The research examines the effect of restricted head and neck movement on
driving performance as measured by decision time at T-intersections. The traffic
safety and human factors literature was reviewed, and very little was found
concerning drivers with physical limitations. T-intersections were selected for
study because most accidents involving drivers...
This thesis develops a framework for analyzing the application of commuter rail and
bus services between several small urban centers to enhance overall connectivity. The
study includes analyzing specific performance criteria for commuter rail service and
express bus service based on data from existing systems around the U.S. The study...
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KatharineHunter-Zaworski
This thesis develops a framework for analyzing the application
Bicyclists are one of the highest and most vulnerable road users. This is due to the higher likelihood of being seriously injured when involved in a crash. This research seeks to understand two different behavioral interactions of an implemented facility user: the motorist (secondary user) and bicyclist (primary user). The...
In response to the growing environmental concern and higher operating cost of regular automobile, the concept of Low-Speed Vehicles (LSVs) is becoming popular as a sustainable mode of transportation. Primarily designed for protected environments and gated communities, the use of these vehicles is gradually increasing on public roadways as a...
For centuries wood has served as a primary structural building material in small
dwelling, large communal structures, bridges, and temporary structures. Even
today wood is the dominant material in residential construction. Despite this long
standing use of wood, non-residential multi-story construction in light of the green
building revolution has yet...
With the passage of the American with Disabilities Act (ADA) it has become a civil
rights violation to deny access to persons with disabilities to public transportation. The
ADA requires transit agencies to provide accessible buses or equivalent services to
persons with mobility, sensory or cognitive impairments. This study examines...
Wheeled mobility devices (WhMD) pose unique safety risks to users while riding public transportation. Unsecured or improperly secured WhMDs create safety concerns for other transit riders and operators. Tests using accelerometers and visual observations were conducted to understand how WhMD orientation and securement in articulated buses, streetcars, and light rail...
As the traffic demand increases at a faster rate than the upgrade and maintenance of
transportation facilities through the traditional public financing methods in the United
States, the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) is becoming an important supplement to
the public transportation infrastructure investment. There are already several existing
PPP toll road...
Bicyclists are one of the highest and most vulnerable road users. This is due to the higher likelihood of being seriously injured when involved in a crash. This research seeks to understand two different behavioral interactions of an implemented facility user: the motorist (secondary user) and bicyclist (primary user). The...
This thesis explores the relationship between crime, transportation network connectivity, and engineered facilities built to increase walkability through a case study of twenty-five sites within the city of Spokane, Washington. Using data spanning between 2008 and 2010, the author developed a GIS model representing conditions of the built environment, social...
The purpose of this study is to provide background information and examples of best practices relating to platform-train-interface (PTI) safety. The research and information obtained for this manuscript has been in association with the A-40 project funded by the Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) of the National Academies. The purpose...
This study considered collision data for Seattle, Washington and Portland, Oregon
in order to determine whether or not red light cameras are effective in reducing red light
running collisions. Red light running is extremely dangerous and is a leading cause of
urban automobile collisions in the United States. Red light...
As the trend of increasing age, weight, size, and disability within the population continues to increase, the demand for accessible transportation is expected to increase as well. Accessible and inclusive transportation is key in providing independent, barrier-free mobility for persons with accessibility needs. This thesis describes work completed in partial...
The transportation of logs from the forest to the mill accounts for 25-50% of the delivered cost of wood, depending mostly on haul distance. Decision support systems (DSS) for log truck scheduling and dispatching have the potential to reduce transportation costs by optimally constructing routes, also known as schedules for...
In response to the growing environmental concern, the use of low speed vehicles (LSVs) on public roadways is gradually increasing in recent years as a short-range alternative to fossil-fueled autos. Primarily designed for protected environments and gated communities, LSVs have a maximum speed limit of 25 mph and are not...
The production of high value non-conventional products, such as long utility poles; or the production of low value bulky products, such as chips or grindings; provide opportunities for forest owners to increase value from their forests. The transport of these products requires the use of specialized trucks and trailers. However,...
