Digital Commons Network^™

Expect (And Collect) A Response From Everyone In The Classroom, Karen Bronshteyn

Communications in Information Literacy

A positive and descriptive book review of Derek Bruff's 2009 book Teaching with Classroom Response Systems: Creating Active Learning Environments.

Source Evaluation And Information Literacy: Findings From A Study On Science Websites, Nora J. Bird, Claire R. Mcinerney, Stewart Mohr

Communications in Information Literacy

An essential component of information literacy is the evaluation of information resources. Integral to evaluation are users' judgments about which Web sources might prove reliable when learning about a particular topic and the ones that they would choose for short term and long term use. Past Website quality studies have used research methods that involved asking participants to recall quality factors without the benefit of concurrent Web searching. Users in this study evaluated Websites during live searching on the “open”or unrestricted Web in a quasi-experimental protocol to determine the quality factors they valued and how these factors relate to gaining …

"Clicking" With Your Audience: Evaluating The Use Of Personal Response Systems In Library Instruction, Emily K. Chan, Lorrie A. Knight

Communications in Information Literacy

University of the Pacific librarians used personal response systems (PRS) or clickers in first-year mandatory library instructional sessions to assess their effects on student engagement and retention of learning outcomes. Students who utilized clickers during their library session reported greater enjoyment and encouragement to participate (n=291). Students in the sessions not utilizing the clickers achieved better learning outcomes than their counterparts who utilized clickers (n=326). The implications of these results are discussed, specifically within the context of pedagogy and tailoring instruction to the Millennial generation.

Information Literacy, Collaboration, And Teacher Education, Cindy Kovalik, Mary Lee Jensen, Barbara Schloman, Mary Tipton

Communications in Information Literacy

Information literacy is a critical component of a 21st century education. Teacher educators are confronted with teaching about information literacy on two levels: Not only do pre-service teachers need to become proficient in IL skills for their own success, they also need to learn how to teach their future students to become information literate (Branch, 2003; Carr, 1998; Hinchcliffe, 2003). In an effort to determine the extent to which teacher education programs incorporate information literacy instruction, researchers at a large Midwestern university conducted a survey of teacher education faculty in selected states. The survey sought to gather data related to …

Faculty Senate Monthly Packet March 2011, Portland State University Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Monthly Packets

The March 2011 Monthly packet includes the March agenda and appendices and the Faculty Senate minutes and attachments from the meeting held February 2011.

Interview With Jane Pellicciotto, Allegro Design, 2011 (Audio), Jane Pellicciotto

All Sustainability History Project Oral Histories

Interview of Jane Pellicciotto by Nigel Peltier on March 7th, 2011.

The interview index is available for download.

Modal Logic And Its Applications, Explained Using Puzzles And Examples, Marek Perkowski

Systems Science Friday Noon Seminar Series

The talk introduces Modal Logic as an extension of classical propositional and First Order Logics. We discuss motivations of Lewis to create modal logic system, axioms and rules of proof. Several examples illustrate deriving theorems from axioms. "Muddy Children" puzzle is used to explain the principles of dealing with uncertainty problems where a temporal lack of response is used as additional information. Other examples include "Narrow Bridge" problem/game which relates to the problem of necessary evil in the world, robot planning and law and robot morality problems, especially related to military robots and use of force by police. Kripke semantics …

Modal Logic And Its Applications, Explained Using Puzzles And Examples, Marek Perkowski

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

1.We shall be concerned, at first, with alethicmodal logic, or modal logic tout court. 2.The starting point, once again, is Aristotle, who was the first to study the relationship between modal statements and their validity. 3.However, the great discussion it enjoyed in the Middle Ages. 4.The official birth date of modal logic is 1921, when Clarence Irving Lewis wrote a famous essay on implication.

Interview With Corinna Kimball-Brown, Portland Collective Housing, 2011 (Audio), Corinna Kimball-Brown

All Sustainability History Project Oral Histories

Interview of Corinna Kimball-Brown by Chris White at Portland State University, Oregon on March 3rd, 2011.

