Digital Commons Network^™

Urban Oregon Ash - Inventory And Plan Development In The Face Of Emerald Ash Borer, Maura Olivos

Urban Ecosystem Research Consortium of Portland/Vancouver

The invasive beetle, Emerald ash borer (EAB) was first detected in Oregon within an urban area of Washington County in 2022. The spread of this beetle has already begun to take its toll on its preferred host tree, ash (Fraxinus spp.). Though there are many species of ash throughout the urban area, Oregon only has one native ash tree, Oregon ash (F. latifiolia) which is highly associated with stream corridors and wetland habitats. Along our streams Oregon ash helps provide soil infiltration, streambank stabilization, stream shade, and other critical ecosystem services throughout private and public lands alike. …

Patterns In Human-Wildlife Conflict In The Portland Metro Area And Implications For Coexistence, Dave Keiter, Peter Iacono, Lindsey Sanders, Ben Cate

Urban Ecosystem Research Consortium of Portland/Vancouver

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) is routinely contacted for technical advice and assistance in addressing real or perceived human-wildlife conflict across the state. Improved understanding of patterns of conflict between humans and wildlife in urban ecosystems can help to identify ways to reduce perceived conflict and guide targeted education and outreach campaigns to benefit human-wildlife coexistence in urban areas. We analyzed 2,874 reports of human conflict with wildlife received by ODFW wildlife biologists in the Portland metro area from 2022-2024. Our objectives were to 1) identify the wildlife species most frequently involved in real or perceived conflict …

Utilizing Roadkill Salvage To Bolster Chronic Wasting Disease Surveillance Data In Urban Areas, Steph Doorly, Trever B. Gelling

Urban Ecosystem Research Consortium of Portland/Vancouver

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy that is always fatal to members of the deer family (Cervidae). CWD poses a unique challenge for wildlife managers as there is no cure or treatment for infected individuals, it remains transmissible and persistent in the environment, and symptoms become evident only after a long incubation period. The disease has yet to be detected in Oregon. CWD can impact trophic systems, economies, and sources of first foods. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s (ODFW) CWD management plan includes increased surveillance through diversified sampling efforts, and public education and outreach. Monitoring …

Proceedings Of The 23rd Annual Urban Ecology & Conservation Symposium March 17, 2025, Urban Ecosystem Research Consortium Of Portland/Vancouver

Urban Ecosystem Research Consortium of Portland/Vancouver

These proceedings document the agenda and abstracts for presentations and posters from the 23rd annual conference organized by the Urban Ecosystem Research Consortium of Portland/Vancouver (UERC) which occurred on March 17, 2025. The UERC is a consortium of people from various universities and colleges, state and federal agencies, local governments, non-profit organizations and independent professionals interested in supporting urban ecosystem research and creating an information-sharing network of people that collect and use ecological data in the Portland/Vancouver area. The annual conference has an open call for abstracts. The UERC organizing committee selects the final oral and poster presentations, along with …

Enhancing Discoverability: Transitioning A Board Game Collection From A Libguide To A Collectionbuilder Site, Hanwen Dong, Perri Moreno, Tyler Rodriguez, Julia Stone

Library Faculty and Staff Publications and Presentations

As board game collections continue to grow in popularity at academic institutions, the University of Idaho Library wanted to establish an accessible and easy-to-use discovery tool for its physical game collection. At the collections’ origins, a LibGuide was created by librarians for this purpose, but as the collection records continued to grow into the triple digits, something more adaptable and customizable was necessary. In the summer of 2023, a team of librarians came together to build a custom site to house the game collection’s information using CollectionBuilder, an open-source framework for digital collections and exhibits websites that are driven by …

Urban Nature Visitation, Accessibility, And Impact Of Travel Distance For Sustainable Cities, Michelle Talal, Michal Gruntman

Urban Ecosystem Research Consortium of Portland/Vancouver

Accessible urban nature is a key component of creating sustainable urban communities and promoting human health and well-being. However, more information is still needed regarding how planners and managers can promote urban nature visitation and equitable access during health and environmental crises. The purpose of this study was to examine trends in urban nature visitation during the COVID-19 pandemic and then to determine if the effect of the pandemic on the frequency of urban nature site visitation varied by distance to home. This study analyzed both publicly available large-scale mobility data and a conducting web-based survey of residents about their …