The idea of college needs to shift from being about going to a “good school” for any
degree to "getting the right education” for what you want to do. I want to
investigate why we should be giving access to career assessment and preferred
learning tests at the middle school...
High-speed intercity passenger rail projects are very complex and require many years of planning and environmental activities before construction can begin. Given the complexity of planning and environmental reviews associated with high-speed intercity passenger rail corridor planning, a systematic approach for high-level screening of various alternative routings for proposed high-speed...
Left turn movements are considered to be the highest risk movements through an intersection, and can result in head on, angle, or side impact crashes. The flashing yellow arrow (FYA) for use as a permissive left turn phasing indication is relatively recent, first appearing in the 2009 edition Manual on...
Large truck-involved crashes have a significant impact on both the economy and society. They are associated with high injury severities, high crash costs and contribute to congestion in urban areas. Past studies have investigated the contributing factors of large truck-involved crashes, however a study isolating the spatial and temporal effects...
Advancements in the field of medical and computer technology promise a new age of human enhancement technology (HET). These technologies may be aptly applied to existing Assistive Technology (AT), which was created to ameliorate disability, moving one up the spectrum of ability. This study aimed to determine how these technologies...
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KatharineHunter-Zaworski, Committee Member, representing Civil and Construction
Engineering
The gasoline tax, the main source of highway revenue is no longer a viable source of
funding to maintain the existing highways. Many states in the United States are
already using revenues from other sources such as sales tax and income tax to fund
new highways. Oregon along with many...
A considerable number of research studies have been conducted in order to suggest a professionally desirable and practically feasible definition of the school nurse's role. Yet, the role of the school nurse remains unclear to both the lay public and the nursing profession. The main purpose
of this qualitative research...
Estimating the hydraulic conductivity of earth materials is important for many water resource modeling efforts, including predicting the transport of pollutants in ground water, computing surface runoff for flood control, and computing water budgets. This research implicitly used topography, soil, and climate data to estimate plausible continuous hydraulic conductivity values...
A major barrier to air travel for people with disabilities is the general lack of accessible lavatories on board commercial passenger aircraft. A primary reason for this lack of greater accessibility is related to space. To design an airplane lavatory that is accessible, minimizes the risk of injury to both...
Bridges are a vital component of transportation infrastructure in the United States, and the continual maintenance and preservation of bridges is critical to maintaining their structural capacity and maximizing service life. One of the most significant issues faced by concrete bridges is the infiltration of moisture from the roadway surface...
While riding bicycles has been promoted for its health, economic, and environmental benefits, it also complements other modes to complete a safe, efficient, and reliable transportation system. However, the dramatic increase of bicycle usage in the U.S. is accompanied by a growth of bicycle crashes. The U.S. Department of Transportation,...
Transportation agencies need efficient methods to determine how to improve bicycle facilities in order to improve connectivity and safety. Many studies have used standalone methods such as level of traffic stress (LTS) and bicycle level of service (BLOS) to better understand bicycle mode share and network connectivity for a region...
State Departments of Transportation (DOTs) are the primary owners of roadway infrastructure in the United States. Many of the employees of state DOTs work on roadway work sites, putting them at disproportionately higher risks of injury or fatality. A review of the literature determined that a combination of policies, standards,...
Driver distraction is a commonly observable phenomenon with a significant effect on the transportation network. Although the negative effects of driver distraction on safety are commonly studied, there has been little effort made to investigate the impacts of distraction on efficiency.
This study will examine driver behavior in standing queues...
Crash rates are said to be nearly three times higher on curved sections than those on straight sections of rural roadways. As a result, advisory curve/speed signs are standard practice to mitigate these risks on sharp horizontal curves. The industry standard for determining appropriate and uniform speeds for such signs...
Passenger security screening is a continuously evolving process and not much is known about how passengers perceive its effectiveness in keeping air travel safe. The provided thesis consists of two manuscripts that expand the literature on passenger perception of safety through the application of advanced econometric techniques. This thesis aims...
