Berkeley Campus Research Articles

Lifecycle Assessment Analysis of Recycled Concrete Aggregate Incorporating Fly Ash and Hemp

The critical roles of recycling are increasing depending on depleted natural resources and its devastating consequences. Concrete has been one of the most used building materials for many years to response the basic need of human beings for shelter. The studies on the recycling of concrete are crucial to minimize negative effects of both the high amount of energy consumed during the production phase and the limited recycling opportunities after destruction. Considering the amount of construction and demolition waste (CDW) after the February 6, 2023 earthquakes in Türkiye, it is clear that recycling concrete (RC) may make a positive contribution to environmental sustainability and natural resources usage. In addition, as a result of the ongoing urban transformation projects throughout Türkiye, especially in Istanbul, there is a need to recycle CDW, the majority of which consists of concrete. This paper examines the equivalent CO2 emissions of recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) incorporation of various proportion fly ash and hemp based on previous studies by applying the Excel-based GreenConcrete LCA software developed at the University of California Berkeley Campus (UC Berkeley). As a result of the investigations, it is seen that the use of RCA, which is generated in large quantities both as a result of earthquakes and urban transformation projects, reflects positively on the environmental impacts in the LCA analysis. In addition, the use of concrete mixtures that contribute to the recycling of wastes such as fly ash and hemp used as admixtures contributes to reducing the environmental damage of these wastes and improving the concrete content.

“These Things We Sort of Know”: Speech at U.C. Berkeley

On May 7, 1963, Baldwin appeared at his first major event during a loaded and intense western tour for the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), a speech at the packed Harmon Gymnasium on the U.C. Berkeley campus. Published estimates measured the crowd to be between 7,000 and 9,000. While he had been a committed member of CORE for years and had toured and appeared on the organization’s behalf, throughout the 1963 West Coast tour Baldwin took on a role and summoned a force quite beyond anything he had been involved in before. This speech allows us to track Baldwin’s shifting sense of engagement while the civil rights movement changed rapidly in multiple directions and as Baldwin’s notoriety grew. The transcription below has been prepared by Ed Pavlić and Justin A. Joyce. Vocal emphasis has been captured with italics. Significant pauses, interruptions, and non-word interjections have been captured in editorial brackets.

Doris Howes Calloway

Throughout her career, Doris Howes Calloway sought to understand what influences human protein and energy requirements and metabolism in controlled and field settings. Much of her research became the basis for national and international dietary recommendations, many of which are in use today. She served on many committees of the US Food and Nutrition Board/National Research Council/Institute of Medicine and the Food and Agriculture Organization/World Health Organization of the United Nations. Concerned about populations where marginal malnutrition is often overlooked, Dr Calloway led a major United States Agency for International Development–funded multiuniversity research project in low-income countries to better understand the effects of moderate malnutrition on growth and health. She led this extensive multinational study while serving as provost, the first woman in the senior administration at the University of California, Berkeley campus. Toward the end of her professional career, she was appointed chair of the 1995 Dietary Guidelines for Americans Advisory Committee. Her interest in food and nutrition policy helped reorient dietary guidance both in the United States and internationally. Dr Calloway's scientific and humanitarian accomplishments were extended further through the subsequent research and leadership activities of her colleagues, graduate students, and others whom she mentored.

:Preserving Cultural Heritage in the Digital Age: Sending Out an S.O.S.

:<i>Preserving Cultural Heritage in the Digital Age: Sending Out an S.O.S.</i>

“We Were Democracy Mad:” Clerical Workers’ Unionism, Antiracism, and Feminism at the University of California, Berkeley, 1966–1972

In April 1968, two Berkeley campus unions—the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 1695 representing clerical, technical, and professional workers, and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Local 1570 representing graduate students—held a work-stoppage and a teach-in on “campus racism” to honor the memory of the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. who had been tragically assassinated in Memphis. Inspired by King's work and the AFSCME sanitation workers strike that he supported, the teach-in became a series of workshops that ultimately led to the development of a “white paper” with statistical data highlighting the ways the university harbored racism in its employment practices and in its admission of undergraduate and graduate students. Among its many demands, it called for the University: “to hire black, brown and red workers until the ratio of employees from these groups equals the ratio in the population; bring minority student enrollment and employment up to population ratios . . . publish the University census report showing the percentage of black, brown, and red employees by department; and make an additional report showing the classifications and promotions of black, brown, and red people in each department.”

Robotic RNA extraction for SARS-CoV-2 surveillance using saliva samples.

