Digital Commons Network^™

Methods For Estimating Vehicle Fuel Consumption In Urban Road Networks Using Geographical Attributes, Ryan G. Conrad

Civil and Environmental Engineering Master's Project Reports

This paper presents statistical techniques for estimating vehicle fuel consumption in urban road networks based on vehicle and geographical factors. A routing algorithm utilizing mapping data from OpenStreetMap and elevation data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission is presented and used to generate paths that minimize vehicle fuel consumption. The concept of a fuel consumption estimating function is proposed as an extension of the well-known distance-estimating functions that are widely used in logistics planning and research.

Statistical models are developed that estimate fuel consumption in three tested urban areas with vehicle weight, elevation and regional travel speed characteristics being the …

Preliminary Results Of Bayesian Networks And Reconstructability Analysis Applied To The Electric Grid, Marcus Harris, Martin Zwick

Complex Systems Faculty Publications and Presentations

Reconstructability Analysis (RA) is an analytical approach developed in the systems community that combines graph theory and information theory. Graph theory provides the structure of relations (model of the data) between variables and information theory characterizes the strength and the nature of the relations. RA has three primary approaches to model data: variable based (VB) models without loops (acyclic graphs), VB models with loops (cyclic graphs) and state-based models (nearly always cyclic, individual states specifying model constraints). These models can either be directed or neutral. Directed models focus on a single response variable whereas neutral models focus on all relations …

Lateral Deformation Behavior Of Mass Timber Beam To Column Gravity Connection, Tyler James Williams

Civil and Environmental Engineering Master's Project Reports

A beam-to-column connection consisting of glulam beam and column and cross laminated timber floor slab was developed and experimentally evaluated for use in buildings that are expected to undergo earthquake-­­induced lateral drift. The connection utilized a passive gap closure mechanism designed to allow beam rotations during lateral drift while minimizing residual separation between the beam and the column following an earthquake. Full scale cyclic experiments were used to validate the connection’s minimal rotational stiffness and demonstrate low damage performance for lateral drifts exceeding 4.5% drift. The connection exhibited no degradation in gravity load capacity throughout the imposed lateral deformations. An …

Triacetin Enhances Levels Of Acrolein, Formaldehyde Hemiacetals, And Acetaldehyde In Electronic Cigarette Aerosols, Shawna Vreeke, David H. Peyton, Robert Strongin

Chemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

The health effects of inhaled electronic cigarette (ecigarette) flavoring compounds are largely unknown. Earlier reports of their chemical reactivity have been conflicting, with some claiming, for example, that the degradation of flavoring chemicals in e-cigarettes to aldehydes is statistically insignificant. It is thus important to understand how these molecules react to afford enhanced aerosol products. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the origin of formaldehyde, acrolein, and acetaldehyde in e-cigarettes that contain the popular additive, triacetin (TA). By using 13C labeling and a combination of 1H NMR and 13C NMR, we were able to identify that ester …

Growing Wisely In Vancouver, Washington: An Interview With Mayor Anne Mcenerny-Ogle, Elizabeth Morehead

Metroscape

In November 2017, Anne McEnerny-Ogle was elected to a four-year term as Mayor of Vancouver, Washington. Anne served on City Council from January 2014 through December 2017. She was also Vancouver's Mayor Pro Tem from January 2016 through December 2017. Anne earned a bachelor's degree in education from Southern Oregon State College and a master's degree in education from Lewis and Clark College. Anne retired after teaching thirty years in Lake Oswego Public Schools and serving as the chair of the mathematics department. During this time, she was a consultant to numerous school districts in Washington and Oregon, presented her …

Water Flow And Biofilm Cover Influence Environmental Dna Detection In Recirculating Streams, Arial Shogren, Jennifer L. Tank, Scott P. Egan, Olivia August, Emma J. Rosi, Brittany R. Hanrahan, Mark A. Renshaw, Crysta A. Gantz, Diogo Bolster