Intersections pose unique transportation challenges regarding safety and operational efficiency. When pedestrians currently want to cross at intersection, they need to use a push button to issue a call for service. The call is static and cannot be altered or changed. But by implementing dynamic passive pedestrian detection sensors, intersections...
Normal acceleration characteristics of passenger cars provide valuable information for various aspects of transportation engineering, including use in the geometric designs of intersections, freeway ramps, passing lanes, acceleration lanes, turning bays, or in the development of traffic
simulation or fuel consumption models.
However, the data used in previous studies are...
While there have been several efforts to understand large-truck crashes, the relationship between crash factors, crash severity and collision type is not clearly understood. Past studies have utilized different statistical or econometric models to predict the manner of collision at intersections, yet not much attention has been paid to the...
Gap acceptance behavior is critical to the safety and operational performance of unsignalized intersections. The complex nature of the human behavior and its dependence on various socioeconomic and environmental parameters makes it challenging for transportation professionals to assess the performance of such intersections. To investigate the behavioral patterns of drivers...
Introduction. Painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) is a common complication of diabetes that interferes with daily living and causes severe pain. Pharmacotherapy is the accepted treatment strategy, however, this strategy is associated with high cost, minimal reductions in pain, and adverse side effects. Thus, a critical need exists to develop...
Posting advisory speed signs at sharp horizontal curve locations is a common practice in the U.S. These signs recommend drivers safe speeds to negotiate such curves. Literature indicates that adherence to advisory speeds is, in general, poor. Moreover, limited research is available that quantifies safety implications of these signs. This...
Wave Energy Converters (WEC) have great potential to help meet global energy demands, but even a single device can be challenging to model. Although most WEC concepts are modelled, many have been simplified with assumptions that do not accurately capture the true dynamics of the system. For this reason, data-driven...
Roadway departure crashes accounted for 18,275 fatal crashes in 2017 across the United States (Jones et al. 2017). Rumble strips (RS) provide audible and haptic interior alert when a vehicle is departing the roadway reducing run-off-the road crashes. Although inexpensive to install, and easy to maintain, RS are not installed...
Fast medio-lateral movements, frequent in a number of sports activities, are associated with lower extremity injuries. These injuries may occur as a result of excessive musculoskeletal stresses on the joints and their associate structures. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of running speed and turning movement...
This study determines the optimal allocation of watershed conservation funds in the John Day River Basin, Oregon. Fund managers can use a variety of targeting schemes to allocate their limited resources. Depending on which targeting criteria is used, they may or may not be achieving the maximum environmental benefits per...
The publication of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, truly a synthesized work of natural history, coincided with the emergence of specialized disciplines in the 19th century. This thesis aims to explore the relationship between the specialization of knowledge, in the form of disciplinization, and the reception of new...
Increasingly congested surface transportation network in urban areas and grow-ing land values make underground transportation systems more attractive for high-ways (i.e., tunnels) and metro system compared to other options [1]. An underground transportation system can preserve the land above for recreational parks, commer-cial buildings, residential homes, or other purposes while...
Forest roads produce fine sediment with traffic during wet weather. If the forest road is connected to a stream it can be a source of turbidity and fine sediment that may be detrimental to aquatic organisms especially salmonids.
The goal of this work was to investigate turbid runoff during wet-weather...
Children with developmental disabilities (DDs) have been observed to have delays in motor skills compared to their age-matched peers without disabilities. Empirical research suggests that children with motor skill delays experience more internalizing and externalizing behaviours and that early motor skill difficulties may be an important indicator of future increases...
Bicyclist safety at urban intersections is a critical element for encouraging an increase in bicycle commuting. With bicycle injury and fatality rates rising due to collisions with vehicles at signalized intersections, increasing the safety of riders continues to be an important consideration when promoting this mode of transportation. Previous research...
Vulnerable road users, anyone interacting with the roadway facility without the protection of an automobile, experience greater risk for more severe crash outcomes. Multimodal roadway facilities often times provide less separation and more points of conflict between different types of road users. To promote vulnerable road user safety, transportation agencies...
