Digital Commons Network^™

The Social And Political Identities Of Latine Republicans In The U.S., Gabriella M. Mota

Dissertations and Theses

Between the 2016 and 2024 presidential elections, support for Republican candidate Donald Trump among Latine voters increased from 29% to 42%. This rise has attracted interest given Trump's nativist rhetoric and policies that target Latine immigrants. Previous literature has examined the growing Republican partisanship among Latine Americans, focusing on the processes of assimilation and the effects of racial ideology on the partisanship of the Latine electorate. Although this research is gaining traction, the political attitudes of Latine Republicans remain understudied. This study explores how Latine Republicans manipulate ethnoracial attachments to justify their support for Donald Trump and the Republican Party. …

Hydrosocial Ocean Commons: Offshore Wind Energy In Oregon, Bryce Ashlyn Sprauer

Dissertations and Theses

The ocean has been culturally and legally conceptualized as a commons, a space of subsistence inherited by all. Enclosure or privatization creates overlapping jurisdictions of ocean space. The ocean is also the world's most significant carbon capture, absorbing billions of tons of anthropogenic carbon dioxide since the Industrial Revolution. Now, the ocean offers an additional opportunity to decarbonize energy production and reduce greenhouse gas emissions through 'new frontiers' of offshore wind technology; however, this potential is entangled within neoliberalism. Offshore wind is entering a fragmented legal landscape where the social-legal process of ocean jurisdiction remains contested. As the "new frontier" …

Adapting To Southwest Idaho's Shifting Wildfire Regime: Sustainable Collaboration As A Means To Socioecological Resilience, Olivia Awbrey

Dissertations and Theses

Community wildfire adaptation is happening at multiple scales across the western United States. A range of collaboratively formed groups have addressed compounding issues related to wildfire risk, forest health and land use. In Southwestern Idaho, place-based collaboratives emerging in the early 2000s have considered trade-offs between localized social and ecological needs as they approach wildfire adaptation from the bottom-up. More recently, regional partnerships have emerged that emphasize cross-boundary wildfire risk reduction to cover larger geographic areas for risk mitigation. In between these micro- and macro-scales of activity exist bridging agencies such as county and state-level programs that account for gaps …

Conversations With The Ancestors: Pursuing An Understanding Of Klamath Basin Rock Art Through The Use Of Myth, The Ethnographic Record, And Local Artistic Conventions, Robert David

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Past archaeological practices have resulted in a distorted history of Native American cultures based upon western-biased research. This has been especially apparent in the rock art of the Klamath Basin in southern Oregon and northern California. In response to this, Native and non-Native scholars are striving to develop a counter-discourse that both challenges and replaces western constructs in research on Native American communities. The result of this approach is a growing trend within the discipline that has come to be called “Indigenous Archaeology.” Critical to this approach is that Native voices are transported from the margins of the research to …

Free-Running Ring Oscillators For Crystal-Free Communication Systems: Design, Simulation Challenges, And Frequency Stability Improvements, Haziq Rohail

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis presents techniques for enhancing the frequency stability of ring oscillators (ROs) for crystal-free wireless communication systems. The first major contribution is a tutorial-style study of frequency stability metrics, providing clear definitions, conversions methods, and comparative analysis of commonly used figures of merit such as phase noise, Allan deviation, and jitter. The second contribution addresses the challenges of simulating phase noise in free-running ROs. Key techniques including Periodic Steady-State Noise (PNoise), Harmonic Balance Noise (HBNoise), and transient noise analysis are evaluated in terms of accuracy, convergence behavior, and simulation runtime. Based on these results, practical guidelines are offered for …

Projections Of Lightning‐Ignited Wildfire Risk In The Western United States, Dmitri A. Kalashnikov, John T. Abatzoglou, Frances V. Davenport, Zachary M. Labe, Paul C. Loikith, Danielle Touma, Deepti Singh

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

Cloud‐to‐ground (CG) lightning is a major source of summer wildfire ignition in the western United States (WUS). However, future projections of lightning are uncertain since lightning is not directly simulated by most global climate models. To address this issue, we use convolutional neural network (CNN)‐based parameterizations of daily June‐September CG lightning. CNN parameterizations of daily CG lightning occurrence at each grid cell use fields of three thermodynamic variables—ratio of surface Moist Static Energy (MSE) to 500 hPa saturation MSE, 700–500 hPa lapse rate, and 500 hPa relative humidity. Applying these parameterizations to the Community Earth System Model version 2 Large …

