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Integrating augmented reality and artificial intelligence for adaptive real-time task guidance
No full textThis thesis presents an augmented reality (AR) task guidance system enhanced by artificial intelligence (AI), demonstrated through two distinct scenarios: an indoor application guiding a user to open a door handle, and an outdoor application supporting spatial navigation and interactive object identification on a university campus. Leveraging a modular architecture, the system integrates a mass-market AR headset with an AI backend that employs real-time object detection, 3D spatial tracking, and conversational interaction powered by a large language model. A key contribution of this work lies in the system-level design of a flexible AR task guidance architecture that integrates perception, tracking, navigation, and natural language interaction, and supports multiple deployment modes across edge and cloud resources. The system supports on-edge (offline) and hybrid deployment configurations, enabling the same task guidance pipeline to adapt to connectivity constraints, computational availability, and interaction requirements without modification of the core design. Further, a quantitative system-level empirical evaluation of the system consistently shows processing times below 100ms for simultaneous tracking of multiple objects, visualization latency within acceptable real-time thresholds, and positional accuracy within centimeters in indoor scenarios. This research work establishes a measured performance baseline and provides a scalable, adaptable framework for low-latency, context-aware AR task guidance suitable for diverse real-world applications
Investigating the host’s innate immune response in OsHV-1 latently infected Pacific oysters (Crassostrea gigas) after heat stress and immune suppression
No full textOstreid Herpesvirus (OsHV-1) is a pathogen of fatal aquatic disease of Pacific oysters (Crassostrea gigas). Over the past two decades, mass global Pacific oyster deaths have been linked to OsHV-1 infection. Symptoms of OsHV-1 infection include reduced swimming capacity, shell deformation, tissue degradation, lowered feeding rates, and death. OsHV-1 can establish latent infection in the host after initial exposure and can reactivate under heat stress. We hypothesize that heat stress can lower the innate immune defense and allow latent OsHV-1 to be reactivated from latency. To test this hypothesis, OsHV-1 latently infected Pacific oysters were treated with heat stress (Tm) and an immunosuppressive agent, TPCA-1. Innate gene response in Pacific oyster gill tissue was investigated on days 1, 3, 5, and 7 post-stress. The expression of the innate immune sensor gene (TLR), adaptor proteins (MyD88 and Rel), and innate immune response effector gene, PKR, was analyzed by Real-Time PCR (qPCR). Our study found that gene transcription of all four genes was down-regulated in oysters experiencing heat stress or immune suppression. The reduced innate immune response may allow the reactivation of OsHV-1 from latency.Keywords: OsHV-1, latency, reactivation, heat stress, TPCA-1, TLR, MyD88, Rel, PKR, qPC
Designing urban ecology projects in Delhi, India
No full textThis paper explores funding options for urban ecology programs in Delhi, India. Delhi has experienced rapid urbanization in the 20th and 21st centuries, with exponential growth over the past few decades. Urban green spaces are increasingly important for sustainable development, ecosystem services, health and well-being, and creating livable cities. With the dismantling of USAID in 2025, alternatives must be found for international development programs. The current trends in urbanization in Delhi, India, were explored, and a survey of available funding options was undertaken. This analysis showed that Corporate Social Responsibility funding, Impact and Foundation Investing, Multi-national organizations, Bilateral funding, Crowdfunding, and Philanthropy were the ideal funding options. Ensuring the program aligns with local, national, and international urban development initiatives should increase the likelihood of securing funding for implementing partners
Building food autonomy using improvisational cooking and wild food integration
No full textBackground: Food autonomy and cooking confidence are critical skills that may strengthen those experiencing housing insecurity. Current research among the underserved population is limited, but teaching kitchens are growing in popularity, and may serve as an effective tool for meaningful experiential culinary education.
Methods: This pilot study utilized a cooking class format to support the development of knowledge and skills related to cooking and flavor science to seven adults (4M, 3F) living in a transitional housing facility in Corvallis, Oregon. Participants completed a single two-hour class session including a didactic portion, hands-on cooking experience, and group meal, and pre-post surveys. Assessments measured confidence, emotions towards cooking and tasting food, and food autonomy.
Results: Results demonstrated increased confidence in all participants and increased likelihood of expressing positive emotions. Male participants and those who had previously tried wild food expressed higher pre- and post-levels of confidence in eating wild food, cooking with wild food, and improvisational cooking.