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

The increasing use of environmental DNA (eDNA) for determination of species presence in aquatic ecosystems is an invaluable technique for both ecology as a field and for the management of aquatic ecosystems. We examined the degradation dynamics of fish eDNA using an experimental array of recirculating streams, also using a “nested” primer assay to estimate degradation among eDNA fragment sizes. We introduced eDNA into streams with a range of water velocities (0.1–0.8 m s–1) and substrate biofilm coverage (0–100%) and monitored eDNA concentrations over time (∼10 d) to assess how biophysical conditions influence eDNA persistence. We found that the presence …

Using Transboundary Wildfire Exposure Assessments To Improve Fire Management Programs: A Case Study In Greece, Palaiologos Palaiologou, Alan A. Ager, Max Nielsen-Pincus, Cody Evers, Kostas Kalabokidis

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Numerous catastrophic wildfires in Greece have demonstrated that relying on fire suppression as the primary risk-management strategy is inadequate and that existing wildfire-risk governance needs to be re-examined. In this research, we used simulation modelling to assess the spatial scale of wildfire exposure to communities and cultural monuments in Chalkidiki, Greece. The study area typifies many areas in Greece in terms of fire regimes, ownership patterns and fire-risk mitigation. Fire-transmission networks were built to quantify connectivity among land tenures and populated places. We found that agricultural and unmanaged wildlands are key land categories that transmit fire exposure to other land …

Effects Of Substrate Depth And Precipitation Characteristics On Stormwater Retention By Two Green Roofs In Portland Or, Isaac Schultz, David Sailor, Olyssa Starry

University Honors College Faculty Publication and Presentations

Study Region: This study took place in Portland Oregon, a city of over 600,000 residents located in the Willamette Valley in the state of Oregon in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Portland experiences a temperate climate with Mediterranean features. Study Focus: Runoff patterns from two extensive green roofs with substrate depths of 75 and 125 mm, situated on a 5000 square meter retail store, were compared over a one year period. Precipitation, irrigation, and storm water discharge were continuously monitored and the performance of the green roofs for storm water control was investigated in detail. New Hydrological …

The Silencing Power Of Algorithms: How The Facebook News Feed Algorithm Manipulates Users' Perceptions Of Opinion Climates, Callie Jessica Morgan

University Honors Theses

This extended literature review investigates how the architecture and features of the Facebook Newsfeed algorithm, EdgeRank, can inhibit and facilitate the expression of political opinions. This paper will investigate how Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann's theory on public opinion, Spiral of Silence, can be used to assess the Facebook news feed as a political opinion source that actively shapes users' perceptions of minority and majority opinion climates. The feedback loops created by the algorithm's criteria influences users' decisions to self-censor or express their political opinions with interpersonal connections and unfamiliar connections on the site.

Waste Stream And Green Purchasing Analysis At Bonneville Lock And Dam, Alexander Bienko

Environmental Science and Management Professional Master's Project Reports

The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Portland District, has jurisdiction on three locks and four dams in the Columbia River basin. These sites "contribute to a water resource management system that provides flood risk management, power generation, water quality improvement, fish and wildlife habitat and recreation on the Columbia River and some of its tributaries". The Bonneville Lock and Dam (Bonneville Project) site lies on the Columbia River approximately 40 miles east from Portland, Oregon. Portions of the site have been declared a National Historic Landmark, from its origins in President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal program from …

Nadaka 2023 Management Plan, Andrea Hurzeler

Environmental Science and Management Professional Master's Project Reports

Nadaka 2023 is a management plan written for Nadaka Nature Park that aims to assess current conditions, define desired future conditions, and make recommendations to achieve those desired future conditions. Nadaka Nature Park is a publically owned nature area and park space located in the Wilkes East Neighborhood and bordering the Rockwood Neighborhood of Gresham, Oregon. Originally owned by the Camp Fire Organization, Nadaka was purchased in 1995 by the City of Gresham and opened to the public in 2001. Making up Nadaka is a 10 acre nature area and a 2 acre park space. The nature area consists of …

Evaluating And Enhancing Public Transit Systems For Operational Efficiency And Access Equity, Ran Wei, Aaron Golub, Liming Wang, Thomas Cova

