Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Cownose Ray Movement And Behavior In The Intertidal Zone, Glenna Dyson-Roberts

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Environmental, temporal and life history factors are known to influence and cause variation in cownose ray Rhinoptera bonasus movements, but their use of the intertidal zone has not been fully studied. Cownose rays eat ribbed mussels, an obligate intertidal species; thus their intertidal visitation may be important. We investigated cownose ray movement, from fixed Dual Frequency Identification Sonar (DIDSON) at the Rutgers Cape Shore Laboratory mudflats, relative to water temperature, diel pattern, diurnal conditions, tidal phase, current speed, and heading. Behavioral Observation Research Interactive Software (BORIS) was used to digitally record cownose ray appearance in 170 randomly selected ten-minute sonar …

Evaluation Of A Bayesian Network For Strengthening The Weight Of Evidence To Predict Acute Fish Toxicity From Fish Embryo Toxicity Data, Adam Lillicrap, S. Jannicke Moe, Raoul Wolf, Kristin A. Connors, Jane M. Rawlings, Wayne G. Landis, Anders Madsen, Scott E. Belanger

Institute of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry Publications

The use of fish embryo toxicity (FET) data for hazard assessments of chemicals, in place of acute fish toxicity (AFT) data, has long been the goal for many environmental scientists. The FET test was first proposed as a replacement to the standardized AFT test nearly 15 y ago, but as of now, it has still not been accepted as a standalone replacement by regulatory authorities such as the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA). However, the ECHA has indicated that FET data can be used in a weight of evidence (WoE) approach, if enough information is available to support the conclusions related …

Development Of A Hybrid Bayesian Network Model For Predicting Acute Fish Toxicity Using Multiple Lines Of Evidence, S. Jannicke Moe, Anders L. Madsen, Kristin A. Connors, Jane M. Rawlings, Scott E. Belanger, Wayne G. Landis, Raoul Wolf, Adam D. Lillicrap

IETC Publications

A hybrid Bayesian network (BN) was developed for predicting the acute toxicity of chemicals to fish, using data from fish embryo toxicity (FET) testing in combination with other information. This model can support the use of FET data in a Weight-of-Evidence (WOE) approach for replacing the use of juvenile fish. The BN predicted correct toxicity intervals for 69%–80% of the tested substances. The model was most sensitive to components quantified by toxicity data, and least sensitive to components quantified by expert knowledge. The model is publicly available through a web interface. Further development of this model should include additional lines …

Lake Whatcom Monitoring Project 2018/2019 Report, Robin A. Matthews, Angela Lee Strecker, Michael Hilles, Joan Pickens, Robert J. Mitchell, Geoffrey B. Matthews, Western Washington University

Lake Whatcom Annual Reports

This report describes the results from the 2018/2019 Lake Whatcom monitoring program conducted by the Institute for Watershed Studies at Western Washington University (www.wwu.edu/iws).

The major objectives in 2018/2019 were to continue long-term baseline water quality monitoring in Lake Whatcom and its major tributaries; collect storm runoff water quality data from representative streams in the watershed; and continue collection of hydrologic data from Austin and Smith Creeks.

Knowledge Exchange And Social Capital For Freshwater Ecosystem Assessments, Lauren M. Kuehne, Angela Strecker, Julian Olden

Publications

The 1972 Clean Water Act (CWA) provided crucial environmental protections, spurring research and corresponding development of a network of expertise that represents critical human capital in freshwater conservation. We used social network analysis to evaluate collaboration across organizational types and ecosystem focus by examining connections between authors of freshwater assessments published since the CWA. We found that the freshwater assessment network is highly fragmented, with no trend toward centralization. Persistent cohesion around organizational subgroups and minimal bridging ties suggest the network is better positioned for diversification and innovation than for learning and building a strong history of linked expertise. Despite …

The Effects Of The Wind Farms On The Indigenous Zapotec Community Of The Isthmus Of Tehuantepec, Mexico, Nichole Vargas

Occam's Razor

This qualitative case study examines the effects of private sector-led wind farm development on the Indigenous Zapotec community in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec region of Mexico. As a location with one of the highest wind potentials in the world, the Isthmus has, over the past twenty-five years, increasingly attracted the attention of international companies seeking to build and profit from massive wind farm installations. The Zapotecs of the Isthmus have fought back against this private development, claiming that their way of life, land rights, and sovereignty are threatened by the physical and ecological effects of the wind farms and by …

The Planet, 2020, Winter, Alex Meacham, Huxley College Of The Environment, Western Washington University

The Planet

No abstract provided.

