Search

Search Results

• 241. [Article] Predicting sediment delivery from small catchments in the Western Cascades of Oregon using the U.S.F.S. disturbed Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) model

  The U.S. Forest Service on the Willamette National Forest currently employs the “Disturbed Water Erosion Prediction Project” (WEPP) model to determine potential suspended sediment delivery from timber ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Predicting sediment delivery from small catchments in the Western Cascades of Oregon using the U.S.F.S. disturbed Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) model Author: Geren, Barbara A., Jones, Julia The U.S. Forest Service on the Willamette National Forest currently employs the “Disturbed Water Erosion Prediction Project” (WEPP) model to determine potential suspended sediment delivery from timber harvests or other treatment scenarios given user-defined hillslope parameters. At the time of this study there was no known calibration or testing of the model’s accuracy in steep, dissected terrain such as that of the Western Cascades of Oregon. This analysis used the simplified web-based version of FSWEPP to predict suspended sediment output from three small catchments located on the H.J. Andrews (HJA) Research Forest. Basins were either clear-cut, 25% patch-cut, or in old-growth control conditions. Inputting long-term site data from on-the-ground measurements, WEPP model fields were populated with the most basin-representative information possible. Four different model simulation strategies compared suspended sediment delivery both within individual basin scenarios, and also between the three basins. Results indicated that WEPP tended to over-estimate suspended sediment outputs across the treated basin scenarios relative to long-term ground data. A crude Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) f-test compared the differences in total mean suspended sediments delivered or predicted within each basin. Subsequent numbers suggested that at least two of the basins’ means were significantly different between various model scenarios as well as the Andrews dataset. Though Disturbed WEPP was ultimately not a convincing prediction tool in this investigation, the study provided both background and foundation for further model testing and calibration. Given the wealth of long-term data available from the HJA, the model may merit further ground-testing and calibration against the backdrop of this climate and terrain. Title: Predicting sediment delivery from small catchments in the Western Cascades of Oregon using the U.S.F.S. disturbed Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) model Author: Geren, Barbara A., Jones, Julia The U.S. Forest Service on the Willamette National Forest currently employs the “Disturbed Water Erosion Prediction Project” (WEPP) model to determine potential suspended sediment delivery from timber harvests or other treatment scenarios given user-defined hillslope parameters. At the time of this study there was no known calibration or testing of the model’s accuracy in steep, dissected terrain such as that of the Western Cascades of Oregon. This analysis used the simplified web-based version of FSWEPP to predict suspended sediment output from three small catchments located on the H.J. Andrews (HJA) Research Forest. Basins were either clear-cut, 25% patch-cut, or in old-growth control conditions. Inputting long-term site data from on-the-ground measurements, WEPP model fields were populated with the most basin-representative information possible. Four different model simulation strategies compared suspended sediment delivery both within individual basin scenarios, and also between the three basins. Results indicated that WEPP tended to over-estimate suspended sediment outputs across the treated basin scenarios relative to long-term ground data. A crude Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) f-test compared the differences in total mean suspended sediments delivered or predicted within each basin. Subsequent numbers suggested that at least two of the basins’ means were significantly different between various model scenarios as well as the Andrews dataset. Though Disturbed WEPP was ultimately not a convincing prediction tool in this investigation, the study provided both background and foundation for further model testing and calibration. Given the wealth of long-term data available from the HJA, the model may merit further ground-testing and calibration against the backdrop of this climate and terrain. Close

• 242. [Article] Metadata for the Oregon Coast Geospatial Clearinghouse : concept, implementation, and maintenance

