Digital Commons Network^™

How Beavers (Castor Canadensis) Affect Habitat Availability For Two Native Oregon Turtles: Actinemys Marmorata And Chrysemys Picta Bellii, Rodé Krige

University Honors Theses

Oregon is home to two native freshwater turtle species: the northwestern pond turtle and the western painted turtle. Both turtles are Oregon conservation strategy species with a status rating of sensitive, indicating declining populations. Oregon's decline in these turtle's populations is thought to be predominantly due to loss and degradation of habitat that results from development and urbanization. Beavers' ability to dam streams and create ponds may be creating habitat usable by turtles, but the relationship is under-studied. This study assessed water temperature, basking habitat, and overall turtle habitat suitability at beaver-dammed and control ponds in Portland, Oregon. Average basking …

Crossover Youth: The Relationship Between Juvenile Dependency And Delinquency, Victoria Davenport

University Honors Theses

This literature review looks at the relationship between juvenile delinquency and juvenile dependency. Specifically, it evaluates the existence of "crossover youth", minors who have been involved with both systems in their lifetime. The review considers thirteen different studies, literature reviews, and databases to determine risk factors in maltreated youth that cause them to offend. The review also looks at the impact that second-generation parents have on likelihood of offending as juveniles, as well as the importance of welfare worker perception on parental involvement with dependency agencies. Finally, the review considers potential interventions to crossover youth, determining how to assist maltreated …

Critical Consciousness & The Rural-Urban Divide, Kendall O'Rorke

University Honors Theses

This study investigated the relationship between conceptions of Critical Consciousness (CC) and urban vs. rural geographic location type. Participants (N = 31) completed the Short Critical Consciousness Scale (CCS-S), and 25 additional questions regarding potential location-based idealogical differences. No measurable differences were found regarding differences in conceptions of critical consciousness (using CCS-S scores) based on rural-urban location, however, other responses supported some current research regarding political typology. Additional research is needed to fully understand this topic.

Economic Analysis Of Population-Based Next Generation Sequencing For Breast Cancer, Sapphire Curelaru

University Honors Theses

Breast cancer develops due to accumulated DNA replication insults which causes cancer to uncontrollably proliferate. An individual's predisposition to developing cancer, as well as the composition of a tumor, can be sequenced using genetic tests. Myriad's BRACAnalysis CDx^® seems to be the most utilized genetic test. However, Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) seems to be a better genetic test for breast cancer when compared to Myriad's BRACAnalysisCDx^® in terms of return-time, accuracy, efficiency, and healthcare cost. By using Next Generation Sequencing tests, stakeholders can save money on genetic testing which can be invested in more genetic tests. Payers can …

Driving The Future: Intersection Of Emerging Transportation Technologies And Energy Consumption, Tanmoy Bhowmik

PSU Transportation Seminars

The world of transportation is in a constant state of evolution, with emerging technologies offering greater efficiency and safety in our daily lives. However, these innovations at the same time also have far-reaching impacts on energy sectors. The rise of electric and autonomous vehicles is set to quickly transform the residential energy consumption pattern. A critical question to consider is: “How can we ensure that our energy infrastructure is ready to meet the changing demands”. To adequately prepare for this transformation, this study attempted to gain insight into the future energy pattern under different scenarios.

Perspectives On E-Scooters Use: A Multi-Year Cross-Sectional Approach To Understanding E-Scooter Travel Behavior In Portland, Oregon, Minju Kim, Nicholas M. Puczkowskyj, John Macarthur, Jennifer Dill

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

Unique travel behavior patterns are observed as shared electric scooters (e-scooters) provided by private operators expand into U.S. cities. Three separate years of e-scooter ridership survey data from the Portland Bureau of Transportation’s E-scooter Pilot Programs were analyzed to ascertain the multi-year cross-sectional and demographic characteristics of e-scooter riders. A binary logistic regression model, descriptive statistics, and multiple regression model are used to analyze e-scooter mode substitution, trip purposes, and travel distance from 2018 to 2020 in Portland, Oregon. Since the introduction of e-scooter in 2018, respondents have been less likely to use their previous transportation, and especially vehicle …

Swimming Upstream In The Academic Library: Exploring Faculty Needs For Library Streaming Media Collections, Elsa Loftis, Carly Lamphere

Library Faculty and Staff Publications and Presentations

Objective - To compare Portland State University’s (PSU) local experience of using streaming media to national and international trends identified in a large qualitative study by Ithaka S+R. This comparison will help librarians better understand if the PSU Library is meeting the needs of faculty with its streaming media collection through a series of faculty interviews.

