Digital Commons Network^™

Fuzzy Cognitive Maps For Engineering And Technology Management: What Works In Practice?, Antonie J. Jetter

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Due to a lack of available data, many early planning decisions in engineering and technology management have to be based on experts' opinions and their qualitative statements about evolving technologies, markets and general business environments. Several authors have suggested the use of fuzzy cognitive maps (FCMs) to analytically support these decisions with simulation models that can cope with qualitative information. However, only little practice experience is documented. Based on multiple case studies and an extensive literature review, the paper reviews the state-of-the-art of FCM-practice and introduces a six-step guideline for practitioners and researchers who wish to apply FCMs to real-world …

Decreasing Emissions Of Methane From Rice Agriculture, M. A. K. Khalil, Martha J. Shearer

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Methane emissions from rice fields are controlled by several key factors. The most important are the application of organic soil amendments and water management: whether the fields are flooded intermittently or continuously. The total annual emissions from any country or the world are thus affected by the area of rice harvested, and a composite emission factor that takes into account how the various agricultural practices are distributed in terms of fertilizer use and water management, as well as other less important variables. Over decades the area of rice harvested changes but so does the composite emission factor. The product therefore, …

Toward An Ecological Economy, Robert Costanza

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

This section comments on an article by Lester Brown published in the July 2006 issue of The Futurist describing what an ecological economy might look like, at least in its technical dimensions. Brown points out that if economic progress is to be sustained, the fossil-fuel-based, automobile-centered, throwaway economy must be replaced with a new economic model. To do this, we need to create a new vision of what the economy is, what it is for and how to measure success. There is substantial new psychological research in the emerging science of happiness that shows the limits of conventional economic income …

A Short Tutorial On Reconstructability Analysis, Martin Zwick

Complex Systems Faculty Publications and Presentations

This talk will present the basic ideas of Reconstructability Analysis. RA is a general modeling methodology developed in the systems community since the early 60s (pioneered by Ross Ashby) for exploratory (data mining, machine learning) and confirmatory modeling. RA is based in graph theory, set theory, information theory, and statistics. It is applicable to qualitative (nominal) and, via binning, to quantitative (continuous) data, with both statistical & non-statistical applications. It overlaps and augments more widely known methods, e.g., log-linear modeling and Bayesian networks.

Keywords: Reconstructability Analysis, Log-Linear Modeling, categorical data, multivariate statistics, exploratory modeling, confirmatory modeling

Faculty Senate Monthly Packet June 2006, Portland State University Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Monthly Packets

The June 2006 Monthly packet includes the appendices and the Faculty Senate minutes and attachments from the meeting held June 2006

Investigating The Impact Of Remotely Sensed Precipitation And Hydrologic Model Uncertainties On The Ensemble Streamflow Forecasting, Hamid Moradkhani, K. Hsu, Y. Hong, S. Sorooshian

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

In the past few years sequential data assimilation (SDA) methods have emerged as the best possible method at hand to properly treat all sources of error in hydrological modeling. However, very few studies have actually implemented SDA methods using realistic input error models for precipitation. In this study we use particle filtering as a SDA method to propagate input errors through a conceptual hydrologic model and quantify the state, parameter and streamflow uncertainties. Recent progress in satellite-based precipitation observation techniques offers an attractive option for considering spatiotemporal variation of precipitation. Therefore, we use the PERSIANN-CCS precipitation product to propagate input …

Unifying Reciprocal Altruism And Inclusive Fitness Theories Of Altruism, Jeffrey Fletcher, Martin Zwick

Complex Systems Faculty Publications and Presentations

In lieu of an abstract, here is the outline:

Background

• Some History
• IPD Model of Reciprocal Altruism
• Problems Applying Hamilton’s Rule (HR)

Unification: Applying HR to Reciprocal Altruism

• Queller’s Generalized HR
• Conditional Behaviour and Non-Additivity
• Symbiotic Mutualisms

Implications of Unification

• Progressive Generalization of HR
• What happened to “indirect” fitness?
• Conceptual Parsimony

From "Sit And Listen" Of "Shake It Out Yourself" : Helping Urban Middle School Students To Bridge Personal Knowledge To Scientific Knowledge Through A Collaborative Environmental Justice Curriculum, Shamu Fenyvesi Sadeh