  Geographical data and information are virtually unlimited in their quantity and are oftentimes scattered throughout a multitude of locations and stored in various formats on a wide variety of platforms. ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Metadata for the Oregon Coast Geospatial Clearinghouse : concept, implementation, and maintenance Author: Duvall, Gillien N. Geographical data and information are virtually unlimited in their quantity and are oftentimes scattered throughout a multitude of locations and stored in various formats on a wide variety of platforms. The Oregon Coast Geospatial Clearinghouse (OCGC) is a web-based central repository for metadata (data about data) corresponding to collected data for the Oregon Coastal Zone. The OCGC is a collaborative effort between multiple agencies in order to raise awareness about what data exist and to encourage cooperation for sharing and distributing available data. The clearinghouse is designed to enable easy access and usage for any person wanting or needing to obtain geospatial data or metadata for the Oregon coast. Metadata creation, and development and maintenance of the OCGC are discussed in this paper. One major objective of the project was to increase the visibility and utility of the clearinghouse by contacting potential participants and asking for their contributions of data and metadata. A second goal was to develop methods for assisting these agencies in contributing metadata, through the use of existing metadata-generating tools. Two metadata tools were explored and evaluated: a free, public-domain ArcView metadata collector extension developed by the NOAA Coastal Services Center and a commercial software application called the Spatial Metadata Management System (SMMS). The third and most important objective of the project was to create a template for an abstracted form of metadata, that, while FGDC-compliant, would not be as lenghty or cumbersome as the full FGDC content standard. Finally, recommendations for the future of the OCGC are discussed. Title: Metadata for the Oregon Coast Geospatial Clearinghouse : concept, implementation, and maintenance Author: Duvall, Gillien N. Geographical data and information are virtually unlimited in their quantity and are oftentimes scattered throughout a multitude of locations and stored in various formats on a wide variety of platforms. The Oregon Coast Geospatial Clearinghouse (OCGC) is a web-based central repository for metadata (data about data) corresponding to collected data for the Oregon Coastal Zone. The OCGC is a collaborative effort between multiple agencies in order to raise awareness about what data exist and to encourage cooperation for sharing and distributing available data. The clearinghouse is designed to enable easy access and usage for any person wanting or needing to obtain geospatial data or metadata for the Oregon coast. Metadata creation, and development and maintenance of the OCGC are discussed in this paper. One major objective of the project was to increase the visibility and utility of the clearinghouse by contacting potential participants and asking for their contributions of data and metadata. A second goal was to develop methods for assisting these agencies in contributing metadata, through the use of existing metadata-generating tools. Two metadata tools were explored and evaluated: a free, public-domain ArcView metadata collector extension developed by the NOAA Coastal Services Center and a commercial software application called the Spatial Metadata Management System (SMMS). The third and most important objective of the project was to create a template for an abstracted form of metadata, that, while FGDC-compliant, would not be as lenghty or cumbersome as the full FGDC content standard. Finally, recommendations for the future of the OCGC are discussed. Close

• 243. [Article] Enhancing Instructors’ Teaching Experience through Virtualization

  In the current education environment, many instructors make use of some type of software, such as Visual Studio or a software library like OpenGL, in the classroom. Incorrect setup and configuration on ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Enhancing Instructors’ Teaching Experience through Virtualization Author: Patil, Ajinkya In the current education environment, many instructors make use of some type of software, such as Visual Studio or a software library like OpenGL, in the classroom. Incorrect setup and configuration on an individual’s own system is a common problem when using these software tools. This thesis explores the difficulty that these setup and configuration problems create for the student learning experience as well as the instructor teaching experience. We interviewed ten instructors and four students as part of a qualitative study to gather data about the severity of this problem in preventing student learning and effective delivery of material. The participants were chosen from Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering, Statistics, and Robotics classes. The main criterion for the class selection was whether that class’ usage of software came with the potential of running into configuration issues. The study shows that almost all classes did suffer from configuration issues in software tools; these issues distracted the students from actual coursework, forcing them to expend their time and energy on resolving these issues instead. It was also found that instructors and students often resorted to a “use whatever works” or a “trial and error” strategy for dealing with the issues encountered, which did not guarantee the issues’ resolution. To help instructors and students resolve a substantial portion of these setup and configuration issues with software tools, we propose the design of a virtualized system which leverages an existing cloud tool OpenStack. This system modifies the services provided by OpenStack to enable easy access to preconfigured Virtual Machines which help to resolve these issues with setup and configuration. This thesis, along with presenting the result of the study, outlines this system framework. Furthermore, it discusses the system in the context of the data gathered and the types of problems that framework could effectively handle. The lessons learned from the study and from our system design can also help inform future solutions and systems. Title: Enhancing Instructors’ Teaching Experience through Virtualization Author: Patil, Ajinkya In the current education environment, many instructors make use of some type of software, such as Visual Studio or a software library like OpenGL, in the classroom. Incorrect setup and configuration on an individual’s own system is a common problem when using these software tools. This thesis explores the difficulty that these setup and configuration problems create for the student learning experience as well as the instructor teaching experience. We interviewed ten instructors and four students as part of a qualitative study to gather data about the severity of this problem in preventing student learning and effective delivery of material. The participants were chosen from Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering, Statistics, and Robotics classes. The main criterion for the class selection was whether that class’ usage of software came with the potential of running into configuration issues. The study shows that almost all classes did suffer from configuration issues in software tools; these issues distracted the students from actual coursework, forcing them to expend their time and energy on resolving these issues instead. It was also found that instructors and students often resorted to a “use whatever works” or a “trial and error” strategy for dealing with the issues encountered, which did not guarantee the issues’ resolution. To help instructors and students resolve a substantial portion of these setup and configuration issues with software tools, we propose the design of a virtualized system which leverages an existing cloud tool OpenStack. This system modifies the services provided by OpenStack to enable easy access to preconfigured Virtual Machines which help to resolve these issues with setup and configuration. This thesis, along with presenting the result of the study, outlines this system framework. Furthermore, it discusses the system in the context of the data gathered and the types of problems that framework could effectively handle. The lessons learned from the study and from our system design can also help inform future solutions and systems. Close

