Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Use Of International Hydrographic Organization Tidal Data For Improved Tidal Prediction, Songwei Qi

Dissertations and Theses

Tides are the rise and fall of water level caused by gravitational forces exerted by the sun, moon and earth. Understanding sea level variation and its impact currents is very important especially in coastal regions. With knowledge of the tide-generating force and boundary conditions, hydrodynamic models can be used to predict or model tides in coastal regions. However, these models are not sufficiently accurate, and in-situ tide gauge data may be used to improve them in coastal regions. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) tidal data bank consists of over 4000 tide gauge stations scattered all around the globe, most of …

Stream-Associated Amphibian Habitat Assessment In The Portland-Vancouver Metropolitan Region, Andrew Evans Dietrich

Dissertations and Theses

This study assessed the influence of landscape development on stream-associated amphibians in forested riparian areas within the Portland-Vancouver metropolitan region. Human alteration of landscapes may dramatically affect the ecology of neighboring aquatic systems. It was hypothesized that lotic amphibians would be negatively associated with greater amounts of landscape development and positively associated with forested area within the surrounding watershed. Thirty-seven 1st-3rd order streams were sampled between June 21st and September 21st in 2011. Streams potentially providing adequate habitat for stream-obligate amphibians were randomly selected. Amphibians were surveyed along 30-meter stream transects using an active-cover search (ACS). Environmental variables associated with …

Characterization Of The Red Bluff Landslide, Greater Cascade Landslide Complex, Columbia River Gorge, Washington, James Robert Randall

Dissertations and Theses

Located in the Columbia River Gorge, The Red Bluff Landslide (18.8 km2) is one of four large landslides that make up the Cascade Landslide Complex. In its current form, the Red Bluff Landslide is a post-Missoula Flood feature made up of two components: an active upper lobe (8.6 km2) that is translational, creeping to the south at 25 cm/yr and spreading laterally to the east at 6 cm/yr over a semi-fixed portion (10.2 km2) of the Red Bluff Landslide area that has been "smoothed" by Missoula Floods. The upper active lobe is the landslide debris accumulated since Missoula Flood time …

An Investigation Of Urban Mobile Source Aerosol Using Optical Properties Measured By Crdt/N: Diesel Particulate Matter And The Impact Of Biodiesel, Monica Elizabeth Wright

Dissertations and Theses

Mobile source emissions are a major contributor to global and local air pollution. Governments and regulatory agencies have been increasing the stringency of regulations in the transportation sector for the last ten years to help curb transportation sector air pollution. The need for regulations has been emphasized by scientific research on the impacts from ambient pollution, especially research on the effect of particulate matter on human health. The particulate emissions from diesel vehicles, diesel particulate matter (DPM) is considered a known or probable carcinogen in various countries and increased exposure to DPM is linked to increased cardiovascular health problems in …

Sustainable Municipal Operations: Albany, Oregon, Portland State University. Hatfield School Of Government. Center For Public Service, Ed Gallagher, Dave Rouse, Dennis Kurtz, Tanya Johnston

Center for Public Service Publications and Reports

Portland State University, Hatfield School of Government (PSU), and Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (NEEA), has formed a partnership to develop Sustainable Municipal Operations Plans that documents sustainability and energy management best practices. The goal of this partnership is to determine how a City/municipality can actively manage energy as a controllable expense by following a predetermined operation protocol. The PSU team developed a framework of best practices for sustainable municipal operations in different categories including facilities, fleet, purchasing, operations and the work environment. After identifying pilot jurisdictions, the team applied these best practices to the current operations of local governments in …

Sustainable County Operations: Yamhill County, Oregon, Portland State University. Hatfield School Of Government. Center For Public Service, Ed Gallagher, Dave Rouse, Dennis Kurtz, Tanya Johnston

Center for Public Service Publications and Reports

Portland State University, Hatfield School of Government (PSU), and Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (NEEA), has formed a partnership to develop Sustainable Municipal Operations Plans that documents sustainability and energy management best practices. The goal of this partnership is to determine how a county/municipality can actively manage energy as a controllable expense by following a predetermined operation protocol. The PSU team developed a framework of best practices for sustainable municipal operations in different categories including facilities, fleet, purchasing, operations and the work environment. After identifying pilot jurisdictions, the team applied these best practices to the current operations of local governments in …

Sustainable Municipal Operations: Independence, Oregon, Portland State University. Hatfield School Of Government. Center For Public Service, Ed Gallagher, Dave Rouse, Dennis Kurtz, Tanya Johnston

