Bioculture Journal
Not a member yet
1309 research outputs found
Sort by
Report of the Forum and Workshop on Campus and Community-scale Climate Change Solutions
No full textThought leaders from colleges and universities across the country convened in Washington, D.C. on March 8 and 9, 2023, to discuss how the higher education community is responding to changes in our global climate, and how its collective power can be more effectively harnessed to meet the unprecedented challenge of climate change facing the nation and the world. They explored innovative sustainability and resilience solutions being developed, demonstrated, and taught on campuses and how these solutions can be expanded to and implemented on other campuses, in the surrounding communities, and beyond
Identifying the signature and mechanism of long-term permanent strain along the Cascadia coastline, southwestern Washington
No full textThesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2024Long-term deformation at a subduction margin (i.e., over many earthquake cycles) implies permanent strain accumulation. This complicates regional strain budgets as well as expectations of earthquake cyclicity based on the elastic rebound model because not all interseismic strain is released during an earthquake. Characterizing the extent, timing, and rate of forearc deformation at a subduction zone is crucial to understanding the strain budget and subduction zone earthquake cycle. Characterizing coastal uplift is also necessary for assessing the possible mechanisms accommodating permanent deformation in the forearc, such as crustal folding or faulting on the overriding plate. Finally, constraining permanent strain accumulation informs tectonic models and provides key information for estimating seismic hazards. Pleistocene coastal uplift is observed at the Cascadia subduction zone, although no prior studies constrained long-term uplift in coastal southwestern Washington. This dissertation presents new mapping and luminescence dating of Quaternary deposits near Grays Harbor and Willapa Bay to show that estuarine deposits record a late Pleistocene average uplift rate of 0.4 ± 0.1 mm/yr. Uplift rates of this magnitude are consistent with other Pleistocene uplift and incision rates in Cascadia, and when compared to observed interseismic vertical deformation, the rates suggest that about one-tenth of interseismic strain may become permanent. Other locations in Cascadia with similar uplift rates are characterized by crustal folds or faults, but no faults are evident in the onshore Quaternary deposits near Grays Harbor and Willapa Bay. Map-view interpretation and two-dimensional modeling with gravity and magnetic data indicate north- and northwest-trending faults underlie the Quaternary deposits. The modeling suggests two 20-25° east-dipping reverse faults. One fault aligns with the active Willapa Bay fault zone, identified previously from offshore seismic-reflection studies, and the other fault aligns with the Raymond fault, previously inferred from geophysical modeling. Uplift recorded in the estuarine deposits is likely accommodated by the Willapa Bay fault zone. The modeling also suggests that faults mapped in regional bedrock with small lateral offsets must also have a significant vertical component of slip. The geophysical modeling combined with previous geologic mapping thus suggests that regional faults may be oblique. Coastal southwestern Washington may be transitional between deformational domains, with faults accommodating both east-directed, subduction-related strain and north-directed strain related to tectonic block rotation. Active subsurface faults may leave a geomorphic signature of deformation. Where geophysical modeling locates the Raymond fault, geomorphic analyses indicate knickpoints in stream profiles that may reflect a relict fluvial system once graded to a base level 85-150m higher than current sea level. Because Quaternary sea level fluctuations cannot account for 85-150 m of base level fall, the base level change likely reflects regional rock uplift, possibly accommodated by the Raymond fault. The Willapa Bay fault zone, however, does not produce surficial lineaments nor measurable differences in stream profile steepness where it projects ashore nor where geophysical maps indicate a change in strike. The geomorphic analyses of longitudinal stream profiles indicate a close relationship between steepened channels, bedrock faults, and lithologic contacts, an observation that supports structural and geophysical models for uplifted fault-bound blocks of basalt. Taken together, long-term permanent uplift in coastal southwestern Washington is at least partially accommodated by long-lived, active crustal faults
Incorporating Equity into Healthcare Decision Making Around New Technologies
No full textThesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2024Innovations in cancer care, such as the development of new pharmaceutical treatments, are widely recognized for their potential to extend lives and enhance quality of life. However, concerns persist regarding the equitable distribution of these innovations and their potential to exacerbate existing disparities in health outcomes. Moreover, the advent of cutting-edge clinical risk prediction tools presents a significant dilemma: while promising in guiding cancer treatment decisions, there is a pressing concern that these technologies could embed discriminatory biases and perpetuate racial disparities in health outcomes. Specifically, the inclusion of race as a predictive factor in these algorithms raises alarms about the potential for differential treatment across racial groups, further entrenching inequities within the healthcare systems. This study aimed to generate evidence to support the incorporation of equity considerations into healthcare decision processes surrounding these innovative developments. Aim 1 utilized a quasi-experimental approach to evaluate the impact of cancer innovations on both population-level survival and health disparities across income levels. Our findings revealed improved survival rates in lung cancer and melanoma, juxtaposed with exacerbated disparities across income levels, suggesting a plausible causal link between new innovations and health disparities. Aim 2 employed a microsimulation model to examine the long-term health disparity implications of omitting race from a colon cancer survival prediction tool. The model projected that omitting race from this tool for adjuvant chemotherapy recommendations could worsen survival for Black patients and widen the disparity gap. These findings underscore the importance of integrating equity considerations into the fabric of policies governing the evaluation, adoption, and diffusion of innovative healthcare solutions to mitigate their disparity impacts
