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Turbulent Structures in Coupled Wind-Wave Flows
Get PDFThe interactions between wind and waves in offshore environments are complex and have yet to be fully understood. Analyzing these interactions is motivated by an increased interest in climate modeling and the deployment of offshore construction, such as offshore wind farms. In this study, experiments are performed in a wind tunnel using particle image velocimetry (PIV) to analyze wind-wave interactions over various wave and wind speeds. The addition of the wave, a moving boundary, leads to the use of Reynolds triple decomposition in order to separate the turbulent and wave-phase coherent fluctuations. A curvilinear coordinate system was used to analyze the wave\u27s affects on velocity, vorticity and energy transport in the air field above. The two-point correlations indicate that the magnitude and size of air flow structures are dependent on wave phase and wave properties. Cross-correlation of vorticity to velocity components reveal positive and negative correlation lobes due to the clockwise rotation of the air. A control surface analysis using the mean kinetic energy(MKE) equation revealed that the magnitude the energy fluxes and momentum exchange between the wind and the waves decreased with wavelength and are more prominent at specific wave phases. These trends are more pronounced at higher wind speeds but are not dependent the Reynolds number. Analysis of the residuals of the MKE equation highlights the critical role of pressure in energy and momentum fluxes at the air-water interface. These findings enhance our understanding of ocean wave and atmospheric boundary layer interactions, leading to more accurate weather and climate models, while also contributing to the longevity and improving power production in offshore wind farms
Universal Health Care, Oregon
Get PDFHistorically, the US has chosen not to fund universal health care at every opportunity, leaving our nation as the only industrialized country without some system of health coverage for our citizens and with the worst health care outcomes of any high-income nation in the world. Health care in Oregon is no exception. Our current health care system is financially unsustainable, harmfully complex, and socially unjust, as well as inequitably delivered. Too many Oregonians, because of their race, age, income, geography, or insurance, endure vastly different health care access, varied health care quality, and wide-ranging health outcomes. In 2019, the Oregon legislature created the Joint Task Force on Universal Health Care with the goal of establishing the first state single-payer system in the country. This Policy Brief aims to illustrate the benefits of such a system, including the cost-savings in dollars and cents. This is the moment to lead Oregon\u27s health care transformation and to permanently and positively impact the health of Oregonians and create a better life for all of us
Addressing the Promise and Peril of AI for Nonprofit Management Through a Data Feminist Pedagogy
Get PDFThe use of artificial intelligence (AI) has opened up possibilities for nonprofit management, and practitioners are taking notice. A recent study revealed that nearly 90% of nonprofit organizations are interested in using AI (MacDonald, Citation2023). Another study indicated that more than half of the nonprofits surveyed use AI to support finance, human resources, communications, and mission-related (i.e., working with clients, program implementation, and grantmaking) functions (Herschander, Citation2024). Indeed, many of us likely know student-practitioners and nonprofit colleagues who leverage AI to help write donor thank-you notes, newsletters, grant proposals, and press releases and who work for nonprofits that incorporate chatbots to answer questions from website users or provide internal information to nonprofit employees on demand. Some may even use AI to help with donor prospecting, assessing candidates for employment, or screening beneficiaries for services (see Kanter et al., Citation2023). In an age of heightened competition for funding and volunteers and acute pressures to deliver performance improvements, there are strong incentives to draw on AI to support strategic and potentially innovative responses to ongoing challenges (Gooyabadi et al., Citation2024; see also Hackler & Saxton, Citation2007)
Seguir Adelante: A Qualitative Exploration of Latino Farmworkers\u27 Work and Nonwork Resources.
Get PDFLatino immigrant workers have been an exploited community within many dangerous workforces, but especially within the agricultural industry. They are a crucial population for the labor and economy of the U.S., yet Latino farmworkers report feeling expendable, discriminated against, and exposed to hazardous working conditions. Due to these experiences, it is essential to explore the resources that farmworkers find valuable in improving their working conditions. This study draws upon qualitative interviews conducted with 41 Latino farmworkers in Oregon. Themes pertaining to work and nonwork resources were uncovered through thematic analysis, illustrating that farmworkers receive support from their proximal communities and feel empowered by them, but lack support from their distal communities and need basic work necessities, fair wages, supportive supervisors, legislative labor protection, and a pathway to citizenship. Findings make clear that employers and elected officials must do more to advocate for Latino immigrant farmworkers and provide resources to protect their well-being. We demonstrate the need for future research related to changes in farmworkers\u27 resources over time, their reporting of workplace violations, the impact of labor legislation on their health, and how information sharing or unionization occurs among farmworkers
Working Paper No. 87, The Double-Edged Sword of American Philanthropy
Get PDFThis inquiry seeks to establish that American philanthropy, often hailed as a moral virtue, is in part a reflection of systemic policy failures that have forced private individuals to address public needs. While one blade of the philanthropic sword has historically provided essential support in areas such as education, healthcare, and poverty alleviation, the other blade of the sword has also allowed for wealthy individuals to shape public priorities, often reinforcing existing inequalities. By analyzing the historical development of philanthropy, its role in addressing policy gaps, and its potential in undermining democratic governance, this inquiry highlights the complex and often contradictory effects of private wealth on public welfare. Drawing on key works penned by Andrew Carnegie, Olivier Zunz, Anand Giridharadas, as well as Thorstein Veblen, this inquiry questions: does philanthropy actually serves the public good or rather does philanthropy function as a tool of control wielded by elites--those whom Veblen designated as the “vested interests.” Our findings suggest that while philanthropy could well indeed be viewed as a force promoting social progress, it must work in collaboration with democratic institutions so as to ensure equitable and sustainable outcomes
Introducing \u27society Work\u27: the Professionalization and Localization of Chinese Social Work in a New Era