Dilemma zones on the approach to high-speed signalized intersections have been identified as a safety problem that can contribute to rear–end and right–angle crashes. However, in situations when a pair of vehicles is caught in the dilemma zone, it is not well understood how the following vehicle’s headway and classification...
Distracted driving is an adverse driving behavior that is widely known to impair the safety of all roadway users and traffic flow. Despite the extensive research efforts on the prevalence and effects of distracted driving on roadway safety and performance, the number of vehicular crashes and fatalities resulting from distracted...
This report outlines the current evacuation plan for Oregon State University's Hatfield Marine Science Center and makes recommendations for enhancements and changes. The physical setting is described along with detail on evacuation strategies. Recommendations include reducing personnel working on the South Beach Peninsula, improving current evacuation point, improving communication and...
A Right-hook (RH) crash is a common type of bicycle-motor vehicle crash that occurs between a right-turning vehicle and through-moving bicycle at an intersection. At signalized intersections, RH crashes can occur at the onset of the green or during the latter portion of the green phase. In spite of the...
Osteoporotic vertebral fractures are a common and costly public health problem with a high occurrence in older women due to menopausal-onset bone loss. Recent findings suggest that mechanical loading created by upper body resistance training can stimulate bone growth in the lumbar spine, reducing osteoporosis-related bone loss and associated fracture...
This work explores a framework for the gathering and analysis of information rich customer needs, with the goal of informing inclusive product design practice. The goal is to be able to provide information and experience to designers so that they can better understand the needs of exceptional users and include...
Collective robotic systems are biologically-inspired and exhibit behaviors found in spatial swarms (e.g., fish), colonies (e.g., ants), or a combination of both (e.g., bees). Collective robotic system popularity continues to increase due to their apparent global intelligence and emergent behaviors. Many applications can benefit from the incorporation of collectives, including...
This thesis uses the manuscript option, and consists of a previously-published paper and a paper that has been accepted for publication. Manuscript One details an independent confirmatory study to Choo et al. (2014), which demonstrated that correlations exist between personality type and the outcome of concept ideation methods. This is...
The outbreak of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and the restrictions implemented in response to it (e.g., stay-at-home orders, social distancing mandates, business closures) had unprecedented effects on the trucking industry. The pandemic prompted the first significant overhaul of federal hours-of-service (HOS) regulations in over 15 years. Prior to the...
Bioenergy is a rapidly growing subsector of the emerging global bioeconomy, with the potential to create a substantial number of jobs and mitigate climate change. In order to develop bioenergy into a viable industry, capable of providing valuable energy and employment, there is an immediate need for a skilled workforce...
The marathon is well noted for the extreme stress it applies to the body and mind. The
physiological aspects of marathon training were investigated and examined for someone
unfamiliar with the field. Several training programs were investigated within a
framework provided by the popular Daniels' Running Formula. By the Formula's...
Around 74 ka, a supervolcano, Toba Caldera in Sumatra, Indonesia erupted, producing the Youngest Toba Tuff and its associated caldera. After this catastrophic eruption, a lake filled the caldera, sedimentation within the lake occurred, and the process known as resurgence began. Today, the resurgent dome, Samosir Island, is uplifted 700...
Osteoporosis is characterized by low bone mineral density (BMD), bone fragility, and an increased risk of osteoporotic fracture. The disease is systemic in nature but potential solutions include exercises prescriptions that target the clinically relevant sites of osteoporosis (hip and spine) to improve bone mass. The aim of this dissertation...
One of the biggest hurdles for a juvenile salmonid (Oncorhynchus mykiss) is migrating downstream from freshwater spawning grounds to the ocean. Juveniles from wild broodstock were reared from the South Santiam River for more than 1 year at the Oregon Hatchery Research Center (OHRC) in Alsea, OR. The fish were...
Because of their convenience and durability, single-use plastic items have become a ubiquitous part of society since the 1930s. The overuse of these convenient and durable plastic items has created a social and environmental problem that plagues our oceans and waterways. While the issue is overwhelming and daunting, it is...
