Digital Commons Network^™

Scharp: Opening The Door To Systems Change, Leslie G. Mcbride

Community Health Faculty Publications and Presentations

The majority of policymakers, educators, and the public at large agree that public education needs reform. However, the nature and extent of changes are discussed and debated. Some promote the newest curricula,the latest teaching innovation, or the freshest administrative style (Sashkin & Egermeier, n.d). Others regard these approaches as piecemeal solutions that "tinker at the edges" of the real problem (Reigeluth, in press). The real problem, they say, is an ailing education system requiring fundamental, systemic changes through basic restructuring(Corbett, 1990; O'Neil, 1993; Reigeluth, in press; Sashkin & Egermeier,n. d.). These two approaches bracket a solution continuum ranging from minor …

Portland State Magazine, Portland State University. Office Of University Communications

Portland State Magazine

PSU’s alumni magazine, published 2-3 times a year. In this issue: Moving PSU athletic teams to the Big Sky Conference—a match made in heaven or a crash landing?; if gangs only conjure up an image of urban black youth, you’re wrong; dealing with today’s complex world requires new thinking, as suggested in this article by System Science professor Harold Lintone; the dinosaur bones Dave Taylor dug up in Oregon this past summer are now part of the museum collection he oversees; a screenplay writer and PSU alum finds success in Tinseltown; and more.

Variance And Uncertainty Measures Of Population Diversity Dynamics, Mark A. Bedau, Martin Zwick, Alan Bahm

Complex Systems Faculty Publications and Presentations

We define variance and uncertainty measures of population diversity. Both measures have precise decompositions that we can exploit in analysis of evolutionary dynamics. We discuss how these measures are related and how they can be observed in artificial and natural evolving systems.

Towards An Ontology Of Problems, Martin Zwick

Complex Systems Faculty Publications and Presentations

Systems theory offers a language in which one might formulate a metaphysics (or more specifically an ontology) of problems. This proposal is based upon a conception of systems theory shared by von Bertalanffy, Wiener, Boulding, Rapoport, Ashby, Klir, and others, and expressed succinctly by Bunge, who considered game theory, information theory, feedback control theory, and the like to be attempts to construct an "exact and scientific metaphysics." Our prevailing conceptions of "problems" are concretized yet also fragmented and in fact dissolved by the standard reductionist model of science, which cannot provide a general framework for analysis. The idea of a …

Annual Faculty Senate Minutes October 1995 - June 1996, Portland State University Faculty Senate

Annual Compilations of the Faculty Senate Minutes (Minutes Only)

Minutes of the Faculty Senate for October 1995 to June 1996.

Optimizing Object Invocation Using Optimistic Incremental Specialization, Jon Inouye, Andrew P. Black, Charles Consel, Calton Pu, Jonathan Walpole

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

To make object invocation efficient, it is important to minimize overhead. In general, overhead is incurred in order to maintain transparency; with the advent of mobile computer systems, persistence, increasing security and privacy concerns, transparency becomes more expensive and overhead is increasing. Invocation mechanisms maintain transparency by finding objects, choosing communication media, performing data translation into common formats (e.g., XDR), marshalling arguments, encrypting confidential data, etc. Performing all of these operations on every invocation would lead to unacceptable performance, so designers often avoid operations by specializing object invocation for more restricted environments. For example, the Emerald compiler performs several optimizations …

The Nature Of 2040: The Region's 50-Year Plan For Managing Growth, Metro (Or.)

Metro Collection

No abstract provided.

Scheduling Of Parallel Jobs On Dynamic, Heterogenous Networks, Dan Clark, Jeremy Casas, Steve Otto, Robert Prouty, Jonathan Walpole

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

In using a shared network of workstations for parallel processing, it is not only important to consider heterogeneity and differences in processing power between the workstations but also the dynamics of the system as a whole. In such a computing environment where the use of resources vary as other applications consume and release resources, intelligent scheduling of the parallel jobs onto the available resources is essential to maximize resource utilization. Despite this realization, however, there are few systems available that provide an infrastructure for the easy development and testing of these intelligent schedulers. In this paper, an infrastructure is presented …

Evolution Of Emergent Computation, James P. Crutchfield, Melanie Mitchell

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

A simple evolutionary process can discover sophisticated methods for emergent information processing in decentralized spatially-extended systems. The mechanisms underlying the resulting emergent computation are explicated by a novel technique for analyzing particle-based logic embedded in pattern-forming systems. Understanding how globally-coordinated computation can emerge in evolution is relevant both for the scientific understanding of natural information processing and for engineering new forms of parallel computing systems.

