Digital Commons Network^™

As Librarians Convene Here, Multnomah County Library Showcases Work In Equity And Inclusion, Kathi Inman Berens

English Faculty Publications and Presentations

As more than 3,300 U.S. librarians flock to Portland for the Public Library Association conference March 23-25, they’ll witness up close Multnomah County Library’s groundbreaking work in diversity, equity, inclusion and social justice. The pandemic, and social justice work after the 2020 protests, have permanently influenced how the library delivers services.

Serving Students With Disabilities Who Are Culturally And Linguistically Diverse In Rural Communities: Technology Access Is Essential, Benjamin Gallegos, Lisa A. Dieker, Rebecca Smith, Nicole C. Ralston

Northwest Journal of Teacher Education

Before the COVID-19 pandemic changed the educational landscape, students with disabilities, especially those who are culturally and linguistically diverse, and their special education teachers who worked and attended schools located in rural communities faced barriers most schools and communities experienced nationwide. As schools shifted to remote virtual learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic, rural schools were already at a disadvantage with the lack of resources with technology access. The call for addressing shortcomings in the various digital technology supports towards enhancing the teachers’ delivery of content and the students’ academic outcomes has been a continual challenge to address. This paper …

Connecting The “Real-World” To The Math Classroom: Implementing Professional Development For Mathematical Modeling, Rejoice Akapame

Northwest Journal of Teacher Education

This qualitative research study focused on the changes in classroom pedagogy and content of rural mathematics teachers who engaged in a year-long professional development project focused on mathematical modeling. During a 2-week summer institute, teachers solved mathematical modeling problems as learners and then went through an iterative design process of creating, testing and refining lessons for classroom implementation. The lessons were implemented during the academic year. Results of this study indicate that teachers developed a willingness to move from traditional lecture and replication as the main form of pedagogy. Instead they incorporated more group tasks, alternate assessments, and created their …

“A Tale Of Two Classrooms”: Designing Culturally-Relevant Hip Hop Curriculum To Support Stem Identity Of Underrepresented Students, Jessica Mcclain, Rebecca Colina Neri Ph.D

Northwest Journal of Teacher Education

This article explores how educators can contribute to the development of STEM identity in historically marginalized groups by using critical frameworks and pedagogies like Funds of Knowledge and Critical Hip-Hop Pedagogy as a curricular tool to counter traditional teaching practices. The authors amplify the importance of cultural spaces that support educators in examining aspects of power, access, and cultural awareness in STEM classrooms to increase student participation and acquisition of STEM knowledge. This article provides a guided activity named “A tale of two citiez” as an example of how educators can act towards (re)conceptualizing and (re)imagining STEM classrooms.

A Path To Decolonizing The Online Classroom, Erin Woodford

Northwest Journal of Teacher Education

Designing our online classroom is more than just putting content online or showing up on video conferencing as scheduled. The inequities across regions that inhibit success with online learning may affect students anywhere at any time. How do you navigate what inequities our learners may face? Are decolonization strategies the key to creating a more equitable, student-centered classroom? This paper illustrates the autoethnographic case study research process of decolonizing the online classroom that takes the researcher to the United Kingdom and back to the US and Canada to realize how global decolonization varies, yet how using an equity lens in …

Dependence Comparisons Of Order Statistics In The Proportional Hazards Model, Subhash C. Kochar

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Let X₁,…,X_n be mutually independent exponential random variables with distinct hazard rates λ₁,…,λ_n > 0 and let Y₁,…,Y_n be a random sample from the exponential distribution with hazard rate $\bar \lmd = \sum_{i=1}^n \lmd_i/n$. Also let X_1:n < ⋯ < X_n:n and Y_1:n < ⋯ < Y_n:n be their associated order statistics. It is shown that for 1 ≤ i < j ≤ n, the generalized spacing X_j:n - X _i:n is more dispersed than Y_j:n− Y_i:n according to dispersive ordering. This result is used to solve a long standing open problem …

Modeling Cyanobacteria Vertical Migration, Corina Christina Mae Overman, Scott A. Wells