The interview index is available for download.

Exploring Technology Acceptance For Mobile Services, Kenny Phan, Tugrul Unsal Daim

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

Purpose: Mobile phone industries are no longer relying on voice services. It is predicted that data services are expected to be a remediation for the declining of average revenue per user (ARPU) in telecommunication market. The purpose of this paper is to find the factors that influence the acceptance/adoption of mobile services.

Design/methodology/approach: This paper utilizes quantitative method. Questionnaire were distributed to collect the data. The questionnaires are designed specifically to address the factors related to mobile services. Later on, this paper uses Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) and Cluster analysis to identify the factors that influence the adoption of mobile …

Wireless Data Collection System For Real-Time Arterial Travel Time Estimates, David S. Kim, J. David Porter, Mario E. Magana, Sejoon Park, Amirali Saeedi

TREC Final Reports

This project pursued several objectives conducive to the implementation and testing of a Bluetooth (BT) based system to collect travel time data, including the deployment of a BT-based travel time data collection system to perform comprehensive testing on all the components. Two different BT-based travel time data collection systems were installed. The first system, composed of two DCUs, was installed on a corridor located in Salem, OR. Extensive testing was done on this system, including the collection of travel time samples. A second system composed of five DCUs was installed along 99W in the city of Tigard, OR. Very limited …

"Justice Is Blind": A Model For Analyzing Metaphor Transformations And Narratives In Actual Discourse, L. David Ritchie

Communication Faculty Publications and Presentations

In this article I present a model of how metaphors are transformed and re-presented as narratives, how this process helps shape communicative interactions, and how it contributes to relevance effects and the generation of meaning, often by simultaneously affecting multiple cognitive contexts. I demonstrate the application of the model to samples of discourse from current research and show how it can contribute to understanding troubled communicative relationships and potentially to improving communication in situations of misunderstanding and conflict.

Generalized Construction Of Scalable Concurrent Data Structures Via Relativistic Programming, Josh Triplett, Paul E. Mckenney, Philip W. Howard, Jonathan Walpole

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

We present relativistic programming, a concurrent programming model based on shared addressing, which supports efficient, scalable operation on either uniform shared-memory or distributed shared- memory systems. Relativistic programming provides a strong causal ordering property, allowing a series of read operations to appear as an atomic transaction that occurs entirely between two ordered write operations. This preserves the simple immutable-memory programming model available via mutual exclusion or transactional memory. Furthermore, relativistic programming provides joint-access parallelism, allowing readers to run concurrently with a writer on the same data. We demonstrate a generalized construction technique for concurrent data structures based on relativistic programming, …

Former Soviet Bloc Locales In Africa's Illicit Arms Trade Network, David Todd Kinsella

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Small arms and light weapons are the primary cause of death in the violent conflicts raging today, but the small arms trade is difficult to track, and the illicit trade in small arms is doubly so. Nevertheless, information is available and research institutes like the Small Arms Survey and the Norwegian Initiative on Small Arms Transfers are at the forefront of efforts to collect and distribute this information. This paper focuses on the illicit arms trade and draws on a database I am developing, the Illicit Arms Transfer Database, which systematizes information contained in journalistic reports on illicit small arms …

Impact Of The Cyprus Problem On Cfsp And Regional Power Transition In Europe, Birol A. Yeşilada

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Mathematicians posited that a “butterfly effect”might be present in complex interactions. Relationships between Power Transition in Europe, the future of European Union’s (EU) Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), and protracted Cyprus conflict are examples of this phenomenon. On the one hand, findings from Power Transition analysis indicate significant shift in global and regional hierarchies where the EU is expected to fall behind its global competitions –namely China, the United States, and India (Tammen et al, 2000; Yesilada, Efird, and Noordijk 2006). On the other hand, closer this “rising threat of China” can be postponed by a deeper degree of …

Overlooked Density: Re-Thinking Transportation Options In Suburbia, Phase Ii, Nico Larco

