissertations and Theses

This study explored how Japanese as Foreign Language (JFL) utilize politeness strategies compared to native speakers of Japanese (J1) in invitation discourses within the framework of Interlanguage Pragmatics (ILP). Invitation is one of the speech acts that requires careful consideration when conveying speakers' intentions through speech. It is assumed that JFL will struggle with appropriately inviting friends in different cultures while utilizing the politeness strategies in their invitation discourse in Japanese. Szatrowski (1993) revealed that there are thoughtful utterances to each other, the discernment utterance by the inviter and considerate utterance by the invitee, in the Japanese invitation discourse. Native …

Rowing Concerns: Collaborative Governance And Stakeholder Determination In The Central Oregon's Deschutes Basin, Noel Vineyard

Dissertations and Theses

In 2019, a coalition of irrigation districts in central Oregon's Deschutes Basin submitted the Deschutes Basin Habitat Conservation Plan to the US Department of Fish and Wildlife. This Habitat Conservation Plan purported to have been constructed through a collaborative governance structure between the irrigation districts and various community stakeholders who all had interests in basin management, however segments of the Basin's river recreation community began to raise concerns that their voices were not included. The purpose of this research was to investigate how stakeholder status in the Deschutes Basin is created through collaborative water governance processes like development of the …

Judicial Review As An Instrument Of Natural Rights Theory: An Intellectual History, James M. Masnov

Dissertations and Theses

The unique and antidemocratic power of judicial review by the United States Supreme Court is not a bug, but a feature. Its role was critical in establishing and affirming a separation of powers horizontally among the federal branches as well as vertically between the federal government and the individual states. More than this, the Court's power of judicial review acts as an instrument of rights theory and is informed by a rich and rarely-discussed intellectual history. Though judicial review as a mode of constitutional law and the legal history surrounding it has been discussed by various legal scholars, political scientists, …

Elucidating The Evolution And Function Of Srnas That Facilitate Bacterial Stress Tolerance, Madeline Claire Krieger

Dissertations and Theses

Non-coding small RNAs (sRNAs) are ubiquitous post-transcriptional regulators found in both gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria. Despite their integral role in many regulatory pathways, including those that facilitate stress-tolerance, little is known about the evolutionary forces that drive the emergence of novel sRNAs, how prevalent sRNAs are within bacterial species, or the functions of a majority of these transcripts. In this work, I first describe the evolution of OxyS, a well-characterized sRNA in gram-negative Enterobacteriaceae that is involved in coordinating the bacterial response to oxidative stress. Next, I identify novel sRNAs differentially produced by the gram-positive oral pathogen Streptococcus mutans in …

Racializing Discourses: An Exploration Of Moreno Subject Formation In Oaxaca, Mexico, Juan Salvador Sepulveda-Figuereo

Dissertations and Theses

Processes of Black racialization in Mestizo Latin America open a space to expose how subjectivities emerge and change while in tension with broader national ideas and transnational discourses. Morenos, typically dark skin individuals of African descent, inhabit the boundaries of mestizaje, Mexico's national racial ideology which emphasizes indigenous and Spanish ancestry. As a result, regional narratives subject morenos to racialization processes that align with the historical erasure of people of African descent, effectively excluding morenos from the nation. Nevertheless, morenos incorporate themselves into the regional and national narratives through various mechanisms and (re)formulations of established discourses.

I propose a …

E(Raced): Race And Use Of Self Amongst Bipoc Social Workers, Anita Reinette Gooding

Dissertations and Theses

Use of self is defined as the social worker's instrument, and involves an intentional engagement of one's personhood in ways that facilitate client change (Heyt & Sherman, 2005). This dissertation argues that race is one component of the social worker's self that is visible, and that can affect how Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) social workers use self in their practice. Using Critical Race Theory, Social Identity Theory and an Interpretive Description methodology, this dissertation engages 27 BIPOC field instructors in semi-structured interviews in order to answer the following research questions: a) What are the components of use …

Diffusion Of Innovation: Investigations Of Technology Advances On A University Campus, Melissa Shaquid Pirie

Dissertations and Theses

This multi paper format dissertation contains three separate but related papers. The three papers focus on the Diffusion of Innovation (Moore, 2014) through investigations of technological advances on a university campus. Each of the three papers highlights the work of faculty and staff who received internal university grant funding aimed at increasing innovation in technology use. The first paper covers a program built to address academic integrity issues through the regular and highly structured use of small group video conferencing as a requirement for all courses. The second paper recounts the process of creating an ePortfolio culture on campus through …

Numerical Techniques And Simulations For Studying Various High Power Optical Fiber Amplifiers, Particularly For Ytterbium (Yb+3), And Thulium (Tm+3) Doped Fibers, Tathagata Goswami

Dissertations and Theses

In this dissertation we present a simplified scalar numerical model, derived from Maxwell's field equations, for the fiber laser amplifier simulations. Maxwell's equations are reduced using a technique called Coupled Mode Theory (CMT).

