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Economic Efficiency Of Occupational Health And Safety Investments At Agricultural Cooperatives, Thilani Kaushalya Wearaduwa Vidana Kankanamge

Agribusiness and Applied Economics

Industries related to agricultural cooperatives record some of the highest injury rates in the U.S. Therefore, agricultural cooperatives are highly motivated to invest in occupational health and safety (OHS). This thesis examines the economic efficiency of OHS investments at agricultural cooperatives and identifies cooperative characteristics leading to greater economic efficiency of OHS investments. A multiple input-output data envelopment analysis (DEA) is used to estimate technical efficiency. The effects of cooperative characteristics on the efficiency of OHS investments are estimated using ordinary least squares, censored regression, truncated regression, and the Simar and Wilson (2007) bootstrap procedure. Results show that the mean …

On The Profitability Of Uas-Based Ndvi Imagery For Variable Rate Nitrogen Prescriptions In Corn And Wheat In North Dakota, Christopher Joseph Duchsherer

Agribusiness and Applied Economics

This study examines the grower’s decision to invest in precision agriculture technologies especially in-season variable rate nitrogen applications based on NDVI data collected from UAVs. NDVI, yield, soil, and other field data were collected from multiple corn and wheat fields located throughout North Dakota. Each field was divided into management zones to determine profitability of utilizing the technology based on in-season nitrogen applications for the grower’s field practice, high, low, and no applications. Results show that using the NDVI data collected from UAVs can be profitable when the grower decides to make the decision to apply nitrogen in a sidedress …

The Role Of Trade Facilitation Indicators And Genetically Engineered Restrictive Index On U.S. State Exports And Efficiency, Kwame Asiam Addey

Agribusiness and Applied Economics

Trade Facilitation Indicators have become important mechanisms of monitoring the ease of trade. Another issue of rising concern is the pervasive debate on genetically engineered organisms and the development of Genetically Engineered Restrictive Index to evaluate its implications on trade. With regards to these, the objective of the United States Trade Representative is to eliminate implicit trade barriers. Hence, this study examines the impact of TFIs on U.S. agricultural export and its efficiency. From the results, a 1% increase in destination’s Genetically Engineered Restrictive Index leads to a US$ 9,426.82 and US$ 74,268.04 decline in corn and soybean exports while …

Robust Capital Asset Pricing Model Estimation Through Cross-Validation, Kekoura Sakouvogui

Agribusiness and Applied Economics

Limitations of Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) continue to present inconsistent empirical results despite its rm mathematical foundations provided in recent studies. In this thesis, we examine how estimation errors of the CAPM could be minimized using the cross-validation technique, a concept that is widely applied in machine learning (CV-CAPM). We apply our approach to test the assumption of CAPM as a well-diversified portfolio model with data from S&P500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA). Our results from the CV-CAPM validate that both S&P500 and DJIA are well-diversified market indices with statistically insignificant variation in unsystematic risks during and after …

Appreciating Nature And Art: Recent Western And Chinese Perspectives, Glenn Parsons, Xin Zhang

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

Landscape painting has played a significant role in shaping practices of nature appreciation in Western and Chinese cultures. Both cultures have also seen the recent emergence of philosophical views of nature appreciation that stress the importance of ecological understanding. However, these philosophical views differ in their response to the influence of the landscape painting tradition: whereas Western approaches have largely been critical, Chinese ecoaestheticians have embraced it. In this paper, we explore this difference and argue that it is not explained by differences between Western and Chinese art but by differences in Western and Chinese philosophers’ conceptions of ecology. We …

Double- And Triple-Duty Caregiving Men: An Examination Of Subjective Stress And Perceived Schedule Control, Nicole Depasquale, Steven H. Zarit, Jacqueline Mogle, Phyllis Moen, Leslie B. Hammer, David M. Almeida

Psychology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Based on the stress process model of family caregiving, this study examined subjective stress appraisals and perceived schedule control among men employed in the long-term care industry (workplace-only caregivers) who concurrently occupied unpaid family caregiving roles for children (double-duty child caregivers), older adults (double-duty elder caregivers), and both children and older adults (triple-duty caregivers). Survey responses from 123 men working in nursing home facilities in the United States were analyzed using multiple linear regression models. Results indicated that workplace-only and double- and triple-duty caregivers’ appraised primary stress similarly. However, several differences emerged with respect to secondary role strains, specifically work–family …