Dissertations and Theses

Science education and environmental education are not meeting the needs of marginalized communities such as urban, minority, and poor communities (Seller, 2001; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency [EPA], 1996). There exists an equity gap characterized by the racial and socioeconomic disparities in: levels of participation in scientific and environmental careers and environmental organizations (Lewis & James, 1995; Sheppard, 1995), access to appropriate environmental education programs (U.S. EPA, 1996), exposure to environmental toxins (Bullard, 1993), access to environmental amenities and legal protections (Bullard, 1993), and in grades and standardized test scores in K-12 science (Jencks & Phillips, 1998; Johnston & Viadero, 2000). …

Association Of Course Performance With Student Beliefs: An Analysis By Gender And Instructional Software Environment, J. Richard Alldredge, Gary R. Brown

Office of Academic Innovation Publications

The effect of educational technologies on learning is an area of active interest. We conducted an experiment to compare the impact of instructional software on student performance. We hypothesize that some of the impact on student performance may reflect the influence of the technology on student subject-related beliefs and that those beliefs may differ by gender. We desired to assess how course performance may be associated with student beliefs, and how the association may differ depending on instructional software environment and gender.

Portland State Magazine, Portland State University. Office Of University Communications

Portland State Magazine

PSU’s alumni magazine, published 2-3 times a year. In this issue: Portland State’s campaign to raise $100 million is exceeding its goal and establishing new prominence in scholarship, research, and teaching; enthusiastic engineering students are up for the challenge of high-altitude balloons; this professor puts his money in something that makes mathematical sense: poker; for two June graduates and two Vanport alumni, the university provides vastly different experiences; abuse of foreign maids in Asia and the Middle East caught Patrick Augustine’s attention—enough to make him do something about it; and more.

Presidential Values : Implications For Foreign Policy, Jordan Katherine Durbin

Dissertations and Theses

Highlighting presidential values brings to center stage the leadership dimension of foreign policy. Because values play an instrumental role in the policy process, understanding the dominant values of powerful leaders is crucial to sustaining democracy at its most basic level. An empirical study of public statements on Iraq by Presidents Bush, Clinton, and W. Bush from August 2, 1990, the date Iraq invaded Kuwait, through March 19, 2003 provides the data for analysis. Combining Lasswell's theory of political values and dictionary construct based on the language of values provides an analytical tool to minimize influence of political ideology and researcher …

Correction To "Dependence, Dispersiveness, And Multivariate Hazard Rate Ordering", Baha-Eldin Khaledi, Subhash C. Kochar

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications and Presentations

In the article published last year, three inequalities should be in the opposite direction.

A Comparison Of Data Assimilation Methods Using A Planetary Geostrophic Model, Edward D. Zaron

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Assimilating hydrographic observations into a planetary geostrophic model is posed as a problem in control theory. The cost functional is the sum of weighted model and data residuals. Model errors are assumed to be spatially correlated, and hydrographic station data are assimilated directly. Searches in state space and data space, for minimizing the cost functional, are compared to a direct matrix inversion algorithm in the data space. State-space methods seek the minimizer of the cost functional by performing a preconditioned search in an N-dimensional space of state or control variables, where N is approximately 650 000 in the present calculations. …

Estuarine Habitat Mitigation In Oregon: Policy Review, Analysis, And Recommended Improvements, Anna Buckley

Environmental Science and Management Professional Master's Project Reports

The report is organized in the following manner. After the introductory chapter (Chapter 1), Chapter Two describes Oregon's current estuarine policy and related state and federal policies. Chapter Three provides an inventory of recent permitted impacts and associated estuarine resource replacement. Chapter Four consists of a brief summary of the status of estuarine ecology and restoration/mitigation, with knowledge gaps identified. Chapter Five discusses wetland functional assessment tools and options for compensatory mitigation. This chapter begins with a description of the tidal Hydrogeomorphic (HGM) assessment method, how it compares to the estuarine resource replacement rules' relative values table, and the utility …

Nonlocal Effects On Optical And Molecular Interactions With Metallic Nanoshells, P.T. Leung, Railing Chang

Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Theoretical studies of the optical response of metallic nanoshells have been carried out, where quantum effects are partially accounted for through the application of a nonlocal response model for shells of mesoscopic dimensions. Both far field and near field interactions are considered, with the incident source being a plane wave and an emitting molecular dipole, respectively. It is found that these nonlocal effects can lead to significant deviations from macroscopic electrodynamic theory, for shells of ultrasmall dimensions (nm) or ultrathin thickness (~1 nm), and are particularly significant for processes involving higher multipolar responses of the nanoshells. It is further concluded …