Conformal Geometry Of Polygons, Michael Albert

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Conformal maps are functions from subsets of the complex plane to the complex plane that locally preserve angles. Our goal is to understand conformal maps that pass to and from polygonal domains. In order to do so, we derive some of the basic theory of harmonic functions on simply connected domains. In particular, our goal with the first few sections is to prove the Schwarz Reflection principle. Using this, as well as other tools from complex analysis, we give an in-depth explanation of Tao’s proof of the Schwarz-Christoffel formula. This is a differential equation that allows one to compute a …

Wave Runup And Morphologic Change On A Mixed-Sediment Beach In The Salish Sea, Wa, Avery Maverick

WWU Graduate School Collection

A primary threat to coastal regions is extreme water levels from tides, storm surges, and waves which drive coastal evolution. Predicting wave runup, the vertical extent of wave uprush on a beach above still water level, and the morphologic responses to storms within the Salish Sea is complex because of the high variability of shoreline exposure to waves and wind, morphology, coastal landforms, and tide range across the region. As part of a USGS study, this project was designed to assess how wave energy offshore drives runup, validate existing runup models (van der Meer, 2002; Stockdon et al., 2006; Didier …

An Investigation Into Morocco's Water Crisis, Elliese Wright

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

For my honors senior project, I will attempt to answer the following questions: 1) What are some of the primary causes of water shortages in rural Morocco (primarily focusing on the south eastern area of Morocco). 2)What are the ways governments and NGO’s are trying to fix the problem? 3) How are rural communities affected by water shortages?

To answer this question, I am going to use a combination of field work, such as visiting, observing, and talking to people in the rural villages when possible, contacting people who are currently working on NGO projects or people who have already …

European Green Crab Mitigation In Whatcom County, Patty Barry, Melissa Browning, Alexis Bryson,, Harrison Fuchs, Etilet Maipi

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

This report presents a background on the invasive European green crab ( Carcinus maenas ), describes a variety of techniques to monitor and manage their presence in the region, and puts forth several comprehensive strategies for mitigating a potential invasion of C. maenas in the Salish Sea. C. maenas was likely initially introduced to the Pacific coast of the United States as larvae carried in ballast water, though they are also spread as larval by currents and as hitchhikers in seafood transport. C. maenas tolerates a wide range of salinities, temperatures, and habitats, they prey on virtually any available species, …

The Effectiveness Of Large Woody Debris Placement At Improving Freshwater Rearing Habitat And Enhancing Juvenile Salmon (Oncorhynchus Spp.) Production, Caroline J. Walls

WWU Graduate School Collection

The decline of Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) is well-documented, and freshwater habitat degradation is a primary contributor. Despite decades of river restoration, salmon populations have not significantly recovered. Large woody debris (LWD) placement is one of the most common forms of restoration. To evaluate the effectiveness of this restoration method, I analyzed long-term monitoring data from 16 LWD placement projects throughout Washington State, implemented between 2004 and 2015. Each project followed a multiple Before-After, Control-Impact study design, which monitored physical habitat and fish populations. I used a series of linear mixed models to evaluate both habitat and fish response. …

Allylic Benzoate Reductions: A Study On Stereospecificity, Michael A. Leitch

WWU Graduate School Collection

Herein we report results from experiments aimed at better understanding SmI2(H2O)n reductions of allylic benzoates adjacent to a trisubstituted alkene. When flanked by both a chelating group and stereodirecting group, these reactions can occur with complete regioselectivity and good diastereoselectivity (up to 90:10). Initial experiments suggested that the reaction was stereospecific to alkene geometry. However, further experimentation has revealed that the alkene stereospecificity is substrate dependent. For instance, if the geminal alkene substituents are alkyl, results show the reaction to be stereospecific, but if one of the substituents is a phenyl group the reaction is still stereoselective but not stereospecific. …