Impacts Of Flax On Female And Male Reproductive Traits When Supplemented Prior To Breeding In Sheep, Amanda Marie Long

Animal Sciences

Two experiments determined the effects of flaxseed supplementation on reproductive parameters in sheep. In experiment one, 240 multiparous Rambouillet ewes were assigned to one of two treatments: basal ration alone or basal ration with a Flaxlic® Sheep Tub offered over 35 days. Serum was collected weekly for progesterone (P4). Flaxseed supplementation did not improve progesterone concentration or reproductive parameters (P ≥ 0.26). In experiment two, 120 Rambouillet ram lambs were assigned to one of two treatments: basal ration alone or basal ration with a Flaxlic® Sheep Tub offered over 112 days. Scrotal circumference measurements, serum for testosterone, and semen were …

Developing A New Powered Seed Delivery System With Constant Seed Release Speed Using Two Confronting Belts, Mojtaba Ahmadi

Agribusiness and Biosystems Engineering

Seed delivery devices are aimed to carry seeds down to open furrow that might affect uniformity of plant stand and spacing. The objective of this study was to develop and evaluate a new seed delivery system utilizing a two-belt mechanism configuration for sunflower (Helianthus annuus). A prototype were fabricated and tested with MeterMax® Ultra Test Stand in order to evaluate the new seed delivery system. The outcomes show that dependent variables like seed population, singulation, skips, and multiples rates were not affected by planting speed levels (Pvalues > 0.05), while planting speed had a negative effect on seed spacing consistency (P-values < 0.05). In addition, due to facing broken seeds during test process, multiples rate were between 8.0 to 9.5% and consequently affected other variables as well. To improve this mechanism and avoid the systematic error that caused by broken seeds, this system should be redesigned in a single-belt form.

Quality Evaluation Of Coated Extra-Large Hulled Sunflower (Helianthus Annuus) Kernels For Precision Planting, Harjot Sidhu

Agribusiness and Biosystems Engineering

Domestic and export demand for extra-large (XL) in-shell confectionary sunflower seeds (Helianthus Annuus) growing; however, a significant proportion of the hybrid seed for planting goes to the snack food market because the extra-large seed is not acceptable to farmers. The extra-large hybrid seed has poor emergence in the field and is not compatible with precision planters. Therefore, the option of coating the hulled sunflower kernels for improved germination and plantability is investigated in this dissertation. Twenty types of kernel coatings have been tested, through collaboration with five seed coating companies and development of our own in-house seed coating capabilities. Coated …

Identification Of Weed Species And Glyphosate-Resistant Weeds Using High Resolution Uas Images, Alimohammad Shirzadifar

Agribusiness and Biosystems Engineering

Adoption of a Site-Specific Weed Management System (SSWMS) can contribute to sustainable agriculture. Weed mapping is a crucial step in SSWMS, leads to saving herbicides and protecting environment by preventing repeated chemical applications. In this study, the feasibility of visible and near infrared spectroscopy to classify three problematic weed species and to identify glyphosate-resistant weeds was evaluated. The canopy temperature was also employed to identify the glyphosate-resistant weeds. Furthermore, the ability of UAS imagery to develop accurate weed map in early growing season was evaluated. A greenhouse experiment was conducted to classify waterhemp (Amaranthus rudis), kochia (Kochia scoparia), and lambsquartes …

Effects Of Variable Density Thinning On Spatial Patterns Of Overstory Trees In Mt. Hood National Forest, Emma Huston

Environmental Science and Management Professional Master's Project Reports

Variable density thinning (VDT) is a method of restoration thinning that attempts to increase ecosystem resilience and spatial heterogeneity in forest stands to more closely resemble mosaic-like patterns characteristic of late-successional forests, which consist of clusters of multiple trees, individual trees, and gaps. This study examines the spatial patterning of overstory trees resulting from VDT of conifer forests in Mt. Hood National Forest in the western Cascade Mountains and compares these patterns with reference conditions. Stem maps were created from field surveys of study plots within one mature stand and six thinned stands designated as Late-Successional Reserve (LSR) with varying …

