Digital Commons Network^™

Collecting Image Cropping Dataset: A Hybrid System Of Machine And Human Intelligence, Uyen T. Mai, Feng Liu

Student Research Symposium

Image cropping is a common tool that exists in almost any image editor, yet automatic cropping is still a difficult problem in Computer Vision. Since images nowadays can be easily collected through the web, machine learning is a promising approach to solve this problem. However, an image cropping dataset is not yet available and gathering such a large-scale dataset is a non-trivial task. Although a crowdsourcing website such as Mechanical Turk seems to be a solution to this task, image cropping is a sophisticated task that is vulnerable to unreliable annotation; furthermore, collecting a large-scale high-quality dataset through crowdsourcing is …

Identifying Relationships Between Scientific Datasets, Abdussalam Alawini

Dissertations and Theses

Scientific datasets associated with a research project can proliferate over time as a result of activities such as sharing datasets among collaborators, extending existing datasets with new measurements, and extracting subsets of data for analysis. As such datasets begin to accumulate, it becomes increasingly difficult for a scientist to keep track of their derivation history, which complicates data sharing, provenance tracking, and scientific reproducibility. Understanding what relationships exist between datasets can help scientists recall their original derivation history. For instance, if dataset A is contained in dataset B, then the connection between A and B could be that A was …

Dynamics Of Prebiotic Rna Reproduction Illuminated By Chemical Game Theory, Jessica Anne Mellor Yeates, Christian Hilbe, Martin Zwick, Martin. A. Nowak, Niles Lehman

Chemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

Many origins-of-life scenarios depict a situation in which there are common and potentially scarce resources needed by molecules that compete for survival and reproduction. The dynamics of RNA assembly in a complex mixture of sequences is a frequency-dependent process and mimics such scenarios. By synthesizing Azoarcus ribozyme genotypes that differ in their single-nucleotide interactions with other genotypes, we can create molecules that interact among each other to reproduce. Pairwise interplays between RNAs involve both cooperation and selfishness, quantifiable in a 2 × 2 payoff matrix. We show that a simple model of differential equations based on chemical kinetics accurately predicts …

Revisiting Critical Gis, Jim Thatcher, Luke Bergmann, Britta Ricker, Reuben Rose-Redwood, Daniel O'Sullivan, Trevor J. Barnes, Luke R. Barnesmoore, Laura Beltz Imaoka, Ryan Burns, Jonathan Cinnamon, Craig M. Dalton, Clinton Davis, Stuart Dunn, Francis Harvey, Jin-Kyu Jung, Elen Kersten, Ladona Knigge, Nick Lally, Wen Lin, Dillon Mahmoudi, Michael Martin, Will Payne, Amir Sheikh, Taylor Shelton, Eric Sheppard, Chris W. Strother, Alexander Tarr, Matthew W. Wilson, Jason C. Young

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

The article looks into the critical geographic information science (GIS) in approaching questions both emerging and enduring around the intersection of the spatial and the digital. It offers trading zones for discussion of issues, for building alliances and interrogating tensions, and for a constant dialectical process of critique and renewal. One tension running through critical GIS is the contradictory role it has played in addressing questions of social justice.

Factors Associated With Managerial Innovation In Public Human Service Organizations, Monica Perez Jolles, Bowen Mcbeath, Sarah Carnochan, Michael J. Austin

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Contextual changes affecting human service organizations have challenged human service managers to adapt through innovation. Yet no research has examined innovation along the spectrum of lower- to upper-level managers in public human service organizations. This study analyzed survey data of 466 public human service managers to examine the relationship between individual characteristics and managerial innovation. Results showed that 38% of managers took an innovative approach to their work, and characteristics of perceived responsiveness to change and evidence-informed practice network involvement were significantly associated with managerial innovation. Managerial innovation could be promoted through the development of evidence-based networks and communities of …

Understanding The Optical Properties Of Ambient Sub-And Supermicron Particulate Matter: Results From The Cares 2010 Field Study In Northern California, Christopher D. Cappa, Katheryn R. Kolesar, Xiaolu Zhang, Dean B. Atkinson, Mikhail S. Pekour, Rahul A. Zaveri, Alla Zelenyuk, Qi Zhang

Chemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

Measurements of the optical properties (absorption, scattering and extinction) of PM1, PM2.5 and PM10 made at two sites around Sacramento, CA, during the June 2010 Carbonaceous Aerosols and Radiative Effects Study (CARES) are reported. These observations are used to establish relationships between various intensive optical properties and to derive information about the dependence of the optical properties on photochemical aging and sources. Supermicron particles contributed substantially to the total light scattering at both sites, about 50 % on average. A strong, linear relationship is observed between the scattering Ångström exponent for PM10 and the fraction of the scattering that is …

Using Portable Transducers To Measure Tremor Severity, Rodger J. Elble, James Mcnames

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background: Portable motion transducers, suitable for measuring tremor, are now available at a reasonable cost. The use of these transducers requires knowledge of their limitations and data analysis. The purpose of this review is to provide a practical overview and example software for using portable motion transducers in the quantification of tremor.

Methods: Medline was searched via PubMed.gov in December 2015 using the Boolean expression “tremor AND (accelerometer OR accelerometry OR gyroscope OR inertial measurement unit OR digitizing tablet OR transducer).” Abstracts of 419 papers dating back to 1964 were reviewed for relevant portable transducers and methods of tremor analysis, …

A Backend Framework For The Efficient Management Of Power System Measurements, Benjamin Mccamish, Rich Meier, Jordan Landford, Robert B. Bass, David Chiu, Eduardo Cotilla-Sanchez

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Increased adoption and deployment of phasor measurement units (PMU) has provided valuable fine-grained data over the grid. Analysis over these data can provide insight into the health of the grid, thereby improving control over operations. Realizing this data-driven control, however, requires validating, processing and storing massive amounts of PMU data. This paper describes a PMU data management system that supports input from multiple PMU data streams, features an event-detection algorithm, and provides an efficient method for retrieving archival data. The event-detection algorithm rapidly correlates multiple PMU data streams, providing details on events occurring within the power system. The event-detection algorithm …

The Rise And Fall Of Human Dissection In Hellenistic Alexandria, Ellie H. Barany

Young Historians Conference

Classical and Hellenistic Greece were known to be a hub of scientific research. However, the potential for scientific discovery was limited by dominating religious beliefs. Advancements in the study of human anatomy were inhibited by religious taboos that prevented the practice of human dissection. These taboos took hold of Greek society, with a consequence of exile to anyone who violated them. The exception however, is in Hellenistic Alexandria under the rule of the Ptolemaic Kings, Soter and Philadelphus. This paper examines the factors under which the Greek scientist Herophilus was allowed to practice systematic human dissection, as well as the …

Crisis In Education -- The Effect Of The Cold War On The American Education System, Spencer C.J. Gregg

Young Historians Conference

The Cold War era had a dramatic impact on the American educational system. Striving to demonstrate superiority over Soviet counterparts, new curriculum were developed to prepare the American youth intellectually, emotionally, and technologically to position the U.S. as a world power. With the American public polarized whether schools were a venue for the dissemination of national ideologies or institutions for the development of critical thinking; world events including nuclear warfare, space exploration, and military preparedness served as catalysts for the development of future citizens that would effectively contribute to the intellectual and technological growth of the nation.

To What Extent Did British Advancements In Cryptanalysis During World War Ii Influence The Development Of Computer Technology?, Hayley A. Leblanc

Young Historians Conference

This investigation will focus on the advancements made in the field of computing by British codebreakers working on German ciphers during World War II (1939­1945). Along with examining the state of code­breaking technology before the war, it will discuss the nature of computing after the war up until the present to determine the impact of the war on computers. It will consider being electronic (rather than electromechanical) as the defining characteristic of modern computers. This investigation will not discuss the cryptanalysis effort by any other country during the war, nor will it consider cryptography ­related advancements after the war. However, …

The Value Of Long-Term Stream Invertebrate Data Collected By Citizen Scientists, Patrick M. Edwards

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

The purpose of this investigation was to systematically examine the variability associated with temporally-oriented invertebrate data collected by citizen scientists and consider the value of such data for use in stream management. Variability in invertebrate data was estimated for three sources of variation: sampling, within-reach spatial and long-term temporal. Long-term temporal data were also evaluated using ordinations and an Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI). Through two separate investigations over an 11-year study period, participants collected more than 400 within-reach samples during 44 sampling events at three streams in the western United States. Within-reach invertebrate abundance coefficient of variation (CV) ranged …