• 244. [Article] Women in Fish Value Chain in Nigeria

  This is part of the IIFET Special Session on Markets and Value Chains for Small Aquaculture & Fisheries Enterprises with a Focus on Gender that took place on 17 July 2012 in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania in ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Women in Fish Value Chain in Nigeria Author: Cheke, Abiodun This is part of the IIFET Special Session on Markets and Value Chains for Small Aquaculture & Fisheries Enterprises with a Focus on Gender that took place on 17 July 2012 in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania in conjunction with 16th IIFET Conference. The complete proceedings of this special session are available (http://aquafishcrsp.oregonstate.edu/Documents/Uploads/FileManager/IIFET%202012%20CRSP%20Session%20Proceedings%20Final_small.pdf) through the Aquaculture & Fisheries Collaborative Research Support Program gender web site, (http://aquafishcrsp.oregonstate.edu/Gender/). Title: Women in Fish Value Chain in Nigeria Author: Cheke, Abiodun This is part of the IIFET Special Session on Markets and Value Chains for Small Aquaculture & Fisheries Enterprises with a Focus on Gender that took place on 17 July 2012 in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania in conjunction with 16th IIFET Conference. The complete proceedings of this special session are available (http://aquafishcrsp.oregonstate.edu/Documents/Uploads/FileManager/IIFET%202012%20CRSP%20Session%20Proceedings%20Final_small.pdf) through the Aquaculture & Fisheries Collaborative Research Support Program gender web site, (http://aquafishcrsp.oregonstate.edu/Gender/). Close

• 245. [Article] Google's Technology Strategy

  Google Inc. is a multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Google's Technology Strategy Author: Murthy, Mamatha, Maheshwari, Priti, Neethirajan, Aarthi, Upadhyay, Jubin, Soysa, Dinesh, Taddesse, Neb Year: 2010 Google Inc. is a multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its Ad Words program. The company was founded in January 1996 by two Stanford students Larry Page and Sergey Brin and was first incorporated as privately held company on September 4, 1998. Its initial public offering followed on August 19, 2004. Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. This describes what the company actually plans to do on a day-by-day basis. By using its proprietary search technology and other internet based services and products, Google does help to organize information and make it both more accessible and more useful. Larry and Brin first started a simple search engine, Backrub in 1996 which based its search results on the number of “back links” pointing to a given web site. Backrub was unique as it was designed to work in a network of low-end PCs instead of expensive mainframes used by major search engines of the day. By 1998, Larry and Sergey tried to sell their technology but ended up having no takers. They moved out of the dorm and wrote a business plan. With the help of Bechtolsheim, one of the founders of Sun Microsystems, Google Inc. was born. Thus company thus started, has grown rapidly over the years becoming a market leader in the Search industry. Google runs over one million servers in datacenters around the world and processes over one billion search requests and about twenty-four petabytes of user –generated data every day. This rapid growth has triggered a chain of products, acquisitions and partnerships beyond the company’s core search engine. The company offers productivity software such as Gmail, social networking tools such as Orkut, Google Buzz, browser such as Google Chrome, the Picasa photo organization and editing application, Google Talk instant messaging application, Android mobile phone operating system, YouTube, Blogger and much more. Since its incorporation, Google continues to grow and its stock continues to rise from its initial price of $100/share to a high close of $704.79/share in October 2007. It has since dropped to $573/share as of December 2010, but still remains significantly higher. Google has a current market share of 66 percent in USA and 86 percent globally, thus is clearly a market leader. However, the dominant market position of Google's services has led to criticism of the company over issues including privacy, copyright, and censorship. Title: Google's Technology Strategy Author: Murthy, Mamatha, Maheshwari, Priti, Neethirajan, Aarthi, Upadhyay, Jubin, Soysa, Dinesh, Taddesse, Neb Year: 2010 Google Inc. is a multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its Ad Words program. The company was founded in January 1996 by two Stanford students Larry Page and Sergey Brin and was first incorporated as privately held company on September 4, 1998. Its initial public offering followed on August 19, 2004. Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. This describes what the company actually plans to do on a day-by-day basis. By using its proprietary search technology and other internet based services and products, Google does help to organize information and make it both more accessible and more useful. Larry and Brin first started a simple search engine, Backrub in 1996 which based its search results on the number of “back links” pointing to a given web site. Backrub was unique as it was designed to work in a network of low-end PCs instead of expensive mainframes used by major search engines of the day. By 1998, Larry and Sergey tried to sell their technology but ended up having no takers. They moved out of the dorm and wrote a business plan. With the help of Bechtolsheim, one of the founders of Sun Microsystems, Google Inc. was born. Thus company thus started, has grown rapidly over the years becoming a market leader in the Search industry. Google runs over one million servers in datacenters around the world and processes over one billion search requests and about twenty-four petabytes of user –generated data every day. This rapid growth has triggered a chain of products, acquisitions and partnerships beyond the company’s core search engine. The company offers productivity software such as Gmail, social networking tools such as Orkut, Google Buzz, browser such as Google Chrome, the Picasa photo organization and editing application, Google Talk instant messaging application, Android mobile phone operating system, YouTube, Blogger and much more. Since its incorporation, Google continues to grow and its stock continues to rise from its initial price of $100/share to a high close of $704.79/share in October 2007. It has since dropped to $573/share as of December 2010, but still remains significantly higher. Google has a current market share of 66 percent in USA and 86 percent globally, thus is clearly a market leader. However, the dominant market position of Google's services has led to criticism of the company over issues including privacy, copyright, and censorship. Close