Center for Public Service Publications and Reports

Portland State University, Hatfield School of Government (PSU), and Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (NEEA), has formed a partnership to develop Sustainable Municipal Operations Plans that documents sustainability and energy management best practices. The goal of this partnership is to determine how a City/municipality can actively manage energy as a controllable expense by following a predetermined operation protocol. The PSU team developed a framework of best practices for sustainable municipal operations in different categories including facilities, fleet, purchasing, operations and the work environment. After identifying pilot jurisdictions, the team applied these best practices to the current operations of local governments in …

The Influence Of Market Proximity On National Forest Hazardous Fuels Treatments, Max Nielsen-Pincus, Susan Charnley, Cassandra Moseley

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

The US Department of Agriculture Forest Service's focus on hazardous fuels reduction has increased since the adoption of the National Fire Plan in 2001. However, appropriations for hazardous fuels reduction still lag behind wildfire suppression spending. Offsetting fuels treatment costs through biomass utilization or by using innovative administrative mechanisms such as stewardship contracting are two approaches to stretching appropriated dollars further across the landscape. We use fuels treatment data (n = 8,451 locations) to ask how wood- processing infrastructure influences where and how much hazardous fuels treatments, biomass utilization, and stewardship contracting occur on national forests in Oregon and Washington. …

Long-Term Integrated Studies Show Complex And Surprising Effects Of Climate Change In The Northern Hardwood Forest, Peter M. Groffman, Lindsay E. Rustad, Pamela H. Templer, John L. Campbell, Lynn M. Christenson, Nina K. Lany, Anne M. Socci, Matthew A. Vadeboncoeur, Paul G. Schaberg, Geoffrey W. Wilson, Charles T. Driscoll, Timothy J. Fahey, Melany C. Fisk, Christine L. Goodale, Mark B. Green, Steven P. Hamburg, Chris E. Johnson, Mryon J. Mitchell, Jennifer L. Morse, Linda H. Pardo, Nicholas L. Rodenhouse

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Evaluations of the local effects of global change are often confounded by the interactions of natural and anthropogenic factors that overshadow the effects of climate changes on ecosystems. Long-term watershed and natural elevation gradient studies at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest and in the surrounding region show surprising results demonstrating the effects of climate change on hydrologic variables (e.g., evapotranspiration, streamflow, soil moisture); the importance of changes in phenology on water, carbon, and nitrogen fluxes during critical seasonal transition periods; winter climate change effects on plant and animal community composition and ecosystem services; and the effects of anthropogenic disturbances and …

Engaging The Community Through An Undergraduate Biomedical Physics Course, Grace Van Ness, Ralf Widenhorn

Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations

We report on the development of an undergraduate biomedical physics course at Portland State University, motivated by both student interest and the desire of the university?s Physics Department to provide an interdisciplinary intermediate-level physics course. The course was developed through the community engagement of physicians, clinical researchers, and basic science researchers. Class meetings were a combination of regular and guest lectures, hands-on exercises, web-based activities, class discussions, and a student poster information session for patrons at a local science museum. The course inspired students to engage in research projects in biomedical physics that enhance their understanding of science and education …

The Distribution And Reproductive Success Of The Western Snowy Plover Along The Oregon Coast - 2012, David J. Lauten, Kathleen J. Castelein, J. Daniel Farrar, Adam A. Kotaich, Eleanor P. Gaines

Institute for Natural Resources Publications

From 5 April – 21 September 2012 we monitored the distribution, abundance and productivity of the federally Threatened Western Snowy Plover (Charadrius nivosus nivosus) along the Oregon coast. From north to south, we surveyed and monitored plover activity at Sutton Beach, Siltcoos River estuary, the Dunes Overlook, North Tahkenitch Creek, Tenmile Creek, Coos Bay North Spit, Bandon Snowy Plover Management Area, New River HRA and adjacent lands, and Floras Lake. Our objectives for the Oregon coastal population in 2012 were to: 1) estimate the size of the adult Snowy Plover population, 2) locate plover nests, 3) determine nest …

Civic Ecology: Living Community Systems For Sustainability, Tim Smith

Systems Science Friday Noon Seminar Series

Civic Ecology is a stakeholder-driven, whole systems framework for creating sustainable communities. The framework focuses on empowering citizens of all ages, cultures, and abilities to envision, create, and manage their community’s unique “software” -- the integrated energy, nutrient, water, waste, material, and food systems, as well as economic flows and cultural interactions that animate their place. Exploring and supporting these flows allows communities to enhance their local wealth (environmental, economic, and social), resilience, and competitiveness, and help them take control of designing and managing their future through collaboration and innovation. The Civic Ecology framework can be the foundation upon which …

