Digital Commons Network^™

Clea Labs For Stellar And Cosmological Astronomy Bottled For Silicon Macintosh, Hansika Reddy Bandela, Yuktha Shetty, Jack C. Straton

Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Project CLEA -- CONTEMPORARY LABORATORY EXPERIENCES IN ASTRONOMY -- develops laboratory exercises that illustrate modern astronomical techniques using digital data and color images.

These Labs were developed for Windows, but the authors have bottled them for Silicon Macintosh computers.

Clea Labs For Planetary, Stellar, And Cosmological Astronomy Configured For 64-Bit Windows 11+ Machines, Itan Altamirano, Jack C. Straton

Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Project CLEA -- CONTEMPORARY LABORATORY EXPERIENCES IN ASTRONOMY -- develops laboratory exercises that illustrate modern astronomical techniques using digital data and color images.

These Labs were developed for 32-bit Windows machines but PSU student Itan Altamirano reconfigured installation programs to bypass steps that ask for DVDs and allowing these 32-bit programs to work on 64-bit Windows 11+ computers.

The Stochastic Occupation Kernel (Sock) Method For Learning Stochastic Differential Equations, M. L. Wells, Kamel Lahouel, Bruno Jedynak

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications and Presentations

We present a novel kernel-based method for learning multivariate stochastic differential equations (SDEs). The method follows a two-step procedure: we first estimate the drift term function, then the (matrix-valued) diffusion function given the drift. Occupation kernels are integral functionals on a reproducing kernel Hilbert space (RKHS) that aggregate information over a trajectory. Our approach leverages vector-valued occupation kernels for estimating the drift component of the stochastic process. For diffusion estimation, we extend this framework by introducing operator-valued occupation kernels, enabling the estimation of an auxiliary matrix-valued function as a positive semi-definite operator, from which we readily derive the diffusion estimate. …

Optical Coherence Tomography Harmonization With Anatomy-Guided Latent Metric Schrödinger Bridges, Shuwen Wei, Blake E. Dewey, Samuel W. Remedios, Bruno Jedynak, Shimeng Wang, Peter Calabresi, Shiv Saidha, Aaron Carass, Multiple Additional Authors

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Medical image harmonization aims to reduce the differences in appearance caused by scanner hardware variations to allow for consistent and reliable comparisons across devices. Harmonization based on paired images from different devices has limited applicability in real-world clinical settings. On the other hand, unpaired harmonization typically does not guarantee anatomy consistency, which is problematic because anatomical information preservation is paramount. The Schrödinger bridge framework has achieved state-of-the-art style transfer performance with natural images by matching distributions of unpaired images, but this approach can also introduce anatomy changes when applied to medical images. We show that such changes occur because the …

Recontextualizing Engagement With Data Visualizations In The Context Of The Socio-Ecological, Eva Thanheiser, Laurie Rubel, Beth Herbel-Eisenmann, Courtney Koestler

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications and Presentations

We explore how data visualizations (DVs) are representational tools that can be used to narrate certain aspects of a context but silence others. Using multiple DVs allows for contrasting the DVs and likely provides opportunities for critical reading and exploring the entanglement of political and ecological dimensions of an issue. We start by integrating two sets of practices, Notice, Wonder, Feel, Act and Reimagine (NW-FAR) (Kahn, et al., 2022) and critical graph reading, Framing, Formatting, Narrating (FFN) (Rubel, et al., 2021) towards taking a socio-political stance and supporting students to read data visualizations and develop critical data literacy. We look …

Using Geographic Interviews To Conduct Community Assessments—Insights For Msw Pedagogy, Danielle Maude Littman, Denae J. Cook, Amie Thurber

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Social work is predicated as a person-in-environment profession, but few tools presently exist for students to operationalize person-in-environment through assessment and systematic understanding. Geographic interviews, which combine spatial mapping and qualitative go-along interviews, are one possible tool with promise for application in the social work classroom. This teaching note describes the process of integrating geographic interviews as one data collection method MSW students could utilize in a community assessment assignment. We share learnings from student assignments (N = 8) and instructor focus groups (N = 4). We found that while there was a high level of student and instructor interest, …

Nuance As Praxis For Teaching About Mandated Reporting: Classroom Activities, Grace Pappas, Sam Harrell, Stéphanie Wahab

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

As social work instructors, we have observed students increasingly wanting to engage in critical conversations about mandated reporting. Few resources are available to support instructors in facilitating these conversations. This teaching note offers content and lesson plans for exploring mandated reporting as a moral duty, a harm, an ethical dilemma, and a legal mandate in the classroom. Together, these pedagogical tools can help instructors embrace nuance as a practice for teaching about mandated reporting.