Monitoring And Evaluating Malawi Youth Conservation Engagement After Community-Based Environmental Education Workshops, Stefanie Kramer

Environmental Science and Management Professional Master's Project Reports

This project addressed Peace Corps Malawi’s need to redevelop and implement environmental education workshops using a community-based approach, monitored project outcomes from these workshops, and provided an evaluation of strengths and areas for improvement of the environmental education workshop program.

Draining Us Dry: Scarcity Discourses In Contention Over Bottled Water Extraction, Daniel Jaffee, Robert A. Case

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Water scarcity is a highly contested concept. The dominant narratives of water scarcity in policy debates have been criticised for prioritising purely quantitative metrics and eliding questions of inequality and power. While much scholarship on water scarcity examines contexts in the global South where potable water infrastructures do not reach most residents, this article examines conflict over commercial water extraction in a Northern setting where access to potable tap water is nearly universal, yet local water supplies are increasingly constrained. It addresses three main questions: (1) How are narratives or discourses of water scarcity mobilised by a range of actors …

The Contributions Of Parental, Academic, School, And Peer Factors To Differences By Socioeconomic Status In Adolescents’ Locus Of Control, Dara Shifrer

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

An internal locus of control may be particularly valuable for youth with low socioeconomic status (SES), yet the mechanisms that externalize their control remain unclear. This study uses data on 16,450 US 8th graders surveyed for the National Education Longitudinal Study in 1988 and 1990. Results indicate family income is more closely associated with adolescents’ locus of control than parents’ occupations and educational attainment, and that race does not independently affect adolescents’ locus of control net of these other components of SES. Findings also indicate higher SES adolescents feel more internal locus of control in largest part because their parents …

Portland Metro Region Construction Workforce Market Study, Worksystems Inc., Oregon Employment Department, Maura Kelly, Jm Woolley & Associates, Oregon Tradeswomen, National Association Of Minority Contractors Of Oregon

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

This in-depth construction workforce market study was commissioned to help Metro and partners more effectively invest resources toward promotion of equitable growth in the region’s economy through the enhancement of career opportunities for women and people of color in the construction trades.

Ideas In Dialogue: Leveraging The Power Of Child-Led Storytelling In The Multicultural Preschool Classroom, Erin E. Flynn

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

An investigation into the interactive features of small group, child-led storytelling in preschool classrooms serving lower socioeconomic status (SES), multilingual children shows both the affordances and constraints of positioning children to author their own experiences in the classroom. In story circles, children told stories which included canonical instantiations of story and culturally-shaped features. Through their stories, the children advanced ideas, built connections, and evaluated ways of telling stories as they continued ideas like threads from story to story. Child-led storytelling did not disrupt the dynamics of power through which some ways of using language are privileged while others are marginalized. …

Book Review Of, City Unsilenced: Urban Resistance And Public Space In The Age Of Shrinking Democracy, Naomi Adiv

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

Book review of, Jeffrey Hou and Sabine Knierbein, City Unsilenced: Urban Resistance and Public Space in the Age of Shrinking Democracy, New York and London: Routledge, 2017.

In response to austerity politics and market-based governance of urban land, large-scale social protest has erupted in the public spaces of cities across the globe. In City Unsilenced: Urban Resistance and Public Space in the Age of Shrinking Democracy (Routledge, 2017), editors Jeffrey Hou of UW-Seattle and Sabine Knierbein of SKuOR, Vienna – both scholars of the dynamics of public space – have compiled the stories, strategies and theories derived from social movements …

Growth Without Displacement: A Test For Equity Planning In Portland, Lisa K. Bates