Traditional braced frames are an efficient and economic means of resisting seismic demands. However, braced frames are prone to story mechanisms, which can result in concentrations of demands and damage during seismic events. Including steel strongbacks in conjunction with traditional braced frames can mitigate story mechanisms. The SBF results in...
This thesis evaluates dose rates from the TRIGA® reactor by comparing ion chamber measured exposure rates to exposure rates calculated from MCNP5 model data. The first step evaluates the energy distribution required to match ion chamber exposure rates from measurements taken at 1 foot increments above the reactor core. Next,...
The central problem of this study was to determine
whether ego stage scores are valid predictors of empathy and
mature moral judgment in women graduate counseling students.
The research was based on the theories of ego development
(Loevinger, 1976), empathy (Rogers, 1975; Hogan, 1975) and
moral values (Hogan, 1970).
Forty-three...
Wild salmon populations are in decline in the Pacific Northwest. In the region populations and runs of Chinook (Oncorhynchus tshawytsha), Chum (Oncorhynchus keta), Coho (Oncorhynchus kisutch), Sockey (Oncorhynchus nerka), and Steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) have been listed as threatened and/or endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in the U.S. and/or...
This thesis evaluates pre-construction auditing procedures used in the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand in order to help create post-construction auditing procedures for the state of Oregon. It was funded as part of the development of the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) Safety Investigation Manual, and also evaluates content...
Waterborne fecal contamination poses serious risks to human health and can disrupt aquatic ecosystems. Molecular marker methods are widely used to identify and, in some cases, quantify the sources of contamination and guide management decisions regarding water resource protection. However, methods to detect some likely sources of fecal contamination such...
Background
Feline injection-site sarcoma (FISS) is a rare and aggressive tumor associated with vaccines, drug injections, and skin trauma in cats. The understanding of FISS remains limited, posing challenges in its diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. In this study, we analyzed the differential expression of miRNAs and their target genes in...
As metropolitan governments explore density-promoting “smart growth” policies, finer analysis is needed to quantify the impact of such changes on households’ transportation and housing costs. Existing research suggests that households in urban areas face a trade-off between living in areas with higher housing costs and lower transportation costs or the...
Red Light Running (RLR) is a safety hazard at signalized intersections in Oregon and throughout the United States. Various methods of mitigating factors contributing to RLR have been implemented but few protect against a conflict when a vehicles runs a red light. Additionally, current prediction algorithms are complicated; there is...
Tack coat emulsion, comprised of asphalt binder, water and emulsifying agents, is an interlayer membrane applied before asphalt pavement construction, which helps pavement layers bond together and permeate stresses and strains induced by heavy wheel loads through the entire thickness of the pavement structure. Proper interlayer bonding aids in preventing...
Growth models developed by Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) extension
services for Holstein and Jersey heifer height and weight were evaluated using OSU dairy
herd heifer data. The purpose of this study was to determine the ability of the models to
predict heights and weights of heifers in the OSU...
Travel demand has increased due to population growth, increase of vehicle ownership, and development patterns resulting in greater levels of congestion, pollution, and crash frequency. One approach to demand management is to increase the share of trips made by bicycles. With the increase in bicycling rates, there is a critical...
An experimental investigation of factors effecting
scheduling a system of parallel, non-identical processors
using a series of experimental designs was carried out.
System variables included were processor capacities
relationships, sequencing and assignment rules, job size, and
product demand distributions. The effect of the variables was
measured by comparing mean flow...
At signalized intersections, pedestrians are considered to be amongst the most vulnerable. When in the crosswalk at intersections without protected left-turn phasing, pedestrians are particularly at risk from left-turning vehicles. Until recently, a wide variety of indications were in use across the US to indicate a permissive left-turn condition to...
The increasing level of complexity in systems creates a growing challenge
for engineers to design safe and reliable systems. The growing complexity can
lead to possible moments when situations occur that were unanticipated or were
not known that they could occur by designers and leave the system in an
undesirable...
