Digital Commons Network^™

Designing Work, Family & Health Organizational Change Initiatives, Ellen Ernst Kossek, Leslie B. Hammer, Erin L. Kelly, Phyllis Moen

Psychology Faculty Publications and Presentations

In this paper, we describe the development of the most comprehensive work-family organizational change initiative to date in the United States. Our goal is to share an in-depth case study with examples and critical lessons that emerged. We draw on our years of experience working with major employers from two industries representative of today’s workforce (health care and IT professionals). Employers and applied researchers can draw on this study and lessons to create, customize, and deliver evidence-based interventions to improve work, family and health.

Extrahepatic 25-Hydroxylation Of Vitamin D3 In An Engineered Osteoblast Precursor Cell Line Exploring The Influence On Cellular Proliferation And Matrix Maturation During Bone Development, Shelley S. Mason, Sean S. Kohles, Shelley R. Winn, Randy D. Zelick

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Osteoblastic precursors experience distinct stages during differentiation and bone development, which include proliferation, extracellular matrix (ECM) maturation, and ECM mineralization. It is well known that vitamin D plays a large role in the regulation of bone mineralization and homeostasis via the endocrine system. The activation of vitamin D requires two sequential hydroxylation steps, first in the kidney and then in the liver, in order to carry out its role in calcium homeostasis. Recent research has demonstrated that human-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and osteoblasts can metabolize the immediate vitamin D precursor 25- dihydroxyvitamin D₃(25OH₂D₃) to the active steroid 1α,25-dihydroxyvitamin D₃ …

Consequences Of Mycorrhizal Colonization For Piriqueta Morphotypes Under Drought Stress, Paul Sochacki, Jennifer Rhode Ward, Mitchell B. Cruzan

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Field and greenhouse studies have shown that arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) can improve plant growth in environments with restricted water availability. The benefits of AMF symbiosis vary among plant species, but the extent to which AMF-mediated drought tolerance varies among subspecific taxa remains poorly understood. In this study, we examine differences in AMF response among three recently diverged, ecologically heterogeneous plant taxa (morphotypes) within the Piriqueta cistoides spp. caroliniana complex. We performed a greenhouse experiment using cuttings of each morphotype inoculated in field-collected soil to test for inoculum source effects of AMF on plant growth under drought. Correlation between AMF …

Metagenome Sequence Analysis Of Filamentous Microbial Communities Obtained From Geochemically Distinct Geothermal Channels Reveals Specialization Of Three Aquificales Lineages, Cristina Takacs-Vesbach, William P. Inskeep, Zackary J. Jay, Markus J. Herrgard, Douglas B. Rusch, Susannah G. Tringe, Mark A. Kozubal, Natsuko Hamamura, Richard E. Macur, Bruce W. Fouke, Anna-Louise Reysenbach, Timothy R. Mcdermott, Ryan Dem. Jennings, Nicolas W. Hengartner, Gary Xie

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Aquificales are thermophilic microorganisms that inhabit hydrothermal systems world- wide and are considered one of the earliest lineages of the domain Bacteria. We analyzed metagenome sequence obtained from six thermal “filamentous streamer” communities (∼40 Mbp per site), which targeted three different groups of Aquificales found in Yellow- stone National Park (YNP). Unassembled metagenome sequence and PCR-amplified 16S rRNA gene libraries revealed that acidic, sulfidic sites were dominated by Hydrogenobac- ulum (Aquificaceae) populations, whereas the circum-neutral pH (6.5–7.8) sites containing dissolved sulfide were dominated by Sulfurihydrogenibium spp. (Hydrogenothermaceae). Thermocrinis (Aquificaceae) populations were found primarily in the circum-neutral sites with undetectable …

Narrative Versus Nonnarrative: The Role Of Identification, Transportation And Emotion In Reducing Health Disparities, Sheila T. Murphy, Lauren B. Frank, Joyee S. Chatterjee, Lourdes Baezconde-Garbanati