The Chitlins Effect: Distinguishing Cultural Resilience From Normalized Harm, Steffannie Roache

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Chitlins Effect is a practice framework developed to help behavioral health professionals distinguish between culturally rooted strengths and trauma-based patterns in the communities they serve. Named after a cultural example rooted in Black American history — where necessity became tradition, and survival became meaning — the framework describes how beliefs, behaviors, and coping mechanisms are transmitted across generations, becoming normalized within families, communities, and cultures even when those patterns carry harm. This paper introduces the conceptual foundation of the framework, situates it within existing research on historical trauma, intergenerational transmission, and social determinants of health, and outlines its application …

Divining Liberation: A Community Healing Curriculum For Uprooting Historical And Racialized Trauma, Steffannie Roache

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Divining Liberation is a structured community healing and workforce wellness curriculum designed to support individuals and groups in recognizing, naming, and uprooting the effects of historical and racialized trauma. The curriculum was developed by Steffannie Roache, MS, LPC, and delivered through Trauma Informed Oregon beginning in 2023. It is built on three conceptual foundations drawn from the author's earlier work: The Chitlins Effect (Roache, 2012), which examines how trauma-based beliefs become normalized across generations; cultural betrayal trauma theory; and trauma-informed care principles established through SAMHSA and OHA. The curriculum unfolds through four thematic parts (Recognizing the Roots, Uprooting Harm and …

Osa-Diff: An Origin Sampling Based Adversarial Attack Using Diffusion Models, Shayan Jalalipour, Banafsheh Rekabdar

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Diffusion models are becoming an increasingly popular emerging technology, however their use in adversarial attacks remains a scarcely explored topic. We show that diffusion models can be used to create end-to-end hidden adversarial perturbations with high rate of success, and propose a novel diffusion based adversarial attack that allows for substantially faster training time (through improved convergence on high quality images) and with substantially less computational overhead than typical diffusion model training

Polynomial-Time Constant-Approximation For Fair Sum-Of-Radii Clustering, Sina Nezhad, Sayan Bandyapadhyay, Tianzhi Chen

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

In a seminal work, Chierichetti et al. [20] introduced the (t,k)-fair clustering problem: Given a set of red points and a set of blue points in a metric space, a clustering is called fair if the number of red points in each cluster is at most t times and at least 1/t times the number of blue points in that cluster. The goal is to compute a fair clustering with at most k clusters that optimizes certain objective function. Considering this problem, they designed a polynomial-time O(1)- and O(t)-approximation for the k-center and the k-median objective, respectively. Recently, Carta et …

Retrieval-Augmented Feature Generation For Domain-Specific Classification, Xinhao Zhang, Jinghan Zhang, Fengran Mo, Dakshak Keerthi Chandra, Yu-Zhong Chen, Fei Xie, Kunpeng Liu

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Feature generation can significantly enhance learning outcomes, particularly for tasks with limited data. An effective way to improve feature generation is to expand the current feature space using existing features and enriching the informational content. However, generating new, interpretable features usually requires domain-specific knowledge on top of the existing features. In this paper, we introduce a Retrieval-Augmented Feature Generation method, RAFG, to generate useful and explainable features specific to domain classification tasks. To increase the interpretability of the generated features, we conduct knowledge retrieval among the existing features in the domain to identify potential feature associations. These associations are expected …

Proper Conjugation Of Bodies: Chastity, Age, And Care Work In Sri Lankan Migrants’ Families, Michele Ruth Gamburd

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Physical and symbolic aspects of bodies limit the migration trajectories of female domestic workers from a Buddhist community in coastal Sri Lanka. Government regulations and family decisions regarding women’s overseas labour draw upon and in turn influence discourses about gender, sexuality, age, health, and class. This ethnographic analysis illustrates that local norms task women with nurturing the brains of babies, preserving the chastity of teenage daughters, caring for frail elders, and preventing their working-class husbands from overindulging in liquor or having sex with other women. Successful social reproduction depends on the proper conjunctions of bodies in the extended family. Corporeal …