Saliva is an attractive specimen type for asymptomatic surveillance of COVID-19 in large populations due to its ease of collection and its demonstrated utility for detecting RNA from SARS-CoV-2. Multiple saliva-based viral detection protocols use a direct-to-RT-qPCR approach that eliminates nucleic acid extraction but can reduce viral RNA detection sensitivity. To improve test sensitivity while maintaining speed, we developed a robotic nucleic acid extraction method for detecting SARS-CoV-2 RNA in saliva samples with high throughput. Using this assay, the Free Asymptomatic Saliva Testing (IGI FAST) research study on the UC Berkeley campus conducted 11,971 tests on supervised self-collected saliva samples and identified rare positive specimens containing SARS-CoV-2 RNA during a time of low infection prevalence. In an attempt to increase testing capacity, we further adapted our robotic extraction assay to process pooled saliva samples. We also benchmarked our assay against nasopharyngeal swab specimens and found saliva methods require further optimization to match this gold standard. Finally, we designed and validated a RT-qPCR test suitable for saliva self-collection. These results establish a robotic extraction-based procedure for rapid PCR-based saliva testing that is suitable for samples from both symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals.

Review: Environmental Design: Architecture, Politics, and Science in Postwar America

Review: <i>Environmental Design: Architecture, Politics, and Science in Postwar America</i>

Piloting an integrated SARS-CoV-2 testing and data system for outbreak containment among college students: A prospective cohort study.

BackgroundColleges and universities across the country are struggling to develop strategies for effective control of COVID-19 transmission as students return to campus.Methods and findingsWe conducted a prospective cohort study with students living on or near the UC Berkeley campus from June 1st through August 18th, 2020 with the goal of providing guidance for campus reopening in the safest possible manner. In this cohort, we piloted an alternative testing model to provide access to low-barrier, high-touch testing and augment student-driven testing with data-driven adaptive surveillance that targets higher-risk students and triggers testing notifications based on reported symptoms, exposures, or other relevant information. A total of 2,180 students enrolled in the study, 51% of them undergraduates. Overall, 6,247 PCR tests were administered to 2,178 students over the two-month period. Overall test positivity rate was 0.9%; 2.6% of students tested positive. Uptake and acceptability of regular symptom and exposure surveys was high; 98% of students completed at least one survey, and average completion rate was 67% (Median: 74%, IQR: 39%) for daily reporting of symptoms and 68% (Median: 75%, IQR: 40%) for weekly reporting of exposures. Of symptom-triggered tests, 5% were PCR-positive; of exposure-triggered tests, 10% were PCR-positive. The integrated study database augmented traditional contact tracing during an outbreak; 17 potentially exposed students were contacted the following day and sent testing notifications. At study end, 81% of students selected their desire “to contribute to UC Berkeley’s response to COVID-19” as a reason for their participation in the Safe Campus study.ConclusionsOur results illustrate the synergy created by bringing together a student-friendly, harm reduction approach to COVID-19 testing with an integrated data system and analytics. We recommend the use of a confidential, consequence-free, incentive-based daily symptom and exposure reporting system, coupled with low-barrier, easy access, no stigma testing. Testing should be implemented alongside a system that integrates multiple data sources to effectively trigger testing notifications to those at higher risk of infection and encourages students to come in for low-barrier testing when needed.

Transforming the Campus Foodscape Through Participatory Mapping

University campuses are dynamic foodscapes that meet the needs of thousands of diverse community members. These foodscapes are difficult to comprehend in their entirety, and inequities based on race, class, gender and gender identity, sexual orientation, dis/ability, and other forms of marginalization often remain unidentified and unaddressed. Since 2015, the UC Berkeley Foodscape Mapping Project has emerged as a model of participatory, justice-oriented food systems education. Drawing on critical pedagogy principles, it uses the Berkeley campus as a living laboratory for students, staff, and faculty to generate food systems knowledge. We trace the project’s development to show how what started as a set of workshops to address campus climate problems grew into a major mapping effort and advocacy projects that aim to improve the campus food system. Early on, workshops found that the biggest barrier to changing our campus food system was understanding the system itself: who the individual and departmental decision makers are and how different parts of the foodscape interact. Foodscape mapping is one possible pathway for changing a campus food system. This pathway was chosen because it could create a much-needed data foundation for advocacy at UC Berkeley. We discuss the concept of mapping and work through the process of building the Campus Food Players map. Several examples of Spotlight Maps and a practical policy advocacy project are presented to show the variety of outputs. Finally, we analyze financial, personnel, and pedagogical resources needed to realize the map, along with important constraints on its development. Readers will learn about campus foodscape mapping and be better equipped to develop projects at their own campuses.