Financial Metrics As Predictors Of Financial Vulnerability And Nonprofit Failure, Yossi Haimberg

Dissertations and Theses

Studying nonprofit's risk factors for financial vulnerability and possible demise is important because of the negative social consequences for both the failed organization and its stockholders. Financial vulnerability is a concern shared by all nonprofit's stakeholders as poor financial health affects nonprofit's ability to fulfill its mission, sustain its operations, and in many cases may result in a nonprofit demise. Advance knowledge on financial vulnerability has significant implications for nonprofit's leaders to develop corrective strategies to prevent failure.

Nonprofit scholars such as Tuckman and Chang, Greenlee, Hager, and Searing have contributed notable benchmarks in the field of nonprofit vulnerability, by …

Urban Beavers At The Crossroads: How Ecological Knowledge, Sociodemographic, And Spatial Context Shape Public Perception And Coexistence Preferences, Matthew Guziejka

Dissertations and Theses

Urban beavers demonstrate synurbization by adapting to urban environments, offering ecological benefits such as biodiversity enhancement and flood mitigation, while also occasionally conflicting with infrastructure. This study examines how ecological knowledge, sociodemographics, and spatial context influence public perceptions and management preferences for urban beavers in the Tualatin River watershed, Oregon.

A voluntary survey of 176 participants from peri-urban areas assessed demographic characteristics, ecological knowledge, and attitudes toward management approaches. Spatial factors, such as proximity to watercourses and green spaces, were also analyzed. Logistic regression analyses were used to explore relationships between these factors and management preferences. Political orientation was significantly …

Gait Characteristics In People With Friedreich Ataxia: Daily Life Versus Clinic Measures, Hannah L. Casey, Vrutangkumar V. Shah, Daniel Muzyka, James Mcnames, Mahmoud El-Gohary, Kristen Sowalsky, Delaram Safarpour, Patricia Carlson-Kuhta, Christian Rummey, Fay B. Horak, Christopher M. Gomez

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Gait assessments in a clinical setting may not accurately reflect mobility in everyday life. To better understand gait during daily life, we compared measures that discriminated Friedreich ataxia (FRDA) from healthy control (HC) subjects in prescribed clinic tests and free, daily-life monitoring.MethodsWe recruited 9 people with FRDA (median age: 20, IQR [12, 48] years). A comparative healthy control (HC) subject cohort of 9 was sampled using propensity matching on age (median age: 18 [13, 22] years). Subjects wore 3 inertial sensors (one each foot and lower back) in the laboratory during a 2-min walk at a natural pace, followed by …

Adaptive Resolution Of Fine Scales In Modes Of Microstructured Optical Fibers, Jay Gopalakrishnan, Jacob Grosek, Gabriel Pinochet-Soto, Pieter Vandenberge

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications and Presentations

An adaptive algorithm for computing eigenmodes and propagation constants of optical fibers is proposed. The algorithm is built using a dual-weighted residual error estimator. The residuals are based on the eigensystem for leaky hybrid modes obtained from Maxwell equations truncated to a finite domain after a transformation by a perfectly matched layer. The adaptive algorithm is then applied to compute practically interesting modes for multiple fiber microstructures. Emerging microstructured optical fibers are characterized by complex geometrical features in their transverse cross section. Their leaky modes, useful for confining and propagating light in their cores, often exhibit fine-scale features. The adaptive …

Working Paper No. 88, Algorithms And Thorstein Veblen’S ‘Machine Process’, Eunji Jang

Working Papers in Economics

This inquiry seeks to establish that the ‘machine process’ which Thorstein Veblen introduced into the Economics literature back in 1904, exhibits similarities to algorithms that are readily found in contemporary times--more than one hundred years on. In The Theory of Business Enterprise [1904] (2005), Veblen defines the machine process as a system that prioritizes efficiency, standardization, and automation. Relatedly, this inquiry argues that algorithms are based upon similar principles and exhibit similar tendencies that yield similar outcomes. Additionally, this inquiry explores the institutional role of algorithms, elaborating upon how their increasing prevalence and solidification might serve to enhance efficiency in …

Working Paper No. 91, The Emergence Of Industrial ‘Sabotage’ In The Evolution American Health Insurance, H. J.

