Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration Commons^™

Commute-Friendly, Gas-Electric Hybrid Vehicle Testing, James Long, Hugh Currin, Xin Wang

TREC Final Reports

Overview: Green Lite Motors is a Portland-based company building a hybrid commuter vehicle targeted for urban and suburban areas. The vehicle is a front/back, two-seat configuration with three wheels (two front and one rear-drive wheel). The vehicle is classed as a motorcycle, giving it all the advantages of a smaller footprint in parking and highway travel; however, the advanced roll-cage design and fairing give the vehicle safety and comfort advantages of a standard passenger car. The unique combination of internal combustion engine and electric motor give the vehicle mileage possibilities greater than 100 mpg as well as the convenience and …

The Association Between Insurance Status And Cervical Cancer Screening In Community Health Centers: Exploring The Potential Of Electronic Health Records For Population-Level Surveillance, 2008-2010, Stuart Cowburn, Matthew J. Carlson, Jodi A. Lapidus, Jennifer E. Devoe

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Introduction: Cervical cancer incidence and mortality rates in the United States have decreased 67% over the past 3 decades, a reduction mainly attributed to widespread use of the Papanicolaou (Pap) test for cervical cancer screening. In the general population, receipt of cervical cancer screening is positively associated with having health insurance. Less is known about the role insurance plays among women seeking care in community health centers, where screening services are available regardless of insurance status. The objective of our study was to assess the association between cervical cancer screening and insurance status in Oregon and California community health centers …

Influence Of Road Cross Section On Access Spacing, Karen K. Dixon, Yanfen Zhou, J. L. Gattis

TREC Final Reports

This report presents a study on the influences of select cross-sectional-related design elements (specifically median configurations and bicycle lanes) and their impact on crash severity and type, as well as the associated driver gap acceptance for turning maneuvers at midblock driveway locations on urban arterials. The primary goal of this proposed research is to better understand how the median and bicycle lane configurations can influence safety and operations at driveway locations. The research team utilized crash data, traffic data, and roadway information from driveway locations in the U.S. states of Oregon, Arkansas and Oklahoma. The project team supplemented the data …

2012 Portland Metropolitan Region Transportation System Performance Report, Robert L. Bertini, Dean George, Matthew Downey

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Our transportation system is a key ingredient in the economy, quality of life and urban fabric of the Portland metropolitan area. It has been stated in the past that it is not possible to manage our transportation system tomorrow unless we understand how it is performing today. In this spirit, Portland State University has been working with regional and statewide partners to develop new capabilities to measure, monitor and track the performance of the transportation system in real time and using archived data sources. We believe that it is possible to leverage these disparate data sources toward providing better transportation …

Durability Assessment Of Recycled Concrete Aggregates For Use In New Concrete: Phase I - Revised, Jason H. Ideker, Matthew P. Adams, Jennifer Tanner, Angela Jones

TREC Final Reports

The primary goal of this research project was to investigate the long-term durability of concrete incorporating recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) through accelerated laboratory testing. Overall it was found that modifications to standard aggregate testing and characterization standards were necessary for testing RCA. This included modifications to standard tests including ASTM C 128, C 305 and C 1260. It was found that the potential for alkalisilica reactivity did exist for new concrete containing RCA. The characteristics of the RCA also had a profound effect on ASR related expansion. RCA with a higher content of reactive coarse or fine aggregate (compared to …

Making Streets Into Complete Streets: An Evidence-Based Design Manual, Marc Schlossberg, John Rowell

TREC Final Reports

The predominant approach toward street function on major roads in the United States is to emphasize mobility and throughput of vehicles. The “Complete Streets” movement challenges some of this paradigm, emphasizing that streets should accommodate multiple modes of travel and should often be considered destinations themselves. Often, efforts to transform streets into Complete Streets face resistance from both professional communities of traffic engineers and from the public that their design will reduce throughput and vehicle flow..Complete Streets advocates, in some cases, counter that while their designs often create pedestrian and cycling space from areas that were previously occupied by automobiles, …

