Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Learning General Features From Images And Audio With Stacked Denoising Autoencoders, Nathaniel H. Nifong

Dissertations and Theses

One of the most impressive qualities of the brain is its neuro-plasticity. The neocortex has roughly the same structure throughout its whole surface, yet it is involved in a variety of different tasks from vision to motor control, and regions which once performed one task can learn to perform another. Machine learning algorithms which aim to be plausible models of the neocortex should also display this plasticity. One such candidate is the stacked denoising autoencoder (SDA). SDA's have shown promising results in the field of machine perception where they have been used to learn abstract features from unlabeled data. In …

Fish Species Introductions Provide Novel Insights Into The Patterns And Drivers Of Phylogenetic Structure In Freshwaters, Angela L. Strecker, Julian D. Olden

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Despite long-standing interest of terrestrial ecologists, freshwater ecosystems are a fertile, yet unappreciated, testing ground for applying community phylogenetics to uncover mechanisms of species assembly. We quantify phylogenetic clustering and overdispersion of native and non-native fishes of a large river basin in the American Southwest to test for the mechanisms (environmental filtering versus competitive exclusion) and spatial scales influencing community structure. Contrary to expectations, non-native species were phylogenetically clustered and related to natural environmental conditions, whereas native species were not phylogenetically structured, likely reflecting human-related changes to the basin. The species that are most invasive (in terms of ecological impacts) …

Revisiting Volcanology And Composition Of Rhyolites And Associated Ree Rich Mafic Clasts Of The Three Fingers Caldera, Se Oregon, Phillip Ira Marcy

Dissertations and Theses

Two adjacent caldera systems, the Mahogany Mountain and the Three Fingers caldera constitute voluminous rhyolitic volcanic deposits on the eastern margin of the Oregon-Idaho graben during the middle-Miocene. Both calderas are part of the Lake Owyhee volcanic field that in turn is part of widespread rhyolite deposits associated with the Columbia River Basalt province. We focus on establishing relationships between intracaldera units of Three Fingers caldera and caldera-forming tuff of Spring Creek and surveying the distribution of entrained mafic clasts which often display anomalous concentrations of rare earth elements.

Previous mapping identified two intra-caldera facies and one outflow facies of …

Managing For Resistance And Resilience Of Northern Great Lakes Forests To The Effects Of Climate Change, Matthew Joshua Duveneck

Dissertations and Theses

Climate change is expected to drastically change the environmental conditions which forests depend. Lags in tree species movements will likely be outpaced by a more rapidly changing climate. This may result in species extirpation, a change in forest structure, and a decline in resistance and resilience (i.e., the ability to persist and recover from external perturbations, respectively). In the northern Great Lakes region of North America, an ecotone exists along the boreal-temperate transition zone where large changes in species composition exist across a climate gradient. Increasing temperatures are observed in the more southern landscapes. As climate change is expected to …

Redefining Quality In Developing World Education, Kristi Jane Yuthas, Marc J. Epstein

Business Faculty Publications and Presentations

In the outskirts of Medellin, Colombia, impoverished rural schoolchildren have cause for hope. The Colombian Coffee Growers’ Association wants to hire them. Why? Because these children have developed the independent thinking, communication, and work skills that will make them an asset to the industry. They developed these skills in their multigrade primary schools, where children do most of their learning in competence-based groups, while the teacher functions as guide and coach.

In Kenya, a teenage boy is also celebrating. A primary school dropout who once survived outside the law, he now runs his own small business, lives on his own, …

Towards Improving Drought Forecasts Across Different Spatial And Temporal Scales, Shahrbanou Madadgar

Dissertations and Theses

Recent water scarcities across the southwestern U.S. with severe effects on the living environment inspire the development of new methodologies to achieve reliable drought forecasting in seasonal scale. Reliable forecast of hydrologic variables, in general, is a preliminary requirement for appropriate planning of water resources and developing effective allocation policies. This study aims at developing new techniques with specific probabilistic features to improve the reliability of hydrologic forecasts, particularly the drought forecasts. The drought status in the future is determined by certain hydrologic variables that are basically estimated by the hydrologic models with rather simple to complex structures. Since the …