Get PDFThis study focuses on current discussions around the newly-built Society Work Department in China. It argues that ‘society work’ helps to clarify the internationally recognized concept of ‘social work’ and this institutional reform promotes development of the social work profession and discipline, it also helps to decolonize social work in China
Vessel Trajectory Prediction with Recurrent Neural Networks: an Evaluation of Datasets, Features, and Architectures
Get PDFMaritime situational awareness tasks such as port management, collision avoidance, and search-and-rescue missions rely on accurate knowledge of vessel locations. The availability of historical vessel trajectory data through the Automatic Identification System (AIS) has enabled the development of prediction methods, with a recent focus on trajectory prediction via recurrent neural networks (RNNs) and other deep learning architectures. While these methods have shown promising performance benefits over kinematic and clustering-based models, comparing among RNN-based models remains difficult due to variations in evaluation datasets, region sizes, vessel types, and numerous other design choices. As a result, it is not clear whether recent methods based on highly-sophisticated network architectures are necessary to achieve strong prediction performance. In this work, we present a simple fusion-based RNN approach to vessel trajectory prediction that allows for easy incorporation of exogenous variables. We perform an extensive ablation study to measure the impact of various modeling choices, including preprocessing, loss functions, and the choice of features, as well as the first usage of surface current information in vessel trajectory prediction. We demonstrate that our approach achieves state-of-the-art performance on three large regions off the United States coast, obtaining an improvement of up to 0.88 km over competing methods when predicting three hours into the future. We conclude that our simple architecture can outperform more complicated architectures while incurring a lower memory cost. Further, we show that the choice of loss function and the inclusion of surface current information both have significant impact on prediction performance
Rising from the Ashes: Reading Impacts and the Effects of Recovery Educational Services Following a Major Natural Disaster
Get PDFThis Improvement Science Dissertation examined solutions to improving literacy outcomes for students in an elementary school that experienced a wildfire during the pandemic. School data revealed lagging reading growth among students displaced by the wildfire despite educational recovery efforts. A root cause analysis to understand students\u27 limited reading recovery led to more global concerns about school-wide literacy programming and the limited use of evidence- based approaches. School-wide data revealed that fewer than 30% of students in the school met literacy benchmarks since the wildfire. Though the fires disproportionally impacted low-income neighborhoods with higher representation of English Learners and students receiving special education, the data highlighted pre-existing concerns in both school-wide outcomes and disparities between groups. The theory of improvement focused on implementing a continuum of evidence-based literacy interventions across tiers. Initial change efforts were met with resistance in a district with a longstanding culture of promoting practices not aligned with the “science of reading.” Extended learning opportunities through summer school and implementation of evidence-based literacy interventions were change ideas tested through improvement cycles during a four-week summer school. The study tested three evidence-based reading interventions (Heggerty Bridge to Reading, Barton Reading System, and Institute of Multi-Sensory Education), with students making substantial gains in each. The improvement cycles helped close the gap for student achievement in early literacy skills, supported teacher experiences of success using evidence-based reading practices, and identified effective, feasible literacy interventions that could be scaled for implementation during the school year
A Crucial Western Foothold: Uyghur-Americans in the Fairfax-D.C. Metro Area
Get PDFSince the 1980s, the Uyghur people of East Turkestan, now known as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, have migrated from their ancestral homeland in China in search of a better life. As an ethnically, linguistically, and religiously distinct group, the Uyghurs face severe oppression, with the Chinese state targeting them economically, socially, and physically. Since 2017, mass internment efforts have escalated, leading to the establishment of labor camps that claim to transition Uyghur labor from agricultural to industrial sectors but also serve as sites of ideological indoctrination, torture, and death. As a result of these human rights violations and other push factors, Uyghurs have fled China and established diaspora communities worldwide, particularly in Muslim-majority countries and the United States. The largest Uyghur community in the United States is in the Fairfax-D.C. metro area, where it plays a critical role in transnational advocacy. This community remains deeply connected to East Turkestan and other diaspora groups through digital platforms and political activism, as direct contact is often restricted or dangerous for both parties. The Uyghur diaspora also faces transnational repression, as China employs digital surveillance, harassment, and coercion to silence dissent and control Uyghurs abroad. This has far-reaching consequences, including national security concerns due to Chinese spy networks, psychological trauma among Uyghur communities, and geopolitical challenges linked to China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Despite these pressures, the Uyghur community in Fairfax has emerged as a central player in the global struggle against China’s repression, highlighting its significance in the ongoing tensions between the Chinese state and Uyghurs worldwide.
Keywords: Uyghurs, East Turkestan, Xinjiang, Transnationalism, Fairfax Virginia, Washington D.C., Cultural Erasure, Internment, Immigration
Part of the panel: High Stakes: Faith, Control and ConsumptionModerator: Professor Natan Mei
The Not-So-Great Result of America’s Greatest Idea: How Indigenous Americans were affected by the Creation of Yellowstone, Glacier, and Yosemite National Parks
No full textSince the mid-19th century, America’s government has been working to locate the nation’s places of stunning natural beauty and preserve them for the public. This has led to the preservation of 63 National Parks across the country—said to be “America’s Best Idea.” However, these lands for centuries were inhabited by Indigenous Americans. This paper studies the early stages of three National Parks—Yellowstone, Yosemite, and Glacier—and examines the original values they were founded on. It then identifies the tactics the US government used to negotiate or steal this land from indigenous tribes. Finally, it analyzes the further exploitation of Indigenous Americans after the parks were established. The study demonstrates how, through the process of creating National Parks, the government removed and excluded the original inhabitants even as it was trying to extend national access to these parklands.
Part of the panel: Picturesque and ProblematicModerator: Professor Jennifer Tappa