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Cyanobacteria often cause harmful algal blooms and release toxic substances that can harm humans and animals. Accurately modeling these phytoplankton is a step towards predicting, preventing, and controlling such blooms. Certain cyanobacteria species are known to migrate vertically in the water column on a daily cycle. Capturing this behavior is one aspect of modeling their dynamics. Previous studies on modeling cyanobacterial vertical migration are reviewed and summarized. Several models of cyanobacteria vertical movement are tested using data from field studies. These models are applied using both continuum and particle-tracking frameworks. Models range in complexity from simple functions of time to …

Working Paper No. 58, Auro Ex Oleum: Departing The American Gold Standard*, Zakhary L. Roth

Working Papers in Economics

This inquiry seeks to establish that the character of the United States dollar fundamentally changed over the course of the 20th century as it moved away from its being rooted in the gold standard. As the global economy transitioned into the 20th century and the United States began establishing itself as a cornerstone of global trade, the dollar evolved into the standard currency of the world economy, changing significantly along the way as it moved from a gold-backed standard to the reserve currency of the international petroleum trade. These changes are reflected in U.S. foreign and monetary policy throughout this …

Quantification Of Reynolds Shear Stress Wave-Phase Dependence In Fixed-Bottom Offshore Wind Turbine Via Quadrant Analysis, Cerrina Mouchref

University Honors Theses

As the need for a reliable renewable energy supply is increasing, many have looked to offshore wind because they hold more potential for power production than onshore wind. Interests in expanding offshore wind energy has brought along many challenges when it comes to understanding the complex dynamics experienced offshore, including the relationship between the wind-turbine generated wakes and ocean waves. This experimental study characterizes the relationship between Reynolds shear stress and the phase of surface waves above the air-sea interface in the wind-turbine wake region. The experimental setup combines a wave tank, wind tunnel, and a fixed-bottom wind turbine. Particle …

Seismic Performance Design Criteria Of Existing Bridge Bent Plastic Hinge Region And Rapid Repair Measures Of Earthquake Damaged Bridges Considering Future Resilience, A K M Golam Murtuz

Dissertations and Theses

The main objective of this research was to evaluate the seismic performance of existing sub-standard reinforced concrete (RC) bridge column-spread footing subassemblies and to quantify the material strain limits through a full-scale experimental program. A total of six column-footing test specimens with pre-1990 construction details were subjected to reverse cyclic lateral loading, utilizing a conventional three-cycle symmetric loading protocol and a protocol representing the demands expected from a CSZ earthquake. Additionally, the tests were designed so that variable axial loading could be applied to simulate the secondary load effects experienced during an earthquake in a column that is part of …

Open Education Faculty Panel, Jenny Ceciliano, Lindsey Wilkinson, Staci Martin, Norma Cardenas

Open Education Week 2022

Many faculty at PSU have been involved in the Open Education movement. This panel of PSU faculty members discusses how Open Education has affected their teaching practice and how Open Education relates to equity and inclusion.

Our panelists are:

• Jenny Ceciliano, Senior Instructor II of Spanish/Coordinator of First-year Spanish, World Languages and Literatures
• Lindsey Wilkinson, Associate Professor, Sociology
• Staci Martin, Assistant Professor of Practice, CYFS Practicum Coordinator Child, Youth, and Family Studies, School of Social Work
• Norma Cardenas, Assistant Professor of Practice Child, Youth, and Family Studies, School of Social Work

Webinar: Exploring Data Fusion Techniques To Derive Bicycle Volumes On A Network, Sirisha Kothuri, Joe Broach, Kate Hyun

TREC Webinar Series

Planners and decision makers have increasingly voiced a need for network-wide estimates of bicycling activity. 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 bicycling activity data have emerged such as Strava, Streetlight, and GPS-enabled bike share systems. These emerging data sources have potential advantages as a complement to traditional count data, and have even been proposed as replacements for such data, since they are collected continuously and for larger portions of local bicycle networks. However, the representativeness of these new data sources has …