Effects Of Sn Doping On The Morphology And Properties Of Fe-Doped In2o3 Epitaxial Films, Tie Zhou, Lin Wei, Yanru Xie, Qinghao Li, Guoxiang Hu, Yanxue Chen, Shishen Yan, Guolei Liu, Liangmo Mei, Jun Jiao

Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations

(Sn, Fe)-codoped In₂O₃ epitaxial films were deposited on (111)-oriented Y-stabilized ZrO₂ substrates by pulsed laser deposition with constant Fe concentration and different Sn concentrations. The influence of Sn concentration on the crystal structure and properties of Fe-doped In₂O₃ ferromagnetic semiconductor films has been investigated systematically. Experimental results indicate that Sn doping can effectively reduce the surface roughness and suppresses breakup of the films into separated islands. At the same time, the optical band gap increases and the electrical properties improve correspondingly. However, although the carrier density increases dramatically with the Sn doping, no obvious change of the ferromagnetism is observed. …

Site Selection By Migratory Shorebirds In Oregon Estuaries Over Broad And Fine Spatial Scales, Aileen Kilpatrick Miller

Dissertations and Theses

Many migratory shorebirds rely on estuaries as stop-over sites to refuel during migration, and the loss of stop-over sites is a primary threat to shorebird populations on the West Coast of the United States (e.g. Calidris alpina pacifica, C. mauri). Conservation and research has focused on the largest of these sites; however, smaller estuaries also host thousands of migratory shorebirds. Furthermore, the reasons for site selection are largely unknown. Estuarine inter-tidal microhabitats are non-uniform and both abiotic and biotic factors may serve as predictors of whether an abundance of shorebirds will use a site. I investigated shorebird site selection on …

Divergent Carbon Dynamics Under Climate Change In Forests With Diverse Soils, Tree Species, And Land Use Histories, Robert M. Scheller, Alec M. Kretchun, Steve Van Tuyl, Kenneth L. Clark, Melissa S. Lucash, John Hom

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Accounting for both climate change and natural disturbances—which typically result in greenhouse gas emissions—is necessary to begin managing forest carbon sequestration. Gaining a complete understanding of forest carbon dynamics is, however, challenging in systems characterized by historic over-utilization, diverse soils and tree species, and frequent disturbance. In order to elucidate the cascading effects of potential climate change on such systems, we projected forest carbon dynamics, including soil carbon changes, and shifts in tree species composition as a consequence of wildfires and climate change in the New Jersey pine barrens (NJPB) over the next 100 years. To do so, we used …

The Ecosystem Service Value Of Coastal Wetlands For Cyclone Protection In Australia, Petina Pert, Robert Costanza, Iris Bohnet, James Butler, Ida Kubiszewski, Paul Sutton, Kenneth Mulder, E. (Erin) Bohensky

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

Slides from a presentation given at an International Conference and Workshop, June 7-10, 2010, titled Solutions for Sustaining Natural Capital and Ecosystem Services.

Inventory And Initiation Zone Characterization Of Debris Flows On Mount St. Helens, Washington Initiated During A Major Storm Event In November, 2006, Keith Vinton Olson

Dissertations and Theses

The heavy precipitation event of November 3-8, 2006 dropped over 60 cm of rain onto the bare southern slopes of Mount St. Helens and generated debris flows in eight of the sixteen drainages outside the 1980 debris avalanche zone. Debris flows occurred on the upper catchments of the Muddy River, Shoestring Glacier, Pine Creek, June Lake, Butte Camp Dome, Blue Lake, Sheep Creek, and South Fork Toutle River. Debris flows were clustered on the west and south-east sides of the mountain. Of the eight debris flows, three were initiated by landslides, while five were initiated by headward or channel erosion. …

Crystallography Open Database (Cod): An Open-Access Collection Of Crystal Structures And Platform For World-Wide Collaboration, Saulius Gražulis, Adriana Daškevič, Andrius Merkys, Daniel Chateigner, Luca Lutterotti, Miguel Quirós, Nadezhda R. Serebryanaya, Peter Moeck, Robert T. Downs, Armel Le Bail

Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Using an open-access distribution model, the Crystallography Open Database (COD, http://www.crystallography.net) collects all known 'small molecule / small to medium sized unit cell' crystal structures and makes them available freely on the Internet. As of today, the COD has aggregated ~150,000 structures, offering basic search capabilities and the possibility to download the whole database, or parts thereof using a variety of standard open communication protocols. A newly developed website provides capabilities for all registered users to deposit published and so far unpublished structures as personal communications or pre-publication depositions. Such a setup enables extension of the COD database by many …

Temporal And Crustal Effects On Differentiation Of Tholeiite To Calcalkaline And Ferro-Trachytic Suites, High Lava Plains, Oregon, Usa, Martin J. Streck, Anita L. Grunder

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Strongly bimodal, basalt-rhyolite volcanism of the High Lava Plains Province of Oregon followed the Middle Miocene flood basalts of the Pacific Northwest and extends to recent time. During the 8 m.y. of volcanism recorded in the central High Lava Plains, in western Harney Basin, three distinct mafic magmatic trends originate from primitive high-alumina olivine tholeiites (HAOT); they are tholeiitic, calcalkaline and ferro-trachytic. Tholeiitic basalts occur throughout the history and their compositions are derived by crystal fractionation while traversing the crust and mixing with evolved mafic magmas. Scavenging of apatite from crustal rocks and minor contamination with felsic melts accounts for …

Land Cover, Climate, And The Summer Surface Energy Balance In Phoenix, Az, And Portland, Or, Ariane Middel, Anthony J. Brazel, Patricia Gober, Soe Win Myint, Heejun Chang, Jiunn-Der Duh

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

Changes in land use and land cover alter the local energy balance and contribute to distinct urban climates. This paper presents a local-scale above-canopy study of intra-urban land cover mixes in two cities to analyse the relative effects of surface morphology and local climate on the surface energy balance (SEB). The study is conducted for urban areas in Phoenix, Arizona, and Portland, Oregon, cities with distinct climates but similarly warm and dry summers. A Local-Scale Urban Meteorological Parameterization Scheme (LUMPS) is used to analyse the relative contributions of local weather extremes and land cover variations on the urban energy balance. …

Self-Assembled Nanoparticle Antiglare Coatings, Khalid Askar, Blayne M. Phillips, Xuan Dou, Juan Lopez, Carl Smith, Bin Jiang, Peng Jiang

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Here we report a simple and scalable bottom-up technology for assembling close-packed nanoparticle monolayers on both sides of a glass substrate as high-quality antiglare coatings. Optical measurements show that monolayer coatings consisting of 110 nm silica nanoparticles can significantly reduce optical reflectance and enhance specular transmittance of the glass substrate for a broad range of visible wavelengths. Both experiments and numerical simulations reveal that the antiglare properties of the self-assembled colloidal monolayers are significantly affected by the size of the colloidal particles.

Progress Toward Red And Near-Infrared (Nir) Emitting Saccharide Sensors, Martha Sibrian-Vazquez, Jorge O. Escobedo, Mark Lowry, Robert M. Strongin

Chemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

Red-shifted and near-infrared (NIR)-active rhodamine analogs and their boronic acid derivatives were synthesized and studied. These latter compounds function as fluorogenic NIR active substrates for sugar sensing. The effects of benzannulation and boronic acid functionalization on fluorophore optical and sensing properties are described.

Differential Effects Of The Hydrophobic Surfactant Proteins On The Formation Of Inverse Bicontinuous Cubic Phases, Mariya Chavarha, Ryan W. Loney, Kamlesh Kumar, Shankar B. Rananavare, Stephen B. Hall

Chemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

Prior studies have shown that the biological mixture of the two hydrophobic surfactant proteins, SP-B and SP-C, produces faster adsorption of the surfactant lipids to an air/water interface, and that they induce 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl phosphatidylethanolamine (POPE) to form inverse bicontinuous cubic phases. SP-B has a much greater effect than SP-C on adsorption. If the two proteins induce formation of the bicontinuous structures and faster adsorption by similar mechanisms, then they should also have differential ability to form the cubic phases. To test this hypothesis, we measured small angle X-ray scattering on the individual proteins combined with POPE. SP-B replicated the doserelated …

Beyond Adaptive Capacity Checklists: Examining The Construction Of Capacity In Mexico City And Santiago, Patricia Romero-Lankao, Sara Hughes, Angélica Rosas-Huerta, Roxana Borquéz, Melissa Haeffner