Memory And Information Processing In Recurrent Neural Networks, Alireza Goudarzi, Sarah Marzen, Peter Banda, Guy Feldman, Matthew R. Lakin, Christof Teuscher, Darko Stefanovic

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Recurrent neural networks (RNN) are simple dynamical systems whose computational power has been attributed to their short-term memory. Short-term memory of RNNs has been previously studied analytically only for the case of orthogonal networks, and only under annealed approximation, and uncorrelated input. Here for the first time, we present an exact solution to the memory capacity and the task-solving performance as a function of the structure of a given network instance, enabling direct determination of the function-structure relation in RNNs. We calculate the memory capacity for arbitrary networks with exponentially correlated input and further related it to the performance of …

Geogenic Cadmium Pollution And Potential Health Risks, With Emphasis On Black Shale, Yizhang Liu, Tangfu Xiao, Robert Perkins, Jianming Zhu, Zhengjie Zhu, Yan Xiong, Zengping Ning

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Cadmium (Cd) is a non-essential trace element that is toxic to humans. Previous studies of Cd in the environment have primarily focused on pollution resulted from anthropogenic sources, but little is known on naturally occurring sources of Cd. This paper aims to review the geochemical distribution of geogenic Cd and associated environmental risk. The source, accumulation, mobility, transportation, and health risk of Cd are discussed in a geo-environmental perspective, with an emphasis on black shale soils. Cadmium generally occurs in sulfides in black shale, and is easily released when exposed to oxygen and water. Leaching of these rocks tends to …

Spatial And Temporal Variability Of Contaminants Within Estuarine Sediments And Native Olympia Oysters: A Contrast Between A Developed And An Undeveloped Estuary, Elise F. Granek, Kathleen E. Conn, Elena B. Nilsen, Lori Pillsbury, Angela L. Strecker, Steven S. Rumrill, William Fish

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Chemical contaminants can be introduced into estuarine and marine ecosystems from a variety of sources including wastewater, agriculture and forestry practices, point and non-point discharges, runoff from industrial, municipal, and urban lands, accidental spills, and atmospheric deposition. The diversity of potential sources contributes to the likelihood of contaminated marine waters and sediments and increases the probability of uptake by marine organisms. Despite widespread recognition of direct and indirect pathways for contaminant deposition and organismal exposure in coastal systems, spatial and temporal variability in contaminant composition, deposition, and uptake patterns are still poorly known. We investigated these patterns for a suite …

Temporal Variations Of Citizens’ Demands On Flood Damage Mitigation, Streamflow Quantity And Quality In The Korean Urban Watershed, Change-Yu Hong, Eun-Sung Chung

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

Sustainable watershed management (SWM) can be achieved through recognition and reflection upon the values of citizens. Collaborative governance consisting of citizens is crucial for successful SWM. Collaborative governance definitely requires an active participatory decision-making process that reflects citizens’ preferences. Citizen preference also tends to substantially change with life pattern and life quality. These shifts can be caused by slight variations in both social priorities and personal preferences for SWM. Therefore, collaborative water governance must be frequently renewed in response to citizens’ values through the participatory framework. The An’yang Stream in South Korea is generally regarded as a representative urban stream …

A Chemistry Neutral Flow Battery Performance Model Development, Validation, And Application, Alasdair James Crawford

Dissertations and Theses

A physical model for redox flow batteries is developed to estimate performance for any chemistry using parameters such as electrolyte conductivity and kinetic rate constants. The model returns the performance as a function of flow rate, current density, and state of charge. Two different models are developed to estimate the current density distribution throughout the electrode in order to evaluate physical performance of the battery. This is done using electrochemical parameters such as conductivity and kinetic rate constant. The models are analytical in order to produce a computationally cheap algorithm that can be used in optimization routines. This allows for …

Faculty Senate Monthly Packet April 2016, Portland State University Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Monthly Packets

The April 2016 Monthly packet includes the April agenda and appendices and the Faculty Senate minutes and attachments from the meeting held March 2016.