Auto-Stratigraphic Evolution Of Experimental Crater-Fill Basins: Implications For Interpreting Mars Sequence Stratigraphy And Paleoclimate, Lexie Stodden

WWU Graduate School Collection

Preserved fluvial and deltaic sedimentary deposits found within martian crater-fill basins are important evidence documenting past warmer, wetter climatic periods on Mars. The morphologic and stratigraphic patterns of these sedimentary deposits are commonly interpreted to record variably complex transgression and regression histories of crater-lake levels, driven by fluctuations in the prevailing hydroclimatic conditions. Yet this tendency for direct inversion of sedimentary characteristics to formative boundary conditions largely neglects large-scale autogenic processes operating in crater-fill basins. The goal of this research is to illustrate an idiosyncratic feature of these basin types, wherein attributes of the sediment source play an outsized role …

Using Multispectral Imagery To Interrogate Deposition, Alteration, And Weathering Across Curiosity Rover’S Traverse In Gale Crater, Mars, Christina Seeger

WWU Graduate School Collection

Since landing in 2012, the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity rover has explored over 20 kilometers of Gale crater, climbing almost 400 meters in elevation. The fluvio-deltaic, lacustrine, and aeolian sediments in the crater have been well documented by Curiosity’s suite of in situ and remote science instruments. Indeed, they have traced chemical trends that track changes in lithology and diagenesis over the study area—though most instruments only sample individual rock, vein, and soil targets at a very small scale. The Mast Camera (Mastcam) has periodically acquired much larger (meter-scale) multispectral, visible to near-infrared observations of outcrops throughout this stratigraphic …

Lsc Fabrication And Design: Bulk Polymerization And Ultrathin Architectures, Justin T. Doyle

WWU Graduate School Collection

Renewable energy technologies that access underutilized spaces in the built environment will need to be implemented, on a large scale, to curtail trending increases in global temperature. Luminescent Solar Concentrators (LSCs) are one such technology. They employ luminophores doped into polymer sandwiched in between glass plates, that redirect sunlight to the device periphery where photovoltaics are attached, producing power. Current devices do not have high enough efficiencies for commercialization. One of the biggest barriers is fluorophore aggregation which causes waveguide refractive index fluctuations which result in parasitic losses from the waveguide. In this work Copper Indium Disulfide/Zinc Sulfide (CIS/ZnS) quantum …

Organic Molecular Crystal Engineering Via Organic Vapor-Liquid-Solid Deposition, Griffin Reed

WWU Graduate School Collection

Control over the size, shape, topology, orientation, and crystallographic phase of organic molecular materials is critical for a wide array of applications ranging from optoelectronics to pharmaceutical development. Herein, we demonstrate a relatively low-cost approach for fabricating single crystals with controlled sizes, shapes, microscale periodic features, preferred orientations and specific molecular packing modes. These features allow for the fabrication of intricate arrangements of single crystals for incorporation into complex device architectures, and potentially the endowment of tailored optical, electronic, thermal, and mechanical properties onto these materials. Patterning is achieved by utilizing an organic-vapor-liquid-solid (OVLS) deposition scheme paired with traditional photolithography …

Synthetic Studies On Guaipyridine Alkaloids: Rupestines B And C, Evangeline Starchman

WWU Graduate School Collection

The rupestines, a family of guaipyridine alkaloids, are isolated from the plant Artemisia rupestris. Historically, this plant was used intraditional Chinese medicine due to its reported antitumor, antibacterial, and antiviral activities as well as reported protection of the liver. The rupestines can only be isolated from their parent plant in small quantities, making the total synthesis of these guaipyridine alkaloids of particular interest. Cananodine, anotherguaipyridine alkaloid, is a biologically active compound that can be isolated in small quantities from the fruits of Cananga odorata and displays activity against two types of hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines. It is hypothesized that the …

Testing The Potential For Using Structure From Motion Photogrammetry Methods To Estimate Seasonal Mass Balance On Lower Easton Glacier, Mount Baker, Wa, Elizabeth Kimberly

