Engineering Commons^™

The Soft Skills Business Demands Of The Chief Information Security Officer, Richard Smit, Jeroen Van Yperen Hagedoorn, Patric Versteeg, Pascal Ravesteijn

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

While many researchers have investigated soft skills for different roles related to business, engineering, healthcare and others, the soft skills needed by the chief information security officer (CISO) in a leadership position are not studied in-depth. This paper describes a first study aimed at filling this gap.

In this multimethod research, both the business leaders perspective as well as an analysis of CISO job ads is studied. The methodology used to capture the business leaders perspective is via a Delphi study and the jobs adds are studied using a quantitative content analysis.

With an increasing threat to information security for …

Icts For Surveillance And Suppression: The Case Of The Indian Emergency 1975-1977, Ramesh Subramanian

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

Information and Communications technologies (ICT) pervade society. The Internet, wireless communication, and social media are ubiquitous in and indispensable in society today. As they continue to grow and mushroom, there are new and increased calls from various segments of the society such as technologists, activists, sociologists, and legal experts, who issue warnings on the more nefarious and undesirable uses of ICTs, especially by governments. In fact, government control and surveillance using ICTs is not a new phenomenon. By looking at history, we are able to see several instances when ICTs have been used by governments to control, surveil, and infringe …

How Digital Leadership Competences And It Capabilities Affect An Organization's Ability To Digitally Transform And Adopt New Technologies, Melissa Brunner, Gabriel Gonzalez-Castañé, Pascal Ravesteijn

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

Although much research has been done into the importance of IT Capabilities (ITC), Digital Leadership (DL) and Digital Transformation (DT) with regard to organizations’ firm performance and ability to thrive in the current digital market, there is little research on qualifying which specific ITC and DL competences affect the success of an organization's DT and ultimately impact their ability to adopt newly emerging technologies. This research aims to address the influence of DL and ITC on DT as well as which specific DL competences and ITC might ultimately affect an organization’s ability to successfully adopt newly emerging digital technologies. Quantitative …

Innovativeness To Enlarge Digital Readiness - How To Avoid Digital Inertia?, Paul Morsch

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

Technological developments go fast and are interrelated and multi-interpretable. As consumer needs change, the technological possibilities to meet those needs are constantly evolving and new technology providers introduce new disruptive business models. This makes it difficult to predict what the world of tomorrow will look like for an organization and that makes the risks for organizations substantial. In this context, it is difficult for organizations to determine what constitutes a good strategy to adopt digital developments.

This paper describes a first step of a study with the objective to design a method for organizations to formulate a future-proof strategy in …

Analyzing Social Media Implementation In Hospitals In The U.S. Midwest Region, Dalsang Chung, C. Christopher Lee, David Hwang

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

The purpose of this research is to explore to what scale hospitals are adopting social media and implementing it in accordance with hospital characteristics. We reviewed hospitals’ social media activities on social networking sites such Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. We studied the 912 hospitals in the Midwest region reported in the 2015 American Hospital Association Annual Survey dataset. We reviewed each hospital’s social-networking page to understand the scale of social media adoption relative to the hospital’s characteristics such as bed count, state, ownership type (control), and specialty (service). We also considered whether the hospital is in a network and …

Exploring The Behavioral Intention To Use Collaborative Commerce: A Case Of Uber, C. Christopher Lee, Sinéad Ruane, Hyoun Sook Lim, Ruoquing Zhang, Heechang Shin

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

The goal of our research study is to develop a hybrid instrument built on the revised Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT2) framework, which is reliable in predicting the behavioral intention to use the Uber ridesharing app. It focuses on extending the UTAUT2 in collaborative consumption, particularly from a consumer and ridesharing-app perspective. Our proposed framework, UTAUT-CC, preserves existing UTAUT2 constructs – performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social expectancy, and facilitating conditions. It also retains demographic moderating variables of age and gender, while maintaining some of the key integral relationships depicted in those models. We integrated three new …