• 246. [Article] Watershed Management and Private Lands: Moving Beyond Financial Incentives to Encourage Land Stewardship

  Public water utilities are tasked with providing high quality, inexpensive water often sourced from watersheds representing a diverse mix of public and private land ownership. There is increasing recognition ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Watershed Management and Private Lands: Moving Beyond Financial Incentives to Encourage Land Stewardship Author: DeAngelo, Matthew Thomas Year: 2016 Public water utilities are tasked with providing high quality, inexpensive water often sourced from watersheds representing a diverse mix of public and private land ownership. There is increasing recognition amongst water resource managers of the role that private landowners play in determining downstream water quality, but bringing together landowners with a wide variety of land management objectives under the umbrella of watershed stewardship has proven difficult. Recently, a large number of "Payment for Watershed Services" programs have aimed to engage private landowners in watershed stewardship initiatives by offering financial incentives for adopting watershed best management practices. However, a growing field of research suggests that financial incentives alone may be of limited utility to encourage widespread and long-standing behavior change, and instead understanding landowner attitudes and non-financial barriers to stewardship program enrollment has become a focus of research. This research examines a population of rural landowners representing a diversity of agricultural, forestry, recreational, and investment objectives in the Clackamas River watershed, Oregon. I designed and distributed a mail and web-based survey instrument intended to measure land uses and land ownership objectives, attitudes towards watershed stewardship programs, barriers to enrollment in stewardship programs, and preferred incentives and goals that would promote enrollment. I received 281 valid responses for a response rate of 29%. I conducted two primary analyses: one focused on relating attitudes and barriers to intent to enroll in a watershed stewardship program, and one focused on identifying how diverse landowners differ according to factors influencing enrollment in stewardship programs. I found that landowners did not report financial considerations to be a primary barrier to enrollment and expressed low interest in receiving financial incentives. Instead, landowners reported that primary barriers related to lack of trust, ecological understanding, and concerns that stewardship program enrollment would be incompatible with their land management objectives. I do not discount the potential utility of financial incentives under certain circumstances, but emphasize the importance of addressing these other considerations before incentives can make a meaningful impact. I compared how barriers to enrollment were perceived by landowners with different land management objectives relating to production, investment, and conservation. I found that landowner attitudes were differentiated from one another primarily by their use of land for production purposes; however, I found a large amount of diversity between producers and non-producers in the degree to which they considered investment and conservation objectives in their land management, and these two variables added further explanatory power to understanding fine-scale differences in how landowner typologies relate to conservation programs. Title: Watershed Management and Private Lands: Moving Beyond Financial Incentives to Encourage Land Stewardship Author: DeAngelo, Matthew Thomas Year: 2016 Public water utilities are tasked with providing high quality, inexpensive water often sourced from watersheds representing a diverse mix of public and private land ownership. There is increasing recognition amongst water resource managers of the role that private landowners play in determining downstream water quality, but bringing together landowners with a wide variety of land management objectives under the umbrella of watershed stewardship has proven difficult. Recently, a large number of "Payment for Watershed Services" programs have aimed to engage private landowners in watershed stewardship initiatives by offering financial incentives for adopting watershed best management practices. However, a growing field of research suggests that financial incentives alone may be of limited utility to encourage widespread and long-standing behavior change, and instead understanding landowner attitudes and non-financial barriers to stewardship program enrollment has become a focus of research. This research examines a population of rural landowners representing a diversity of agricultural, forestry, recreational, and investment objectives in the Clackamas River watershed, Oregon. I designed and distributed a mail and web-based survey instrument intended to measure land uses and land ownership objectives, attitudes towards watershed stewardship programs, barriers to enrollment in stewardship programs, and preferred incentives and goals that would promote enrollment. I received 281 valid responses for a response rate of 29%. I conducted two primary analyses: one focused on relating attitudes and barriers to intent to enroll in a watershed stewardship program, and one focused on identifying how diverse landowners differ according to factors influencing enrollment in stewardship programs. I found that landowners did not report financial considerations to be a primary barrier to enrollment and expressed low interest in receiving financial incentives. Instead, landowners reported that primary barriers related to lack of trust, ecological understanding, and concerns that stewardship program enrollment would be incompatible with their land management objectives. I do not discount the potential utility of financial incentives under certain circumstances, but emphasize the importance of addressing these other considerations before incentives can make a meaningful impact. I compared how barriers to enrollment were perceived by landowners with different land management objectives relating to production, investment, and conservation. I found that landowner attitudes were differentiated from one another primarily by their use of land for production purposes; however, I found a large amount of diversity between producers and non-producers in the degree to which they considered investment and conservation objectives in their land management, and these two variables added further explanatory power to understanding fine-scale differences in how landowner typologies relate to conservation programs. Close