The reduced model is made more efficient through a new scale model, referred to as an equivalent short fiber, which captures some of the essential characteristics of a longer fiber. The equivalent short fiber can be viewed as a fiber made using artificial (nonphysical) material properties that in some sense compensates for its reduced length. The computations can be accelerated by a factor approximately equal to the …

A Method For Comparative Analysis Of Trusted Execution Environments, Stephano Cetola

Dissertations and Theses

The problem of secure remote computation has become a serious concern of hardware manufacturers and software developers alike. Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) are a solution to the problem of secure remote computation in applications ranging from "chip and pin" financial transactions to intellectual property protection in modern gaming systems. While extensive literature has been published about many of these technologies, there exists no current model for comparing TEEs. This thesis provides hardware architects and designers with a set of tools for comparing TEEs. I do so by examining several properties of a TEE and comparing their implementations in several technologies. …

Next Generation Sequencing Identifies Population Structure And Signatures Of Local Adaptation In Red Alder (Alnus Rubra Bong.), Jacob Brent Loveless

Dissertations and Theses

Red alder (Alnus rubra Bong.) is the dominant hardwood tree species in the Pacific Northwest. Red alders are only found in western North America, generally within 200 km of the coast and below 1000 m in elevation--although there are several disjunct populations in the northern Rocky Mountains in Idaho. Commonly a riparian species, the shade intolerant red alder generates most of the leaf litter in the streams and rivers it occupies which has been shown to greatly influence the decomposer communities. This, in turn, has a cascading effect throughout the entire riparian ecosystem greatly influencing multiple levels of the …

Open Crime Maps: How Are Police Departments Doing So Far?, Khaing Sandee Lynn

Dissertations and Theses

In recent years, some police departments have started providing open crime maps depicting select crime-related data. However, there has been no studies so far evaluating map delivery sources, the type of maps delivered, and why agencies might be doing so. Using a random, stratified sample of 1,677 police departments from the 2013 Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) survey, the current study examines how many police departments provide access to online crime maps as well as how they are delivered (externally or internally) and prevalent map types (dot, density, choropleth, etc.). Furthermore, whether or not agencies provided a justification(s) …

Tellurorhodamine Photocatalysts In Aerobic Oxidation Reactions: Development Of Synthetic Methods And Reaction Mechanisms, Irving D. Rettig

Dissertations and Theses

Aerobic oxidation photocatalysis involves the use of oxygen as an oxidant species, coupled to a light driven catalyst to achieve useful chemical transformations. Catalytic aerobic oxidation reactions can be defined as either oxidase-like, in which O₂ acts as an electron donor/acceptor but is not incorporated into the reaction products, or oxygenase-like where O₂ acts as an electron donor/acceptor and is incorporated into the reaction products. A multitude of inorganic catalysts have been developed that can achieve a wide scope of oxidase-like or oxygenase-like reactivity, however, it is rare for a catalyst to be capable of both. We report …

The Intersection Of Industry, Occupation, And Job Tasks With Hotel Room Cleaner Musculoskeletal Disorder Injuries: A Methods Approach To The Analysis Of California Workers’ Compensation Data, Pamela Vossenas

Dissertations and Theses

Abstract

Background

Hotel room cleaners are a high-risk occupation for musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) injuries among U.S. hotel workers. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) publishes occupational injury rate data for Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners, the Standard Occupation Classification closest to the job of a hotel room cleaner, and for the hotel industry, yet the BLS does not cross reference injury rate data by occupation and industry. This lack of occupational injury surveillance data limits MSD injury prevention and intervention efforts targeting this high-risk occupation in the hotel industry. Workers’ compensation (WC) data is another source of administrative data with potential …

Can Racial Disparities In Poor Birth Outcomes Be Partially Attributed To Stress: A Mendellian Randomization Study, Madeline Travers

Dissertations and Theses

In the United States, low birth weight (LBW) is a leading cause of infant death overall, and the leading cause of death for Black infants. Understanding and preventing adverse birth outcomes is a major public health priority. Observationally, there is some evidence to support the hypothesis that maternal stress may be associated with LBW. To clarify the effect of maternal stress exposure on LBW, I conducted three separate-sample instrumental variable analyses with genetic instruments (Mendelian randomization) based on single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP), from genome wide association studies, strongly (p-value < 5 × 10⁻⁶) and independently associated with neuroendocrine, vascular, and immune measures …

National Health Insurance Program In Nepal: Early Experiences And Its Effect On Health Service Utilization, Rajani Bharati

Dissertations and Theses

Introduction: Nepal initiated the Health Insurance program in 2016 to achieve Universal Health Coverage by 2030. However, the enrollment rate is low, and people are already starting to drop out. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the demand and supply side (service providers) experiences with Nepal's National Health Insurance Program and its effect on insurance enrollment and health service utilization.