Investigating The Effect Of E30 Fuel On Long Term Vehicle Performance, Adaptability And Economic Feasibility, Adil Alsiyabi, Seth Stroh, Rajib Saha

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering: Faculty Publications

Due to the drawbacks associated with the use of petroleum derived fuels, the use of more sustainable fuel sources has garnered increasing attention in several sectors including road transportation. However, the transition away from gasoline is often hindered by the inability of currently operating vehicles to efficiently run under alternative fuels. Therefore, the logical short-term alternative is to transition to clean fuel sources including higher-ethanol fuel blends that are compatible with current fuel systems and spark-ignition engines. In this work, the long-term adaptability and economic feasibility of non-flex vehicles to consume a 30% ethanol (E30) fuel blend was investigated. Sixteen …

Periodicity In The Electrochemical Dissolution Of Transition Metals, Florian D. Speck, Alexandra Zagalskaya, Vitaly Alexandrov, Serhiy Cherevko

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering: Faculty Publications

Extensive research efforts are currently dedicated to the search for new electrocatalyst materials in which expensive and rare noble metals are replaced with cheaper and more abundant transition metals. Recently, numerous alloys, oxides, and composites with such metals have been identified as highly active electrocatalysts through the use of high-throughput screening methods with the help of activity descriptors. Up to this point, stability has lacked such descriptors. Hence, we elucidate the role of intrinsic metal/oxide properties on the corrosion behavior of representative 3d, 4d, and 5d transition metals. Electrochemical dissolution of nine transition metals is quantified using online inductively coupled …

Modeling And Prioritizing Interventions Using Pollution Hotspots For Reducing Nutrients, Atrazine And E. Coli Concentrations In A Watershed, Olufemi P. Abimbola, Aaron R. Mittelstet, Tiffany Messer, Elaine Berry, Anna Van Griensven

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Excess nutrients and herbicides remain two major causes of waterbody impairment globally. In an attempt to better understand pollutant sources in the Big Sandy Creek Watershed (BSCW) and the prospects for successful remediation, a program was initiated to assist agricultural producers with the implementation of best management practices (BMPs). The objectives were to (1) simulate BMPs within hotspots to determine reductions in pollutant loads and (2) to determine if water-quality standards are met at the watershed outlet. Regression-based load estimator (LOADEST) was used for determining sediment, nutrient and atrazine loads, while artificial neural networks (ANN) were used for determining E. …

Assessing Different Plant-Centric Water Stress Metrics For Irrigation Efficacy Using Soil-Plant-Atmosphere-Continuum Simulation, Jingwen Zhang, Kaiyu Guan, Bin Peng, Ming Pan, Wang Zhou, Robert F. Grant, Trenton E. Franz, Daran Rudnick, Derek M. Heeren, Andrew Suyker, Yi Yang, Genghong Wu

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Understanding plant water stress (PWS) in the soil-plant-atmosphere-continuum (SPAC) that connects water supply from soil, water demand from atmosphere, and plant self-regulation is a prerequisite for efficient irrigation in response to water scarcity. Currently, PWS can be defined in various ways, for example, based on environmental factors and/or plant-centric metrics. The environment-based metrics usually do not take plants into consideration. Regarding the existing plant-centric metrics, their interconnections and abilities to capture the physical water constraints from both soil water supply and atmospheric water demand are still unclear. This research investigates the theoretical foundations behind different PWS metrics, and assesses their …

Antibiotic Resistance Genes In Swine Manure Slurry As Affected By Pit Additives And Facility Disinfectants, Maria C. Hall, Jon Duerschner, John E. Gilley, Amy Schmidt, Shannon Bartelt-Hunt, Daniel D. Snow, Kent M. Eskridge, Xu Li