• 247. [Article] Height Modernization from Static GPS Networks in Oregon: Evaluating NGS Guidelines and OPUS-Projects

  Determining accurate elevations is important for many engineering and scientific applications, and finding these heights via GNSS increases efficiency and significantly reduces the costs as compared to ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Height Modernization from Static GPS Networks in Oregon: Evaluating NGS Guidelines and OPUS-Projects Author: Kerr, Darren J. Determining accurate elevations is important for many engineering and scientific applications, and finding these heights via GNSS increases efficiency and significantly reduces the costs as compared to precise geodetic leveling. The National Geodetic Survey (NGS) has published guidelines for determining both ellipsoidal and orthometric heights with GPS to within 2 cm at 95% confidence. However, these guidelines, known as NOS-NGS 58 and 59, were developed based on technologies and experiences in the 1990s. Since then, GNSS-related technologies continue to improve, including increases in accuracy and availability of orbits, the completion of additional Global Navigation Satellite Systems, and the construction of more robust GNSS receivers and antennas. By closely following NGS 58 and 59 guidelines, a ten day static GPS survey campaign was conducted in Oregon during the summer of 2014. The resulting GPS baselines were processed in commercial software, Leica Geo Office (LGO©), and the final static network was adjusted by least squares in MicroSurvey STAR*NET©. From the network adjustment, the estimated error in elevation at each station ranged from plus or minus 0.8 to 1.8 cm at 95% confidence, with an average error in elevation equal to plus or minus 1.3 cm at 95% confidence. For comparison, the data was also post-processed in OPUS-Projects, a web-based program recently released by NGS for surveys involving multiple sites and multiple occupations. This comparison showed that a user-defined network in OPUS-Projects with a central hub tightly constrained to International GNSS Service (IGS) active stations yielded results most similar to those found in the commercial software. The average difference in elevations when comparing the commercial software solution with the final network in OPUS-Projects was only 5 mm. Lastly, this paper makes recommendations on how NGS 58 and 59 could be optimized by changing network configurations and changing the 1.5 cm RMS and 2.0 cm Up screening requirement to a statistical outlier identification approach. Areas of future research are also identified such as incorporating GLONASS, analyzing solutions based on fewer observations, and including trivial vectors. Title: Height Modernization from Static GPS Networks in Oregon: Evaluating NGS Guidelines and OPUS-Projects Author: Kerr, Darren J. Determining accurate elevations is important for many engineering and scientific applications, and finding these heights via GNSS increases efficiency and significantly reduces the costs as compared to precise geodetic leveling. The National Geodetic Survey (NGS) has published guidelines for determining both ellipsoidal and orthometric heights with GPS to within 2 cm at 95% confidence. However, these guidelines, known as NOS-NGS 58 and 59, were developed based on technologies and experiences in the 1990s. Since then, GNSS-related technologies continue to improve, including increases in accuracy and availability of orbits, the completion of additional Global Navigation Satellite Systems, and the construction of more robust GNSS receivers and antennas. By closely following NGS 58 and 59 guidelines, a ten day static GPS survey campaign was conducted in Oregon during the summer of 2014. The resulting GPS baselines were processed in commercial software, Leica Geo Office (LGO©), and the final static network was adjusted by least squares in MicroSurvey STAR*NET©. From the network adjustment, the estimated error in elevation at each station ranged from plus or minus 0.8 to 1.8 cm at 95% confidence, with an average error in elevation equal to plus or minus 1.3 cm at 95% confidence. For comparison, the data was also post-processed in OPUS-Projects, a web-based program recently released by NGS for surveys involving multiple sites and multiple occupations. This comparison showed that a user-defined network in OPUS-Projects with a central hub tightly constrained to International GNSS Service (IGS) active stations yielded results most similar to those found in the commercial software. The average difference in elevations when comparing the commercial software solution with the final network in OPUS-Projects was only 5 mm. Lastly, this paper makes recommendations on how NGS 58 and 59 could be optimized by changing network configurations and changing the 1.5 cm RMS and 2.0 cm Up screening requirement to a statistical outlier identification approach. Areas of future research are also identified such as incorporating GLONASS, analyzing solutions based on fewer observations, and including trivial vectors. Close