Methods: We employed a mixed-method design. Ethnographic methods were used to explore the rich holistic insights into people's views and actions. We conducted 14 focus group discussions and 20 key informant interviews, mainly in Kailali and Baglung districts. …

The Association Of Psychosocial Stressors With Childhood Asthma: A Cross-Sectional Study Using The National Survey Of Children's Health 2018, Sharon Joseph

Dissertations and Theses

ABSTRACT

Background: Asthma is recognized as a major public health issue for US children. Evidence suggests that psychosocial stressors experienced by parents and caretakers of children and the children themselves can also be associated with childhood asthma prevalence. Psychosocial stressors such as parents’ perception of neighborhood safety/support, as well as experiencing bullying and/or racial/ethnic discrimination can cause physiologic changes in the body favorable for asthma symptoms. However, there is a paucity of evidence regarding associations of these specific psychosocial stressors with the prevalence of childhood asthma. The goals of this study were to investigate the association between three common psychosocial …

Allergy And Anaphylaxis From The Prehospital Perspective, Anthony E. Conrardy

Dissertations and Theses

Anaphylaxis is considered a severe, potentially fatal, systemic allergic reaction that occurs suddenly after contact with an allergy causing substance. It is estimated that up to 5% of the population has experienced anaphylaxis, with 1% of hospitalizations and 0.1% of emergency department patients having fatal outcomes. We characterized the population of patients encountered by the EMS agency (786 patients) that had a provider impression of “allergic reaction” and then utilized logistic regression models to estimate associations with the administration of epinephrine in the prehospital setting. Additionally, we used incident location data for all patient encounters of the EMS agency …

Perceived Value Of Technology Product Features By Crowdfunding Backers: The Case Of 3d Printing Technology On Kickstarter Platform, Nina Chaichi

Dissertations and Theses

Crowdfunding is an activity that gathers funds by drawing on a relatively small contribution from a relatively large number of individuals using the internet. One of the crowdfunding purposes is to fund entrepreneurial ventures. Modern crowdfunding activities--that utilize the internet--go back to 1997 and gained popularity in the music and video community. However, the most common platforms for entrepreneurial activities, including Kickstarter and IndieGoGo, have been established as recently as 2008. Thus the understanding of crowdfunding's dynamic is in its infancy.

Crowdfunding has been studied from various perspectives, primarily focusing on the factors that increase the platform's participation and determinants …

Neoliberalism, Civic Identity, And Resistance: An Ethnographic Case Study Of A Community Development Organization, Erin Layne Elliott

Dissertations and Theses

Research on the marketization of the nonprofit sector and how it has come to operate in more business-like ways has been well documented in recent years. This research has largely focused on how marketization has pervaded the nonprofit sector, yet little research has been done on how business-like values and modes of acting are manifesting in nonprofits. Even less understood are the impacts marketization may have on foundational civic values in the nonprofit sector. As marketized discourses proliferate, concerns have been raised about threats to nonprofit autonomy and the sector's important civic role. This dissertation aims to fill this gap …

The Digital Divide And Health: Examining Digital Access As A Social Determinant Of Health, Elizabeth Melissa Withers

Dissertations and Theses

This dissertation is comprised of three papers that consider ways in which one's level of digital access may impact self-rated health. Data are from multiple years of three separate nationally representative cross-sectional surveys: National Health Interview Survey, General Social Survey, and Health Information National Trends Survey to address the primary overarching research question: Is there an association between digital access and health? The examination of the relationship between digital access and health is situated within a social determinants of health perspective and draws on van Dijk's (2005) causal and sequential model of digital access. Education, income, race and ethnicity, work …

Investigations Into Size And Surface Control Of Silicon Nanocrystals For Improved Optical Properties, James Donald Barnes

Dissertations and Theses

The discovery of visible photoluminescence (PL) from nanocrystalline porous silicon in 1990 led to extensive research into the mechanisms of the emergent properties, and optimization of these properties, for use in applications. The widespread use of silicon nanoparticles (Si NPs) in commercial applications is currently limited by three main factors: 1) poor radiative recombination efficiency of the interband transition, 2) instability of the interband photoluminescence, and 3) a lack of scalable methods for producing Si NPs that are both highly crystalline and size monodisperse.

To address these limitations, this dissertation correlates changes in the photoluminescence properties of hydrogen passivated silicon …