Exploring The Causal Links Between Esg, R&D, And Firm Performance: Evidence From The Us Technology And Food Companies, Semra Boga, Gozde Bozkurt, Hasan Sadik Tatli, Tom Gillpatrick

Business Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study examines the causal relationships between ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) compliance, R&D expenditures, and financial performance in the technology and food sectors in the US. A panel dataset from 2012 – 2021 from the Thomson Reuters database was analysed for 12 food and 18 technology companies. The findings show that there are different causal relationships between sectors. While R&D investments in the technology sector positively affect firm performance by increasing ESG compliance, firm performance in the food sector directs ESG compliance, encouraging R&D investments. The study emphasizes that sectoral differences should be considered in sustainability and R&D strategies …

Transfer Learning-Based Multi-Sensor Approach For Predicting Keyhole Depth In Laser Welding Of 780dp Steel, Byeong-Jin Kim, Young-Min Kim, Cheolhee Kim

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Penetration depth is a critical factor determining joint strength in butt welding; however, it is difficult to monitor in keyhole-mode laser welding due to the dynamic nature of the keyhole. Recently, optical coherence tomography (OCT) has been introduced for real-time keyhole depth measurement, though accurate results require meticulous calibration. In this study, deep learning-based models were developed to estimate penetration depth in laser welding of 780 dual-phase (DP) steel. The models utilized coaxial weld pool images and spectrometer signals as inputs, with OCT signals serving as the output reference. Both uni-sensor models (based on coaxial pool images) and multi-sensor models …

Ecological Drivers And Temporal Dynamics Of Daphnia In A Diverse Environmental And Spatial Landscape, Crysta A. Gantz

Dissertations and Theses

In the modern era, commonly referred to as the Anthropocene, human-caused changes to the environment are prevalent and complex. The study of impacts to biodiversity and ecosystem functioning requires multi-faceted approaches that encompass scales of organization from genes to ecosystems. It is often difficult to tease apart whether species responses to environmental change are due to phenotypic plasticity or genotypic variation. Therefore, it is important to try to understand where variation originated, that is, to link a phenotypic response to a genetic change or to gauge whether the response is from the environment. In addition, neutral genetic variation arising from …

Towards Scalable Schema Mapping Using Large Language Models, Christopher Buss, Mahdis Safari, Arash Termehchy, David Maier, Stefan Lee

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

The growing need to integrate information from many diverse sources poses significant scalability challenges for data integration systems. These systems often rely on manually written schema mappings, which are complex and costly to maintain. While recent advances suggest that large language models (LLMs) can assist in automating schema mapping, key challenges remain. We motivate future research in schema mapping generation by highlighting key challenges, presenting a competitive bidirectional schema matching pipeline, and exploring the limitations of current methods for generating more complex mappings.

Design And Evaluation Of An Electromagnetic Band Gap Structure For Self-Interference Reduction In Mmwave Full-Duplex Systems, Adewale Kehinde Oladeinde

Dissertations and Theses

Full-duplex (FD) wireless is a new technology that allows a device to transmit and receive at the same time and on the same frequency band. It has the potential to double the capacity and spectral efficiency of a wireless link compared to the family of conventional half-duplex wireless systems. The key challenge in implementing FD wireless communication is self-interference (SI): a node's transmitting signal generates significant interference to its receiver. Several previous studies have demonstrated the potential to reduce SI and develop FD radios; however, these studies are mostly limited to sub-6 GHz systems. Previous and on-going research explored various …

Defining Antisemitism Or Activism?: An Analysis Of Congressional Debate Over The Antisemitism Awareness Act Of 2023, John Carpenter

University Honors Theses

Introduced amid widespread campus protests against the Israeli militarys actions in the Gaza Strip, the Antisemitism Awareness Act of 2023 (AAA) directs the Department of Education to consider the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism during investigations of potential discrimination under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. This study investigates congressional debate on the AAA using the Discourse Historical Approach to Critical Discourse Analysis to assess how members of Congress portray the victims and perpetrators of antisemitism and whether these portrayals align with the stated aim to "improve safety and security for Jewish Communities." Findings reveal that …