Effects Of The Upwind Spanwise Heterogeneous Terrain On The Wind Resource Distribution, Haosen H.A. Xu, Tianxiang Yu, Raúl Bayoán Cal, Xiaowei Zhu

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Wind energy has become increasingly crucial among renewable energy resources, and as the prerequisite for effective wind energy utilization, accurate wind resource assessments are hence prominent. Topography significantly affects near-surface wind fields and is thus an essential factor to be considered for wind resource assessment. However, few studies have addressed the wind resource distribution downwind of spanwise-heterogeneous terrains, which are frequently encountered in both natural and urban environments. To fill this gap, large eddy simulations were performed to investigate wind distributions over a uniform terrain downwind of terrains featuring spanwise-alternating strips of low and high surface roughness, and the high …

Unseen Connections: A Storymap Exploring Case Studies In Water-Energy Transitions And Environmental Justice, Alida Cantor, Elizabeth Bartholomew, Kate Berry, James Blair, Dustin Mulvaney, Nancee Hunter

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

Climate change is one of the most important challenges in the world today. Communities and decision makers at many levels, from local to international, are working to ensure that energy, water, and other societal infrastructures can transition and adapt to address climate change (IPCC, 2023). One major mitigation strategy involves the decarbonization of energy systems (Rockström et al. 2017). Despite wide recognition of the need to decarbonize globally, renewable energy infrastructures and technologies are often locally controversial, involving claims of environmental injustice and disputes over land and water (Cantor, Turley, and Maxfield 2023; Jerez, Garcés, and Torres 2021; Turley et …

Elements Of Social Capital And Counterspace Processes Contribute To Undergraduate Stem Student Development Of A Sense Of Belonging, Mackenzie J. Gray, Jasmine N. Yacobian, Erin Shortlidge

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Having a sense of belonging can promote persistence in the STEM fields, but less is known about what it means to develop that sense of belonging. To investigate this phenomenon, we conducted semi‐structured interviews with a cohort of STEM students (n = 10) nearing graduation at an urban university regarding their sense of belonging and qualitatively coded the interviews using thematic analysis. Results revealed that all interviewed students clearly articulated feelings of belonging, making them an ideal population from which to learn more. We applied two frameworks to guide our understanding of what factors promoted the development of a sense …

Supporting Holistic Health And Gestational Diabetes Mellitus Risk Reduction Among Young Native Females Prior To Pregnancy: A Qualitative Exploration., Sarah A. Stotz, Luciana E. Hebert, Lisa Scarton, Kelli Begay, Kelly L. Gonzales, Heather Garrow, Melanie Charley, Melanie Aspaas, Denise Charron-Prochownik, Spero M. Manson

OHSU-PSU School of Public Health Faculty Publications and Presentations

AI/AN communities are disproportionately impacted by food insecurity and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Decreasing the risk of GDM can interrupt the intergenerational cycle of diabetes in AI/AN families, and can decrease diabetes-related health disparities. The goal of this study was to explore ways of supporting holistic health and reducing the risk of GDM among young American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) females prior to pregnancy. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with adult AI/AN women (>18 years) who had GDM or who have young female relatives (e.g., daughters) (n = 41), AI/AN females between 12 and 24 years (n = 18), …

Integrating Rehabilitation Services Into Routine Care Of Rheumatoid Arthritis May Reduce The Inflammatory Response: A Hospital-Based Follow-Up Study In Taiwan, Hui-Ju Huang, Wei-Jen Chen, Hanoch Livneh, Hua-Lung Huang, Ming-Chi Lu, Tzung-Yi Tsai, Multiple Additional Authors

Counselor Education Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background and Objectives:

For persons with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), the accompanying systemic inflammatory conditions often insidiously damage extra-glandular organs, causing poor outcomes. Despite evidence manifesting the application of rehabilitation services (RSs), the association between RSs use and changes in the inflammatory response among persons with RA has not yet been established. With that in mind, this study aimed to evaluate changes in C-reactive protein (CRP) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) before and after long-term RSs use.