Methods and Intervention - Two librarians from PSU participated in a large, collaborative, two-part study conducted by Ithaka S+R in 2022, with 23 other academic institutions in the United States, Canada, and Germany As part of this study, the authors conducted a series of …

Russian Civic Criticism And The Idyllic Dream In Ivan Goncharov’S “Oblomov”, Cassio De Oliveira

World Languages and Literatures Faculty Publications and Presentations

Nikolai Dobroliubov’s and Dmitrii Pisarev’s reviews of Ivan Goncharov’s novel Oblomov have gone into history as exemplars of Russian civic criticism. Their main argument centers on the eponymous protagonist’s seeming inability to exit his lethargic condition, which they interpret as a symptom of the Russian status quo at the time of the Great Reforms. In the present article, I argue that the case of Oblomov demonstrates the limits of the civics’ mimetic criticism. The dominant chronotope of the novel, namely the idyll, indicates that Oblomov is not in essence a novel about the hero’s inability to change (which would presuppose …

Chemical Strategies To Mitigate Electrostatic Charging During Coffee Grinding, Joshua Méndez Harper, Christopher H. Hendon

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The process of grinding coffee generates particles with high levels of electrostatic charge, causing a number of detrimental effects including clumping, particle dispersal, and spark discharge. At the brewing level, electrostatic aggregation between particles affects liquid-solid accessibility, leading to variable extraction quality. In this study, we quantify the effectiveness of four charge mitigation strategies. Our data suggests that adding small amounts of water to whole beans pre-grinding, or bombarding the grounds with ions produced from a high-voltage ionizer, are capable of de-electrifying the granular flows. While these techniques helped reduce visible mess, only the static reduction through water inclusion was …

International Labour Migration, Farmland Fallowing, Livelihood Diversification And Technology Adoption In Nepal, Karki Nepal, Mani Nepal, Randall Bluffstone

Economics Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article investigates the effect of temporary international labour migration on farmland fallowing, adoption of agricultural intensification technologies and livelihood diversification. Using nationally representative data, combined with empirical methods that allow causal inference, the authors find that households with international migrants are over 50 per cent more likely (based on propensity score matching estimates) to have fallow land than those without. Temporary international migration promotes the adoption of some agricultural intensification technologies and causes rural households to diversify their livelihoods. Land fallowing may increase food insecurity, while agricultural intensification may improve it, for an uncertain net effect.

Extension Event Attendance Increases Adoption Of Weed Management Practices By Sports Field Managers, George Frisvold, Chandrakant Agme, David Ervin, Shawn W. Askew, Rebecca Grubbs Bowling, Jennifer Allen, James T. Brosnan, Multiple Additional Authors

Economics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Data from a national survey of 348 U.S. sports field managers were used to examine the effects of participation in Cooperative Extension events on the adoption of turfgrass weed management practices. Of the respondents, 94% had attended at least one event in the previous 3 yr. Of this 94%, 97% reported adopting at least one practice as a result of knowledge gained at an Extension turfgrass event. Half of the respondents had adopted four or more practices; a third adopted five or more practices. Nonchemical, cultural practices were the most-adopted practices (65% of respondents). Multiple regression analysis was used to …

Digital Public Library Ecosystem 2023, Rachel Noorda, Kathi Inman Berens

English Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Digital Public Library Ecosystem is the network of digital book collection and circulation specifically through public libraries. Digital book collection and circulation have never been more important than they are today. Nearly 1 in 3 Americans has read an ebook in the last 12 months. Audiobook listening is also high; nearly 1 in 4 Americans has listened to an audiobook in that same time period. Libraries are one way in which readers gain access to ebooks and audiobooks. Despite this, a holistic view of the digital library ecosystem is largely opaque. Three factors contribute to current confusion about the …