Osmb Final Report: Task 3. Containment Strategies For Eurasian Watermilfoil Infested Central Or Lakes, Vanessa Morgan, Mark Sytsma

Center for Lakes and Reservoirs Publications and Presentations

In recent years, public awareness of aquatic invasive species (AIS) has increased considerably in Oregon and elsewhere in the western U.S.. News articles, boat inspection stations and AIS permit programs have drawn attention to the threat of aquatic invasive species, especially animals like zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha), quagga mussels (Dreissena bugensis), and New Zealand mudsnails (Potamopyrgus antipodarum). However, invasive aquatic plants are also capable of causing severe impacts and may similarly be transferred between waterbodies on boats, trailers or other equipment. Heavy infestations can hinder recreational use by motorized and non-motorized boats, snag fishing lines, threaten the safety of swimmers …

Osmb Final Report: Task 6. Tenmile Lake Boat Wash Effectiveness Monitoring, Samuel Cimino, Angela L. Strecker

Center for Lakes and Reservoirs Publications and Presentations

Public awareness of aquatic invasive species and proper boat cleaning procedures may prove to be beneficial in reducing the transport and establishment of aquatic invasive species like New Zealand mud snails and zebra and quagga mussels as well as hydrilla and Eurasian watermilfoil. The primary objectives of this research project were to observe the use and determine the efficacy of a public boat wash station as well as increase the public’s awareness of proper boat cleaning procedures and aquatic invasive species. The Tenmile Lakes Basin Partnership, Oregon State Marine Board, and the United States Forest Service (USFS) have undertaken an …

Values Mapping With Latino Forest Users: Contributing To The Dialogue On Multiple Land Use Conflict Management, Kelly Biedenweg, Lee Cerveny, Rebecca J. Mclain

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

Values mapping that represents how humans associate with natural environments is useful for several purposes, including recognizing and addressing different perceptions of natural resource ownership and management priorities, documenting traditional ecological knowledge, and spatially identifying the public's perception of economic and non-economic services provided by natural resources (McLain et al. 2013). The majority of this work has been conducted in developing countries and with disenfranchised communities, where participatory mapping associated with natural resource management is more widely practiced. As access to GIS technology has expanded, however, several projects have tested the benefits of values mapping for natural resource management decisions …

Occurrence Of Synthetic Amino-Polycarboxylate Chelating Compounds In Oregon Surface Waters, Nathan A. Hersey

Civil and Environmental Engineering Master's Project Reports

Cation sequestering compounds are contained in many industrial, commercial and personal care products. The most widely used chelating agents, EDTA and DTPA, are commonly found in natural and industrial settings. When chelating compounds are present, the activity and transport of metal cations in the environment and the uptake of metals in natural systems can be affected. Surface water samples from across the United States were analyzed, as well as local collection and analysis of surface waters and wastewater treatment plant effluent from around Northwest Oregon. Results indicate presence of synthetic chelating compounds in areas with human activity, and absence in …

Application Of Ce-Qual-W2 On Tigris River In Iraq, Muhanned Al-Murib

Civil and Environmental Engineering Master's Project Reports

The Tigris River is the eastern member of the two great rivers in Iraq. Two big rivers pass through Iraq, Mesopotamia. Tigris and Euphrates Rivers with their tributaries form a major river system in the Middle East. Four riparian countries, Turkey, Syria, Iran, and Iraq, share the Tigris River basin area and Iraq has the majority of this basin area. The total length of the Tigris is 1850 km from which 1418 km is within Iraq. A study area of 880 km from Mosul dam to Kut barrage is modeled using a water quality CE-QUAL-W2 model. CE-QUAL-W2 is a two-dimensional …

Using Acl2 To Verify Loop Pipelining In Behavioral Synthesis, Disha Puri, Sandip Ray, Kecheng Hao, Fei Xie

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Behavioral synthesis involves compiling an Electronic System-Level (ESL) design into its RegisterTransfer Level (RTL) implementation. Loop pipelining is one of the most critical and complex transformations employed in behavioral synthesis. Certifying the loop pipelining algorithm is challenging because there is a huge semantic gap between the input sequential design and the output pipelined implementation making it infeasible to verify their equivalence with automated sequential equivalence checking techniques. We discuss our ongoing effort using ACL2 to certify loop pipelining transformation. The completion of the proof is work in progress. However, some of the insights developed so far may already be of …