TREC Final Reports

Assessing the performance of public transit services has long been an important yet challenging issue for transportation agencies and researchers. Transit service performance measurement reflects a very first step towards an efficient and proactive management, where public transit agencies are increasingly pressured to provide high-quality services in spite of constrained resources. However, the performance evaluation of transit services is complicated by an array of quantitative measures available to assess the goals and the diversity in the goals themselves, which usually include improving operational efficiency and providing equitable access. While much previous work has examined public transit services for achieving optimal …

Reorganizing School Lunch For A More Just And Sustainable Food System In The Us, Jennifer Gaddis, Amy K. Coplen

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

Public school lunch programs in the United States are contested political terrains shaped by government agencies, civil society activists, and agri-food companies. The particular organization of these programs has consequences for public health, social justice, and ecological sustainability. This contribution draws on political economy, critical food studies, and feminist economics to analyze the US National School Lunch Program, one of the world's oldest and largest government-sponsored school lunch programs. It makes visible the social and environmental costs of the "heat-and-serve" economy, where widely used metrics consider only the speed and volume of service as productive work. This study demonstrates that …

Beyond Spatial Autocorrelation: A Novel Approach Using Reconstructability Analysis, David Percy, Martin Zwick

Complex Systems Faculty Publications and Presentations

Raster data are digital representations of spatial phenomena that are organized into rows and columns that typically have the same dimensions in each direction. They are used to represent image data at any scale. Common raster data are medical images, satellite data, and photos generated by modern smartphones.
Satellites capture reflectance data in specific bands of wavelength that correspond to red, green, blue, and often some infrared and thermal bands. These composite vectors can then be classified into actual land use categories such as forest or water using automated techniques. These classifications are verified on the ground using hand-held sensors. …

Integrated Performance Measures: Transit Equity & Efficiency, Ran Wei, Aaron Golub, Liming Wang, Thomas Cova

TREC Project Briefs

Assessing the performance of public transit services has long been an important yet challenging issue for transportation agencies and researchers. Transit service performance measurement reflects a very first step towards an efficient and proactive management, where public transit agencies are increasingly pressured to provide high-quality services in spite of constrained resources. However, the performance evaluation of transit services is complicated by an array of quantitative measures available to assess the goals and the diversity in the goals themselves, which usually include improving operational efficiency and providing equitable access. While much previous work has examined public transit services for achieving optimal …

A 3d Model For Earthquake-Induced Liquefaction Triggering And Post-Liquefaction Response, Arash Khosravifar, Ahmed Elgamal, Jinchi Lu, John Li

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

A constitutive soil model that was originally developed to model liquefaction and cyclic mobility has been updated to comply with the established guidelines on the dependence of liquefaction triggering to the number of loading cycles, effective overburden stress (Kσ), and static shear stress (Kα). The model has been improved with new flow rules to better capture contraction and dilation in sands and has been implemented as PDMY03 in different computational platforms such as OpenSees finite-element, and FLAC and FLAC3D finite-difference frameworks. This paper presents the new modified framework of analysis and describes a guideline to calibrate the input parameters of …

Prediction Of Children's Early Academic Adjustment From Their Temperament: The Moderating Role Of Peer Temperament, Sarah K. Johns, Carlos Valiente, Nancy Eisenberg, Tracy L. Spinrad, Maciel M. Hernández, Jody Southworth, Rebecca H. Berger, Marilyn Thompson, Kassondra M. Silva, Armando A. Pina

Psychology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The goal of the study was to examine whether target children’s temperamental negative emotional expressivity (NEE) and effortful control in the fall of kindergarten predicted academic adjustment in the spring and whether a classmate’s NEE and effortful control moderated these relations. Target children’s NEE and effortful control were measured in the fall via multiple methods, academic adjustment was measured via reading and math standardized tests in the spring, and observations of engagement in the classroom were conducted throughout the year. In the fall, teachers nominated a peer with whom each target child spent the most time and rated that peer’s …

Steady States And Transport Processes In Urban Ozone Balances, M. A. K. Khalil

Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Core chemical theory is combined with transport processes and local emissions to study the validity of commonly made assumptions regarding steady states to interpret urban and regional ozone data. It is shown that photo-stationary states of NO and NO2 cannot exist in urban areas or polluted regions in addition to the lack of such a state for ozone. Calculations in published papers, which make the assumption of a photo-stationary state for NO and NO2, or ozone, are likely to be inaccurate by unacceptable amounts. The Leighton Ratio is re-interpreted to show how it incorporates both the peroxy radical and transport …