2023 Aquatic Weed Surveys At Timothy Lake, Lake Harriet, North Fork Reservoir, And Estacada Lake, Gabriel E. Campbell, Jacob Rose

Center for Lakes and Reservoirs Publications and Presentations

Portland General Electric (PGE) operates and manages reservoirs as part of their Clackamas Hydroelectric Project in Clackamas County, Oregon. The Center for Lakes and Reservoirs staff surveyed some of these reservoirs in 2023 for aquatic vegetation. This document summarizes their survey efforts including their protocols and data.

Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems Use And Periodontal Health—Findings From The Population Assessment Of Tobacco And Health Study, Amir Mohajeri, Martin S. Lipsky, Rachana Hegde, Jody Chiang, Man Hung

Institute on Aging Publications

Background: Electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDSs) are rapidly increasing in the U.S., however, information about their long-term risks and benefits remains limited. This study examined the relationship between ENDS use and periodontal health among U.S. adults. (2) Methods: Data came from 33,822 adults who participated in the 2016–2018 wave of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) study. Inclusion criteria were adults without a history of cigarette smoking or diabetes. Logistic regression analysis was performed to estimate the associations between ENDS use and a history of periodontal disease, with multivariable logistic regression adjusting for factors associated with poor oral …

People, Place, And Planet: Global Review Of Use-Inspired Research On Water-Related Ecosystem Services In Urban Wetlands, Jason Sauer, Heejun Chang

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

With climate change and urbanization, city planners and developers have increasing interest and practice in constructing, restoring, or incorporating wetlands as forms of green infrastructure to maintain water-related ecosystem services (WES). We reviewed studies that valued in functional or monetary units the water regulation and purification services of urban wetlands around the globe. We used the adaptive management cycle (AMC) as a heuristic to determine the step that a study would represent in the AMC, the connections between the cycle steps that were used or considered, and the stakeholders involved. Additionally, we identified the social, ecological, and/or technological dimension(s) of …

Expanding On The Frames: Making A Case For Algorithmic Literacy, Susan G. Archambault

Communications in Information Literacy

Traditional information literacy skills (e.g., effectively finding and evaluating information) need to be updated due to the rapidly changing information ecosystem and the growing dominance of online platforms that use algorithms to control and shape information. This article proposes additions to the current ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education that relate to algorithmic literacy. The “Authority Is Constructed and Contextual” frame can be applied to recognizing the need to question algorithmic authority (including algorithmic bias), the "Information Has Value” frame can be used to acknowledge online platforms’ use of proprietary algorithms allowing third parties to access personal data, …

Quantum Algorithms For Unate And Binate Covering Problems With Application To Finite State Machine Minimization, Abdirahman Alasow, Marek Perkowski

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Covering problems find applications in many areas of computer science and engineering, such that numerous combinatorial problems can be formulated as covering problems. Combinatorial optimization problems are generally NPhard problems that require an extensive search to find the optimal solution. Exploiting the benefits of quantum computing, we present a quantum oracle design for covering problems, taking advantage of Grover’s search algorithm to achieve quadratic speedup. This paper also discusses applications of the quantum counter in unate covering problems and binate covering problems with some important practical applications, such as finding prime implicants of a Boolean function, implication graphs, and minimization …

Preparing Teaching Assistants To Facilitate Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences (Cures) In The Biological Sciences: A Call To Action, Erin Shortlidge, Amie M. Kern, Emma Goodwin, Jeffrey T. Olimpo

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) offer an expanding avenue to engage students in real-world scientific practices. Increasingly, CUREs are instructed by graduate teaching assistants (TAs), yet TAs may be underprepared to facilitate and face unique barriers when teaching CUREs. Consequently, unless TAs are provided professional development (PD) and resources to teach CUREs effectively, they and their students may not reap the assumed benefits of CURE instruction. Here, we describe three perspectives – that of the CURE TA, the CURE designer/facilitator, and the CURE student – that are collectively intended to inform the development of tentative components of CURE TA PD. …