The Biological Sediment Tolerance Index: Assessing Fine Sediments Conditions In Oregon Streams Using Macroinvertebrates, Shannon Hubler, David Huff, Patrick M. Edwards, Yangdong Pan

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Fine sediments in excess of natural background conditions are one of most globally common causes of stream degradation, with well documented impacts on aquatic communities. The lack of agreement on methods for monitoring fine sediments makes it difficult to share data, limiting assessments of stream conditions across jurisdictions. We present a model that circumvents these limitations by inferring fine sediments in Oregon streams through sampling of macroinvertebrates. Tolerances to fine sediments (

Bridge Over Troubled Waters: A Synthesis Session To Connect Scientific And Decision Making Sectors, Kaitlin Goldsmith, Elise F. Granek, Amy Lubitow, Michael Papenfus

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Lack of access to relevant scientific data has limited decision makers from incorporating scientific information into their management and policy schemes. Yet, there is increasing interest among decision makers and scientists to integrate coastal and marine science into the policy and management process. Strategies designed to build communication between decision makers and scientists can be an effective means to disseminate and/or generate policy relevant scientific information. Here researchers develop, test, and present a workshop model designed to bridge the gap between coastal and marine decision makers and scientists. Researchers identify successful components of such a workshop as well as areas …

Assembly Of A 3d Cellular Computer Using Folded E-Blocks, Shivendra Pandey, Nicholas J. Macias, Carmen Ciobanu, Changkyu Yoon, Christof Teuscher, David H. Gracias

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The assembly of integrated circuits in three dimensions (3D) provides a possible solution to address the ever-increasing demands of modern day electronic devices. It has been suggested that by using the third dimension, devices with high density, defect tolerance, short interconnects and small overall form factors could be created. However, apart from pseudo 3D architecture, such as monolithic integration, die, or wafer stacking, the creation of paradigms to integrate electronic low-complexity cellular building blocks in architecture that has tile space in all three dimensions has remained elusive. Here, we present software and hardware foundations for a truly 3D cellular computational …

Estimating River Discharge Using Multiple-Tide Gauges Distributed Along A Channel, Hamed R. Moftakhari, David A. Jay, Stefan Talke

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Reliable estimation of freshwater inflow to the ocean from large tidal rivers is vital for water resources management and climate analyses. Discharge gauging stations are typically located beyond the tidal intrusion reach, such that inputs and losses occurring closer to the ocean are not included. Here, we develop a method of estimating river discharge using multiple gauges and time-dependent tidal statistics determined via wavelet analysis. The Multiple-gauge Tidal Discharge Estimate (MTDE) method is developed using data from the Columbia River and Fraser River estuaries and calibrated against river discharge. Next, we evaluate the general applicability of MTDE by testing an …

How Landscape Ecology Informs Global Land-Change Science And Policy, Audrey L. Mayer, Brian Buma, Amélie Davis, Sara A. Gagné, E. Louise Loudermilk, Robert M. Scheller, Fiona K.A. Schmiegelow, Fiona Majorin, Yolanda F. Wiersma, Janet Franklin

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Landscape ecology is a discipline that explicitly considers the influence of time and space on the environmental patterns we observe and the processes that create them. Although many of the topics studied in landscape ecology have public policy implications, three are of particular concern: climate change; land use–land cover change (LULCC); and a particular type of LULCC, urbanization. These processes are interrelated, because LULCC is driven by both human activities (e.g., agricultural expansion and urban sprawl) and climate change (e.g., desertification). Climate change, in turn, will affect the way humans use landscapes. Interactions among these drivers of ecosystem change can …

Performance Implications Of Bicycle Specific Treatments At Signalized Intersections, Andrew Kading

Civil and Environmental Engineering Master's Project Reports

A rise in cycling nationwide has brought an increased awareness of bicycle specific safety concerns, particularly right-hook crashes at signalized intersections. There are several common and emerging signal timing strategies that are can be used to improve the safety and efficiency of traffic signals for people on bicycles, including the Leading Bicycle Intervals (LBI), Split LBI, and Exclusive Bicycle Phasing (EBP). The leading and split bicycle intervals provide a head start for bicycles in advance of concurrent and conflicting motor vehicle movements, typically about 3-5 seconds. The EBP provides an interval only when bicycles are moving. To examine the performance …

Rerouting Mode Choice Models: ​H​Ow Including Realistic Route Options Can Help Us Understand Decisions To Walk Or Bike, Joseph Broach