Plant Response To 14 Engineered Log Jams On The North Fork Toutle River, Wa Sediment Plain, Todd Ashley

Environmental Science and Management Professional Master's Project Reports

I sought to evaluate the vegetative response to the installation of the 14 engineered log jams (ELJs) on the North Fork Toutle River (NFTR) Sediment Plain. The NFTR sediment plain is constantly being reworked due to channel bank erosion caused by a combination of processes including flow erosion and gravitational mass failure. Vegetation has the ability to protect the bank from erosion as well as providing other stabilizing effects. The ELJ structures were designed in part to protect localized areas of the sediment plain and allow vegetated islands to develop. The purpose of these vegetated islands is to trap sand …

The Spread Of Exotic Plant Species At Mount St. Helens: The Roles Of A Road, Disturbance Type And Post-Disturbance Management, Lindsey Karr

Environmental Science and Management Professional Master's Project Reports

The landscape of Mount St Helens was dramatically transformed when it erupted on May 18, 1980, creating an outstanding opportunity for ecologists to study succession following a large, intense, natural disturbance. Within the expansive (600 km²) blast area there is varied ownership and a mix of management objectives for the post-eruption landscape. On lands administered by the U.S. Forest Service, there are portions of the blast area that have been designated as a National Volcanic Monument, where the primary management objective is to allow for natural succession to proceed substantially unimpeded. In other areas outside the Monument, salvage …

Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production From A Noble Metal Free System Based On A Water Soluble Porphyrin Derivative And A Cobaloxime Catalyst, Theodore Lazarides, Milan Delor, Igor V. Sazanovich, Theresa M. Mccormick, Irene Georgakaki, Georgios Charalambidis, Julia A. Weinstein, Athanassios G. Coutsolelos

Chemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

A combination of noble-metal free components, a water soluble porphyrin photosensitizer zincmeso-tetrakis(1-methylpyridinium-4-yl)porphyrin chloride [ZnTMPyP⁴⁺]Cl₄ (1) with cobaloxime complex [Co^III(dmgH)₂(py)Cl] (2) as a catalyst, creates an efficient system for photochemical hydrogen production acting under visible light with 280 TONs. This is the first example of a water soluble porphyrin acting as a photosensitizer for cobaloxime catalysed H₂ production.

3d Printing Of Crystallographic Models And Open Access Databases, Werner Kaminsky, Trevor J. Snyder, Peter Moeck

Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Provides a brief overview of opportunities for crystallography allowed by the recent developments in 3D printing technology. in combination with open access databases.

3d Printing Of Crystallographic Models For Interdisciplinary College Education, Peter Moeck, Werner Kaminsky, Trevor J. Snyder

Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Provides a brief overview of the Crystallography Open Database, and how advances in 3D printing have created opportunities in teaching of college level crystallography courses.

3d Printing & Open Access Databases For Crystallographic College Education, Peter Moeck, Jennifer Stone-Sundberg, Trevor J. Snyder, Werner Kaminsky, Saulius Grazulis, International Advisory Board Of The Crystallography Open Database

Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Presentation gives an overview of available open access databases of crystals and crystal structures, as well as discussions of how newly developed 3D printing technologies can be used to teach crystallography at the college level. Offers advice regarding conversion of crystallographic information files to 3D printing files, and shares news from the 3D printing of crystallographic models community.

On The Production Of The Positive Antihydrogen Ion H̄+ Via Radiative Attachment, Chris M. Keating, M. Charlton, Jack C. Straton

Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations

We provide an estimate of the cross section for the radiative attachment of a second positron into the state of the ion using Ohmura and Ohmura's (1960 Phys. Rev. 118 154) effective range theory and the principle of detailed balance. The ion can potentially be created using interactions of positrons with trapped antihydrogen, and our analysis includes a discussion in which estimates of production rates are given. Motivations to produce include its potential use as an intermediary to cool antihydrogen to ultra-cold (sub-mK) temperatures for a variety of studies, including spectroscopy and probing the gravitational interaction of the anti-atom.