Placemaking in Marginalia: Orality-literacy Fluctuations as Praxis for Extended Reality Performances
No full textThesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2024Placemaking in Marginalia is a theoretical-practical research on experimental Extended Reality technologies for live performances and non-linear narratives. Situated at the confluence of experimental applications of spatial computing, algorithmic theatre and Machine Learning (ML), it leverages a comparative study across oral culture structures, medieval approaches to textual technologies, media interfaces, orality-literacy metamorphoses, intertextuality and systems of extreme variability to elucidate creative parallels and set forth an interdisciplinary methodology for theorizing and developing virtualities and hyperrealities in the form of hybrid live performances for dancers, actors and algorithms. This encompassed the development of two instances of applied research and pedagogy: All Coding is Always Transcoding, a week-long dynamic research laboratory and Enclavados Todos Juntos, a live performance, both taking place at the Meany Center for the Performing Arts in Seattle, in April and May of 2024
Strategi pembangunan instalasi pengolahan air limbah komunal berbasis partisipasi masyarakat
No full textBackground: The concept of community-based wastewater management is considered as a concept that is in line with the domestic wastewater treatment program. Therefore, through a community-based total sanitation program by constructing communal wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) using a community based participatory research pattern, it is hoped that the handling of sanitation problems in Bajera Village can be optimized. The objective to be achieved in this research is to formulate a participatory Communal WWTP development strategy in accordance with the level of community needs in Bajera Village. Methods: The design of this study used a qualitative method involving seven field participants and five validation participants. Data collection techniques using open questionnaires, semi-structured interviews and FGD. Validity and reliability is done through triangulation of sources, methods, and data. The collected data is then analyzed using the interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) method. Results: Based on the research carried out, there is still a lot of community wastewater discharged directly into the environment without going through treatment first. This certainly will greatly affect the cleanliness and health of the environment. To overcome these problems, it is necessary to build a wastewater treatment plant by involving the surrounding community by implementing strategies in accordance with the social conditions of the community. Conclusion: The formulated strategy, namely: Conducting education through counseling by involving relevant regional officials. Involving traditional leaders, religious leaders, youth leaders, women leaders and migrant communities starting from the planning, development, management and monitoring stages. Make awig-awig and village regulations on waste water management that are used as the basis for regularity in community life
Data-Centric Methods for Decentralizing Large Language Models
No full textThesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2024Large language models (LMs) rely on massive textual datasets crawled from the Internet. In this thesis, I argue that many fundamental limitations of LMs (e.g., extreme costs, legal risks, and harmful behavior) are a direct result of monolithic, centralized, and homogeneous treatment of data. I first deconstruct the notion of a general-purpose corpus; I empirically show that current pretraining corpora implicitly favor text from the most powerful authors in society, and cannot feasibly represent all possible downstream use cases. Given this result, I highlight the importance of customizing LMs to new language variations using adaptive pretraining. I then propose a new class of LMs that are fundamentally decentralized, where components (or experts) of the LM are specialized to distinct domains in the training corpus, and experts are conditionally updated based on the domain of the incoming document. These new models address the limitations of centralization by being rapidly customizable (with the ability to mix, add, or remove experts after training), embarrassingly parallel (requiring no communication between experts), and sparse (needing only a few experts active at a time for inference). Key to these proposals are their data-centric nature; for example, I carefully explore what constitutes the domains to which experts specialize, and reflect on the data sources used to train LMs. I close by describing avenues for future work on decentralization techniques, with a focus on providing options for data opt-out, efficient customization, and cheaper scaling into massive, heterogeneous datasets
Envisioning CEB for Fiambala