TREC Final Reports

Comprising over 9 million units in this country, suburban multifamily housing is a widespread and overlooked example of density located within walking distance to commercial development in suburbia. This report focuses on resident demographics, attitudes, and perceptions as they relate to mode choice in 14 suburban multifamily sites in Eugene, Oregon. Through site analysis and resident surveys, our study shows that site design and connectivity is a significant predictor of resident mode choice. Residents of more-connected developments walk and bike to their local commercial area for more than 40% of their trips, nearly twice the rate of residents of less-connected …

Teaching For Transformation: (Re)Designing Sustainability Courses Based On Ecological Principles, Heather Burns

Educational Leadership and Policy Faculty Publications and Presentations

If educators are to effectively prepare learners with the knowledge, skills, and values they will need for creating more sustainable places and communities, a transition must be made from transmissive teaching models to transformative learning processes. But how can courses be designed or redesigned so that they create opportunities for transformational sustainability learning, and how can ecological principles guide this process? The Burns model of sustainability pedagogy provides a practical model for course design that is rooted in ecological principles. The Burns model is comprised of five key dimensions: (1)Content; (2)Perspectives; (3)Process; (4)Context; and (5)Design and seeks to: (1) increase …

Living Soil And Sustainability Education: Linking Pedagogy And Pedology, Dilafruz R. Williams, Jonathan D. Brown

Educational Leadership and Policy Faculty Publications and Presentations

Sustainability is now permeating educational institutions. Yet the emerging discourse on sustainability education is in many ways caught in a modern web of theoretical, ontological, and epistemological assumptions that are incongruent with sustainability. We introduce an ecologically grounded metaphoric language rooted in living soil as an alternative regenerative framework for linking sustainability pedagogy with pedology (the study of soil). Five principles that guide this relationship are presented: valuing biocultural diversity, sensitizing our senses, recognizing place, cultivating interconnection, and embracing practical experience. Nurtured within an environment of curiosity, wonder, and questioning, and set to the rhythm and scale of localized ecologies, …

Interview With Jim Middaugh, Metro, 2011 (Audio), Jim Middaugh

All Sustainability History Project Oral Histories

Interview of Jim Middaugh by Teddy Messan on February 25th, 2011.

The interview index is available for download.

Video Killed The Reference Desk, Nyssa Walsh

Online Northwest

Viral videos have become a huge part of our culture. More and more information is being communicated in video format, so much so that YouTube has become the second most common search engine after Google. You can search for videos on how to change your oil, fix a buttonhole or fold origami. Libraries can take advantage of this move in popular culture by developing video tutorials for their patrons. These tutorials can be on anything that patrons need to know about libraries: from to use databases to reading call numbers. Many libraries have already taken on this idea and have …

Sushi Chef, Mike Flakus

Online Northwest

While many electronic resource platform vendors are COUNTER compliant, very few are SUSHI compliant. How can these COUNTER reports from nonSUSHI vendors be downloaded automatically? SUSHI Chef is a comprehensive solution for collecting and analyzing COUNTER usage data from various platform vendors. At Portland State University, we currently use SUSHI Chef to automatically download and analyze COUNTER usage reports from 34 of our largest vendors. Our goal is to share this application with other libraries, so they can simplify the process of collecting usage reports from various vendors. In addition, SUSHI Chef compiles and analyzes this usage data and creates …

Library As Place: Online, Andy Peterson

Online Northwest

Libraries are more than organized collections of materials. We frequently promote ourselves as gathering places and community spaces that facilitate the creation of knowledge. Viking Village takes this concept online, creating a place where students, faculty, and staff can share and discuss information, ideas, books, and events, share their creative work, and more. Viking Village receives more traffic than the Library's website and is frequented by thousands of students, staff, and faculty. Western's budget office uses the site heavily to foster transparency and dialogue about difficult budget decisions. In addition, the site supports direct questions to the Library and other …

“Productization” As A Means To Marketing Library Services, Sharon Lawler, Jessica Hastings