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

Portland, Oregon, is considered a pioneer of regionalism, integrated land-use and transportation planning, and sustainability as a criterion for planning policy. After four decades of land-use planning, Portland has a national and international reputation for urban livability and climate change mitigation. While these successes are laudable, in the past decade Portland’s underrepresented and underserved communities have been raising a voice to demand that planners address issues of income and racial inequality. In response to and in collaboration with communities, over the past five years Portland’s Bureau of Planning and Sustainability (BPS) has adopted an equity strategy with a racial justice …

Divergent Pathways On The Road To Sustainability: A Multilevel Model Of The Effects Of Geopolitical Power On The Relationship Between Economic Growth And Environmental Quality, Patrick Greiner, Julius Alexander Mcgee

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

The authors examine the effect of a country’s placement in the world system in 1960 on its ability to use wealth to mitigate environmental impacts. They use random-coefficients models to examine if countries belonging to core, semiperiphery, and periphery categories are able to use growth in gross domestic product (GDP) per capita to reduce CO2 emissions per capita. The findings indicate that core nations have an attenuated relationship between GDP per capita and carbon dioxide emissions per capita at higher levels of economic activity. However, nations in the semiperiphery have a relationship between GDP per capita and CO2 per capita …

Elevating People: Planning For Equitable Travel To Marquam Hill, Reed Broderson, Jennifer Davidson, Madison Levy, Stephanie Lonsdale, Maria Sipin, Rob Zoeller

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Workshop Projects

Plan581, a team of urban planning graduate students at Portland State University, presents the Elevating People plan and its Transportation Equity Lens to help guide OHSU’s future transportation investments. Together, the plan and lens are aimed at improving travel to Marquam Hill by identifying Priority Communities and advancing transportation equity through internal and regional efforts.

University Studies Leadership: Vision And Challenge, Maurice Hamington, Judith A. Ramaley

University Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Although University Studies at Portland State University often receives attention for its signature curricular structure of year-long thematic mentored Freshman Inquiry, thematic mentored Sophomore Inquiry, thematic departmental Cluster courses, and community-based Capstone courses, it is the underlying pedagogical values and philosophy that represent the real revolution in higher education—a revolution that is ongoing at Portland State. Few large state universities can claim to offer a quarter-century of experience with general education change of this magnitude. This article addresses how a shared purpose evolved over the course of University Studies' history and was impacted by what various leaders emphasized during their …

Exploratory Reconstructability Analysis Of Accident Tbi Data, Martin Zwick, Nancy Ann Carney, Rosemary Nettleton

Complex Systems Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper describes the use of reconstructability analysis to perform a secondary study of traumatic brain injury data from automobile accidents. Neutral searches were done and their results displayed with a hypergraph. Directed searches, using both variable-based and state-based models, were applied to predict performance on two cognitive tests and one neurological test. Very simple state-based models gave large uncertainty reductions for all three DVs and sizeable improvements in percent correct for the two cognitive test DVs which were equally sampled. Conditional probability distributions for these models are easily visualized with simple decision trees. Confounding variables and counter-intuitive findings are …

Reflections On Teaching System Dynamics Modeling To Secondary School Students For Over 20 Years, Diana Fisher

Complex Systems Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper contains the description of a successful system dynamics (SD) modeling approach used for almost a quarter-century in secondary schools, both in algebra classes and in a year-long SD modeling course. Secondary school students have demonstrated an ability to build original models from the news, write technical papers explaining their models, and present a newfound understanding of dynamic feedback behavior to an audience. The educational learning theory and instructional methods used for both the algebra and modeling courses are detailed, with examples. Successful student SD modeling experiences suggest the SD approach can expand the sophistication of topics that secondary …

Ideas And Graphs: The Tetrad Of Activity, Martin Zwick

Complex Systems Faculty Publications and Presentations

A graph can specify the skeletal structure of an idea, onto which meaning can be added by interpreting the structure. This paper considers several directed and undirected graphs consisting of four nodes, and suggests different meanings that can be associated with these different structures. Drawing on John G. Bennett’s “systematics,” specifically on the Tetrad that systematics offers as a model of “activity,” the analysis formalizes and augments the systematics account and shows that the Tetrad is a versatile model of problem-solving, regulation and control, and other processes. Discussion is extended to include hypergraphs, in which links can relate more than …