Flip-Chip (Fc) And Fine-Pitch-Ball-Grid-Array (Fpbga) Underfills For Application In Aerospace Electronics—Brief Review, Ephraim Suhir, Reza Ghaffarian

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

In this review, some major aspects of the current underfill technologies for flip-chip (FC) and fine-pitch-ball-grid-array (FPBGA), including chip-size packaging (CSP), are addressed, with an emphasis on applications, such as aerospace electronics, for which high reliability level is imperative. The following aspects of the FC and FPGGA technologies are considered: attributes of the FC and FPBGA structures and technologies; underfill-induced stresses; the roles of the glass transition temperature (T_g) of the underfill materials; some major attributes of the lead-free solder systems with underfill; reliability-related issues; thermal fatigue of the underfilled solder joints; warpage-related issues; attributes of accelerated life …

A Cyber-Physical System Framework For Early Detection Of Paroxysmal Diseases, Zuxing Gu, Yu Jiang, Min Zhou, Xiaoyu Song, Lui Sha

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Paroxysmal diseases of inpatients are globally recognized as one of the top challenges in medicine. Poor clinical outcomes are primarily caused by delayed recognition, especially due to diverse clinical diagnostic criteria with complex manifestations, irregular episodes, and already overloaded clinical activities. With the proliferation of measuring devices and increased computational capabilities, cyber-physical characterization plays an increasingly important role in many domains to provide enabling technologies. This paper presents a cyber-physical system (CPS) framework to assist physicians in making earlier diagnoses of paroxysmal sympathetic hyperactivity based on existing medical knowledge. We propose a configurable diagnostic knowledge model to characterize clinical criteria …

Forest Collaborative Meeting Agenda, Gothenburg, Sweden, Environment For Development (Efd) Initiative

Forest Collaborative Research

Third Biannual Meeting of the Environment for Development (EfD) Forest Collaborative on June 25, 2018 at the School of Business, Economics and Law (SBEL) University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

The Two-Generation Classroom: Learning Together In The Gen Ed Core, Autumn Green

National Student Parent Success Symposium: Lifting Generations Together

This workshop presents a new approach to post-secondary pedagogy referred to as, The Two Generation Classroom. The Two-Generation Classroom offers curricula for the general education core that facilitate parent/child inter-generational learning. Using hybrid online/in-person strategies, and a learning-buddy approach to integrated arts teaching/learning activities, the Two-Generation Classroom approach aims to address and reduce inequity in college access and success for student parents, while ensuring academic excellence and rigor.

Dr. Autumn R. Green is Founding Director of the National Center for Student Parent Programs, and is currently transitioning from Endicott College to join Wellesley Centers for Women as a Visiting Scholar …

Topological Structures Influencing Kinetic Control In Small, Catalytically Closed, Rna Recombinase Systems Emerging From The Spontaneous Self-Organization Of Heterogeneous Fragments Of The Azoarcus Ribozyme, Sanjay Ramprasad

University Honors Theses

It is becoming increasingly evident that at some point, very early in the evolutionary history of terrestrial life, a nascent RNA based chemical system emerged and spontaneously self-organized into hierarchically complex network structures. Recently, it has been mathematically predicted that the architecture of this primitive, prebiotic RNA system (or something very similar) could plausibly provide both the infrastructure and the chemical mechanisms necessary to facilitate a transition to the DNA/protein based biochemical processes universally observed in contemporary biological systems. Complex systems give rise to emergent phenomena through the localized interactions of a large number of agents, at varying scales throughout …

Development Of A Direct Aqueous Synthetic Route For The Production Of Elemental Bismuth Nanoparticles, Colin Jon Hiatt