Patient Mistreatment And New Nurse Adjustment: The Role Of Rumination And Work Engagement, Hai-Jiang Wang, Peikai Li, Talya Bauer, Berrin Erdogan

Business Faculty Publications and Presentations

During organizational entry, newcomers often draw upon internal resources like coworkers and supervisors to navigate their roles. Could external interactions with customers or patients hold the key to newcomer adjustment in certain job contexts? Our study, rooted in the conservation of resources theory, identifies a critical link between mistreatment from external parties and newcomer adjustment—a connection that is explained by rumination and work engagement. Through two studies involving new nurses in China (Study 1: four-wave cross-lagged panel design, N = 181; Study 2: four-wave time-lagged design, N = 198), we uncover that mistreatment from patients results in rumination among newcomers, …

Stakeholder Conflict And Standard-Setting Foundation Oversight, Amanda M. Convery, Matt Kaufman, Terry D. Warfield

Business Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study examines foundation oversight authority as a distinct tool used to maintain the accounting profession’s delegated authority to set standards. Prior literature traditionally focuses on the standard-setting boards and technical arguments surrounding proposed accounting standards. We examine whether the Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF) can manage stakeholder conflict and legitimize contentious activity through exercise of its oversight role. The presented case is a qualitative analysis of the FAF’s GASB Scope of Authority project, a rare public exercise of FAF oversight authority, in which the FAF applied its authority despite stakeholder disagreement on the line between oversight and standard setting. We …

Behavior Training For Educators: What Training Do Educators Need To Support Students With Challenging Behaviors?, Michelle R. Milburn

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate the behavioral training programs/frameworks and Professional Development (PD) delivery methods that certified staff - including teachers, speech-language pathologists, school psychologists, occupational therapists, and teachers on special assignment - as well as administrators, believe to be necessary to address the academic, social, emotional, and behavioral needs of students exhibiting challenging behaviors. This national study used survey methods to explore the views of US K-12 public school educators on the PD needed to support student behavior effectively. Using social media recruitment, primarily through Reddit and Facebook, allowed the survey to reach a substantially larger …

Preventing Inferences Through Data Dependencies On Sensitive Data, Primal Pappachan, Shufan Zhang, Xi He, Sharad Mehrotra

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Simply restricting the computation to non-sensitive part of the data may lead to inferences on sensitive data through data dependencies. Inference control from data dependencies has been studied in the prior work. However, existing solutions either detect and deny queries which may lead to leakage – resulting in poor utility, or only protects against exact reconstruction of the sensitive data – resulting in poor security. In this paper, we present a novel security model called full deniability. Under this stronger security model, any information inferred about sensitive data from non-sensitive data is considered as a leakage. We describe algorithms for …

Sequence Analysis Of Cardiometabolic Multimorbidity And Association With Subsequent Dementia, Corey Nagel, Heather Allore, Anda Botoseneanu, Jeffrey Kaye, Jason Newsom, Nicholas Bishop, Ana Quinones

Psychology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Sequence analysis is used in the social sciences to examine patterns of events occurring across the life course, but there are few examples of its use in multimorbidity research among older adults. We used sequence analysis to identify longitudinal patterns of cardiometabolic multimorbidity over a five-year period among participants in the National Health and Aging Trends Study (N=5,218). Multimorbidity sequences were constructed using self-reported diagnosis of diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and myocardial infarction (MI) assessed annually. Death was included as an absorbing state, yielding a total of 281 distinct sequences. We calculated sequence dissimilarity using optimal matching then used hierarchical …

Gated Recurrent Units For Blockage Mitigation In Mmwave Wireless, Ahmed H. Almutairi, Alireza Keshavarz-Haddad, Ehsan Aryafar

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Millimeter-Wave (mmWave) communication is susceptible to blockages, which can significantly reduce the signal strength at the receiver. Mitigating the negative impacts of blockages is a key requirement to ensure reliable and high throughput mmWave communication links. Previous research on blockage mitigation has introduced several model and protocol based blockage mitigation solutions that focus on one technique at a time, such as handoff to a different base station or beam adaptation to the same base station. In this paper, we address the overarching problem: what blockage mitigation method should be employed? and what is the optimal sub-selection within that method? To …