Working Papers in Economics

This inquiry seeks to establish that over the years the American health insurance industry has evolved in the direction of offering more and more disadvantages versus advantages to consumers as holders of insurance policies as well as healthcare products and services. In the tradition of Thorstein Veblen, this tendency should be considered as an institutional evolution that can be traced back in time to its origins in mutual aid societies and lodge practices. With the industrialization of the American economy, the healthcare industry exhibits signs of advancing, and but one indicator of this advance is that insurance plans became formalized. …

Working Paper No. 87, The Double-Edged Sword Of American Philanthropy, Nathan Lewis-Lusso

Working Papers in Economics

This inquiry seeks to establish that American philanthropy, often hailed as a moral virtue, is in part a reflection of systemic policy failures that have forced private individuals to address public needs. While one blade of the philanthropic sword has historically provided essential support in areas such as education, healthcare, and poverty alleviation, the other blade of the sword has also allowed for wealthy individuals to shape public priorities, often reinforcing existing inequalities. By analyzing the historical development of philanthropy, its role in addressing policy gaps, and its potential in undermining democratic governance, this inquiry highlights the complex and often …

“Tikkun” Viewed From The Perspective Of Systems Philosophy, Martin Zwick

Complex Systems Faculty Publications and Presentations

Understanding the idea of tikkun, as it appears in tikkun olam and tikkun ha’yetser, can be enriched by ideas from systems philosophy. From a systems perspective, “moral evil“ – the flaws of individual human beings, which create the need for tikkun ha’yetser – is a special case of “natural evil” – the dangers to life and especially to humanity from the natural world and from societal moral evil, which create the need for tikkun olam. Natural evil is in turn a special case of “metaphysical evil” – flaws in olam (which include those of yetser) that are ubiquitous, …

Accessible Bike Map Design: A Review And Critique Of Portland’S Bike Maps, Zachary Cheyney

Geography Masters Research Papers

Urban bike maps can serve as key tools for route planning and navigation for prospective cyclists, providing both general information (such as landmarks and natural features) and cycling specific information (such as bike lane infrastructure types and cycling amenities). Despite this, there is little professional guidance or academic research on best practices for bike map design. Potential guidance should consider the full range of potential cyclists, including disabled cyclists who have often been left out of cycling policy discussions. In this paper, I begin by discussing 3 case studies on participatory mapping methodologies with disabled participants in order to generate …

Exploring The Effect Of The Architecture Morphology On Urban Ventilation At Block Scale Using Cfd-Gis And Random Forest Combined Method, Bin Guo, Miaoyi Chen, Xiaowei Zhu, Zheng Wang, Lu Li, Lin Pei, Hailong Chen, Puhao Chen, Tengyue Guo

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Urban ventilation plays a crucial role in dispersing air pollutants and mitigating the urban heat island effect. As a key factor, urban architectural morphology can significantly impact the wind field and ventilation efficiency. This study combines Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), Geographic Information System (GIS), and Random Forest (RF) methods to investigate the influence of architectural morphology on urban ventilation at the block scale. First, Remote Sensing (RS) and GIS were used to extract architectural morphology parameters. Second, CFD simulations, guided by in-situ observations, were conducted to model the wind field, with the Standard k-ɛ model validated as the optimal choice. …

Active Transportation Data Fusion: Incorporating Big Data To Estimate Volumes, Joeseph Broach, Sirisha Kothuri, Nathan Mcneil

PSU Transportation Seminars

Planners and decision-makers have increasingly voiced a need for network-wide estimates of bicycling and walking. Such volume estimates have for decades informed motorized planning and analysis but have only recently become feasible for non-motorized travel modes. Recently, new sources of activity data have emerged derived primarily from GPS-based smartphone location data, both app-based and passively collected. The project team has led several research projects aimed at evaluating and integrating the emerging sources with conventional demand data, including observed bicycle and pedestrian counts, to assess the value added of various emerging sources and the potential for estimating network-wide volumes. This presentation …

Risk Factors For Substance Use Among Serious And Violent Offenders Undergoing Reentry, Elizabeth Bozarth