Conclusions: Food literacy experiential learning through mindful tasting and improvisational cooking of unfamiliar ingredients, complemented by basic introductions to flavor principles and foraging practices enhanced positive emotions and food autonomy around cooking.Keywords: food autonomy, cooking confidence, transitional housing, wild foo
Paseos and outdoor school : developing Latina/o/x families’ interest and expertise in the outdoors
No full textThis dissertation examines how culturally grounded family outdoor experiences (paseos) can support Latina/o/x families’ engagement with nature and shape students’ learning experiences in outdoor school. Although outdoor and environmental education are often framed as opportunities for broad participation, Latina/o/x families have historically been underrepresented in formal outdoor learning programs, and few studies have examined how family engagement can serve as a bridge into these spaces. Drawing on the Cultural Learning Pathways framework, the concept of repertoires of practice and learning pathways as culturally and structurally situated, this study explores how learning develops across settings through participation, positioning, and meanings of place.
Using a qualitative, multi-method design, I analyzed vignettes, participant observations, interviews with Latina/o/x parents and students, and student-produced artifacts (mind maps and posters) collected across three paseos and a subsequent outdoor school program. Five vignettes were used to analyze learning processes during the paseos, and three vignettes focused on students’ and families’ experiences in outdoor school. The analysis attended to how place, positions, and actions shaped participants’ scopes of possibility and access to identity resources as learners.
Findings show that paseos may have functioned as relational, cultural, and learning spaces that expanded families’ repertoires of practice, supported feelings of belonging and agency, and prepared students to engage meaningfully in outdoor school. Family participation appeared to support learning by helping students see themselves as capable participants in science activities. The study also points to how these pathways were sustained, transformed, and at times constrained within the institutional context of outdoor school.
This dissertation contributes to research on outdoor science education and family engagement by demonstrating how culturally informed, community-based experiences can operate as learning pathways that bridge informal and formal learning settings. It concludes with design principles for incorporating paseos as culturally informed pathways to support equitable participation in outdoor and science learning
Bees of the Pacific Northwest : Oregon Bee Atlas species occurrence records for bumble bees (Hymenoptera : Apidae : Bombus)
No full textThe Oregon Bee Atlas (Atlas) is an initiative to document wild bee occurrence and floral relations in the state of Oregon. Specimens are sampled by volunteers who are enrolled in the Oregon State University Extension Service Master Melittologist program. Museum quality specimens are collected using aerial nets, pan traps, and vane traps. Here we describe the species occurrence data for Bombus (Hymenoptera: Apidae) records (GBIF.org, 20 February 2026) published through the Oregon State Arthropod Collection (Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon) Integrated Publishing Toolkit (IPT) to the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) as part of a larger release in Best (2026)
The role of science and values in collaborative forest management : a case study of timber salvage and Canada lynx in beetle-impacted spruce-fir forests of southcentral Colorado
No full textThis paper seeks to provide additional insight into these questions by exploring a case study in the management of beetle impacted spruce-fir forests in southcentral Colorado under a multiple-use mandate. Semi-structured interviews of natural resource professionals that were involved in the case study were conducted. A contextual analysis was also drawn from information provided in the interviews to produce a multifaceted analysis of the circumstances that formed the setting of the case study and how those circumstances evolved over time. This contextual analysis obtained interviewee feedback in how best available science was integrated into management by way of agency collaboration. Furthermore, participant interviews will illuminate perspectives about how values impact management while also identifying challenges, limitations, needs, and opportunities for improvement that were most impactful to their work. Exploring perspectives from natural resource professionals gives invaluable insight that may assist agencies in more efficiently addressing present and future challenges
Toward sustainable metal forming : cost and environmental evaluation of single point incremental forming
No full textGiven the slow adoption of incremental sheet forming as an alternative to conventional metal forming processes, researchers and practitioners must integrate broader considerations that can clarify the path toward implementing sustainable manufacturing alternatives. However, predicting the costs and environmental impacts of flexible sheet forming processes, such as single-point incremental forming (SPIF), presents challenges due to the use of unconventional tooling and attachments that have not yet been thoroughly analyzed in previous studies. Thus, this study comprehensively reviewed SPIF, integrating the costs and environmental impacts of all elements necessary for part production through a case study (and its performance indicators at various production volumes) and detailing of the adjacent process steps to the forming process. The findings indicate that the pre- and post-forming stages for SPIF have lower economic and environmental impacts than the forming process at 50, 500, and 5,000 parts per year. This study identified that a significant factor influencing the utilization of SPIF at larger production volumes on manufacturing floors is the labor cost associated with longer cycle times in the contemporary process implementation approach.
