Oregon State University

About: Oregon State University is a education organization based out in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Climate change. The organization has 28192 authors who have published 64044 publications receiving 2634108 citations. The organization is also known as: Oregon Agricultural College & OSU.

Uniform California Earthquake Rupture Forecast, Version 3 (UCERF3)—The Time‐Independent Model

Abstract: The 2014 Working Group on California Earthquake Probabilities (WGCEP14) present the time‐independent component of the Uniform California Earthquake Rupture Forecast, Version 3 (UCERF3), which provides authoritative estimates of the magnitude, location, and time‐averaged frequency of potentially damaging earthquakes in California. The primary achievements have been to relax fault segmentation and include multifault ruptures, both limitations of UCERF2. The rates of all earthquakes are solved for simultaneously and from a broader range of data, using a system‐level inversion that is both conceptually simple and extensible. The inverse problem is large and underdetermined, so a range of models is sampled using an efficient simulated annealing algorithm. The approach is more derivative than prescriptive (e.g., magnitude–frequency distributions are no longer assumed), so new analysis tools were developed for exploring solutions. Epistemic uncertainties were also accounted for using 1440 alternative logic‐tree branches, necessitating access to supercomputers. The most influential uncertainties include alternative deformation models (fault slip rates), a new smoothed seismicity algorithm, alternative values for the total rate of M w≥5 events, and different scaling relationships, virtually all of which are new. As a notable first, three deformation models are based on kinematically consistent inversions of geodetic and geologic data, also providing slip‐rate constraints on faults previously excluded due to lack of geologic data. The grand inversion constitutes a system‐level framework for testing hypotheses and balancing the influence of different experts. For example, we demonstrate serious challenges with the Gutenberg–Richter hypothesis for individual faults. UCERF3 is still an approximation of the system, however, and the range of models is limited (e.g., constrained to stay close to UCERF2). Nevertheless, UCERF3 removes the apparent UCERF2 overprediction of M 6.5–7 earthquake rates and also includes types of multifault ruptures seen in nature. Although UCERF3 fits the data better than UCERF2 overall, there may be areas that warrant further site‐specific investigation. Supporting products may be of general interest, and we list key assumptions and avenues for future model improvements.

Founding Family Control and Capital Structure: The Risk of Loss of Control and the Aversion to Debt

Abstract: This paper tests the hypothesis that Founding Family Controlled Firms (FFCFs) are more averse to control risk than similar non-FFCFs and therefore avoid debt. Higher levels of debt increase the lik...

An introduction to the analysis of shotgun metagenomic data.

Abstract: Environmental DNA sequencing has revealed the expansive biodiversity of microorganisms and clarified the relationship between host-associated microbial communities and host phenotype. Shotgun metagenomic DNA sequencing is a relatively new and powerful environmental sequencing approach that provides insight into community biodiversity and function. But, the analysis of metagenomic sequences is complicated due to the complex structure of the data. Fortunately, new tools and data resources have been developed to circumvent these complexities and allow researchers to determine which microbes are present in the community and what they might be doing. This review describes the analytical strategies and specific tools that can be applied to metagenomic data and the considerations and caveats associated with their use. Specifically, it documents how metagenomes can be analyzed to quantify community structure and diversity, assemble novel genomes, identify new taxa and genes, and determine which metabolic pathways are encoded in the community. It also discusses several methods that can be used compare metagenomes to identify taxa and functions that differentiate communities.