WWU Graduate School Collection

The traditional glaciological method of measuring glacier mass balance is labor-intensive and relies on broad extrapolation of sparse ablation stake data collected in the field to assess mass change across the glacier. In contrast, digital elevation models (DEMs) obtained from unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) imagery and Structure-from-Motion (SfM) photogrammetry resolve a spatially distributed data set of surface elevation change. In this study, I compare seasonal mass balance estimated by field-based glaciological methods and UAV-SfM methods during summer 2018 on the Easton Glacier, Mount Baker, WA. Total snow and ice surface melt was measured at five ablation stakes between May 20th …

Effects Of Anthropogenic Forest Stresses On The Distribution And Abundance Of The Olympic Torrent Salamander (Rhyacotriton Olympicus) In The Olympic National Forest And Olympic National Park, Travis Macneil Kurtz

WWU Graduate School Collection

Salamanders worldwide are faced with habitat loss, and much of the remaining habitat is under the constant pressure of degradation. The forests of the North American Pacific Northwest are no exception. The primary anthropogenic forces impacting the stability of lotic salamander populations on the Olympic peninsula are commercial timber harvest and culverts necessitated by roads crossing streams to facilitate the removal of timber from these forests.

In this study, I conducted stream surveys on 139 headwater stream reaches in 77 streams in mature and recently harvested forests both above and below culverts on forest roads in Washington’s Olympic National Forest …

Spatial And Temporal Trends Of The Annual First Detections Of Paralytic Shellfish Toxin In Puget Sound, Wa, Margaret Taylor

WWU Graduate School Collection

Since the 1950s, the Washington State Department of Health has routinely monitored the suite of toxins in shellfish associated with Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning. These toxins, known collectively as Paralytic Shellfish Toxins, are produced by species of the marine dinoflagellate in the genus Alexandrium. The role of the monitoring program is primarily to protect public health and safety; and therefore, use of these data for long-term statistical analysis has been limited due to opportunistic and irregular sampling of various shellfish species in space and time. However, some studies suggest that initiation of these toxic events have recently shifted to earlier …

Development Of Ti-Dftb: Transition Dipole Moment Calculations In A Time-Independent Density Functional Tight-Binding Framework, Megan Deshaye

WWU Graduate School Collection

Here we discuss the development of a time-independent excited state computational method that consists of three augmentations to the semi-empirical electronic structure package, DFTB+ 19.1. The density functional based tight binding method (DFTB) is an approximation of Kohn-Sham (KS) density functional theory (DFT) wherein the energy functional is expanded to second order with respect to density fluctuations. Application of a delta self-consistent field (delta-SCF) approach within DFTB has allowed for the variationally optimized calculation of spin-purified excited state (ES) properties, and forms the foundation of our time-independent DFTB (TI-DFTB) framework. Selection of KS spin orbitals based on the character of …

Activation Of Nitrite And Carbon Dioxide By Cobalt Centered Redox Active Ligand Featuring A Hemilabile Pendant Amine, Douglas F. Baumgardner

WWU Graduate School Collection

Carbon dioxide (CO₂) and bioavailable nitrogen in the form of nitrates (NO₃^-) and nitrites (NO₂^-) are serious environmental pollutants. However, without economic incentives there is little interest in remediation of these pollutants outside of laboratory scale experiments. CO₂ can be converted to carbon monoxide (CO), a valuable building block in Fischer-Tropsch sourced fuel, and NO₃^- and NO₂^- can be converted to ammonia, another important chemical building block. However, both require effective, low-cost catalysts to be financially viable options. This thesis seeks to demonstrate the conversion of CO …

Land, Body, Liberation: An Ecofeminist Pedagogical Approach To Place-Based Education, Amy L. Fitkin

WWU Graduate School Collection

Within this project I applied an ecofeminism framework to the tangible practices of place-based education regarding issues of social justice-based sustainability efforts. In order to recognize the impact of identity-based privileges, I explore how place-based education promotes the development of problem-solving skills, critical-thinking techniques and building meaningful relationships within a community. These goals were achieved by shifting the white settler colonist understanding of human conquest and subjugation over land and bodies from an anthropocentric lens to an androcentric lens. In other words, illuminating the oppressive role the patriarchy has continued to play in exploiting natural "resources" and the bodies of …

Interdisciplinary Interspecies Pedagogies For Educating In The Anthropocene: Bringing Critical Animal Studies To Huxley College Of The Environment, Sarah R. (Sarah Rose) Olson