Communication Faculty Publications and Presentations

This research empirically tests whether using a fictional narrative produces a greater impact on health-related knowledge, attitudes, and behavioral intention than presenting the identical information in a more traditional, nonfiction, non-narrative format. European American, Mexican American, and African American women (N = 758) were surveyed before and after viewing either a narrative or non-narrative cervical cancer-related film. The narrative was more effective in increasing cervical cancer-related knowledge and attitudes. Moreover, in response to the narrative featuring Latinas, Mexican Americans were most transported, identified most with the characters, and experienced the strongest emotions. Regressions revealed that transportation, identification with specific characters, …

Online Learning In A Chemical Perceptron, Peter Banda, Christof Teuscher, Matthew R. Lakin

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Autonomous learning implemented purely by means of a synthetic chemical system has not been previously realized. Learning promotes reusability and minimizes the system design to simple input-output specification. In this article we introduce a chemical perceptron, the first full-featured implementation of a perceptron in an artificial (simulated) chemistry. A perceptron is the simplest system capable of learning, inspired by the functioning of a biological neuron. Our artificial chemistry is deterministic and discrete-time, and follows Michaelis-Menten kinetics. We present two models, the weight-loop perceptron and the weight-race perceptron, which represent two possible strategies for a chemical implementation of linear integration and …

Modules And Dialects As Objects In Grace, Michael Homer, James Noble, Kim B. Bruce, Andrew P. Black

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Grace is a gradually typed, object-oriented language for use in education; consonant with that use, we have tried to keep Grace as simple and straightforward as possible. Grace needs a module system for several reasons: to teach students about modular program design, to organise large programs, especially its self-hosted implementation, to provide access to resources defined in other languages, and to support different “dialects”—language subsets, or domain specific languages, for particular parts of the curriculum. Grace already has several organising constructs; this paper describes how Grace uses two of them, objects and lexical scope, to provide modules and dialects.

On The Role Of Shape Prototypes In Hierarchical Models Of Vision, Michael David Thomure, Melanie Mitchell, Garrett T. Kenyon

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

We investigate the role of learned shape-prototypes in an influential family of hierarchical neural-network models of vision. Central to these networks’ design is a dictionary of learned shapes, which are meant to respond to discriminative visual patterns in the input. While higher-level features based on such learned prototypes have been cited as key for viewpointinvariant object-recognition in these models [1], [2], we show that high performance on invariant object-recognition tasks can be obtained by using a simple set of unlearned, “shape-free” features. This behavior is robust to the size of the network. These results call into question the roles of …

Taming The Metadata Mess, Veronika Margaret Megler

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

The rapid growth of scientific data shows no sign of abating. This growth has led to a new problem: with so much scientific data at hand, stored in thousands of datasets, how can scientists find the datasets most relevant to their research interests? We have addressed this problem by adapting Information Retrieval techniques, developed for searching text documents, into the world of (primarily numeric) scientific data. We propose an approach that uses a blend of automated and “semi-curated” methods to extract metadata from large archives of scientific data, then evaluates ranked searches over this metadata. We describe a challenge identified …

Interpreting Individual Classifications Of Hierarchical Networks, Will Landecker, Michael David Thomure, Luis M.A. Bettencourt, Melanie Mitchell, Garrett T. Kenyon, Steven P. Brumby

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Hierarchical networks are known to achieve high classification accuracy on difficult machine-learning tasks. For many applications, a clear explanation of why the data was classified a certain way is just as important as the classification itself. However, the complexity of hierarchical networks makes them ill-suited for existing explanation methods. We propose a new method, contribution propagation, that gives per-instance explanations of a trained network's classifications. We give theoretical foundations for the proposed method, and evaluate its correctness empirically. Finally, we use the resulting explanations to reveal unexpected behavior of networks that achieve high accuracy on visual object-recognition tasks using well-known …

Daily Temperature Fluctuations Unpredictably Influence Developmental Rate And Morphology At A Critical Early Larval Stage In A Frog, Juliana M. Arrighi, Ezra S. Lencer, Advait Jukar, Daesik Park, Patrick C. Phillips, Robert H. Kaplan

Systems Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background: Environmental temperature has profound consequences for early amphibian development and many field and laboratory studies have examined this. Most laboratory studies that have characterized the influence of temperature on development in amphibians have failed to incorporate the realities of diel temperature fluctuations (DTF), which can be considerable for pond-breeding amphibians.