Parameterized Complexity Of Feature Selection For Categorical Data Clustering, Sayan Bandyapadhyay, Fedor V. Fomin, Petr A. Golovach, Kirill Simonov

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

We develop new algorithmic methods with provable guarantees for feature selection in regard to categorical data clustering. While feature selection is one of the most common approaches to reduce dimensionality in practice, most of the known feature selection methods are heuristics. We study the following mathematical model. We assume that there are some inadvertent (or undesirable) features of the input data that unnecessarily increase the cost of clustering. Consequently, we want to select a subset of the original features from the data such that there is a small-cost clustering on the selected features. More precisely, for given integers ℓ (the …

Contemporary Library Censorship Tactics: Reviewing The Literature, Lex Faller

PSU McNair Scholars Online Journal

Library censorship efforts in the U.S. have broken records annually since 2021, spurred by social, technological, and political developments. These censorship efforts most frequently target diverse media representing Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) and/or lesbian, gay, bisexual+, trans+, queer, intersex, and asexual+ (LGBTQIA+) communities in and at libraries. The current surge in attempts to censor library materials constitutes part of a greater conservative political strategy in the contemporary culture wars. This literature review analyzes the academic and professional literature alongside the gray literature regarding these censorship efforts to make sense of these trends. By investigating bodies of knowledge …

Science Literacy And Popular Culture: Forensic Anthropology In Application And Fiction, Autumn L. Baker

PSU McNair Scholars Online Journal

This exploratory research examines the discussion of “race” in popular cultural media in a forensic anthropological context. The TV series Bones was used as a sample site for a cultural comparative analysis. This research critically compares popular culture understandings of “race” or ancestral heritage as depicted in Bones with a specific, newly developed method that forensic anthropologists apply in actual lab procedures in combination with other methods to determine ancestral heritage as depicted in textbooks. This research project has two phases. The first phase is a media analysis of discussions and depictions of ancestral heritage in episodes of Bones; the …

Probability Distribution Fitting For Censored Data: A Practical Guide For Survival Analysis Of Nbi Data For Concrete Bridge Decks In Oregon, Asmaa Almeshaileh

Dissertations and Theses

Many sophisticated statistical models and analyses have been proposed to analyze datasets derived from the national bridge inventory (NBI). These objectives range from creating an understanding of the factors that drive the deterioration of bridge members to providing agencies with quantitative information for their maintenance and repair decisions. As these models become increasingly sophisticated and difficult to comprehend and implement, practicing engineers and owners are less likely to use them. Often, however, grouping data intuitively, for example, per a select structure type or condition rating and analyzing them using prescriptive statistics such as distribution fitting, does not only lie in …

The Establishment And Shaping Of The Education System And National Identity In Manchukuo, Tianyang Lei

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis studies the education system and national identity of Manchukuo the nationstate (1932-1945). In September of 1932, the Japanese army staged the "Mukden Incident," a bombing of a railway line near Shenyang that was used as a pretext for the invasion of Manchuria. Following the incident, the Japanese established the state of Manchukuo with the last emperor of China, Puyi, as its nominal head of state. The establishment of Manchukuo marked the beginning of Japan's aggressive expansion in Asia and its militarization of the region. It also marked the start of Japan's effective control over large portions of Northeast …

Energy Auction With Non-Relational Persistence, Michael Ramez Howard

Dissertations and Theses

As the current landscape for electric vehicles changes, options for remote charging are expanding to keep up. In the United States alone, sales of electric vehicles grew 85% from 2020 until hitting 450,000 units by the end of 2021. While these growing sales are encouraging, commercial charging stations have a long way to go before they are as ubiquitous as gasoline stations are today. The peer-to-peer energy auction helps fill the gap in underserved areas by allowing private homeowners to share their charging facilities with other electric vehicle drivers. The auction framework wraps existing charging outlets with a Cloud-connected microcontroller. …