Online Northwest

Many libraries are challenged to market their services. Standardizing deliverables in order to create products and marketing these products as examples of library services can be hugely beneficial in increasing awareness, understanding, and use of library services. “Productization” can also have advantages for librarians in managing time, staff, and budgets. This presentation will provide a framework for developing products that address critical user needs and can be replicated, scaled, and adapted. With examples of products created by librarians at Waggener Edstrom Worldwide, a communications agency, attendees will learn how defined deliverables can make it easier for populations served to understand …

Current Dams In 3d: Access, Storage, And Preservation, Joanna Burgess, Karen Estlund

Online Northwest

The digital asset management systems (DAMS) landscape is rapidly evolving, and many new products have become available in the past few years. DAMS tend to vary widely in terms of scope, technical specifications, functionality, usability, and price point – so DAMS evaluations can be somewhat complex. The Orbis Cascade Alliance appointed a Digital Services Team to evaluate DAMS and consider offering an affordable digital repository platform for members. DAMS can fulfill a range of needs. Typical goals for libraries and archives include enabling access to digital content and providing short or long-term storage for digital objects and data. More recently, …

Undergrads And Image Searching: What Are They Doing? What Do They Need? Where Do We Fit?, Laurie Bridges, Tiah Edmunson-Morton

Online Northwest

As librarians and archivists in higher education, it is both our charge and our challenge to meet and teach students wherever they are in their research journeys. A key component of this quest is gaining and refining the skills that make them "information literate." Information literacy, as defined by the American Library Association, is the ability to "recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information." However, "information" is not limited to textual documents; increasingly, students across disciplines are using images in for their coursework. Unfortunately, visual and image literacy skills …

Faculty Senate Monthly Packet February 2011, Portland State University Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Monthly Packets

The February 2011 Monthly packet includes the February agenda and appendices and the Faculty Senate minutes and attachments from the meeting held January 2011

A Study Of Riders' Noise Exposure On Bay Area Rapid Transit Trains, Alexis Dinno, Cynthia Powell, Margaret Mary King

Community Health Faculty Publications and Presentations

Excessive noise exposure may present a hazard to hearing, cardiovascular and psychosomatic health. Mass transit systems, such as the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system, are potential sources of excessive noise. The purpose of this study was to characterize transit noise and riders' exposure to noise on the BART system using three dosimetry metrics. We made 268 dosimetry measurements on a convenience sample of 51 line segments. Dosimetry measures were modeled using linear and non-linear multiple regression as functions of average velocity, tunnel enclosure, flooring, and wet weather conditions, and presented visually on a map of the BART system. This …

Struggling To Juggle: Part-Time Temporary Work In Libraries, Emily Ford

Library Faculty and Staff Publications and Presentations

The article presents the author's view on the benefits and disadvantages of a part-time temporary work in libraries. She states that the advantages include flexibility, gaining experience, and staying in a local area which is advantageous for those who have children. Also, working in more than one library helps one to develop professional relationships with coworkers. Meanwhile, its disadvantages include commuting, exclusion from the work environment, and not being paid on health benefits.

A Comparison Of Relativistic And Reader-Writer Locking Approaches To Shared Data Access, Philip William Howard, Josh Triplett, Jonathan Walpole

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper explores the relationship between reader-writer locking and relativistic programming approaches to managing accesses to shared data. It demonstrates that by placing certain restrictions on writers, relativistic programming allows more concurrency than reader-writer locking while still providing the same isolation guarantees. Relativistic programming also allows for a straightforward model for reasoning about the correctness of programs that allow concurrent read-write accesses.

Development Of An Open Source Bridge Management System, Michael H. Scott

TREC Final Reports

A bridge management system is developed using the Tcl scripting language in conjunction with the OpenSees finite element software framework. Fully programmable and string-based, Tcl is ideal for implementing live load analysis through scripts and experimenting with emergent bridge rating methodologies. Since Tcl is an interpreted language, the application also has the important advantage that new bridge capacity models and rating factor calculations can be implemented on multiple platforms without compiling source code. The network programming features of Tcl give the system access to databases for conducting internet-based bridge rating. The system is demonstrated for rating a conventionally reinforced concrete …