Results: We evaluated the effects of different ecologically relevant ranges of DTF compared with effects of constant temperatures on development of embryos and larvae of the Korean fire-bellied toad (Bombina orientalis). We constructed thermal reaction norms for developmental stage, snout- vent length, and tail length by fitting …

The Relationship Between Traffic Signals And Pedestrian, Bicyclist And Transit User Exposure In Urban Areas, Courtney Natasha Slavin

Dissertations and Theses

Improving the efficiency of traffic operations along arterials is currently a priority for many agencies as their roadway infrastructure is built out to the largest possible capacity within the urban environment. Many advanced systems are being implemented to optimize traffic signal timing. Air quality is typically not a consideration when these decisions are made. The relationship between exposure to air pollution and traffic signal timing has not been fully explored by other researchers. This study is the first research effort to combine detailed traffic signal timing data (at 5 second intervals) and air pollutant exposure data. Results show that longer …

Black And Blue: Police-Community Relations In Portland's Albina District, 1964-1985, Leanne Claire Serbulo, Karen J. Gibson

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

As in many cities across America, the relationship between African Americans in Portland, Oregon, and the city police force was fraught with tension through the late twentieth century. Scholars Leanne Serbulo and Karen Gibson argue that Portland's African Americans, who collectively made up less than ten percent of Portland residents and were segregated into neighborhoods including the Albina district, experienced police as figures of colonial oppression. The authors chronicle how, over two decades bordered by African Americans' deaths at the hands of police, neighborhood activists attempted to reform the police department and met resistance. The authors conclude that transformation of …

Making Accessibility Analyses Accessible: A Tool To Facilitate The Public Review Of The Effects Of Regional Transportation Plans On Accessibility, Aaron Golub, Glenn Robinson, Brendan Nee

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

The regional transportation planning process in the United States has not been easily opened to public oversight even after strengthened requirements for public participation and civil rights considerations. In the effort to improve the public review of regional transportation plans, this paper describes the construction of a proof-of concept web-based tool designed to analyze the effects of regional transportation plans on accessibility to jobs and other essential destinations. The tool allows the user to analyze disparities in accessibility outcomes by demographic group, specifically income and race, as required by civil rights-related planning directives. The tool makes cumulative-opportunity measures of the …

Sex Differences In The Medical Care Of Va Patients With Chronic Non-Cancer Pain, Melissa B. Weimer, Tara Macey, Christina Nicolaidis, Steven K. Dobscha, Jonathan P. Duckart, Benjamin J. Morasco

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Objective

Despite a growing number of women seeking medical care in the veterans affairs (VA) system, little is known about the characteristics of their chronic pain or the pain care they receive. This study sought to determine if sex differences are present in the medical care veterans received for chronic pain.

Design

Retrospective cohort study using VA administrative data.

Subjects

The subjects were 17,583 veteran patients with moderate to severe chronic non-cancer pain treated in the Pacific Northwest during 2008.

Methods

Multivariate logistic regression assessed for sex differences in primary care utilization, prescription of chronic opioid therapy, visits to emergency …

The African Immigrant And Refugee Community In Multnomah County: An Unsettling Profile, Ann Curry-Stevens, Coalition Of Communities Of Color

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Since 1975, African immigrants, refugees and secondary migrants have been relocating to Multnomah County and now represent the fourth largest immigrant community after Latino, Asian, and Slavic immigrants. The African community here is incredibly diverse in its make-up, with over 28 different African countries and numerous ethnic groups represented. Estimates from 2003 suggest that African immigrants make up 2% of the foreign-born population in the Portland Metro (tri-county) area. Nearly half (45%) of the tri-county area’s African foreign-born population is from eastern Africa, including Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Other countries of origin include Sudan, Sierra …

Motivating Men Who Have Sex With Men To Get Tested For Hiv Through The Internet And Mobile Phones: A Qualitative Study, Magaly M. Blas, Luis A. Menacho, Isaac E. Alva, Robinson Cabello, Edwin Roberto Orellana

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background: Men who have sex with men (MSM) have the highest HIV prevalence in Peru, yet they are underserved by traditional preventive programs. In Peru, the Internet and mobile phones have emerged as an effective and convenient tool to reach this population.