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Manure storage facilities are critical control points to reduce antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in swine manure slurry before the slurry is land applied. However, little is known about how exogenous chemicals entering the manure storage facilities may affect the fate of ARGs. The objective of this study was to analyze the impact of six commonly used pit additives and four facility disinfectants on the concentration of ARGs in swine manure slurry. Bench scale reactors, each containing approximately 50 L of liquid swine manure, were dosed with additives or disinfectants and were sampled for 40 days. Seven antibiotic resistance genes along …

Differential Survival Of Non-O157 Shiga Toxigenic Escherichia Coli In Simulated Cattle Feedlot Runoff, Lisa M. Durso, John E. Gilley, Daniel N. Miller

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Environmental survival time is important when evaluating adverse health outcomes from foodborne pathogens. Although outbreaks associated with manure-impacted irrigation or runoff water are relatively infrequent, their broad scope, regulatory importance, and severe health outcomes highlight the need to better understand the environmental survival of manure-borne pathogens. Shiga toxigenic Escherichia coli (STEC) are excreted in feces and persist in the environment until they die or recolonize a new host. Surface waters contaminated with manure-borne STEC can infect humans through drinking and recreational water use or irrigated crops that are minimally cooked. In this study, manure-impacted water microcosms mimicking beef cattle feedlot …

Editorial: Predictive Modeling Of Human Microbiota And Their Role In Health And Disease, Hyun-Seob Song, Stephen R. Lindemann, Dong-Yup Lee

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Nanotheranostic Researcher’S Guide For Use Of Animal Models Of Traumatic Brain Injury, Brandon Z. Mcdonald, Connor C. Gee, Forrest M. Kievit

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is currently the leading cause of injury-related morbidity and mortality worldwide, with an estimated global cost of USD 400 billion annually. Both clinical and preclinical behavioral outcomes associated with TBI are heterogeneous in nature and influenced by the mechanism and frequency of injury. Previous literature has investigated this relationship through the development of animal models and behavioral tasks. However, recent advancements in these methods may provide insight into the translation of therapeutics into a clinical setting. In this review, we characterize various animal models and behavioral tasks to provide guidelines for evaluating the therapeutic efficacy of …

Frontier: Discipline-Based Education Research To Advance Authentic Learning In Agricultural And Biological Engineering, Heidi A. Diefes-Dux

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Discipline-based education research (DBER) is research activity aimed at investigating “learning and teaching in a discipline from a perspective that reflects the discipline’s priorities, worldview, knowledge, and practices” for the purpose of producing research-based evidence to improve education in that discipline. DBER arose out of concerns about the quality of post-secondary science education. Physics, chemistry, engineering, biology, geosciences, and astronomy education each have unique DBER histories in the U.S. that date back to the late 1800s or early 1900s when colleges and university systems were expanding and formalizing. The DBER fields accelerated in the 1950s and 1960s as a result …

In Situ Characterization Of Municipal Solid Waste Using Membrane Interface Probe (Mip) And Hydraulic Profiling Tool (Hpt) In An Active And Closed Landfill, M. Sina Mousavi, Yuan Feng, Josh Mccann, Jongwan Eun

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Faculty Publications

Municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills near a metropolitan area are renewable energy resources to produce heat and methane that can generate electricity. However, it is difficult to use those sources productively because disposed MSW in landfills are spatially and temporally heterogeneous. Regarding the prediction of the sources, the analysis of in situ MSW properties is an alternative way to reduce the uncertainty and to understand complex processes undergoing in the landfill effectively. A hydraulic profiling tool (HPT) and membrane interface probe (MIP) test measures the continuous profile of MSW properties with depth, including hydraulic pressure, temperature, electrical conductivity (EC), and …

A Hybrid Biological-Adsorption Approach For The Treatment Of Contaminated Groundwater Using Immobilized Nanoclay-Algae Mixtures, Sara Mollamohammada, Ashraf Aly Hassan, Mohamed Dahab, Sandeep Kumar