PSU Transportation Seminars

For a number of reasons—congestion, public health, greenhouse gas emissions, energy use, demographic shifts, and community livability to name a few—the importance of walking and bicycling as transportation options will only continue to increase. Currently, policy interest and infrastructure funding for nonmotorized modes far outstrip our ability to successfully model bike and walk travel. In the past five years, we have learned a lot about where people prefer to bike and walk, but what can that tell us about whether people will bike or walk in the first place? The research presented here is designed to start bridging the gap …

Re-Inventing Adherence: Toward A Patient-Centered Model Of Care For Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis And Hiv, Max R. O'Donnell, A. Daftary, M. Frick, Y. Hirsch-Moverman, K. R. Amico, M. Senthilingam, A. Wolf, J. Z. Metcalfe, P. Isaakidis, J. L. Davis, J. R. Zelnick, J.C.M. Brust, N. Naidu, M. Garretson, David Bangsberg, N. Padayatchi, G. Friedland

OHSU-PSU School of Public Health Faculty Publications and Presentations

BACKGROUND—Despite renewed focus on molecular tuberculosis (TB) diagnostics and new antimycobacterial agents, treatment outcomes for patients co-infected with drug-resistant TB and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) remain dismal, in part due to lack of focus on medication adherence as part of a patient-centered continuum of care.

OBJECTIVE—To review current barriers to drug-resistant TB-HIV treatment and propose an alternative model to conventional approaches to treatment support.

DISCUSSION—Current national TB control programs rely heavily on directly observed therapy (DOT) as the centerpiece of treatment delivery and adherence support. Medication adherence and care for drug-resistant TB-HIV could be improved by fully implementing team-based patient-centered …

The Economics Of Residential Building Deconstruction In Portland, Or, Mike Paruszkiewicz, Jenny H. Liu, Rebecca Hanes, Eric Hoffman, Peter Hulseman, Emma Willingham

Northwest Economic Research Center Publications and Reports

Impact analysis of the nascent deconstruction industry, in light of recent legislation.

A Behavior-Based Framework For Assessing Barrier Effects To Wildlife From Vehicle Traffic Volume, Sandra L. Jacobson, Leslie L. Bliss-Ketchum, Catherine E. De Rivera, Winston P. Smith

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Roads, while central to the function of human society, create barriers to animal movement through collisions and habitat fragmentation. Barriers to animal movement affect the evolution and trajectory of populations. Investigators have attempted to use traffic volume, the number of vehicles passing a point on a road segment, to predict effects to wildlife populations approximately linearly and along taxonomic lines; however, taxonomic groupings cannot provide sound predictions because closely related species often respond differently. We assess the role of wildlife behavioral responses to traffic volume as a tool to predict barrier effects from vehicle-caused mortality and avoidance, to provide an …

More Investigations In Capillary Fluidics Using A Drop Tower, Andrew Paul Wollman, Mark M. Weislogel, Brentley M. Wiles, Donald Pettit, Trevor Snyder

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

A variety of contemplative demonstrations concerning intermediate-to-large length scale capillary fluidic phenomena were made possible by the brief weightless environment of a drop tower (Wollman and Weislogel in Exp Fluids 54(4):1, 2013). In that work, capillarity-driven flows leading to unique spontaneous droplet ejections, bubble ingestions, and multiphase flows were introduced and discussed. Such efforts are continued herein. The spontaneous droplet ejection phenomena (auto-ejection) is reviewed and demonstrated on earth as well as aboard the International Space Station. This technique is then applied to novel low-g droplet combustion where soot tube structures are created in the wakes of burning drops. …

Arsenic Mobilization From Silicic Volcanic Rocks In The Southern Willamette Valley, Gabriela Ribeiro De Sena Ferreira

Dissertations and Theses

Volcanic tuffs and tuffaceous sediments are frequently associated with elevated As groundwater concentrations even though their bulk As contents (~ 5 mg kg^-1; Savoie, 2013) are only marginally greater than the average crustal abundance of 4.8 mg g^-1 (Rudnick & Gao, 2003). Thus, As mobilization must be facilitated by conditions particular to these rocks. Alkaline desorption, anionic competition, reactive glass dissolution, and reductive dissolution of iron oxides are proposed processes of As release from volcanic rocks. Geogenic As contamination of groundwater in the southern Willamette Valley in western Oregon has been well-documented since the early 1960s, and …