Using Intrinsically-Typed Definitional Interpreters To Verify Compiler Optimizations In A Monadic Intermediate Language, Dani Barrack

Dissertations and Theses

Compiler optimizations are critical to the efficiency of modern functional programs. At the same time, optimizations that unintentionally change the semantics of programs can systematically introduce errors into programs that pass through them. The question of how to best verify that optimizations and other program transformations preserve semantics is an important one, given the potential for error introduction. Dependent types allow us to prove that properties about our programs are correct, as well as to design data types and interpreters in such a way that they are correct-by-construction. In this thesis, we explore the use of dependent types and intrinsically-typed …

Robust Design Methodologies Under Performance Variations For More Than Moore Technologies: Cnfets & 3dics, Satya Keerthi Vendra

Dissertations and Theses

Various emerging technologies have shown great potential of supplementing silicon transistors as Moore's law slows down. One such disruptive technology, Carbon Nanotube Field Effect Transistors (CNFET), among others, promises increased speed and integration with reduced power consumption. However, due to a limited controllability over the Carbon Nano-tube(CNT) growth process, CNFETs show large variations in their performance and behavior. It is therefore difficult to predict and model their behavior while design suggestions are also challenging. CNT variations are important for a realistic delay modelling. Due to the presence of CNT-specific variations, conventional CMOS evaluation techniques cannot be used for CNFETs.

This …

Faculty Senate Monthly Packet March 2022, Portland State University Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Monthly Packets

The March 7, 2022 Monthly packet includes the March agenda and appendices and the Faculty Senate minutes and attachments from the meeting held February 7, 2022.

The Secret Garden: Results And Reflections From The Back 5 Project, Gwyn Case

Urban Ecosystem Research Consortium of Portland/Vancouver

The Leach Botanical Garden is a hidden botanical gem tucked away in SE Portland, but beyond the manicured paths lie five acres of leafy chaos. Once a pig farm, the eastern five acres of the Leach Botanical Garden (affectionately called the “back 5”) devolved into a tangle of Himalayan blackberry, English ivy, and other invasive plant species. Since 2019, the Back 5 Project has worked to transform this land from an ecological desert to an outdoor classroom and healthy forest. Formed as a partnership between the Leach Botanical Garden and many other organizations, including Wisdom of the Elders, the Blueprint …

Age Diversity Climate Affecting Individual-Level Work-Related Outcomes, Lara Belotti, Sara Zaniboni, Luca Menghini, Cristian Balducci, Dave Cadiz, Stefano Toderi

Business Faculty Publications and Presentations

The present study answers the call for more studies to investigate the age diversity climate’s effect on individual-level outcomes. Building on the social identity approach and social exchange theory, we surveyed 110 Italian employees aged between 18 and 61 years old (M = 46.10, SD = 10.02) and investigated the role of age diversity climate in predicting intentions to quit (H1), job-related wellbeing (H2), and work engagement (H3). Our findings confirmed the hypotheses (H1 and H2), showing the added effect of age diversity climate over and above age, job tenure, role clarity, job demands, job control, perceived support, and perceived …

Aerosolization Of Catalytic Rna For Prebiotic Transport And In Situ Reactivity, Brennan Roland Farrell

Dissertations and Theses

Recent theoretical and experimental work suggests that aqueous aerosols in the early Earth's atmosphere might have been an essential component to the development of life. These complex droplets would have served to compartmentalize emerging biomolecules, thereby concentrating them, increasing reactivity, and facilitating transport and exchange between ocean and atmosphere. This project tests an underexplored but potentially important environmental paradigm for the RNA world hypothesis of prebiotic evolution, probing the effects of aerosolization on catalytic RNA using a model ribozyme. Here we demonstrate the successful transport and in situ self-assembly of the Azoarcus ribozyme from multiple independent fragments via a laboratory-constructed …

Looking Back, Looking Forward: Resilience And Persistence In A Klamath Tribal Community, Thomas J. Connolly, Christopher L. Ruiz, Douglas Deur, Perry Chocktoot Jr., Jaime L. Kennedy, Dennis L. Jenkins, Julia A. Knowles