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Faculty Publications

Mixing the Scenedesmus species with nanoclay and immobilizing in sodium was evaluated as a sustainable treatment method for removing nitrate, atrazine, and metals from groundwater. Gel beads containing the hybrid mixture removed 100% of 10 mg/L N nitrate and 98% of 100 μg/L atrazine from synthetic groundwater in three days. The optimal amount of nanoclay was found to be 0.30 mg per bead. The experimental data fit well into a Freundlich adsorption iso- therm and followed pseudo first-order kinetics. When tested in actual groundwater, 91% of nitrate and 100% of Cr, Se, and V were eliminated in three days without …

Identification Of Contributing Factors For Driver’S Perceptual Bias Of Aggressive Driving In China, Yongfeng Ma, Xin Gu, Ya'nan Yu, Aemal Khattak, Shuyan Chen, Kun Tang

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Faculty Publications

Aggressive driving is common across the world. While most aggressive driving is conscious, some aggressive driving behavior may be unconscious on part of motor vehicle drivers. Perceptual bias of aggressive driving behavior is one of the main causes of traffic accidents. This paper focuses on identifying impact factors related to aggressive driving perceptual bias. Questionnaire data from 690 drivers, collected from a drivers’ retraining course administered by the Traffic Management Bureau in Nanjing, China, were used to collect drivers’ socioeconomic characteristics, personality traits, and external environment data. Actual penalty points were considered as an objective indicator and Gaussian mixture model …

Estimating Hydraulic Conductivity Of Overconsolidated Soils Based On Piezocone Penetration Test (Pcpt), Binyam M. Bekele, Chung R. Song, Gyunam Jin, Mark Lindemann

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Faculty Publications

Overconsolidated (OC) soils may develop a low or negative pore pressure during PCPT. Thus, it is challenging to develop an “on-the-fly” estimation of hydraulic conductivity from PCPT results. This study presents a method to estimate the hydraulic conductivity of OC soils from PCPT results based on a previously developed method for normally consolidated (NC) soils. To apply the existing method, PCPT pore pressure in OC soils is adjusted by using a correction factor. An equation for the correction factor is derived based on the concepts of critical state soil mechanics, cavity expansion, and consolidation theories. Then, it was reformulated so …

Great Lakes Runoff Intercomparison Project Phase 3: Lake Erie (Grip-E), Juliane Mai, Bryan A. Tolson, Hongren Shen, Etienne Gaborit, Vincent Fortin, Nicolas Gasset, Herve Awoye, Tricia A. Stadnyk, Lauren M. Fry, Emily A. Bradley, Frank Seglenieks, Andre G.T. Temgoua, Daniel G. Princz, Shervan Gharari, Amin Haghnegahdar, Mohamed E. Elshamy, Saman Razavi, Martin Gauch, Jimmy Lin, Xiaojing Ni, Yongping Yuan, Meghan Mcleod, Nandita B. Basu, Rohini Kumar, Oldrich Rakovec, Luis Samaniego, Sabine Attinger, Narayan K. Shrestha, Prasad Daggupati, Tirthankar Roy, Sungwook Wi, Tim Hunter, James R. Craig, Alain Pietroniro

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Faculty Publications

Hydrologic model intercomparison studies help to evaluate the agility of models to simulate variables such as streamflow, evaporation, and soil moisture. This study is the third in a sequence of the Great Lakes Runoff Intercomparison Projects. The densely populated Lake Erie watershed studied here is an important international lake that has experienced recent flooding and shoreline erosion alongside excessive nutrient loads that have contributed to lake eutrophication. Understanding the sources and pathways of flows is critical to solve the complex issues facing this watershed. Seventeen hydrologic and land-surface models of different complexity are set up over this domain using the …

Natural Hazards Perspectives On Integrated, Coordinated, Open, Networked (Icon) Science, Sanjib Sharma, Kshitij Dahal, Lorenzo Nava, Manish Raj Gouli, Rocky Talchabhadel, Jeeban Panthi, Tirthankar Roy, Ganesh R. Ghimire