Using The Epic (Exposure, Persuasion, Identification, And Commitment) To Develop A Measure Of Student Buy-In To Laboratory Learning Goals, Elizabeth Blanche Vaughan, A. Montoya-Cowan, Jack Barbera

Chemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

Buy-in has been described as the series of judgements students make when deciding to engage with a pedagogical practice. Buy-in to pedagogical practices is known to have a meaningful impact on students’ engagement in learning environments, making it a construct of interest for researchers and practitioners. This study develops a measure of student buy-in to faculty defined laboratory learning goals by adapting an existing measure which operationalizes the construct in terms of Exposure, Persuasion, Identification, and Commitment (EPIC). The adapted measure presented in this study, deemed the EPIC-LaG (Laboratory Goals), was developed using learning goals for general and organic chemistry …

Ronald E. Mcnair Research Symposium Presentation Schedule 2025, Mcnair Scholars Program

McNair Symposium

This is the presentation schedule for the 23rd Undergraduate Ronald E. McNair Research Symposium 2025.

Ronald E. Mcnair Scholars Program Profiles And Abstracts 2025, Mcnair Scholars Program

McNair Symposium

This publication provides research abstracts and biographies of 2025 McNair scholars and their mentors.

Charting New Territory: Ai Applications In Dental Caries Detection From Panoramic Imaging., Man Hung, Daniel Yevseyevich, Milan Khazana, Connor Schwartz, Martin S. Lipsky

Institute on Aging Publications

Dental caries remains a public health concern, and early detection prevents its progression and complications. Panoramic radiographs are essential diagnostic tools, yet the interpretation of panoramic X-rays varies among practitioners. Artificial intelligence (AI) presents a promising approach to enhance diagnostic accuracy in detecting dental caries. This scoping review examines the current literature on the use of AI programs to analyze panoramic radiographs for the diagnosis of dental caries. This scoping review searched PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Dentistry and Oral Sciences Source, adhering to PRISMA guidelines. The review included peer-reviewed, original research published in English that investigated the use …

Trauma-Born Generations And Intergenerational Conflict: A Study Of Tensions In The Contemporary South Korean, Daihyun Kim

Dissertations and Theses

This paper analyzes how traumatic events that have been repeated in modern Korean history have affected each generation's identity and emotional structure, and how intergenerational conflicts arise, are structured, and reproduced. This study divides the groups of people born in the period from "The Liberation" in 1945 to 2025 into four generations: the Industrialization Generation, the Democratization Generation, the Capitalist Generation, and the Isolation Generation. Each generation has remembered major historical events such as the Korean War, the Gwangju Democratization Movement, the IMF foreign exchange crisis, the Sewol ferry and the Itaewon disaster in a unique way, thereby forming an …

Voice As A Biomarker: Exploratory Analysis For Benign And Malignant Vocal Fold Lesions, Phillip Jenkins, Rylan Harrison, Steven Bedrick, Lisa Karstens, Bridge2ai-Voice Consortium

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Benign and malignant vocal fold lesions can alter voice quality and lead to significant morbidity or, in the case of malignancy, mortality. Early, noninvasive identification of these lesions using voice as a biomarker may improve diagnostic access and outcomes. In this study, we analyzed data from the initial release of the Bridge2AI-Voice dataset to evaluate which acoustic features best distinguish laryngeal cancer and benign vocal fold lesions from other vocal pathologies and healthy voice function. Seven diagnostic cohorts were grouped into two analyses: the first included participants with laryngeal cancer, benign lesions, or no voice disorder; the second included those …

Overcoming Challenges In Mapping Hydrography And Heterogeneity In Urban Landscapes, Kristina G. Hopkins, Rebecca L. Hale, Krista A. Capps, John S. Kominoski, Jennifer L. Morse, Allison H. Roy, Andrew Blinn, Shuo Chen, Liz Ortiz Munoz, Annika Quick, Jacob Rudolph

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Understanding how water moves through a watershed is one of the most fundamental yet often complicated aspects of hydrology, especially in urban areas. Urban infrastructure and water management alter natural hydrological pathways in developed watersheds, which can violate assumptions of a watershed approach to ecosystem science. We focus on two aspects of urban landscapes that often create challenges to model watershed processes within and among urban areas: (1) accurate delineation of urban flow paths and (2) consistent characterisation of the urban landscape within and among cities. Here, we describe these challenges and identify how certain components of these challenges can …