Dissertations and Theses

Bismuth nanoparticles (Bi NPs) for use as an X-ray contrast material have gained significant traction in recent years due to the high atomic number and generally accepted biological tolerance of bismuth. However, to be considered a viable candidate for use in this application, water solubility is a necessity, which poses a challenge, since bismuth tends to readily oxidize. For this reason, research into the direct aqueous synthesis of Bi NPs is still in its infancy and can be very difficult, as described in Chapter 1. The remaining chapters of the thesis describe the direct aqueous synthesis of Bi NPs starting …

Assessment Of Observational Uncertainty In Extreme Precipitation Over The Continental United States, Emily Anne Slinskey

Dissertations and Theses

An extreme precipitation categorization scheme, developed to temporally and spatially visualize and track the multi-scale variability of extreme precipitation climatology, is introduced over the continental United States and used as the basis for an observational dataset intercomparison. The categorization scheme groups three-day precipitation totals exceeding 100 mm into five precipitation categories, or "P-Cats". To assess observational uncertainty across a range of precipitation measurement approaches, we compare in situ station data from the Global Historical Climatology Network-Daily (GHCN-D), satellite derived data from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), gridded station data from the Parameter-elevation Regression on Independent Slopes Model (PRISM), global …

Bounding Box Improvement With Reinforcement Learning, Andrew Lewis Cleland

Dissertations and Theses

In this thesis, I explore a reinforcement learning technique for improving bounding box localizations of objects in images. The model takes as input a bounding box already known to overlap an object and aims to improve the fit of the box through a series of transformations that shift the location of the box by translation, or change its size or aspect ratio. Over the course of these actions, the model adapts to new information extracted from the image. This active localization approach contrasts with existing bounding-box regression methods, which extract information from the image only once. I implement, train, and …

An Exploration Of Linear Classifiers For Unsupervised Spiking Neural Networks With Event-Driven Data, Wesley Chavez

Dissertations and Theses

Object recognition in video has seen giant strides in accuracy improvements in the last few years, a testament to the computational capacity of deep convolutional neural networks. However, this computational capacity of software-based neural networks coincides with high power consumption compared to that of some spiking neural networks (SNNs), up to 300,000 times more energy per synaptic event in IBM's TrueNorth chip, for example. SNNs are also well-suited to exploit the precise timing of event-driven image sensors, which transmit asynchronous "events" only when the luminance of a pixel changes above or below a threshold value. The combination of event-based imagers …

Dark Current Rts-Noise In Silicon Image Sensors, Benjamin William Hendrickson

Dissertations and Theses

Random Telegraph Signal (RTS) noise is a random noise source defined by discrete and metastable changes in the magnitude of a signal. Though observed in a variety of physical processes, RTS is of particular interest to image sensor fabrication where progress in the suppression of other noise sources has elevated its noise contribution to the point of approaching the limiting noise source in scientific applications.

There have been two basic physical sources of RTS noise reported in image sensors. The first involves a charge trap in the oxide layer of the source follower in a CMOS image sensor. The capture …

Dual Immersion Leadership: A Case Study Of Three K-5 Principals Who Show Success With Emergent Bilinguals, Ivonne Karina Dibblee

Dissertations and Theses

In the past decade the number of dual language immersion programs in US public schools has grown to more than 2000. The benefits of dual language immersion for emergent bilinguals (EBs) have been confirmed by numerous studies. However, lacking from this literature is research which focuses on leadership within dual immersion schools. Despite an upsurge in the number of immersion schools, few studies examine the characteristics of effective immersion leaders. The aim of this study is to examine the leadership characteristics of principals leading K-5 dual language immersion programs who have increased student achievement among EBs.

The purpose of this …

Composition And Dispersal Dynamics Of Vegetation Communities In Urban Riparian Forests, Christa Von Behren

Dissertations and Theses

In urban riparian areas, vegetation composition may be affected by urban land use changes at both the stream reach and the watershed scale. Moreover, the mechanisms by which seeds disperse may be affected both by reduction in seed sources due to vegetation removal and by the urban stream syndrome that produces flashier hydrographs and incised channels. I hypothesized that vegetation communities with high cover of native and hydrophilic species would be found in watersheds with high forest cover, while more limited cover of these species would be found in highly developed watersheds. Additionally, to examine the dispersal mechanisms contributing to …