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Faculty Publications

This article is about the state of ICON principles Goldman et al. (2021), https://doi. org/10.1029/2021EO153180 in natural hazards and a discussion on the opportunities and challenges of adopting them. Natural hazards pose risks to society, infrastructure, and the environment. Hazard interactions and their cascading phenomena in space and time can further intensify the impacts. Natural hazards’ risks are expected to increase in the future due to environmental, demographic, and socioeconomic changes. It is important to quantify and effectively communicate risks to inform the design and implementation of risk mitigation and adaptation strategies. Multihazard multisector risk management poses several nontrivial challenges, …

Pectin Modified Metal Nanoparticles And Their Application In Property Modification Of Biosensors, Meena Nemiwal, Tian C. Zhang, Dinesh Kumar

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Faculty Publications

Pectin is a structural anionic heteropolysaccharide and abundantly found in the cell wall of terrestrial trees and plants. It exhibits several advantageous properties such as non-toxicity, cheap, biodegradable, biocompatible, abundant, flexible, etc. Functional groups like carboxylic acid and hydroxyl make pectin suitable to be covalently bonded with other biomolecules and proteins. Based on these properties, pectin is being extensively employed to encapsulate/coat metal nanoparticles (MNPs) to inhibit their aggregation and enhancing the suitability of MNPs for a wide range of applications in healthcare like drug delivery, antimicrobial activity, antioxidant etc. Another important application of pectin is to enhance the electrochemical …

Single-Step Hydrothermal Synthesis Of Biochar From H3po4-Activated Lettucewaste For Efficient Adsorption Of Cd(Ii) In Aqueous Solution, Quyun Chen, Tian C. Zhang, Like Ouyang, Shaojun Yuan

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Faculty Publications

Developing an ideal and cheap adsorbent for adsorbing heavy metals from aqueous solution has been urgently need. In this study, a novel, effective and low-cost method was developed to prepare the biochar from lettuce waste with H₃PO₄ as an acidic activation agent at a low-temperature (circa 200°C) hydrothermal carbonization process. A batch adsorption experiment demonstrated that the biochar reaches the adsorption equilibrium within 30 min, and the optimal adsorption capacity of Cd(II) is 195.8 mg⋅g^-1at solution pH 6.0, which is significantly improved from circa 20.5 mg⋅g^-1 of the original biochar without activator. The fitting …

Combining Electrochemical Nitrate Reduction And Anammox For Treatment Of Nitrate-Rich Wastewater: A Short Review, Xinyi Zou, Chongjun Chen, Changhong Wang, Qun Zhang, Zhuowei Yu, Haiping Wu, Chao Zhuo, Tian C. Zhang

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Faculty Publications

Treatment of nitrate-rich wastewater is important but challenging for the conventional biological denitrification process. Here, we propose combining the electrochemical reduction and anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) processes together for treatment of nitrate-rich wastewater. This article reviews the mechanism and current research status of electrochemical reduction of nitrate to ammonium as well as the mechanism and applicability of the anammox process. This article discusses the principles, superiorities, and challenges of this combined process. The feasibility of the combined process depends on the efficiency of electrochemical nitrate reduction to ammonium and the conditions in the anammox process to use the reduced ammonium …

Electron Microscopy Observation Of Electric Field-Assisted Sintering Of Stainless Steel Nanoparticles, Fei Wang, Qin Zhou, Xing-Zhong Li, Yongchul Yoo, Michael Nastasi, Bai Cui

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

The intrinsic role of electrical current on the electric field-assisted sintering (EFAS) process of stainless steel 316L nanoparticles has been revealed by both ex situ and in situ experiments. A novel device on the Si chip has been designed and fabricated to fit into the sample holder of a transmission electron microscope for these experiments. The evolution of nanoparticle morphology and microstructures during the EFAS process has been studied using scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy, which has been combined with the simultaneous measurement of the electric voltage and current changes. A preliminary four-stage mechanism for the EFAS process …

A Framework For Achieving Sustainability By Overcoming The Challenges Of The Construction Supply Chain During The Design Process, Ayman Ahmed Ezzat Othman, Nooran Alnassar