Urban Wildlife In Your Backyard: Community Experiences With Coyotes And Outdoor Cats, Clarissa Emma Cressotti

Dissertations and Theses

Urbanization reshapes ecological processes by fragmenting habitat and altering patterns of human-wildlife interaction, often reducing biodiversity. However, at the household scale, residential yards can either enhance or inhibit ecological connectivity - functioning as informal habitat stepping stones or barriers to wildlife. This thesis examines how residents' environmental attitudes, wildlife experiences, and socio-demographic characteristics influence yard-level behaviors and shape the presence of urban-adapted wildlife species, particularly coyotes and domestic cats, across the Portland, Oregon metropolitan region. A mixed-methods, social-ecological framework guided the analysis, integrating survey data from 244 households with wildlife detections from motion-triggered cameras (Urban Wildlife Information Network, UWIN), citizen …

The First Thirty Years Of Green Stormwater Infrastructure In Portland, Oregon, Michaela Koucka, Cara Poor, Jordyn Wolfand, Heejun Chang, Vivek Shandas, Adrienne Aiona, Henry Stevens, Tim Kurtz, Svetlana Hedin, Steve Fancher, Joshua Lighthipe, Adam Zucker

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

Over the past 30 years, the City of Portland, Oregon, USA, has emerged as a national leader in green stormwater infrastructure (GSI). The initial impetus for implementing sustainable stormwater infrastructure in Portland stemmed from concerns about flooding and water quality in the city’s two major rivers, the Columbia and the Willamette. Heavy rainfall often led to combined sewer overflows, significantly polluting these waterways. A partial solution was the construction of “The Big Pipe” project, a large-scale stormwater containment system designed to filter and regulate overflow. However, Portland has taken a more comprehensive and long-term approach by integrating sustainable stormwater management …

More Than A Ramp: Rethinking School Design For Sensory And Cognitive Inclusion, Andrew Ho

University Honors Theses

This thesis advocates for the integration of the ASPECTSS framework, developed by Magda Mostafa, into legislative standards that would govern the design of educational environments that accommodate students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Drawing on evidence from a case study demonstrating significant improvements in student behavior and overall satisfaction through ASPECTSS-based interventions, the thesis highlights the urgent need for these principles to move beyond voluntary adoption and rather, toward enforceable design mandates.

The ASPECTSS framework includes the seven following criterias; Acoustics, Spatial Sequencing, Escape Spaces, Compartmentalization, Transitions, Sensory Zoning, and Safety. This model provides a comprehensive and actionable approach to …

A Groundwater Flow System Investigation In The Upper Rowena Creek Drainage, Oregon, Catelee Yamei Kambur

Dissertations and Theses

Groundwater level declines are a growing concern within the upper Rowena Creek drainage, Oregon. This area is home to a small community located on the upper limb of the Columbia Hills anticline, where local residents rely on aquifers within the Columbia River Basalt Group (CRBG) for domestic water supplies. Groundwater level declines in CRBG aquifers have been studied more extensively in the Mosier area, which lies approximately 5 miles to the northwest of Rowena, but there has been little research conducted specifically on the upper Rowena Creek drainage area. Rowena is located higher up the dip of the Columbia Hills …

Imputation Via Domain Adaptation: Rethinking Variable Subset Forecasting From Knowledge Transfer, Runchang Liang, Qi Hao, Yue Gao, Kunpeng Liu, Lu Jiang, Pengyang Wang, Minghao Yin

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Multivariate time series forecasting in practical deployment faces a critical challenge termed Variable Subset Forecasting (VSF), where certain variables accessible during training are entirely missing during inference. This creates a stark discrepancy between the training (source domain with full variables) and inference (target domain with partial variables) environments, disrupting cross-variable dependencies and fragmenting global temporal patterns. Existing imputation methods, limited to transferring local knowledge (e.g., temporal neighbors or pairwise correlations), fail to capture essential global dynamics, leading to severe performance degradation under distribution shifts. To address these challenges, we redefine VSF as a cross-domain knowledge transfer problem and propose VIDA, …

Physical And Mental Health Of Behavioural Health Certified Peer Specialists In Four Us States, Judith A. Cook, Jane K. Burke-Miller, Morgan Pelot, Jessica A. Jonikas, Laysha Ostrow

Psychology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background:

Little is known about the health and healthcare needs of the behavioural health peer specialist workforce in the USA. This study explored the physical and mental health-related quality of life (QOL) of a US multistate cohort of certified peer specialists, and factors associated with health-related work absences among those employed in peer specialist positions.