An Anthropology Of Urbanism: How People Make Places (And What Designers And Planners Might Learn From It), Brooke D. Wortham-Galvin

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

In their word play on what design praxis might succeed the New Urbanism movement in the United States, the July 2013 article “Newest Urbanism” in the Architect introduced to the uninitiated the concept of tactical urbanism. Defining tactical urbanism as "temporary, cheap, and usually grassroots interventions—including so-called guerrilla gardens, pop-up parks, food carts, and 'open streets' projects—that are designed to improve city life on a block-by-block, street-by-street basis," the article claims that it took this approach to shaping the city less than a decade to mainstream into the practices of US cities and firms alike. While Architect used the term …

Modeling Of Dc Link Capacitor Current Ripple For Electric Vehicle Traction Converter, Lei Jin, Julia Zhang

TREC Final Reports

Contemporary Full Hybrid Electric Vehicle/Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle/Battery Electric Vehicle (FHEV/PHEV/BEV) products use one or more DC/AC power converters, also known as traction inverters, to convert the DC voltage/current provided by the traction battery to the AC voltage/current to drive the traction motor(s). Large and bulky DC link capacitors are used at the input of the traction inverter to provide a smooth DC input voltage. Those DC link capacitors, occupying almost 50% of the space in the whole package, can contribute to more than 20% of the total cost of the traction inverter. They are generally over designed to assure …

An Activity-Based Learning Module For Human Factors In The Introductory Transportation Engineering Course, David Hurwitz

TREC Final Reports

This project summary report describes the execution of OTREC Project #517 (An ActivityBased Learning Module for Human Factors in the Introductory Transportation Engineering Course)

Fits And Starts: Visions For The Community Engaged University, Kevin Kecskes, Kevin Foster

Public Administration Faculty Publications and Presentations

Good Morning. So, here we are in Alabama. You’ve all been here a few days. I just got here last night. And I’m again shocked. Eight o’clock in the morning and all of you had all these options and here you are.

Now, I know it was the breakfast that probably pulled you in. But anyway, thank you for coming. Let’s acknowledge the folks here at the University of Alabama for their great work [applause]. Thank you so much. Special thanks go to Dr. [Samory] Pruitt, Dr. Heather Pleasants and Dr. Ed Mullins for organizing us and working with us …

Evaluation Of A Pilot Of The Oregon Department Of Transportation’S Ecodrive Program, Donald M. Truxillo, John Macarthur, Frankie Guros, Layla R. Mansfield

Psychology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Economical, ecological, and safe driving – eco-driving – is aimed at reducing fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions (Martin, Chan, & Shaheen, 2012). The adoption of energy-efficient driving styles and practices has been recognized as a means of reducing energy consumption, and estimates of energy savings attributed to eco-driving have been reported to range from 5% to as high as 20%, depending on the driving context (Barkenbus, 2010; Stillwater & Kurani, 2013; van der Voort, Dougherty & van Maareseveen, 2001). Eco-driving is being promoted in partnership among the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) (Planning, Safety and Motor Carrier Division), the …

Multimodal Data At Signalized Intersections: Strategies For Archiving Existing And New Data Streams To Support Operations And Planning & Fusion And Integration Of Arterial Performance Data, Kristin A. Tufte, Christopher M. Monsere, Sirisha Murthy Kothuri, Carl Scott Olson

TREC Final Reports

There is a growing interest in arterial system management due to the increasing amount of travel on arterials and a growing emphasis on multimodal transportation. The benefits of archiving arterial-related data are numerous. This research report describes our efforts to assemble and develop a multimodal archive for the Portland-Vancouver region. There is coverage of data sources from all modes in the metropolitan region; however, the preliminary nature of the archiving process means that some of the data are incomplete and samples. The arterial data sources available in the Portland-Vancouver region and that are covered in this report include data for …

Transit Bus Fleet Age And Replacement Type Optimization, Miguel A. Figliozzi, Wei Feng, Jesse Boudart