Kinesthetic Activities For The Classroom, Elliot E. Mylott, Justin C. Dunlap, Lester Lampert, Ralf Widenhorn

Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Educators have found that kinesthetic involvement in an experiment or demonstration can engage students in a powerful way. With that as our goal, we developed three activities that allow students to connect with and quantitatively explore key physics principles from mechanics with three fun physical challenges. By presenting these activities as competitions, we can challenge students to use what they know about the relevant physics to improve their performance and beat their own score or those of other students. Each activity uses an original, real-time data collecting program that offers students and educators a simple, clear method to demonstrate various …

Convergence Rates Of The Dpg Method With Reduced Test Space Degree, Timaeus Bouma, Jay Gopalakrishnan, Ammar Harb

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper presents a duality theorem of the Aubin-Nitsche type for discontinuous Petrov Galerkin (DPG) methods. This explains the numerically observed higher convergence rates in weaker norms. Considering the specific example of the mild-weak (or primal) DPG method for the Laplace equation, two further results are obtained. First, the DPG method continues to be solvable even when the test space degree is reduced, provided it is odd. Second, a non-conforming method of analysis is developed to explain the numerically observed convergence rates for a test space of reduced degree

The Confluence Of Structure And Dynamics In Lanthanide(Iii) Chelates: How Dynamics Help Define Structure In Solution, Benjamin Charles Webber, Mark Woods

Chemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

Coordination exchange processes tend to dominate the solution state behaviour of lanthanide chelates and generally prohibit the study of small conformational changes. In this article we take advantage of coordinatively rigid Eu³⁺ chelates to examine the small conformational changes that occur in these chelates as water dissociatively exchanges in and out of the inner coordination sphere. The results show that the time-averaged conformation of the chelate alters as the water exchange rate increases. This conformational change reflects a change in the hydration state (q/r_LnH⁶) of the chelate. The hydration state has recently come …

Multimodel Simulations Of Forest Harvesting Effects On Long-Term Productivity And Cn Cycling In Aspen Forests, Fugui Wang, David J. Mladenoff, Jodi A. Forrester, Juan A. Blanco, Robert M. Scheller, Scott D. Peckham, Cindy Keough, Melissa S. Lucash

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

The effects of forest management on soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) dynamics vary by harvest type and species. We simulated long-term effects of bole-only harvesting of aspen (Populus tremuloides) on stand productivity and interaction of CN cycles with a multiple model approach. Five models, Biome-BGC, CENTURY, FORECAST, LANDIS-II with Century-based soil dynamics, and PnET-CN, were run for 350 years with seven harvesting events on nutrient-poor, sandy soils representing northwestern Wisconsin, USA. Twenty CN state and flux variables were summarized from the models' outputs, and statistically analyzed using ordination and variance analysis methods. The multiple models' averages suggest that bole-only …

Getting Plant Conservation Right (Or Not): The Case Of The United States, Kayri Havens, Andrea T. Kramer, Edward O. Guerrant Jr.

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Effective plant conservation includes addressing basic needs such as information about species distribution and rarity; research, management, education, and training capacity to mitigate threats facing threatened species; policy and funding to support continued capacity and conservation; and, ultimately, a public that understands and supports the importance of plants and the need for their conservation. Coordination of plant conservation efforts is also needed to ensure that resources and expertise are used in a strategic, efficient, and effective manner.We argue that no country is currently getting plant conservation right; plants are becoming increasingly rare around the world. Plants are often not fully …

Impacts Of Fire And Climate Change On Long-Term Nitrogen Availability And Forest Productivity In The New Jersey Pine Barrens, Melissa S. Lucash, Robert M. Scheller, Alec M. Kretchun, Kenneth L. Clark, John Hom

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Increased wildfires and temperatures due to climate change are expected to have profound effects on forest productivity and nitrogen (N) cycling. Forecasts about how wildfire and climate change will affect forests seldom consider N availability, which may limit forest response to climate change, particularly in fire-prone landscapes. The overall objective of this study was to examine how wildfire and climate change affect long-term mineral N availability in a fire-prone landscape. We employed a commonly used landscape simulation model (LANDIS-II) in the New Jersey Pine Barrens, a landscape characterized by frequent small fires and fire-resilient vegetation. We found that fire had …