Methods and Findings: From October 2010 to February 2011, we conducted eight focus groups with gay identified MSM (closeted and out-of-the-closet) and with self-identified heterosexual MSM in order to identify key features and preferences to be used to tailor culturally-appropriate messages that could be delivered through Internet and mobile phones to motivate MSM to get tested …

Short Text Messages To Motivate Hiv Testing Among Men Who Have Sex With Men: A Qualitative Study In Lima, Peru, Luis A. Menacho, Magaly M. Blas, Isaac E. Alva, Edwin Roberto Orellana

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Objective: The objective of this study is to identify features and content that short message service (SMS) should have in order to motivate HIV testing among men who have sex with men (MSM) in Lima, Peru.

Methods: From October, 2010 to February, 2011, we conducted focus groups at two stages; six focus groups were conducted to explore and identify SMS content and features and two additional focus groups were conducted to tailor SMS content. The text messages were elaborated within the theoretical framework of the Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills model and the Social Support Theory.

Results: A total of …

Effective Single-Parent Training Group Program: Three System Studies, Harold E. Briggs, Keva M. Miller, Edwin Roberto Orellana, Adam C. Briggs, Wendell H. Cox

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Objective: This study highlights Dr. Elsie Pinkston and colleagues’ research on the effectiveness of behavior parent training and examines the application of single-parent training group (SPG) programs to three parent–child dyads exposed to distressed family circumstances. Methods: Single-system evaluation designs were conducted with two single birth parents, one single foster parent, and each parent’s three respective children, in an effort to appraise the results of a SPG program.

Results: Two of the three parent–child dyads benefited from the SPG. Results suggested that there were changes in parent reinforcement and attention behaviors and children’s noncompliance behaviors.

Conclusion: Behavioral improvements in …

Policies To Eliminate Racial Disparities In Education: A Literature Review, Ann Curry-Stevens, Analucia Lopezrevoredo, Dana Peters

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

In response to an increasing need to understand the reach of the literature and the research undertaken on initiatives to eliminate racial disparities, a literature review was initiated in 2012 for the Eliminating Racial Disparities Collaborative within the All Hands Raised initiative to improve academic outcomes for students in Multnomah County. This was an expansive undertaking – and at the end, we have drawn upon about 160 different articles, some of which were meta-analyses of an array of publications in a particular field.

The first section in this report is a summary document that details each policy-based recommendation in this …

Pathways To Positive Futures: State-Of-The-Science Conference Proceedings, Janet Walker, Kris Gowen, Pauline Jivanjee, Celeste Laurana Moser, Claudia Sellmaier, Nancy Koroloff, Eileen Brennan

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Over the last decade, evidence has mounted showing that young people with serious mental health conditions experience a variety of challenges as they mature into adulthood. On average, their educational, economic and vocational outcomes are distinctly worse than their peers’, and they are more likely to experience homelessness, to struggle with substance use, and to be involved with corrections systems. In 2009, researchers at the Regional Research Institute at Portland State University applied for and received a grant from the National Institute for Disability Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR, US Department of Education) and the Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS, US …

Implementing The Peer Support Specialist Role: Youth Peer Support In Wraparound, Research And Training Center For Pathways To Positive Futures, Youth And Family Training Institute

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This information brief provides an example of how one state has implemented and supported the Peer Support Specialist role for youth with serious mental health conditions. The brief covers aspects of training, coaching, supervision, role definition and financing; and describes a series of challenges and solutions.