Nonlinear Dynamics Derived From The Oxyhalogen Oxidation Of Selected Organosulfur Compounds, Edward Chickwana

Dissertations and Theses

Structure, stability, kinetics and mechanisms of oxidation of some physiologically important organosulfur compounds were studied and the results obtained show that oxidation occurs mainly at the reactive sulfur center of the molecules. These results not only display the usual S-oxygenation pathways that have been observed with most thiocarbamides, but also show dimerization and cyclization.

The oxidation of guanylthiourea, GTU, was studied in the presence of mildly acidic iodate and the strong oxidants bromate and bromine. The GTU reaction dynamics with iodate show clock reaction characteristics and oligooscillatory formation of iodine both in excess oxidant and reductant. The major oxidation product …

Hydrodynamic Mediation Of Density-Dependent Growth And Adult-Juvenile Interactions Of A Spionid Polychaete, Brent T. Hentschel, Amy A. Larson

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Abstract We performed an experiment to test the effects of adult density on the growth rates of juvenile Polydora cornuta. Our experiment was performed in three identical counter-rotating annular flumes, each set to one of three different flow speeds for a period of 3 d (U 5mm = 3, 6, or 12 cm s^-1 , where U_5mm = velocity measured 5 mm above bottom). We implanted replicate vials containing a premeasured juvenile P. cornuta and either 0, 2, or 5 adults into a 2-cm layer of sediment in the flume. The relative growth rates of the juveniles …

Similarity-Based Constitutive Relations For Local Mass Fluxes In Incompressible Mixing Layers, John D. Ramshaw

Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations

The local concentrations of the two fluids within a mixing layer produced by an interfacial instability are determined by their individual continuity equations. Solution of these equations requires constitutive relations for the local mass fluxes of the two fluids. We derive explicit analytical expressions for these fluxes in planar incompressible mixing layers characterized by a single integral length scale h(t), which is presumed to be provided by a suitable mix or turbulence model. Elementary scaling arguments imply that in mixing layers of this type, the mean volume fraction profile α(x,t) depends on x and t only through the similarity variable …

Linking Ecology And Economics For Ecosystem Management, Stephen Farber, Robert Costanza, Daniel L. Childers, Jon Erickson, Katherine Gross, Morgan Grove, Charles S. Hopkinson, James Kahn, Stephanie Pincetl, Austin Troy, Paige Warren, Matthew Wilson

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

This article outlines an approach, based on ecosystem services, for assessing the trade-offs inherent in managing humans embedded in ecological systems. Evaluating these trade-offs requires an understanding of the biophysical magnitudes of the changes in ecosystem services that result from human actions, and of the impact of these changes on human welfare.We summarize the state of the art of ecosystem services?based management and the information needs for applying it. Three case studies of Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) sites?coastal, urban, and agricultural? illustrate the usefulness, information needs, quantification possibilities, and methods for this approach. One example of the application of …

Analyzing Dynamic Characteristics Of Internal Solitons Generated At The Columbia River Plume Front With Sar Images, David A. Jay, Jiayi Pan, R. D. Brodeur

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Columbia River plume transports dissolved and particulate load, phyto- and zooplankton,and larvae across the shelf. It also facilitates primary production and influences food-web structure through its supply of silicate and micronutrients. Small-scale phenomena such as plume fronts and internal waves generated by the plume can greatly affect vertical mixing between the plume and ocean waters. Internal waves that are generated at the front of the river plume and propagate off shoreward [Nash and Moum 2005; Orton and Jay 2005] both cause mixing and transport plume water into the adjacent coastal ocean. We use Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images and …

A Stable Isotopic Investigation Of A Polar Desert Hydrologic System, Mcmurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica, Michael N. Gooseff, W. Berry Lyons, Diane M. Mcknight, Bruce H. Vaughn, Andrew G. Fountain, Carolyn Dowling