Materials and Methods:

For this two-group pre and posttest study, medical data of 4505 persons with RA aged 20–70 years between 2012 and 2017 …

Equations To Predict Carbon Monoxide Emissions From Amazon Rainforest Fires, Sarah M. Gallup, Bonne Ford, Stijn Naus, John L. Gallup, Jeffrey R. Pierce

Economics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Earth systems models (ESMs), which can simulate the complex feedbacks between climate and fires, struggle to predict fires well for tropical rainforests. This study provides equations that predict historic carbon monoxide emissions from Amazon rainforest fires for 2003–2018, which could be implemented within ESMs’ current structures. We also include equations to convert the predicted emissions to burned area. Regressions of varying mathematical forms are fitted to one or both of two fire CO emission inventories. Equation accuracy is scored on r², bias of the mean prediction, and ratio of explained variances. We find that one equation is best …

Weaving Our Kuwentos (Stories) Toward Ginhawa (Aliveness): Pilipinx American Social Work Motherscholars Enacting Praxes Of Survival And Thrivance In The Academy, Joanna C. La Torre, Lalaine Sevillano, Lisa Reyes Mason, Alma M. Ouanesisouk Trinidad, Cora De Leon

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Five Pilipina American (PA) social work MotherScholars, from a doctoral student to an interim dean, used kuwentuhan (Pilipinx methodology) to amplify their survivance and thrivance despite attempted exclusion, reduction, and distortion as Pilipinos by coloniality/modernity. Grounded in decolonial feminism (the view that oppressions such as sexism and racism co-constitute coloniality and that unsettling oppressions disrupts hegemony) and Pinayism (an integrated framework revaluing the labor, intellect, and nurturance of mothering through a cultural lens), the authors work coalitionally across their PA diversity to re-center ginhawa (aliveness or sense of ease and wellness). Together, they embarked on an iterative self-study process of …

From The Ocean To Our Kitchen Table: Anthropogenic Particles In The Edible Tissue Of U.S.. West Coast Seafood Species, Summer D. Traylor, Elise F. Granek, Marilyn Duncan, Susanne Brander

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Microplastics (MPs) and other anthropogenic particles (APs) are pervasive environmental contaminants found throughout marine and aquatic environments. We quantified APs in the edible tissue of black rockfish, lingcod, Chinook salmon, Pacific herring, Pacific lamprey, and pink shrimp, comparing AP burdens across trophic levels and between vessel-retrieved and retail-purchased individuals. Edible tissue was digested and analyzed under a microscope, and a subset of suspected APs was identified using spectroscopy (μFTIR). Anthropogenic particles were found in 180 of 182 individuals. Finfish contained 0.02–1.08 AP/g of muscle tissue. In pink shrimp (Pandalus jordani), the average AP/g was 10.68 for vessel-retrieved and …

Summed Series Involving 1F2 Hypergeometric Functions, Jack C. Straton

Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Summation of infinite series has played a significant role in a broad range of problems in the physical sciences and is of interest in a purely mathematical context. In a prior paper, we found that the Fourier–Legendre series of a Bessel function of the first kind J_N(kx) and modified Bessel functions of the first kind I_N(kx) lead to an infinite set of series involving ₁F₂ hypergeometric functions (extracted therefrom) that could be summed, having values that are inverse powers of the eight primes 1/ ( 2ⁱ 3^j 5^{k …}

Re-Indigenizing And Collaboratively Tending Urban Greenspaces, Divinity Nnenne Adewale

University Honors Theses

This work details the active process of land tending with the intention of re-Indigenization in the Pacific Northwest at several Portland sites; The Native American Student Community Center, PSU Oak Savanna, and the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge. Land tending is an intuitive process, one rooted in love and respect for life of all forms as well as becoming the perpetual student; land tending is not a skill to be mastered, only practiced. Unlike environmental management, tending cannot be done separate from the earth, in a classroom or otherwise. Connections are what tending is built on top of: the foundation; effort …

Participatory Longitudinal Qualitative Interview Study To Understand Autistic Gynaecological And Obstetric Health: The Autism From Menstruation To Menopause Study Protocol, Amy Brown, Kathryn Williams, Aimee Grant, Gemma L. Williams, Harriet Axbey, Abigail Wilkins, Ellen Firth, Hazel Lim, Helen Cave, Christina Nicolaidis, Multiple Additional Authors

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Autism is a lifelong minority neurotype present from birth. There is a dearth of credible evidence to suggest gender variation in Autism prevalence, despite historical under-diagnosis of women. Autistic people Assigned Female At Birth (AFAB) have worse physical and mental health compared with non-Autistic peers. To date, the reproductive health experiences of Autistic AFAB people have been under-investigated.Methods and analysis This study aims to co-develop a quality improvement intervention to improve the reproductive health of Autistic people. The study uses Community Partnered Participatory Research (an approach similar to Community-Based Participatory Research), largely through a Community Council that co-governs the study. …