Architectural Engineering

This paper aims to develop a framework to achieve sustainability by overcoming the challenges of the construction supply chain (CCSC) during the design process. To achieve this, two approaches, namely theoretical and practical, were used to accomplish four objectives. For the theoretical approach, based on literature review and case studies, the objective used was to identify, classify and validate the challenges that the construction supply chain (CSC) encounter. For the practical approach, a survey questionnaire was employed to quantify the CCSC and investigate the perception of architectural design firms (ADFs) in Egypt towards achieving sustainability by overcoming the CCSC during …

Investigating The Antitumor Effects Of A Dsrna-Nanoparticle Complex In An In Vitro Ovarian Cancer Model, Aaron Lewis

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

An estimated 1 in 70 women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer in their lifetime. Despite advanced detection and treatment methods, it remains a silent killer with an expected survival rate of 50%. A developing method in cancer treatment is the use of compounds that stimulate the immune system to aid in the body's fight against the disease. This project focused on the use of the potent immune stimulant double-stranded RNA (dsRNA), commercially available as polyinosinic:polycytidylic acid, poly(I:C), to induce cytotoxicity in two ovarian cancer cell lines; SKOV-3 and OVCAR-3. Some challenges exist with the delivery of dsRNA due to …

High-Temperature Performance Of Ambient-Cured Alkali- Activated Binder Concrete, Kruthi Kiran Ramagiri, Darshan Chauhan, Shashank Gupta, Arkamitra Kar, Dibyendu Adak, Abhijit Mukherjee

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Owing to their lower carbon footprint and efficient performance compared to portland cement (PC), alkali-activated binders (AAB) show promising potential as an alternative to PC. The present paper investigates the high-temperature performance of AAB concrete through compressive and bond strength tests. Four different AAB concrete mixes with varying proportions of fly ash: slag (100:0, 70:30, 60:40, and 50:50) cured under ambient conditions are exposed to elevated temperatures. The mechanical performance of AAB concrete is corroborated with microstructural changes. The results show that AAB concrete with fly ash: slag ratio of 70:30 exhibits the best mechanical performance after exposure to elevated …

'Menthol-Plus’: A Major Category Of Cigarette Found Among ‘Concept’ Descriptor Cigarettes From Mexico, James F. Pankow, Wentai Luo, Kevin J. Mcwhirter, Samantha M. Gillette, Joanna E. Cohen

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background Tobacco companies are offering cigarettes with ‘concept’ descriptor names that suggest sensation and/or flavour properties (eg, Marlboro ‘Velvet Fusion’). Little has been known about the identities and levels of flavour chemicals in such cigarettes.

Methods Thirty-three filter cigarette variants from 27 packs (including two sampler packs with four variations each) from Canada and Mexico were analysed (rod + filter) for 177 flavour chemicals plus triacetin, a filter plasticiser and possible flavourant. Five brands of US mentholated filter cigarettes were also analysed.

Results Twenty-seven of the 33 cigarettes (all were Mexican variants) were categorised as ‘menthol-plus’: significant menthol (3.0–11.9 mg/cigarette), …

Exploring The Impact Of Socio-Demographic Characteristics, Health Concerns, And Product Type On Home Delivery Rates And Expenditures During A Strict Covid-19 Lockdown Period: A Case Study From Portland, Or, Miguel Figliozzi, Avinash Unnikrishnan

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

E-commerce volumes and home deliveries have experienced steady growth in the last two decades. Strict COVID-19 lockdowns made home delivery an essential service and a lifeline for many households that, for travel restrictions or health concerns, were not able to utilize traditional shopping methods. This research studies the impact of socio-demographic variables and e-commerce attitudes on household deliveries for seven product categories (groceries, meals, electronics, household and office goods, recreational items, and fashion, beauty and personal care products, and medicine/health-related products) during the lockdown period in the greater Portland metropolitan region. To understand these impacts, exploratory factor analysis and …