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The hydrologic system of the coastal McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica, is defined by snow accumulation, glacier melt, stream flow, and retention in closed-basin, ice-covered lakes. During the austral summers from 1993-1996 and 1999-2000 to 2002-2003, fresh snow, snow pits, glacier ice, stream water, and lake waters were sampled for the stable isotopes deuterium (D) and 18O in order to resolve sources of meltwater and the interactions among the various hydrologic reservoirs in the dry valleys. This data set provides a survey of the distribution of natural water isotope abundances within the well-defined dry valley hydrologic system in Taylor Valley, which …

Faculty Senate Monthly Packet January 2006, Portland State University Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Monthly Packets

The January 2006 Monthly packet includes the January agenda and appendices and the Faculty Senate minutes and attachments from the meeting held December 2005

Using Student Generated Qualitative Ecological Models, J. Scott Blackwood, Marion Dresner, Hang-Kwang Luh

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

In this activity, students construct qualitative models of an ecosystem and use the models to gain a better understanding of direct and indirect ecological interactions. Qualitative modeling is described for use in two procedures, each with different educational goals and student backgrounds in mind. Part 1 is designed with the non-major or beginning ecology student in mind, and is intended both to improve student understanding of the ecosystem of interest and to provide a framework for the instructor to assess student learning. Part 2 is designed for more advanced students of ecology and involves the use of modeling software (POWERPLAY) …

Curriculum Change 2006-2007, Portland State University

Bulletin & Curriculum Change Documents

No abstract provided.

Portland State Magazine, Portland State University. Office Of University Communications

Portland State Magazine

PSU’s alumni magazine, published 2-3 times a year. In this issue: Residents of old and New Columbia may change our thinking about public housing; PSU’s first graduates experienced Elvis Eisenhower, and the three-cent stamp; Lisa Marsh shows musicians how to stay healthy for a lifetime of performance; geologists look at the cold facts behind global warming; today’s thriving PSU Bookstore were started in a student’s closet; and more.

Bulletin: General Catalog Issue 2006-2007, Portland State University

Bulletin & Curriculum Change Documents

No abstract provided.

Annual Faculty Senate Minutes October 2006 - June 2007, Portland State University Faculty Senate

Annual Compilations of the Faculty Senate Minutes (Minutes Only)

Minutes of the Faculty Senate for October 2006 to June 2007.

Kernels Of Directed Graph Laplacians, John S. Caughman Iv, J. J. P. Veerman

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Let G denote a directed graph with adjacency matrix Q and in- degree matrix D. We consider the Kirchhoff matrix L = D − Q, sometimes referred to as the directed Laplacian. A classical result of Kirchhoff asserts that when G is undirected, the multiplicity of the eigenvalue 0 equals the number of connected components of G. This fact has a meaningful generalization to directed graphs, as was observed by Chebotarev and Agaev in 2005. Since this result has many important applications in the sciences, we offer an independent and self-contained proof of their theorem, showing in this paper …

What's Wrong With Inclusive Fitness?, Jeffrey Fletcher, Martin Zwick, Michael Doebeli, David Sloan Wilson

Complex Systems Faculty Publications and Presentations

In lieu of an abstract, here is the first paragraph:

In a recent issue of TREE, Foster et al. [1] defend inclusive fitness theory [2] from recent challenges [3,4]. The main author of these challenges, E.O. Wilson, argues that inclusive fitness (also called kin selection [5]) may not be the main explanation for the evolution of altruism and eusociality. In contrast, Foster et al. claim that inclusive fitness is not only the most prominent explanation for altruism, but that genetic “relatedness is always required for altruism to evolve” [1, p. 59]. Here we take issue with their claim about …

The Aeolian Flux Of Calcium, Chloride And Nitrate To The Mcmurdo Dry Valleys Landscape: Evidence From Snow Pit Analysis, Rebecca A. Witherow, W. Berry Lyons, Nancy A. Bertler, Kathleen A. Welch, Paul A. Mayewski, Sharon B. Sneed, Thomas H. Nylen, Michael J. Handley, Andrew G. Fountain

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

We have determined the flux of calcium, chloride and nitrate to the McMurdo Dry Valleys region by analysing snow pits for their chemical composition and their snow accumulation using multiple records spanning up to 48 years. The fluxes demonstrate patterns related to elevation and proximity to the ocean. In general, there is a strong relationship between the nitrate flux and snow accumulation, indicating that precipitation rates may have a great influence over the nitrogen concentrations in the soils of the valleys. Aeolian dust transport plays an important role in the deposition of some elements (e.g. Caý?) into the McMurdo Dry …