Philanthropy Under Uncertainty: Muslim Religious Giving During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Osman Umarji, Rafeel Wasif, Shariq Siddiqui, Zeeshan Noor

Public Administration Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study investigates the demographic, religious, and psychological correlates of charitable giving during times of uncertainty. We employ structural equation modeling to understand the mechanisms that underlie faith-based philanthropy amongst Muslims. For this purpose, we analyzed Muslim American philanthropy during the month of Ramadan in 2020, a month traditionally associated with increased religiosity and philanthropy. Utilizing a sample of 1,722 Muslims in the United States and Canada, uncertainty intolerance was associated with financial anxiety (B = .26), which in turn was related to donating less money (B = -.06). Financial anxiety was also associated with subjective financial well-being (B =.-.22), …

Schools Apart: Curricular Stratification Across School Socioeconomic Compositions And Implications For Educational Inequality In The Us, Daniel Mackin Freeman

Dissertations and Theses

Motivated by longstanding sociological theories and utilizing the most current, large, and nationally representative data, this dissertation aims to describe and add nuance to our understanding of how the curriculum US youth are exposed to is stratified by the socioeconomic composition of the schools they attend. All three empirical chapters suggest that school SES contributes to substantial differences in school structure, as evidenced by differences in course-taking patterns and how course-taking relates to academic achievement in high school and beyond. The first study suggests that the relationship between curricular intensity in secondary school and postsecondary achievement is variable depending on …

Efficient Visual Data Processing Approaches To Improve Resource Utilization, Yeganeh Jalalpour

Dissertations and Theses

With continuous advancements in technology, the volume of visual data being captured, distributed, and consumed across various applications is rapidly increasing. Enhancing the efficiency of visual data processing can improve resource consumption, making the storage, transmission, and use of this growing visual content more effective.

Image and video data constitute a significant share of internet traffic, making video compression a critical factor in enhancing overall data throughput by improving the video compression ratio. Capturing, transferring, and storing raw video data is challenging due to the substantial resources required for both storage and computation. Video compression, however, can significantly mitigate these …

Portraits Of Agency And Power: Exploring Andean Women In Guamán Poma's Chronicle, Ruby Sygar

University Honors Theses

This study explores the depictions of women in Felipe Guamán Poma de Ayala’s chronicle titled, El primer nueva crónica y buen gobierno. By concentrating on six distinct portraits within this manuscript, the findings intend to reveal the themes, differences, and symbolic meanings that characterize and differentiate these representations. The analysis delves into how these portrayals provide insights into the roles, status, and societal perceptions of women in Inca society during the colonial period. The situation of these depictions within the general context of gender and colonialism in Andean society aims to showcase how nobleman Guamán Poma’s work critiques and …

A Mechanistic Study Of Silicon Nanocrystal Formation Via Solid State Synthesis, Katherine Mccarthy Weinfurter

Dissertations and Theses

Silicon nanocrystals (SiNCs) show promising physiochemical properties that could be used in industrial applications. The production of SiNCs through solid-state synthesis is ideal due to relatively low cost of equipment and chemical reagents, as well as the ability to scale-up production. A widely known and commonly used precursor previously used in solid-state synthesis for SiNCs, hydrogen silsesquioxane (HSiO_1.5), was discontinued in chemical manufacturing, which has led to researching alternative precursors (or starting materials). We have identified that there is a gap of knowledge related to producing these precursors, as well as the mechanistic understanding of the chemical reactions …

Working Paper No. 92, Karl Polanyi, Human Labor, And The Working Class, Niccolo Cellini

Working Papers in Economics

This inquiry seeks to establish that Karl Polanyi advanced ideas regarding human labor that we could judge as both seminal and enduring. Through examining his famous book, The Great Transformation, we could draw out three interconnected theses central to his critique of market-oriented economies. Firstly, we could emphasize that Polanyi judges labor as a fictitious commodity, emphasizing distinct aspects associable with labor’s emergence during the industrialization of England. In developing his ideas Polanyi draws upon the historical examples of the Speenhamland System and Frederick Engels' accounts of industrial labor that highlighted the destabilizing effects of embedding labor within …