Exploring The Inner Relationships Between Modern Chinese Aesthetics And The Confucian Mind-Soul (心性) Framework, Wei Du

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

Modern Chinese aesthetics promotes the utilitarian function of the arts and artistic appreciation via aesthetic education and an arts-infused lifestyle. This utilitarian orientation has not originated from European aesthetics, but rather reflects a localized awareness of the “humanistic enhancement of citizens” through the arts, which, derived from the Confucian tradition, expands on its “mind-soul” theory. This conceptual framework finds its roots in the Song-Ming philosophy of mind and pays particular attention to the cultivation of individual morals and personal character as the essential pathway towards restoring conscience. This positioning of values and valuations, to a large extent, was the inspiration, …

The Issue Of Newness Viewed Through Korean Aesthetics, Joosik Min

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

In Korean traditional aesthetics, discussions on newness are rare. The tendency to value old things and recognize them as standards is deeply rooted in Korean culture, and such customs seem to be no exception in aesthetics. It cannot be denied that Korean arts also has a social tendency towards tradition, which has been dominated by morality, and thus reflects past-centered or past-recalling ways of thinking rather than dynamic or forward-looking ways of thinking. Then, what does artistic creation mean in Korean culture? Is creation possible? In my view, the logic of change and development does not seem to gain much …

The Aesthetic World And Formalistic Structure Of Korean Dance, Hee-Wan Chae

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

Two aspects of a unified concept made up of labor-play-gut, the latter being shaman ceremony performance, form the fundamental basis of Korean traditional dance. One is formalism or characteristic structures, and the other is Korean consciousness, or the aesthetic world. The aesthetic consciousness reflected in Korean traditional dance relates to naturalism that sheds light on the concept of being danced, rather than to dance; the beauty of curved lines, as shown in taegeuk (the Great Ultimate); moments in stillness that are permeated by the energy of the universe; no'gyeong that makes possible the progression from nothingness to being; …

Podcasts Episode 07: Doug Trimble, Doug Trimble, Amy T. Parker

O&M On the Go

Doug Trimble is an experienced Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist who instructs children and adults in Washington state. Doug is a full time COMS at the Washington State School for the Blind who also contracts to serve adults, including older adults, who are blind or have low vision. In this podcast, Doug shared with Amy Parker at Portland State University about how he developed his skills and what he has learned over the years. As a COMS with a vision loss, Doug shares about non-visual teaching techniques that he models and uses with his students and clients.

https://www2.wssb.wa.gov/Content/oncampus/orientationmobility.asp

Image Credit: …

Role Of Survey Response Rates On Valid Inference: An Application To Hiv Prevalence Estimates, Miguel Marino, Marcello Pagano

OHSU-PSU School of Public Health Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background: Nationally-representative surveys suggest that females have a higher prevalence of HIV than males in most African countries. Unfortunately, these results are made on the basis of surveys with non-ignorable missing data. This study evaluates the impact that differential survey nonresponse rates between males and females can have on the point estimate of the HIV prevalence ratio of these two classifiers.
Methods: We study 29 Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) from 2001 to 2010. Instead of employing often used multiple imputation models with a Missing at Random assumption that may not hold in this setting, we assess the effect of …

Gender Differences In Sexual And Reproductive Health Protective And Risk Factors Of Batswana Adolescents: Implications For Parent And Adolescent Interventions, Christina J. Sun, Esther S. Seloilwe, Mabel Magowe, Kefalotse S. Dithole, Kim S. Miller, Janet S. St. Lawrence

OHSU-PSU School of Public Health Faculty Publications and Presentations

Adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa and in Botswana in particular continue to bear the brunt of the HIV epidemic. This analysis assessed gender differences among theory-based sexual and reproductive health protective and risk factors in a cross-sectional sample of 228 Batswana adolescents. Incongruence between preferred and actual sources of sexual information and several important gender differences in parent-adolescent relationships, psychosocial influences, and adolescent sexual behaviors were identified. Parents were the fourth most common source of information about sex; yet, over three-quarters of adolescents preferred to have parents teach them about sex. Boys reported more positive relationships with their parents and girls …