Niet Neuken in de Keuken: Teaching Dutch on the Berkeley Campus

Author(s): Hollander, Inez | Abstract: A former lecturer reflects on her missionary work, teaching Dutch on the Berkeley campus.

Researchers respond to California power outages

Twice last month, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, faced power outages in their labs. The campus’s power utility, Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), has been implementing rolling blackouts throughout the state during particularly hot, windy weather in an attempt to reduce the risk of damaged electric lines sparking fires in the parched landscape. From Oct. 9 to 12, the utility cut power to more than 700,000 customers in northern and central California, including on the UC Berkeley campus. The company disconnected power to the campus a second time Oct. 26. And these situations could happen again. Rising global temperatures, longer wildfire seasons, and an ever-present earthquake risk are making power outages more common for California universities and researchers. For researchers who rely on temperature-controlled equipment to store biological samples and expensive reagents, power outages represent not just safety concerns and lost time in the lab but also the

Systems in Play: Simon Nicholson’s Design 12 Course, University of California, Berkeley, 1966

Abstract In 1966, British artist, designer and educator Simon Nicholson (1934–1990) offered a lower division course, Design 12, at the College of Environmental Design, UC Berkeley. Controversially, Nicholson promoted play as the principal method of design and invited children to assess students’ projects on the Berkeley campus and in local schools, parks, playgrounds and hospitals. This article presents Design 12 as an important example of environmental design pedagogy in the USA, which uniquely attempted to synthesize British post-war constructivism with ‘design science’ and adventure play. The result was a course that placed play at the centre of design pedagogy, where it could combine intuition with systems building to promote ‘involved science’ and co-construction.

About This Issue

About This Issue David J. Endres Historians have paid significant attention to early to mid-nineteenth century Catholic immigration to the United States, yet, the number of Catholic immigrants in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century far surpassed the earlier waves. Catholic immigrants from Germany and Ireland were increasingly joined by Italian, Polish, Hungarian and Mexican arrivals by the late 1800s. More recently, Catholic immigration has shifted again with rising numbers of Latino and Asian immigrants. This issue provides several studies of the "new immigrants," focusing on specific immigrant groups, their relationship to the Church, and their experiences in the U.S. from the late nineteenth century to today. Timothy Matovina is a professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame. He has also served for many years as one of the consulting editors of U.S. Catholic Historian. Felicia Moralez, a recent graduate from the doctoral program in United States history at the University of Notre Dame, wrote her dissertation on the Mexican diaspora in the industrial Midwest. Her contribution to this issue is drawn from her doctoral research. Anita Casavantes Bradford is associate professor of history and Chicano/Latino studies at the University of California Irvine. Simon C. Kim, a priest of the Diocese of Orange, California, is the director of intercultural initiatives at the Jesuit School of Theology at Santa Clara University–Berkeley Campus in Berkeley, California. Tuan Hoang is assistant professor of Great Books and history at Pepperdine University, Malibu, California. Todd Scribner is an independent researcher living in Washington, D.C. Gerald A. Arbuckle, S.M., is co-director of Refounding and Pastoral Development in Sydney, Australia. [End Page i] Copyright © 2019 The Catholic University of America Press

Who Speaks? Thirtieth Anniversary Dossier: Interventions

Who Speaks? Thirtieth Anniversary Dossier: Interventions

Long-term studies of seasonal variability enable evaluation of macroinvertebrate response to an acute oil spill in an urban Mediterranean-climate stream

Benthic macroinvertebrates show seasonal fluctuations with variability in hydrologic conditions. Coastal northern California (USA) is located in a Mediterranean-climate area, which is characterized by predictable wet and dry seasons, and consequently stream flows. Monthly sampling over multiple years (2004–2005, 2010–2013) was used to examine seasonal variability in taxonomic composition and abundances of benthic macroinvertebrates at three sites in Strawberry Creek, an urban stream on the University of California, Berkeley campus. Although wet and dry seasons at all sites had similar taxa occurrences, seasonal variation in taxa abundances was evident at two sites. The effects of an accidental oil spill in winter 2011 were examined using a Before–After design. Three days post-spill, macroinvertebrate richness and abundances at the impacted site decreased dramatically compared with pre-spill levels; taxonomic composition recovered one year later. Resilience was likely from drift via an unaffected stream fork and the flushing effects of winter stream flows. The combination of monthly sampling over multiple years and the opportunistic evaluation of responses to an acute disturbance enabled us to identify five taxa that are common, abundant, and easily identified, which can be used as a framework for enhancing future volunteer-based biomonitoring research projects.