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Due to recent budget and fiscal constraints, it is ever more imperative for transit agencies to manage their fleets in an optimal way. Fleet data have consistently shown that bus operational and maintenance (O&M) per-mile costs increase as buses age. From a purely economic perspective, there is a cost tradeoff between the lower O&M costs of newer fleets and their higher initial capital costs. This tradeoff has a significant impact on the optimal timing of purchase and replacement decisions. Utilizing realistic cost data and an optimization modeling framework, we analyze (a) the impact of purchase timing decisions on fleet per-mile …

Improving The Representation Of The Pedestrian Environment In Travel Demand Models, Phase I, Kelly J. Clifton, Patrick Allen Singleton, Christopher Devlin Muhs, Robert J. Schneider, Peter Lagerwey

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

There is growing support for improvements to the quality of the walking environment, including more investments to promote pedestrian travel. Metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) are improving regional travel demand forecasting models to better represent walking and bicycling and to expand the evaluative capacity of models to address policy-relevant issues like air quality, public health, and the smart allocation of infrastructure and other resources. This report describes an innovative, spatially disaggregate method to integrate walking activity into trip-based travel models. Using data for the Portland, OR, metropolitan area, the method applies trip generation at a new micro-scale spatial unit: a 264-foot-by-264-foot …

The Consolidation Of The Consociational Democracy In Lebanon: The Challenges To Democracy In Lebanon, Micheline Germanos Ghattas

Dissertations and Theses

This dissertation looks at democracy in Lebanon, a country that has a pluralistic society with many societal cleavages. The subject of this study is the consolidation of democracy in Lebanon, described by Arend Lijphart as a "consociational democracy". The research question and sub-question posed are:

1- How consolidated is democracy in Lebanon?

2- What are the challenges facing the consolidation of democracy in Lebanon?

The preamble of the 1926 Lebanese Constitution declares the country to be a parliamentary democratic republic. The political regime is a democracy, but one that is not built on the rule of the majority in numbers, …

Building Bridges With Social Capital In The European Union, Peter Andrew Noordijk

Dissertations and Theses

A culture of accommodation and tolerance is a necessary part of establishing and preserving a functional multi-national and multi-ethnic European Union. Civil society organizations and their associated social capital have been shown to foster civic capacity and achievement of public policy goals. However, social capital that is based on group identity can also contribute to a sense of intolerance towards out-groups, undermining the stated tolerance objectives of the social pillar of the European Union. States with a strong presence alongside civil society are expected to be curb the development of the exclusionary bonding form of social capital in favor of …

Neighborhood Commercial Corridor Change: Portland, Oregon 1990-2010, Kelly Ann Howsley-Glover

Dissertations and Theses

Commercial corridors in neighborhoods experiencing change have been relegated to a footnote in research on residential phenomena. It is taken for granted that the process of change experience by businesses within these neighborhoods mirrors that of the residential change. This assumption is often predicated on the underlying model of invasion succession, suggesting that inmovers displace native populations, whether they are residents or businesses. Analyzing time series data on neighborhood commercial corridor change, research attempted to first test data against the invasion succession model to see if it is an effective framework for analysis. Second, through comparison of case study areas …

A Dissatisfied Partner: A Conflict - Integration Analysis Of Britain's Membership In The European Union, Osman Goktug Tanrikulu

Dissertations and Theses

Since 2009, the European Union has faced the worst economic crisis of its history. Due to the devastating impact of the Eurozone crisis on their economies, European countries realized the need to deepen the integration. Without a fiscal union, the Monetary Union would always be prone to economic crises. However, the efforts to reinforce the Union’s economy have been hampered by the UK due to its obsession with national sovereignty and lack of European ideals. In opposing further integration, the UK officials have started to speak out about the probability of leaving the EU.