Methods:

Data come from 419 participants surveyed 18 months after state certification as part of a 2-year longitudinal cohort study of peer specialists in four US states. Measures included the Veterans RAND 12 Item Health Survey, the Epidemic-Pandemic Impacts Inventory and items from the National …

Impact Of Firefighters' Work Schedule On Cardiovascular Disease Risk, Wellbeing And Safety In Firefighters: Protocol For The Swift Study, A Multidisciplinary Prospective And Cross-Sectional Study, Walaa F. Abdelmoaty, Shelby L. Watkins, Aanuoluwakiitan Ayeni, David A. Hurtado, Andrew W. Mchill, Jeremy J. Biggs, Kurt T. Hegmann, Steven A. Shea, Todd Bodner, Nicole P. Bowles

Psychology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Firefighters face frequent physical and psychosocial stressors, increasing their risk for hypertension. Rising call volumes with a stable workforce have heightened occupational burdens. To meet their occupational demands while increasing time off-duty, fire departments across the country have switched from a 24 hours on 48 hours off (termed ‘24/48’) work schedule to one that increases the number of consecutive days off (eg, 1 day on, 3 days off, 2 days on, 3 days off (termed ‘1/3/2/3’) or 48 hours on 96 hours off (termed ‘48/96’)). However, these schedule changes come at the expense of increasing time on-duty, which may have …

Assessing The Accessibility Of Queer Romance Book Covers As Digital Thumbnails: An Analysis Of Color Contrast, Colorblind Safety, And Typography Legibility, Madelynn Sare

Book Publishing Final Research Papers

This research investigates the digital accessibility of queer romance book covers displayed as thumbnails online, focusing on the balance between creative freedom, genre appeal, and inclusive cover design. Using a dataset of 100 highest-rated queer romance titles from Goodreads (2020–2024), the study evaluates accessibility by examining color contrast ratios against Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) standards, assessing colorblind safe design with Adobe Color, and measuring typography legibility through a custom-developed scale. Findings reveal that many covers fall short of WCAG color contrast requirements, yet a majority are colorblind safe, indicating that relatively minor design adjustments can significantly improve digital accessibility …

Psilocybin And Death Anxiety: A Dual-Mechanism Approach To Existential Distress, Annabelle Swain

University Honors Theses

This literature review looks at how psilocybin, the active compound in "magic mushrooms," can help people deal with death anxiety; the deep fear of dying or losing control that shows up in lots of mental health struggles. While traditional treatments like SSRIs and talk therapy work for some people, they don't always get to the root of the problem. Psilocybin works differently. It changes brain activity, especially in networks tied to repetitive, self-focused thinking, as well as creates powerful, emotional experiences that help people rethink how they see life and death. This paper covers recent research showing how one or …

Public Preferences For Flood Warning Improvements: An Inferred Valuation Approach Addressing Social Desirability Bias, Katsuya Tanaka, Kazuhide Akaishi, Takashi Yokota

Center for Public Service Publications and Reports

Despite the crucial role of flood warning systems in mitigating disaster impacts, their economic value—particularly the value of specific attributes—remains poorly understood. This study evaluates public preferences and willingness to pay (WTP) for three flood warning attributes: advance notice, warning reliability, and geographical precision, using a choice experiment conducted in Tokyo's Koto 5 Wards. To address social desirability bias, the study employs both standard and inferred valuation methods, with the latter asking respondents to predict their neighbors' choices. The findings reveal that warning reliability is the most highly valued attribute, with an inferred WTP of ¥2,345 per household annually for …

Guided Modes Through The Dual Perspectives Of Geometrical Optics And Wave Equation, Mason Spears

Mathematics and Statistics Undergraduate Departmental Honors Theses

In an optical waveguide, only finitely many electric field intensity profiles travel without loss, and these are aptly named guided modes. This paper uses fundamental concepts from the two paradigms of interpreting light, geometrical and physical optics, to derive guided modes axiomatically. First, basic principles of geometrical optics are demonstrated in a slab waveguide to explain characteristics of optical waveguides such as total internal reflection and numerical aperture. Dispersion curves are assembled from the same principles and used to show that only finitely many guided modes exist for a given waveguide. Next, Maxwell’s equations are used to derive the famous …