Time-averaged ventilation for optimized control of variable-air-volume systems

Typical variable air volume (VAV) terminals spend the majority of time at their minimum airflow setpoints. These are often higher than the minimum ventilation requirements defined by code, resulting in excess energy use and a risk of over-cooling the spaces. We developed and tested a time-averaged ventilation (TAV) control strategy in an institutional building on the UC Berkeley campus to address this issue. Whenever a zone does not require cooling, TAV alternates the VAV damper between partially open and fully closed so that the average airflow matches a predefined ventilation setpoint. Compared to the existing, base case scenario using single-max VAV logic, this strategy reduced the mean zone airflow fraction from 0.44 to 0.27 during the intervention period. The corresponding reductions in average heating, cooling, and fan power were 41%, 23%, and 15% respectively. In addition to being programmed directly in a native control system, TAV may be applied via sMAP as a low-cost retrofit strategy in any building that has a BACnet network and direct digital control (DDC) to each VAV terminal.

Work schedule flexibility and parking preferences

The flexibility of work schedule affects the number of commute trips made per week and the number of hours spent at work, which can influence congestion and transportation emission levels. Understanding the linkages between the flexibility of work schedule and travel behavior will provide insights for policies targeted at transportation and parking demand management. This study uses the University of California (UC) Berkeley campus as a study site. UC Berkeley is one of the largest employers in the San Francisco Bay Area with over 11,000 employees, leading to a wide range of employment type, job characteristics, and varying levels of work schedule flexibility. A total of 86 one-on-one interviews were conducted with UC Berkeley employees. This study explores common factors that contribute to UC Berkeley employees’ parking preferences and considers how academic discipline or employment type could affect work schedule, which in turn influences travel behavior. Driving is the most popular choice across employment type and job categories. However, not all employees who drive alone have the same parking location preferences. The flexibility of work schedule is one of the key factors that influences parking preferences at the workplace, especially when there are alternative parking locations.

Cosmopolitan Berkeley and the Concept of Cultural Diversity in an American University

The argument that cultural and other forms of diversity enhance the educational experience of all students is generally associated with post-1960 efforts to expand the presence of disadvantaged groups on the campuses of America’s universities and colleges. In the case of the University of California-Berkeley, arguments on the merits of cultural diversity have much earlier roots in the historical enrollment of international students. Debates in the late 1800s and early twentieth century revolved around the appropriateness of enrolling foreign students, particularly those from Asia. The result was an important intellectual discussion on the merits of diversity and the ideals of a cosmopolitan university that was eventually reframed to focus largely on underrepresented domestic students. In this essay, I discuss how the notion of diversity, and its educational benefits, first emerged as a value at Berkeley. I then briefly discuss the significant increase of international students at Berkeley and other public universities. Thus far, the primary impetus of this increase has been mostly financial—Berkeley has faced significant public disinvestment, seeks new revenue sources, and can charge international students tuition rates similar to elite private colleges and universities. By targeting 20 percent of all undergraduates as international or out-of-state (US-resident non-Californians)—the majority international—the Berkeley campus is essentially diversifying its student body. How does having a more globally inclusive enrollment fit into our contemporary ideas of diversity? I attempt a brief discussion of this question and the policy challenges generated by the dramatic increase in international students at the undergraduate level at Berkeley and other UC campuses.

Materials collected by the southern branch of the UC Africa Expedition with a report on previously unpublished Plio-Pleistocene fossil localities

From 1947 to 1948, paleontologists from the University of California Museum of Paleontology (UCMP), Charles Camp and Frank Peabody, led the southern branch of the University of California’s Africa Expedition. While in South Africa, Camp and Peabody collected thousands of specimens excavated from more than 70 sites, 40 of which make up the Plio-Pleistocene South African assemblage at the UCMP. Materials collected by researchers accompanying the expedition are held at numerous repositories on the University of California Berkeley campus including the UCMP, the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology (MVZ), the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology and the University of California’s Botanical Gardens.In 2013, we curated the Plio-Pleistocene paleontological assemblage of the UCMP South Africa collection and cataloged 5,082 specimens from four primary areas: Bolt’s Farm, Buxton Limeworks, Gladysvale and Witkrans. Both invertebrates and vertebrates are found in the South African assemblage, with every vertebrate class represented, including mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians. We provide a detailed report of the taxonomic diversity of the assemblage and describe three sites that have not yet been reported in the scientific literature: New Cave and Jackal Cave at Bolt’s Farm, and Tunnel Wall excavation at Buxton Limeworks. We also offer a historical review of the Africa Expedition and report on the current location of materials collected by members of the southern branch of the expedition and brought to the University of California at Berkeley (UCB) for holding.

Multidisciplinary Science at the Molecular Foundry

Multidisciplinary Science at the Molecular Foundry