The purpose of this paper is …

Route Segment Level Analysis Of Bus Safety Incidents, James G. Strathman, Sung Moon Kwon

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper analyzes collision and non-collision incidents that occurred on TriMet’s bus system over a near two-year period. The bus route network was decomposed into stop and line haul segments, and a typology of models was estimated from segment level incident, risk exposure, and roadway feature data. The frequency of non-collision incidents – mainly slips, trips and falls – was estimated to be primarily related to associated risk exposure variables. The frequency of collision incidents was also estimated to be related to risk exposure variables, as well as a number of roadway design variables. The findings serve as an initial …

The Application Of Smart Phone, Weight-Mile Truck Data To Support Freight-Modeling, Performance Measures And Planning, Katherine E. Bell, Miguel A. Figliozzi

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Oregon is one of the few states that currently charge a commercial truck weight-mile tax (WMT). The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) has developed a data-collection system – Truck Road Use Electronics (TRUE) – to simplify WMT collection. The TRUE system includes a smart phone application that collects and records Global Positioning System (GPS) data. The TRUE data has enormous advantages over GPS data used in previous research due to its level of geographic detail and the potential to also integrate trip origin and destination, vehicle class, and commodity-type data. This research evaluates the accuracy of the TRUE data and …

Contesting Sustainability: Bikes, Race, And Politics In Portlandia, Amy Lubitow, Thaddeus R. Miller

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

Despite decade old calls for a "just sustainability," urban sustainability policy and practice remains oriented toward environmental outcomes and eco-lifestyle projects. Notions of equity, justice, and inclusion continue to be marginalized in favor of technological solutions, such as green buildings, that are visible, easy to implement, and help to promote economic development. By examining a controversy over a bikeway development project in a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood in Northeast Portland, Oregon, this article explores how despite apolitical appeals to broadly shared values or visions of what a sustainable city ought to look like, sustainability projects can be—and perhaps should be—hotly contested. …

Overlooked Destinations: Suburban Nodes, Centers, And Trips To Strips, Nico Larco, Robert Parker

TREC Final Reports

This study looks at travel to typical suburban commercial strips by residents living within one-third of a mile of the strip by focusing on six sites – four in the Portland, OR., metro area and two in the Atlanta, GA., metro area. The study mapped pedsheds around the commercial strips in these sites and found significant increases in network extents when formal and informal pedestrian paths were added to street centerline data. Informal networks such as goat paths through vacant land and cuts in fences were widespread and suggest a pent-up demand for route directness. Travel surveys of residents found …

Postwar Reconstruction In Liberia: The Participation And Recognition Of Women In Politics In Liberia, Roland Tuwea Clarke

Dissertations and Theses

Despite the remarkable contributions made by women to secure peace in Liberia, women's representation in politics is still low. The first female African President has been elected, as well as a few women to strategic government positions, but the vast majority of women remain invisible. The reliance on these few women in government is inadequate to produce the significant changes that will be required to bring equality for all women.

This study examines the recognition of women's relative participation and recognition in postwar reconstruction in Liberia. Differences between traditional and non-traditional women's participation in Liberia were found.

This study includes …

Relocation Of Homeless People From Odot Rights-Of-Way, Ellen M. Bassett, Andrée Tremoulet, Allison Moe

TREC Final Reports

This research project consists of an investigation of responses to homeless encampments on rights-of-way owned by Departments of Transportation (DOTs). While DOTs are not housing or social service agencies, their role as major public landowners involves them in dealing with the consequences of homelessness. The research goals included analyzing the prevalence of the problem, documenting how DOTs are responding, and culling from this data information that could be used as a basis for creating a best practices guide. The research included a single mixed-methods, in-depth case study, electronic surveys of practitioners and follow-up interviews. Products consist of two reports (included …

Putting Regulatory Data To Work At The Service Of Public Health: Utilizing Data Collected Under The Clean Water Act, Jyotsna S. Jagai, Barbara J. Rosenbaum, Suzanne M. Pierson, Lynne C. Messer, Kristen M. Rappazzo, Elena N. Naumova, Danelle T. Lobdell