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The process of human culture entails a perpetual negotiation between the familiar and the new. In the Americas, this process was much accelerated and amplified within Native communities by the historical processes of colonization. We use the record of the Beatty Curve archaeological site in south-central Oregon to examine how members of the Klamath Tribes and their ancestors selectively adopted, adapted, or repurposed introduced materials and practices most compatible with traditional lifeways and values while also maintaining many traditional practices, both overtly and covertly. Transformations from pre-contact to reservation life, and through Termination and Restoration in the 20th century, are …

Classifying Dead Code In Software Development, Arman Alavizadeh

University Honors Theses

Dead code pervades as an issue in the world of software development as a source of many famous software disasters such as the ARIANE 5 rocket failure and chemical bank withdrawal error. Defining dead code on narrow levels of granularity has not been fully explored, yet is crucial to better our understanding of dead code. Here we will be starting a discussion on how to approach classifying dead code via comparing dead code research specific to an industry segment. Research will be compared primarily by methodology and limitations. Dead code subtype classifications are gleaned from research comparisons and can serve …

Continuum Dynamics And Statistical Correction Of Compositional Heterogeneity In Multivalent Idp Oligomers Resolved By Single-Particle Em, Barmak Mostofian, Russell Mcfarland, Aiden Estelle, Jesse Howe, Elisar J. Barbar, Steve L. Reichow, Daniel M. Zuckerman

Chemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

Multivalent intrinsically disordered protein (IDP) complexes are prevalent in biology and act in regulation of diverse processes, including transcription, signaling events, and the assembly and disassembly of complex macromolecular architectures. These systems pose significant challenges to structural investigation, due to continuum dynamics imparted by the IDP and compositional heterogeneity resulting from characteristic low-affinity interactions. Here, we developed a modular pipeline for automated single-particle electron microscopy (EM) distribution analysis of common but relatively understudied semi-ordered systems: 'beads-on-a-string' assemblies, composed of IDPs bound at multivalent sites to the ubiquitous ∼20kDacross-linking hub protein LC8. This approach quantifies conformational geometries and compositional heterogeneity on …

The Spatial Relationship Between Patterns Of Disappeared Streams And Residential Development In Portland, Oregon, Usa, Gregory C. Post, Heejun Chang, David Banis

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

Disappeared streams are streams that have been buried, removed, or moved as part of the urbanization process. We identified disappeared streams in the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area using historical topographic maps for four time periods, and related them to the history of urban development. The historical maps were used to identify streams visible in older maps but not shown in a more recent version. From 1852 to 1895, 15% of streams disappeared, but the majority of streams disappeared between 1896 and 1953 (65%). This trend continued mainly in suburban areas after 1954 with 12% of streams being removed from 1954 …

Raps Sheet, March 2022, Retirement Association Of Portland State

RAPS Sheet: Monthly Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Exploring Data Fusion Techniques To Estimate Network-Wide Bicycle Volumes, Sirisha Kothuri, Joseph Broach, Nathan Mcneil, Kate Hyun, Stephen Mattingly, Md. Mintu Miah, Krista Nordback, Frank Proulx

TREC Final Reports

This research developed a method for evaluating and integrating emerging sources (Strava, StreetLight, and Bikeshare) of bicycle activity data with conventional demand data (permanent counts, short-duration counts) using traditional (Poisson) and advanced machine learning techniques. First, a literature review was conducted, along with cataloging and evaluating available third-party data sources and existing applications. Next, six sites (Boulder, Charlotte, Dallas, Portland, Bend, and Eugene) that represented a variety of contexts (urban, suburban) and geographical diversity were selected. Of these, Boulder, Charlotte and Dallas constituted the basic sites, where one year of data (i.e., 2019) was used for modeling. Portland, Bend, and …

Does Restoration Of Urban Riparian Zones Impact Stream Water Quality In Portland, Oregon, Ash Ivanov