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Cities are vulnerable to a range of environmental hazards that are likely to be exacerbated by climate change: floods, droughts, poor air quality, and heat islands are a few examples. Assessments of this vulnerability often include an evaluation of a city’s adaptive capacity, or its potential to respond to changes in the frequency or severity of environmental hazards as well as its ability to take advantage of or mitigate these changes. For example, at the city (e.g., institutional) level, a common metric of adaptive capacity is the availability and effective use of information. In many cases, a city would receive …

A System For Bidirectional Robotic Pathfinding, Tesca Fitzgerald

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

The accuracy of an autonomous robot's intended navigation can be impacted by environmental factors affecting the robot's movement. When sophisticated localizing sensors cannot be used, it is important for a pathfinding algorithm to provide opportunities for landmark usage during route execution, while balancing the efficiency of that path. Although current pathfinding algorithms may be applicable, they often disfavor paths that balance accuracy and efficiency needs. I propose a bidirectional pathfinding algorithm to meet the accuracy and efficiency needs of autonomous, navigating robots.

Reconstructability Of Epistatic Functions, Martin Zwick, Joe Fusion, Beth Wilmot

Systems Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background: Reconstructability Analysis (RA) has been used to detect epistasis in genomic data; in that work, even the simplest RA models (variable-based models without loops) gave performance superior to two other methods. A follow-on theoretical study showed that RA also offers higher-resolution models, namely variable-based models with loops and state-based models, likely to be even more effective in modeling epistasis, and also described several mathematical approaches to classifying types of epistasis.

Methods: The present paper extends this second study by discussing a non-standard use of RA: the analysis of epistasis in quantitative as opposed to nominal variables; such quantitative variables …

Connecting Habitat Across Roads: Field Testing Mitigation Strategies For Reducing Road Mortality Of An Imperiled Butterfly, Rebecca Jalene Littlejohn

Environmental Science and Management Professional Master's Project Reports

Roads impact wildlife in a variety of ways including fragmentation of populations, reduced access to habitat, and direct mortality from vehicle strikes. Such road effects likely impact the Oregon silverspot butterfly (Speyeria zerene hippolyta) at one of its few remaining sites. The Rock Creek-Big Creek population of this threatened fritillary butterfly species is bisected by highway 101 on the central Oregon coast. Habitat resources for S. z. hippolyta are found on both the east and west sides of the highway at this site, and vehicle-strikes have been found to cause mortality of some individuals crossing the highway. The …

Well Conditioned Boundary Integral Equations For Two-Dimensional Sound-Hard Scattering Problems In Domains With Corners, Akash Anand, Jeffrey S. Ovall, Catalin Turc

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications and Presentations

We present several well-posed, well-conditioned direct and indirect integral equation formulations for the solution of two-dimensional acoustic scattering problems with Neumann boundary conditions in domains with corners. We focus mainly on Direct Regularized Combined Field Integral Equation (DCFIE-R) formulations whose name reflects that (1) they consist of combinations of direct boundary integral equations of the second-kind and first-kind integral equations which are preconditioned on the left by coercive boundary single-layer operators, and (2) their unknowns are physical quantities, i.e., the total field on the boundary of the scatterer. The DCFIE-R equations are shown to be uniquely solvable in appropriate function …

Measuring The Longitudinal Effects Of Food Carbon Footprint Training On Consumers: Knowledge, Attitudes, And Behavioral Intentions, Robin Wikoff, Gretchen N. Rainbolt, Wayne Wakeland

Systems Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Although the supply chains through which foods are produced, processed, and transported can have a significant impact on carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions, consumers are largely unaware of how their food choices may impact the environment. Based on a previous related study, we hypothesized that a web-based training process could increase consumer knowledge and perhaps influence consumer behavior longitudinally. To test this, food distribution networks were modeled and analyzed to determine CO₂ footprints for a variety of foods, and a training process was designed to teach consumers about the CO₂ emissions for different types of foods that …

Decay Rates Of A Molecule In The Vicinity Of A Spherical Surface Of An Isotropic Magnetodielectric Material, H. Y. Chung, P.T. Leung, D. P. Tsai

Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations

A comprehensive study is presented on the decay rates of excited molecules in the vicinity of a magnetodielectric material of spherical geometry via electrodynamic modeling. Both the models based on a driven-damped harmonic oscillator and on energy transfers will be applied so that the total decay rates can be rigorously decomposed into the radiative and the nonradiative rates. Clarifications of the equivalence of these two models for arbitrary geometry will be provided. Different possible orientations and locations of the molecule are studied with the molecule being placed near a spherical particle or a cavity. Among other results, TE modes are …