Considering these insights, further research should focus on quantifying the cost and environmental impacts of tooling developments for SPIF and exploring strategies to reduce labor costs, which could enhance the adoption of SPIF in manufacturing. This thesis fulfilled the stated research goal in Chapter 1 by completing the following tasks:
• Developing a cost model for SPIF part production that allowed the inclusion of necessary consumables, such as clamping fixtures and forming tools. This approach enabled a more accurate prediction of the cost of goods sold (COGS) during the early stages of production planning.
• Developing a UPLCI model for SPIF that enabled the inclusion of relevant process parameters, such as toolpath length and forming feed rate, to improve performance prognostics. Laboratory experiments validated the model, demonstrating an accuracy between 92% and 100%, making it a valuable tool for life cycle assessment studies of the SPIF process.
• Conducting a comparative analysis of the cost and environmental impacts of SPIF and traditional metal drawing, including examining the process steps before and after forming, as well as the required machine tools. A sensitivity analysis validated the results by exploring variations in significant factors identified in the model. This comprehensive analysis highlighted the high labor costs for both forming processes and emphasized the need for reducing cycle time in the SPIF process.Keywords: UPLCI,
Single Point Incremental Forming,
Life Cycle Assessment,
Cost Modeling,
Cost and Environmental Impact Assessment,
Sheet Metal Formin
Leveraging incentive-based programs to protect the Peruvian Amazon: Lessons learned for Stakeholders
No full textThe Amazon Forest of South America provides a wealth of ecosystem services with far-reaching benefits, especially in reducing the effects of increased CO2 emissions on our climate through carbon sequestration, but continuous deforestation and forest degradation in the region are intensifying the effects of climate change across the planet. Given the high environmental, economic, and social importance of the Amazon Forest, decision-makers, scientists, researchers, local communities, and others worldwide are under pressure to address the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation. Forests of the Madre de Dios region in the Peruvian Amazon face threats from small-scale agriculture, logging, and mining activities. There are many incentive-based forest conservation programs that seek to promote sustainable forest activities while simultaneously supporting the economic development of local and Indigenous communities, as in the case of Brazil nut production. Although progress has been made through these initiatives in the last two decades, the results still fall short of expectations. Through a literature review of project assessments for REDD+ (Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation), PES (Payment for ecosystem services) initiatives in Madre de Dios, several common barriers and challenges were found, which include land tenure insecurity, a lack of cross-sectoral coordination in forest policies, weak governance, inadequate funding, a need for capacity-building at the local level, inadequate payment structures and monitoring and sanctioning systems, and a lack of forest and socioeconomic data, among others. The literature review also focused on recommendations and lessons learned from past and previous programs to help overcome these challenges. These include forest policy reform, improved mechanisms for granting concessions, cross-scale capacity-building, prioritization of granting land rights for Indigenous communities and their inclusion in program design and implementation, increased governmental support for CFM, and spatial targeting, differential payment systems, and improved monitoring mechanisms to ensure conditionality and increase efficiency
The Acute and Chronic Effects of Micro and Nanoplastics on the Development and Reproduction of Freshwater and Marine Model Organisms
No full textMicro- and nanoplastic pollution is of growing concern. Annually, an estimated 10-20 million metric tons of plastics are released into the environment, a value which is expected to continue to increase. This dissertation begins with a thorough review of the micro- and nanoplastic literature, highlighting the ways in which microplastic research can contribute to addressing gaps in nanoplastic knowledge, as well as the ways in which these gaps should begin to be filled experimentally. The subsequent chapters cover four studies that investigate micro- and nanoplastic toxicity to aquatic model organisms while defining exposure conditions in a way that generates high-quality, dose-response data for risk assessment. The second and third chapters cover more well-studied plastic beads, and the following two chapters examine plastic fragments that more closely mirror particles in the environment. Chapter 2 demonstrates the use of an exposure system optimized for both particle suspension and larval mussel growth and survival to assess impacts of microplastics. We demonstrated that reduced nutrient uptake is a dominant effect mechanism for microplastic impacts on early development of larval bivalves. Chapters 3-5 detail the toxicity of micro- and nanoplastics to freshwater model organisms (zebrafish and Daphnia), demonstrating that chronic exposures reveal toxicity that is overlooked with acute exposures alone. This body of work not only emphasizes the importance of clearly defined exposure conditions, but highlights the variation in plastic toxicity between different affected species, as well as conspecifics exposed to plastics of varying sizes, morphologies, and compositions