University Honors Theses

Formerly incarcerated individuals often experience an intensely chaotic and stressful reentry environment, riddled with barriers and challenges that make them more susceptible to substance use and other risky behaviors. This literature review focuses on the most prevalent and pervasive risk factors for substance use among serious and violent offenders undergoing reentry. By examining research published within the last decade on serious and violent offenders in the United States, several major themes were identified: social bonds, housing and employment, mental health, and surveillance and addiction treatment. The results showed that risk factors for substance use are deeply embedded in ex-offenders' social …

Exploring Health Equity With Culturally Specific Providers Of Permanent Supportive Housing, Judith Solomon

University Honors Theses

Chronic homelessness is an important public health issue. Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) is a promising opportunity for transitioning people experiencing homelessness into housing, however there remain unaddressed racial inequities in service provision and outcomes. The aim of this study is to better understand the role of culturally specific (CS) providers of PSH in improving health equity. I analyzed interviews with CS PSH providers for themes related to health and healthcare. Providers spoke about the importance of connecting clients to healthcare. Providers stressed the importance of honesty and lived experience, highlighting the strong sense of responsibility to the community. Providers also …

Special Delivery: Special District Use Of Collaboration To Solve Challenges, Kelly Irene Fahl Sherbo

Dissertations and Theses

As the special district sector continues to increase in number across the U.S., understanding their role in public governance increases in value both to practitioners and academia alike. The state of the academic literature on special districts does not yet reflect the large size and importance of the sector and has been severely limited by available data, mainly coming from the U.S. Census Bureau. Existing research has focused on broad descriptions of the field of special districts, some studies focus on policy and political effects; but scant research analyzes behavior within and among special districts, particularly with their public entity …

Neural Visual Synthesis For Graphics, 4d Gaussians And Videos, Zhan Li

Dissertations and Theses

Efficient visual synthesis has played an indirect yet important role in the development of neural networks. Graphics processing units (GPUs) were initially designed for visual synthesis tasks such as rendering graphics. However, their parallel computing capabilities later made GPUs the ideal hardware for training neural networks. Since neural networks have greatly benefited from GPUs, a compelling question arises: How can neural networks, in turn, improve efficient visual synthesis?

Existing visual synthesis methods still require improvement for higher efficiency. For example, Monte Carlo rendering takes over 15 minutes to generate a megapixel frame at a high-quality setting on a GPU, as …

Next Arrival And Destination Prediction Via Spatiotemporal Embedding With Urban Geography And Human Mobility Data, Pengjiang Li, Zaitian Wang, Xinhao Zhang, Pengfei Wang, Kunpeng Liu

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

With the development of transportation networks, countless trajectory data are accumulated, and understanding human mobility from traffic data could be helpful for smart cities, urban computing, and urban planning. Extracting valuable insights from traffic data, such as taxi trajectories, can significantly improve residents’ daily lives. There are many studies on spatiotemporal data mining. As we know, arrival prediction or regional function detection encompasses important tasks for traffic management and urban planning. However, trajectory data are often mutilated because of personal privacy and hardware limitations, i.e., we usually can only obtain partial trajectory information. In this paper, we develop an embedding …

Influence Of Inselbergs On Bat Diversity In Afrotropical Ecosystems, Amanda Lee Grunwald

Dissertations and Theses

Humans are altering biological communities on local to global scales, driving profound changes in biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. However, significant gaps and biases in biodiversity data hinder our understanding of ecosystem interactions, making it challenging to develop effective, data-driven policies to protect remaining biodiversity. Bats, the second most species-rich groups of mammals, have a global distribution, and perform a broad array of vital ecosystem functions. Their diversity peaks in the tropics, where they often constitute more than 50% of mammal species diversity. The Afrotropics host substantial bat diversity, yet have historically been perceived as having lower species richness compared to …

Extant Life Detection Using Label-Free Video Microscopy In Analog Aquatic Environments, Carl D. Snyder, Manuel Bedrossian, Casey Barr, Jody W. Deming, Chris A. Lindensmith, Christian Stenner, Jay L. Nadeau

Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations

The ability of microbial active motion, morphology, and optical properties to serve as biosignatures was investigated by in situ video microscopy in a wide range of extreme field sites where such imaging had not been performed previously. These sites allowed for sampling seawater, sea ice brines, cryopeg brines, hypersaline pools and seeps, hyperalkaline springs, and glaciovolcanic cave ice. In all samples except the cryopeg brine, active motion was observed without any sample treatment. Active motion was observed in the cryopeg brines when samples were subjected to a temperature gradient above in situ. In general, levels of motility were low in …