• 248. [Article] Factors Associated with Inclusion of Spirituality in Secular Social Work Education

  In a diverse society, social work practitioners must be able to work with and respect people from a wide variety of cultures and ethnicities and with different value systems and ideological perspectives, ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Factors Associated with Inclusion of Spirituality in Secular Social Work Education Author: Wuest, Leslie Grace Year: 2009 In a diverse society, social work practitioners must be able to work with and respect people from a wide variety of cultures and ethnicities and with different value systems and ideological perspectives, including spiritual or religious beliefs. Accordingly, social work education has begun to incorporate the topic of spirituality. This study builds upon previous studies by Dudley and Helfgott (1990) and Sheridan et al. (1994) which focused on views of faculty members regarding spirituality in social work education and support for a course on spirituality in the social work curriculum. This study goes on to examine inclusion of spirituality in general social work courses. The study involved a survey of social work faculty members who teach courses in direct practice, human development, and diversity, with a response rate of 52% (N = 222). The 40-item web survey replicated items regarding faculty views about spirituality and social work, and measures of personal experience with spirituality from Sheridan's (1994) survey. Items regarding faculty and student inclusion of spirituality, classroom management strategies, and discussion outcomes were original to this study.Results showed that in addition to 9 faculty who teach courses in spirituality, 75.1% of faculty members surveyed report a moderate or substantial discussion of spirituality in half of the courses they teach. Multiple regression analyses showed an association of faculty inclusion of spirituality to student inclusion and constructive discussions of spirituality, the school offering a separate course on spirituality, female gender, and full time status (p < .001). Faculty-reported student inclusion of spirituality was associated with faculty inclusion, conflictual discussions, constructive discussions, and use of classroom rules (p < .001). Constructive discussions of spirituality were associated with use of modeling and facilitation, faculty inclusion, and student inclusion of spirituality (p < .001). Several path models were compared using AMOS software. Results suggest that when faculty members include spirituality, students are more likely to discuss the topic. Faculty members report frequently including the topic of spirituality in the content of general social work courses. Classroom rules are related to increased student participation, and modeling and facilitation promote constructive discussion of spirituality. Title: Factors Associated with Inclusion of Spirituality in Secular Social Work Education Author: Wuest, Leslie Grace Year: 2009 In a diverse society, social work practitioners must be able to work with and respect people from a wide variety of cultures and ethnicities and with different value systems and ideological perspectives, including spiritual or religious beliefs. Accordingly, social work education has begun to incorporate the topic of spirituality. This study builds upon previous studies by Dudley and Helfgott (1990) and Sheridan et al. (1994) which focused on views of faculty members regarding spirituality in social work education and support for a course on spirituality in the social work curriculum. This study goes on to examine inclusion of spirituality in general social work courses. The study involved a survey of social work faculty members who teach courses in direct practice, human development, and diversity, with a response rate of 52% (N = 222). The 40-item web survey replicated items regarding faculty views about spirituality and social work, and measures of personal experience with spirituality from Sheridan's (1994) survey. Items regarding faculty and student inclusion of spirituality, classroom management strategies, and discussion outcomes were original to this study.Results showed that in addition to 9 faculty who teach courses in spirituality, 75.1% of faculty members surveyed report a moderate or substantial discussion of spirituality in half of the courses they teach. Multiple regression analyses showed an association of faculty inclusion of spirituality to student inclusion and constructive discussions of spirituality, the school offering a separate course on spirituality, female gender, and full time status (p < .001). Faculty-reported student inclusion of spirituality was associated with faculty inclusion, conflictual discussions, constructive discussions, and use of classroom rules (p < .001). Constructive discussions of spirituality were associated with use of modeling and facilitation, faculty inclusion, and student inclusion of spirituality (p < .001). Several path models were compared using AMOS software. Results suggest that when faculty members include spirituality, students are more likely to discuss the topic. Faculty members report frequently including the topic of spirituality in the content of general social work courses. Classroom rules are related to increased student participation, and modeling and facilitation promote constructive discussion of spirituality. Close