WWU Graduate School Collection

This report examines ENVS 499T Introduction to Critical Animal Studies: Theory, Agency, and Action, a 2-credit environmental humanities seminar designed as a M.Ed. in Environmental Education field project through Western Washington University’s (WWU) Huxley College of the Environment. ENVS 499T was created in response to a lack of critical animal studies course offering at WWU. The seminar was designed to provide WWU undergraduates with an opportunity to engage with interspecies ethical issues through an interdisciplinary lens. This report explores literature relevant to the design and implementation of this field project. It draws on scholars from critical animal studies and other …

Paleomagnetic And Structural Analysis Of Geothermal Drill Core From Akutan, Alaska, Molly Kathleen Johnson

WWU Graduate School Collection

Hot Springs Bay Valley (HSBV) geothermal resource area on Akutan Island, Alaska, has increased fluid output and temperature by almost a magnitude, between 1981 and 2012 (Bergfeld et al., 2014). These increases have been attributed to increased permeability along NW-SE trending faults that may have been activated during a seismic swarm in 1996. In 2010 two unoriented drill cores were collected in Hot Springs Bay geothermal resource area. In this study I reorient sections from one of the highly fractured cores with paleomagnetic data to test this model of geothermal reservoir evolution at Akutan. The core is composed of interlayered …

Plasmonic-Based Hybrid Nanomaterial: From Synthesis To Application, Maggie Wang

WWU Graduate School Collection

Gold nanoparticles, particularly gold nanorods, have been widely used as sensors and imaging agents due to their unique and tunable morphology-dependent properties and intriguing plasmonic resonance. However, the increasing need of new materials with enhanced properties and functionality led scientists to discover novel hybrid nanomaterials, which involves the formation of two or more components into one nanoplatform. Hence, gold nanorod-based hybrid nanomaterials exhibit simultaneous synergistic effects between the phenomenal plasmonic properties from gold nanorods and the intrinsic properties of the other constituents. The functionality of gold nanorod-based hybrid nanomaterials greatly increases due to its enhanced performance characteristics, which directly impacts …

Engineering Class A Sortases: Activity And Selectivity Of Hybrid And Ancestral Variants, Sarah Struyvenberg

WWU Graduate School Collection

Bacterial sortases are cysteine transpeptidases that anchor virulence factors to the surface of bacterial cells. Sortases are a powerful tool utilized for protein engineering that allow researchers to modify proteins at the protein level, not the DNA level. However, important limitations to utilization of sortases for engineering purposes exist; namely, SrtA from S. aureus is a relatively modest enzyme compared to other SrtA enzymes and is very specific for the LPXTG motif. Previous work from our collaborators and others revealed that sortases from different species can recognize alternative sequences and that activities can vary widely. We were curious about how …

Incorporating Characteristics Of Gene Drive Engineered Ae. Aegypti As Methods To Reduce Dengue And Zika Virus Into The Bayesian Network – Relative Risk Model, Using Ponce, Puerto Rico As A Case Study, Steven R. Eikenbary

WWU Graduate School Collection

This study proposes the use of the Bayesian network relative risk model (BN-RRM) to estimate the risk associated with the release of gene drives as vectors to control disease, using Ponce, Puerto Rico as a case study. Bayesian networks are an appropriate risk assessment tool for quantitatively and probabilistically examining complex systems involving multiple stressors acting on multiple endpoints in a wide variety of situations. The emerging field of synthetic biology has the capacity to drastically alter ecological systems with the use of gene drive engineered organisms as a method to alter population dynamics. The purpose of the release of …

Conifer Establishment And Encroachment On Subalpine Meadows Around Mt. Baker, Wa, Ben Hagedorn

WWU Graduate School Collection

The subalpine ecotone is experiencing significant change in habitat availability and connectivity as a result of climate change and climate variability. To understand how these changes vary temporally and spatially in the Pacific Northwest, we collected cross-sections and counted whorls of conifers along four transects around Mt. Baker, Washington in the North Cascades. In addition to the samples collected, we also gathered data on microsite conditions that impact seedling establishment. Using partial correlation analyses, we compared establishment dates to climate variables in five-year bins, and used normal correlation analyses along with other statistical tests to determine the effect of various …