Pdxscholar Multi-Year Annual Report (2022-2024), Julia Stone, Sherry Buchanan, Bertrand Robinson, Stacey Schlatter, Carolee Harrison

Library Faculty and Staff Publications and Presentations

We are excited to share our 2022-2024 PDXScholar Multi-Year Annual Report. This multi-year report covers the period between January 1, 2022 and December 31, 2024. PDXScholar, Portland State University's institutional repository, provides access to the scholarly and creative output of PSU faculty, students, and staff. In this report, we aim to highlight PDXScholar’s growth and impact through readership data, new content and collections, and feedback from our users.

Combining Passive And Active Ultrasonic Stress Wave Monitoring For The Characterization Of The Early-Age Properties Of A Uhpfrc Beam, Numa Bertola, Thomas Schumacher, Ernst Niederleithinger, Eugen Bruhwiler

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article focuses on the characterization of the early-age properties of Ultra-High-Performance Fiber-Reinforced Cementitious Composite (UHPFRC), which is becoming popular for designing lightweight and durable structures. Due to the large proportion of cement in the mix, the hardening of UHPFRC is significantly faster than conventional concrete. Therefore, the development of UHPFRC properties, such as the elastic modulus, is difficult to monitor as it happens while elements are within the formwork. For this reason, the hydration process of UHPFRC elements is not fully understood yet. A combined passive (or acoustic emission) and active ultrasonic stress wave monitoring approach has the potential …

Mindful Wonderment: Using Focus Groups To Frame Social Justice, Rolla Lewis, Susan Davis Lenski, Swapna Mukhopadhyay, Chris Taylor Cartwright

Curriculum and Instruction Faculty Publications and Presentations

In the recent past many professional schools of education in the United States have embraced social justice as central to their mission in preparing teachers, counselors, and administrators to work in preK-16 settings. This article documents our initial inquiry guided by mindful wonderment into an effort to frame social justice as a collective collaboration involving support staff, faculty, and administrators within a graduate school of education. A series of focus groups made up of members of a school of education considered the commitment to social justice not only for its preK-16 candidates but also for transforming the environment and culture …

Layout-Aware Quantum Circuitry And Algorithmic Extensions To Grover's Algorithm, Ali Al-Bayaty

Dissertations and Theses

Lov K. Grover introduced, in 1996, Grover's algorithm as a quantum search algorithm to find all solutions for quantum oracles representing classical problems. My research observed that the Grover diffusion operator of Grover's algorithm gives wrong solutions when Boolean oracles are designed in some logical structures. Therefore, I invented the new "controlled-diffusion operator" for Boolean oracles as a new approach for Grover's algorithm that always correctly solves the problem of Grover's algorithm.

Another important problem in quantum computing is designing reliable and cost-effective quantum gates using reversible binary logic. In classical logic design, the stage of logic design can be …

Organizational Supports For Promoting Evidence Use In Private Child Welfare Agencies, Crystal Collins-Camargo, Emmeline Chuang, Bowen Mcbeath

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

There is minimal literature about the organizational supports that private child welfare agencies have in place to pursue positive outcomes for the children and families they serve. This study drew upon the perspectives of 27 senior managers of fourteen nonprofit child and family serving agencies in six U.S. states to examine the extent to which agencies employed organizational supports for evidence use. We identified four types of organizational supports: technical and knowledge management infrastructure, leadership and strategic alignment, and linkage and exchange efforts. Managers described whether and how they used these supports to facilitate evidence-informed decision-making and practice. Managers also …

Book Review: Global-National Networks In Education Policy: Primary Education, Social Enterprises And 'Teach For Bangladesh', Taylor Delhagen, Madhu Narayanan

Educational Leadership and Policy Faculty Publications and Presentations

Global-national networks in education policy: primary education, social enterprises and ‘Teach for Bangladesh’ by Rino Wiseman Adhikary, Bob Lingard and Ian Hardy, London, Bloomsbury Academic, 2023, 220 pp., £95.00 (hardback), ISBN 9781350169180