Small Tidal Channels Improve Foraging Opportunities For Calidris Shorebirds, Aileen K. Miller, Catherine E. De Rivera

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Estuarine intertidal habitats are heterogeneous, therefore migratory shorebirds are expected to forage in microhabitats where they can maximize their energy intake. Identifying proximate factors that migratory shorebirds use to accept or reject a particular habitat patch will help land managers make conservation and restoration decisions that provide the greatest benefits to shorebird populations during migration, a period of intense energy usage. We examined whether small semipermanent tidal channels were preferentially used by foraging Western Sandpipers (Calidris mauri) and Dunlins (C. alpina) during a spring migratory stopover in Bandon Marsh, an Oregon, USA, estuary. Further, we tested …

Winter Climate Change Affects Growing-Season Soil Microbial Biomass And Activity In Northern Hardwood Forests, Jorge Durán, Jennifer L. Morse, Peter M. Groffman, John L. Campbell, Lynn M. Christenson, Charles T. Driscoll, Timothy J. Fahey, Melany C. Fisk, Mryon J. Mitchell, Pamela H. Templer

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Understanding the responses of terrestrial ecosystems to global change remains a major challenge of ecological research. We exploited a natural elevation gradient in a northern hardwood forest to determine how reductions in snow accumulation, expected with climate change, directly affect dynamics of soil winter frost, and indirectly soil microbial biomass and activity during the growing season. Soils from lower elevation plots, which accumulated less snow and experienced more soil temperature variability during the winter (and likely more freeze/thaw events), had less extractable inorganic nitrogen (N), lower rates of microbial N production via potential net N mineralization and nitrification, and higher …

Improving The Representation Of Roots In Terrestrial Models, Erica A.H. Smithwick, Melissa S. Lucash, M. Luke Mccormack, Gajan Sivandran

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Root biomass, root production and lifespan, and root-mycorrhizal interactions govern soil carbon fluxes and resource uptake and are critical components of terrestrial models. However, limitations in data and confusions over terminology, together with a strong dependence on a small set of conceptual frameworks, have limited the exploration of root function in terrestrial models. We review the key root processes of interest to both field ecologists and modelers including root classification, production, turnover, biomass, resource uptake, and depth distribution to ask (1) what are contemporary approaches for modeling roots in terrestrial models? and (2) can these approaches be improved via recent …

Effect Of Reducing Maximum Cycle Length On Roadside Air Quality And Travel Times On A Corridor In Portland, Or, Christine M. Kendrick, David Urowsky, Willie Rotich, Peter Koonce, Linda Acha George

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Sydney Coordinated Adaptive Traffic System (SCATS), an adaptive signal system designed to reduce congestion, has been installed on a heavily trafficked roadway in Portland, OR. In addition to traffic performance metrics, we are investigating how this system affects roadway emissions of air pollutants. A twenty-second reduction to maximum cycle length was proposed for the SCATS system to address pedestrian delay concerns. A two-week trial period with this reduced cycle length was implemented. Travel times and roadside air pollution concentrations were monitored throughout this study period and compared to before and after periods with the current maximum cycle length. Average …

Predator Exclosures, Predator Removal, And Habitat Improvement Increase Nest Success Of Snowy Plovers In Oregon, Usa, Stephen J. Dinsmore, David J. Lauten, Kathleen J. Castelein, Eleanor P. Gaines, Mark A. Stern

Institute for Natural Resources Publications

Management to increase reproductive success is commonly used to aid recovery of threatened and endangered species. The Western Snowy Plover (Charadrius nivosus nivosus) breeds from coastal Washington, USA, to Baja California, Mexico, and in disjunct interior sites. The Pacific coast population is federally listed as Threatened; habitat loss and nest loss to a suite of terrestrial and avian predators are thought to be primary factors limiting population growth in this species. In coastal Oregon, USA, a consortium of state and federal management agencies deployed nest exclosures on active Snowy Plover nests, initiated a lethal predator management program, and …