No full textThesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2024This thesis investigates the process to encourage compressed earth block (CEB) adoption in Fiambala, Argentina addressing the local government, architects, and community members. The need for introducing CEB stems from shifting the demand for easily accessible masonry units away from import-dependent concrete blocks and fired bricks. Analyzing the town’s cultural and housing conditions provides the considerations to demonstrate a context-responsive CEB incorporation through mixed-use and adaptive single-family housing. Also, the target population is renters and co-habiting married couples requiring a residence in the local community. The thesis asks how to implement CEB through a study that enables Fiambala’s architects to suggest the material to the community and municipal government. The results include a consideration framework and a hypothetical urban, architectural and detail level proposal
Real-Time Rendering of Atmospheric Clouds
No full textThesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2024Rendering realistic clouds is an important aspect of creating believable virtual worlds. The detailed shapes and complex light interactions present in clouds make this a daunting task to complete in a real-time application. Our solution, based on Schneider’s cloud modeling and Fong’s volumetric rendering frameworks for low-altitude cloudscapes, supports realism and real-time performance. For efficient approximations of radiance measurements, we adopt Hillaire’s energy-conserving integration method for light scattering. To simulate the effect of multiple light scattering, we followed Wrenninge's approach for computing the multi-bounce diffusion of light within a volume. To capture the details of light interreflection off microscopic water droplets, the complex behavior of Mie scattering is approximated with Jenderise and d’Eon’s phase function modeling technique. To capture the details with nominal computational cost, we introduce a temporal anti-aliasing strategy that unifies the sampling strategy for the area over a pixel and interval of volumetric participating media.The resulting system is capable of rendering scenes consisting of expansive cloudscapes well within real-time requirements, achieving frame rates between 2 and 3 milliseconds on a typical machine. Users can adjust parameters to control various types of low-altitude cloud formations and weather conditions, with presets available for easily transitioning between settings. Our unique combination of techniques adopted in the volumetric rendering process enhances both efficiency and visual fidelity where the novel approach to volumetric temporal anti-aliasing efficiently and effectively unifies the sampling of pixel areas and volumetric intervals. Looking forward, this technique could be adapted for real-time applications such as video games or flight simulations. Further improvements could refine the cloud modeling system, incorporating procedural generation for high-altitude clouds, thus broadening the range of cloudscapes that can be represented. Additionally, our volumetric rendering framework could be paired with recent investigations into voxel-based cloud rendering
Developing a Cost Framework for Smart Building Adoption
No full textThesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2024This research explores the various costs associated with smart building adoption, with particular focus on Internet of Things (IoT) enabled building automation systems (BAS). Through a comprehensive literature review and qualitative interviews with industry professionals, the research identifies and validates cost categories from various perspectives, including across the building lifecycle. Three cost frameworks are presented, each offering a unique underlying structure: categorization by building phase, by nature and scope, and by timing and visibility. The final integrated framework presents costs in terms of 1) upfront and visible, 2) hidden and long-term, 3) lifecycle and strategic, and 4) organizational and societal considerations. Central cost themes visible in all the developed frameworks include sensor deployment, data management, cybersecurity, and organizational efficiency. The research addresses gaps in the existing literature, such as the lack of comprehensive cost frameworks. Through an expressed commitment to conducting research in academic and industry partnership, this research develops cost frameworks to be leveraged by industry and researchers alike in the consideration of smart building adoption efforts. This research implements a robust methodology, grounded in literature and sound research practice, to overcome various limitations of this research such as limited sample size and the continually evolving nature of smart building technologies. Further research is encouraged to expand upon the results of these findings to further enhance understanding of BAS cost and develop the quantifiable aspects of smart building adoption and their associated business cases
Evaluating the Impact of Public Charging Reliability on Electric Vehicle Adoption
No full textThesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2024Substantial investments are being directed toward the development of public electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure, but there is growing concern regarding the reliability of these chargers. While several recent studies have documented instances of unreliable chargers, there is no established understanding of the impact of such reliability issues on EV adoption rates. This research aims to fill this gap by examining the influence of perceived reliability of public charging stations on the propensity of potential buyers to adopt electric vehicles. Leveraging data collected from an original nationwide survey conducted between March and April 2024, this study employs a comprehensive analytical framework, combining a two-stage least squares approach with an integrated choice and latent variable model. The findings underscore the critical role of robust public charging infrastructure in fostering EV adoption. Specifically, the study quantifies the ramifications of low perceptions of reliability based on purchase price, operating costs, range, and charging availability, providing insights into the extent to which poor reliability can impede EV market share growth, and offering justification for investments into improving the reliability of public chargers