• 249. [Article] Evaluation of the Kindergarten Readiness Partnership & Innovation Grants

  In July 2014, Oregon’s Early Learning Division provided first-time funding for sixteen communities across the state to implement Kindergarten Readiness Partnership & Innovation (KRPI) projects. The KRPI ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Evaluation of the Kindergarten Readiness Partnership & Innovation Grants Author: Green, Beth L., Patterson, Lindsey Brianna, Morris, Mackenzie, Cochran, Lindsey Anne, Lambarth, Callie H. Year: 2015 In July 2014, Oregon’s Early Learning Division provided first-time funding for sixteen communities across the state to implement Kindergarten Readiness Partnership & Innovation (KRPI) projects. The KRPI projects share the common goal of improving children’s school readiness and, ultimately, improving school success and reducing the achievement gap. To achieve these goals, grantees were given considerable local flexibility to implement innovative approaches in one or more of the following areas: 1. Supporting kindergarten readiness skills and smooth transitions to kindergarten; 2. Increasing family engagement in children’s learning and connecting families and schools; 3. Providing professional development to early learning and/or elementary school professionals to improve knowledge and skills; and/or 4. Increasing alignment, connection, and collaboration in the prenatal to Grade 3 (P-3) system. All grantees were also expected to work toward addressing achievement gaps for underrepresented children, including those with special needs, Dual Language Learners, and/or children from low income or racial/ethnic minority backgrounds. Across the sixteen grantees, a variety of different strategies and interventions were selected and implemented. Portland State University was contracted to conduct an evaluation of the KRPI initiative, with a focus on documenting and describing the types of innovations delivered, early program outcomes, and lessons learned from the first year of implementation. The evaluation took a multi-level, mixed-methods approach that included: Developing web-based reporting tools, including: Service reporting tools to track the types of events and interventions used; Demographic and background characteristics of participants; and Frequency of participation by early learning and elementary school professionals, families, and community partners; Outcome tools designed to capture short-term outcomes for three primary types of interventions: Kindergarten Transition programs Cross-Sector Professional Development activities; and Family Engagement activities; Interviewing 28 key stakeholders representing the 16 communities to document key project successes, challenges, and lessons learned; and conducting five site-specific “mini evaluations” that allowed a more in-depth evaluation of selected grantee projects. Title: Evaluation of the Kindergarten Readiness Partnership & Innovation Grants Author: Green, Beth L., Patterson, Lindsey Brianna, Morris, Mackenzie, Cochran, Lindsey Anne, Lambarth, Callie H. Year: 2015 In July 2014, Oregon’s Early Learning Division provided first-time funding for sixteen communities across the state to implement Kindergarten Readiness Partnership & Innovation (KRPI) projects. The KRPI projects share the common goal of improving children’s school readiness and, ultimately, improving school success and reducing the achievement gap. To achieve these goals, grantees were given considerable local flexibility to implement innovative approaches in one or more of the following areas: 1. Supporting kindergarten readiness skills and smooth transitions to kindergarten; 2. Increasing family engagement in children’s learning and connecting families and schools; 3. Providing professional development to early learning and/or elementary school professionals to improve knowledge and skills; and/or 4. Increasing alignment, connection, and collaboration in the prenatal to Grade 3 (P-3) system. All grantees were also expected to work toward addressing achievement gaps for underrepresented children, including those with special needs, Dual Language Learners, and/or children from low income or racial/ethnic minority backgrounds. Across the sixteen grantees, a variety of different strategies and interventions were selected and implemented. Portland State University was contracted to conduct an evaluation of the KRPI initiative, with a focus on documenting and describing the types of innovations delivered, early program outcomes, and lessons learned from the first year of implementation. The evaluation took a multi-level, mixed-methods approach that included: Developing web-based reporting tools, including: Service reporting tools to track the types of events and interventions used; Demographic and background characteristics of participants; and Frequency of participation by early learning and elementary school professionals, families, and community partners; Outcome tools designed to capture short-term outcomes for three primary types of interventions: Kindergarten Transition programs Cross-Sector Professional Development activities; and Family Engagement activities; Interviewing 28 key stakeholders representing the 16 communities to document key project successes, challenges, and lessons learned; and conducting five site-specific “mini evaluations” that allowed a more in-depth evaluation of selected grantee projects. Close