Community Health Faculty Publications and Presentations

Under the Clean Water Act, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) collects information from states on intended use and impairment of each water body. We explore the feasibility of using these data, collected for regulatory purposes, for public health analyses. Combining EPA impairment data and stream hydrology information we estimated the percent of stream length impaired for any use, recreational use, or drinking water use per county in the US as exposure variables. For health outcomes we abstracted county-level hospitalization rates of gastrointestinal infections, GI (ICD-9CM 001-009 excluding 008.45) and gastrointestinal symptoms, GS (ICD-9CM 558.9, 787) among US adults aged …

Focal Point, Volume 27, Portland State University. Regional Research Institute

Research and Training Center - Focal Point

This special issue of Focal Point focuses on best practices for helping youth and young adults with mental health challenges reach their educational and employment goals, by highlighting preliminary results from some of our research at Pathways to Positive Futures as well as some of the work being done at the Transitions RTC at the University of Massachusetts.

The Wicked Problem Of Chemicals Policy: Opportunities For Innovation, Jennifer H. Allen

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

Many environmental challenges facing society today, such as climate change and integrated water management, have been described as “wicked problems” due to their biological, physical, and social complexity. Wicked problems extend across media such as air, land, and water; across political jurisdictions and landscape boundaries; and across traditional policy arenas. Traditional policy approaches that are media-specific, rely on single agencies for implementation, and that do not effectively engage stakeholders and partners outside of government are generally ineffective in addressing these issues. The management of toxic chemicals is a classic “wicked problem.” Existing toxics policies often exacerbate the “wicked” nature of …

Omsi - Clinton: A Corridor For Invention And Innovation, Todd Borkowitz, Katherine Dahlin, Gena Gastaldi, Kyle Goodman, Lisa Harrison, Szilvia Hosser-Cox, Irene Kim, Shihui Liu, Qi Liu, Lindsey Menard, Julia Metz, Corrie Minor, Eve Nilenders, John Tomasini, John Verssue, Kate Washington

Urban Design Workshop

This project focuses on developing a vision for the corridor between two new MAX light rail transit stations at OMSI and Clinton Street, which are part of the Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail (PMLR) project, connecting downtown Portland with north Clackamas County via southeast Portland.

This vision must be created with respect to the industrial sanctuary that flanks this stretch of light rail corridor to the west and the residential and light industry to the east.

This document is the product of a 2013 urban design workshop at Portland State University. The project builds upon three previous urban design workshops that focused …

Peak Of The Day Or The Daily Grind: Commuting And Subjective Well-Being, Oliver Blair Smith

Dissertations and Theses

To understand the impact of daily travel on personal and societal well-being, researchers are developing measurement techniques that go beyond satisfaction-based measures of travel. Metrics related Subjective Well-Being (SWB), defined as an evaluation of one's happiness or life satisfaction, are increasingly important for evaluating transportation and land-use policies. This dissertation examines commute well-being, a multi-item measure of how one feels about the commute to work, and how it is shaped. Data are from a web-based survey of workers (n=828) in Portland, Oregon, U.S.A., with three roughly equally sized groups based on mode: bike, transit and car users. Descriptive analysis shows …

Report: Multicultural Community Forum, Masami Nishishiba, Fern Elledge, Cynthia Alamillo, Charles Daniel, Anabel López Salinas, Nicholas Mccarty

Center for Public Service Publications and Reports

The City of Beaverton entered into an agreement with the Center for Public Service (CPS) to create a project focused on engaging diverse communities. CPS, in collaboration with Beaverton’s Diversity Task Force (DTF) organized a Multicultural Community Forum on Saturday, June 1, 2013. This report provides the purpose, planning process, outreach activities, agenda, and outcomes of the Forum. It also provides recommendations for next steps in engaging cultural and ethnic minority residents in the City of Beaverton.

The primary purpose of the Multicultural Community Forum was to create a momentum in engaging and empowering both new and emerging multicultural community …