University Honors Theses

Riparian zones influence urban stream quality through factors such as shading the stream, adding nutrients through leaf litter, stabilizing the stream banks to reduce turbidity, and filtering toxins out of the water. Riparian restoration often involves changing plant assemblage to be more diverse and include primarily native species instead of non-native, improving connection to the stream through changing stream morphology, improving species habitat, and reducing pollution. The goal of this study was to determine if urban riparian restoration projects in the region were successful, and if not, why that may be the case. The study was performed in the Portland, …

Effects Of Long Duration Earthquakes On The Interaction Of Inertial And Liquefaction-Induced Kinematic Demands On Pile-Supported Wharves, Milad Souri, Arash Khosravifar, Stephen E. Dickenson, Nason Mccullough, Scott Schlechter

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Nonlinear dynamic analyses were performed to evaluate the effects of ground motion duration on the dynamic response of a pile-supported wharf subjected to liquefaction-induced lateral ground deformations. The numerical model was first calibrated using recorded data from a well-instrumented centrifuge test, after which incremental dynamic analyses were conducted using a suite of spectrally matched motions with different durations. The nonlinear dynamic analyses were performed to evaluated three loading scenarios: combined effects of inertial loads from the wharf deck and kinematic loads from ground deformations, deck inertial loads only in the absence of liquefaction (with minimal kinematic loads), and kinematic loads …

Efficient Capture Of Co2 And Its Selective Reduction To Formic Acid Using Tin-Based Nanomaterials, Emmanuel Oluwaseun Abdul

Dissertations and Theses

CO₂ emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels and other anthropogenic sources have become the main contributing factors to global warming. Chemical methods of absorbing/capturing CO₂ from combustion flue gases have made it a sought-after approach in engineering emission solutions because of its simplistic and convenient operation and high absorption efficiency. The conversion of CO₂ into renewable fuels and high energy density chemicals by clean and economic processes has drawn scientists' attention over the decades. The electrocatalytic conversion of CO₂ using Sn-based materials has been demonstrated to be a promising method for producing formate, an important …

Portland, Portland State, And The Urban University Idea, Kimberly Nightingale, Ethan Seltzer

Historical Articles and Essays

The year 2022 marked the 50th anniversary of the City of Portland's 1972 Downtown Plan, one of the most consequential plans in the city's history. It put in place a vision for a public, pedestrian-scaled, multipurpose, and vital downtown.

Through the requirements adopted in the Downtown Plan and subsequent public and private investments stemming from it, Portland's core area became an international icon for central city recovery. That plan also formally identified Portland State University as the city's "urban university."

This paper begins with an examination of the history of the urban university idea in the United States, followed by …

Variability Of Potential Soil Nitrogen Cycling Rates In Stormwater Bioretention Facilities, Erin N. Rivers, Jennifer L. Morse

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Low-impact development (LID) is a common management practice used to infiltrate and filter stormwater through vegetated soil systems. The pollutant reduction potential of these systems is often characterized by a single pollutant removal rate; however, the biophysical properties of soils that regulate the removal of pollutants can be highly variable depending on environmental conditions. The goal of this study was to characterize the variability of soil properties and nitrogen (N) cycling rates in bioretention facilities (BRFs). Soil properties and potential N cycling processes were measured in nine curbside bioretention facilities (BRFs) in Portland, OR during summer and winter seasons, and …

Exploring Student Perceptions Of Behavioral, Cognitive, And Emotional Engagement At The Activity Level In General Chemistry, Nicole Naibert, Elizabeth Vaughan, Kylee M. Brevick, Jack Barbera

Chemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

Although active learning strategies are being incorporated into many higher-education STEM courses, not all students benefit from these activities to the same extent. As these types of activities are designed to engage students in their learning, differences in student engagement may explain some of the differences in learning outcomes. However, before student engagement in active learning activities can be meaningfully measured using a self-report survey, it is important to evaluate if students perceive engagement similarly to the literature definitions on which these measures are based. Therefore, this study sought to explore students’ perceptions of the behavioral, cognitive, and emotional dimensions …