• 250. [Article] Digital Media Battleground

  Current digital media distribution platforms continue their march towards streaming service-based infrastructures, delivering content to users when and where they want it: laptops, set top boxes, home ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Digital Media Battleground Author: Alhajri, Fahad, Bowen, James, Brewer, Brian, Hagos, Meles, Moshfegh, Farzad, Penmetsa, Srujana, Thomas, Jerrod Year: 2013 Current digital media distribution platforms continue their march towards streaming service-based infrastructures, delivering content to users when and where they want it: laptops, set top boxes, home entertainment systems, and the new ubiquity: mobile devices. This model was first demonstrated by utilizing the multicast backbone technology in the early 1990s and took the better part of a decade to make inroads in changing the way individuals consume broadcast, mainstream, and syndicated video media. It took the advent of streaming technology, high-speed internet adoption, and a willingness from content owners to license their treasured content with upstart streaming media platform companies. Digital music distribution showed consumers, content owners, and distribution channels what can happen when one player effectively creates a new, disruptive technology platform, i.e. Apple’s iTunes Music Store. Now content owners are afraid of a single distributor dictating the methods, prices, and channels by which their content reaches consumers. Today, streaming technology is making a play against the incumbent iTunes transactional model of Buy, Download, and Own digital distribution by providing varies models to consumers: integrated advertising-based, subscription-based, and traditional cable “packages” with integrated on-demand streaming, all of which retain no permanence or ownership for the end user. Content owners are treading carefully, trying to avoid the single, dominant point of distribution that Apple achieved in music distribution. The results of this are less optimal from both a market standpoint and especially the experience for consumers. Media companies frequently change the terms of their licenses, or drastically increasing their licensing costs, causing radical fluctuations in the long-term viability of the nascent distribution platforms. Consumers interact with this environment through complicated, multiparty subscriptions, multiple applications or web interfaces, umpteen logins, various bills, and a nebulous understanding and ability to sit down and watch premium content when and where they want it. The entire market is in its juvenile form, stretching, growing, and trying to find that balance of monetization and the critical mass of consumer adoption required to truly transform media consumption from the real-time, over-the-air broadcast format it has been since television’s inception, to a time-shifted, choose your own, content delivery system based around the internet as the delivery medium. In this paper we idealize the situation by analyzing the largest incumbents for each of the monetization models, provide input into their strength and weaknesses and finally analyze and postulate what we believe will the trends and concerns moving forward into this new digital media panacea. Title: Digital Media Battleground Author: Alhajri, Fahad, Bowen, James, Brewer, Brian, Hagos, Meles, Moshfegh, Farzad, Penmetsa, Srujana, Thomas, Jerrod Year: 2013 Current digital media distribution platforms continue their march towards streaming service-based infrastructures, delivering content to users when and where they want it: laptops, set top boxes, home entertainment systems, and the new ubiquity: mobile devices. This model was first demonstrated by utilizing the multicast backbone technology in the early 1990s and took the better part of a decade to make inroads in changing the way individuals consume broadcast, mainstream, and syndicated video media. It took the advent of streaming technology, high-speed internet adoption, and a willingness from content owners to license their treasured content with upstart streaming media platform companies. Digital music distribution showed consumers, content owners, and distribution channels what can happen when one player effectively creates a new, disruptive technology platform, i.e. Apple’s iTunes Music Store. Now content owners are afraid of a single distributor dictating the methods, prices, and channels by which their content reaches consumers. Today, streaming technology is making a play against the incumbent iTunes transactional model of Buy, Download, and Own digital distribution by providing varies models to consumers: integrated advertising-based, subscription-based, and traditional cable “packages” with integrated on-demand streaming, all of which retain no permanence or ownership for the end user. Content owners are treading carefully, trying to avoid the single, dominant point of distribution that Apple achieved in music distribution. The results of this are less optimal from both a market standpoint and especially the experience for consumers. Media companies frequently change the terms of their licenses, or drastically increasing their licensing costs, causing radical fluctuations in the long-term viability of the nascent distribution platforms. Consumers interact with this environment through complicated, multiparty subscriptions, multiple applications or web interfaces, umpteen logins, various bills, and a nebulous understanding and ability to sit down and watch premium content when and where they want it. The entire market is in its juvenile form, stretching, growing, and trying to find that balance of monetization and the critical mass of consumer adoption required to truly transform media consumption from the real-time, over-the-air broadcast format it has been since television’s inception, to a time-shifted, choose your own, content delivery system based around the internet as the delivery medium. In this paper we idealize the situation by analyzing the largest incumbents for each of the monetization models, provide input into their strength and weaknesses and finally analyze and postulate what we believe will the trends and concerns moving forward into this new digital media panacea. Close