Flexible pavements consist of multilayers, which form the pavement structures. Since the strength of the bond at interface between layers plays a significant role in improving the structural integri-ty and the performance of pavement structures, tack coat materials and methods used for their application during construction are important in providing...
Current product design methodologies are not conducive to creating inclusive products (products that meet the needs of persons with and without disabilities). In order to reduce the effort and expense involved in creating inclusive products, empathic design principles are applied to discover whether customer needs for people with disabilities can...
Aquatic fecal contamination from non-point sources impairs environmental health and serves as a vehicle for transmission of waterborne disease, resulting in economic losses worldwide. Accurate methods of diagnosing fecal pollution and its source are needed to prevent human exposure, remediate pollution, and reduce economic impacts. In order to obtain this...
Contamination of recreational and shellfish waters with fecal pollution is a major water quality issue with associated economic impacts and human health risks. Reliable fecal source identification and rapid, quantitative analyses are essential components of risk assessment. Enteric bacteria that are endemic to specific hosts have a potential role as...
Standard methods of measuring fecal pollution in water do not distinguish between human and non-human sources. Molecular technology enabled the development of host-specific markers that distinguish fecal sources. Human specific PCR primers, HF183F and HF134F, were designed based on phylogenetic analyses of partial 16S rRNA gene sequences from the Bacteroidales...
High counts of fecal indicators, used to signal the potential presence of pathogens associated with untreated waste, result in the classification of water bodies throughout the United States as impaired. Nonpoint sources of unknown origin that contribute to fecal contamination make management of impaired waters challenging, as they are difficult...
Antibiotic resistance is an increasing problem in many species of bacteria today, with pathogens an important focus. Fecal contamination of shellfish is already a concern due to potential pathogens. This report examines the possibility of resistance gene transfer between microbes, due to fecal bacteria, within the oyster. In this study,...
OVERVIEW OF INTRODUCTION - This is a combined thesis for both disciplines of BioResource Research (BRR)Interdisciplinary and International Degree (ID) Programs OSU. The first chapter encompasses the BRR research, which is a preliminary study utilizing immunohistochemical method to characterize melanomas in bigenic mice with activated Cdk4 protein and Retinoid-X-Receptor α...
Posting advisory speed signs at sharp horizontal curve sites is a practice well established in the United States. The purpose of these signs is to provide the driving public with a safe speed to negotiate such curves; however, the link between these signs and safety has not yet been clearly...
The rapid growth in the number of roundabouts raises some significant research challenges, especially around safety performance and evaluation in the U.S. Despite the safety advantages that roundabout geometric design brings, crashes still occur. While operationally roundabouts are good at preventing severe crashes, they may lead to more less severe...
Extensive research has been conducted to improve the menus that allow navigation of digital world, most of it focused on the most common varieties of menu. Radial menus, a less common menu variety designed so that menu entries are aligned on a polar coordinate system, have largely been ignored. Early...
This study defines the information gathering and communication and response
needed for safety at highway-rail crossings. It examines technologies for low-cost,
high-safety treatments for low volume highway crossings of higher speed (130-200 kph) rail. Crossing closure and consolidation is a necessary first step. Existing
train control and crossing safety systems...
Bidirectional reflectance is a fundamental property
used for the analysis of radiative heat transfer. It is a
form of reflectivity in which the spectral and directional
dependencies of both the beam incident on a surface and the
beam reflected from the surface are specified.
A new system has been designed...
The western spotted cucumber beetle (Diabrotica undecimpunctata
undecimpunctata) and the western striped cucumber beetle (Acalymma trivittatum) are
pests of many crops, including vegetable, fruit, and nursery crops. Pesticides are
commonly used to control this pest. Trap and kill technologies are under development as
use in an alternative control for cucumber...
Due to public and regulatory restrictions, genetic containment technology is critical for research and development of transgenic trees in forestry. A multi-year field trial demonstrated that the RNAi-LFY construct successfully induces sexual sterility in 6K10 poplar (Populus alba) without visible effects on vegetative development. However, its limited number of replicates...