On Modeling Of A Mobile Multipath Fading Channel, Heng Xiao

Dissertations and Theses

Multipath fading is one of the major practical concerns in wireless communications. A multipath transmission takes place when a transmitted signal arrives at a receiver by two or more paths of different delay. Such multiple paths may be due to atmospheric reflection or refraction, or reflections from buildings or other objects. A multipath fading channel is usually modeled as a time-variant tapped delay system. RAKE receiver can be used to detect the signal from the multipath fading channel. However, the number of delay taps, the time delay of each path, and the tap weight for each delay path need to …

Methodology For Accurate Speedup Prediction, Aruna Chittor

Dissertations and Theses

The effective use of computational resources requires a good understanding of parallel architectures and algorithms. The effect of the parallel architecture and also the parallel application on the performance of the parallel systems becomes more complex with increasing numbers of processors. We will address this issue in this thesis, and develop a methodology to predict the overall execution time of a parallel application as a function of the system and problem size by combining simple analysis with a few experimental results. We show that runtimes and speedup can be predicted more accurately by analyzing the functional forms of the sequential …

Atlases For Select Portland Metropolitan Watersheds, Elizabeth Dimmick, Scott Kaden, Elizabeth Mros, Doug Strickler, Alex Welsch

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Workshop Projects

The primary purpose of this project is to promote planning on a watershed basis in the Portland Metropolitan area. We intend to support Metro's Regional Planning Framework process by encouraging a stewardship ethic based on watershed considerations. Atlases characterizing several of Portland's watersheds will provide specific information to three audiences: planners, community activists, and decision makers. The atlases will provide an information base upon which watershed management processes can be built.

Faculty Senate Monthly Packet December 1994, Portland State University Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Monthly Packets

The December 1994 Monthly packet includes the December agenda and appendices and the Faculty Senate minutes and attachments from the meeting held November 1994.

Familiality Of Early Expressive Language Delay: A Sibling Study, Carol Lynn Unkefer

Dissertations and Theses

Researchers are seeking more information on how and why language disorders tend to run in families, particularly siblings of language disordered children.

The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence of language and related disorders in the siblings of two groups of children: those with slow expressive language development (SELD) and those with a normal language history. This study sought to answer the following questions: 1) Is there a significant difference in prevalence of language problems in two groups of children: those with SELD and those with a normal language history?, and 2) Is there a greater probability …

The Decision And Rationale Which Led To Construction On High-Risk Land After The 1964 Alaska Earthquake: Analysis Of Risk-Based Cultural Dissociation, Sheila Ann Selkregg

Dissertations and Theses

Many lives and much property are lost in disasters when individuals and communities choose to ignore information which could mitigate the potential disaster. This case study examines community and individual decision processes and rationale which led to construction of a high-occupancy high-rise courthouse on land designated as high risk after the 1964 Alaska earthquake. The study reviews policy and decision making, psychology, and risk management literature to explore the psychological mechanisms and processes of hazard mitigation decisions.

It questions why individuals and communities choose not to mitigate when they have the information which makes risk mitigation possible. The hypothesis theorizes …

The Relationship Between Intelligibility And Length And Complexity Of Language In A Group Of 4- And 5-Year-Old Children, Susan Fodell

Dissertations and Theses

Previous research has indicated that speech and linguistic variables develop concurrently. When one aspect of speech and linguistic development is delayed, there are typically associated delays in another area as well. This interactive relationship has been studied extensively in the context of phonological and syntactical development, as well as fluency and syntactical development. The relationship between intelligibility and linguistic proficiency has not been studied as extensively. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between varying levels of intelligibility and length and complexity of language in preschool-aged children. Mean length of utterance was correlated with the mean percentage …

Nonlinguistic Cognitive Performance And Expressive And Receptive Language Scores In Children With Expressive Language Delay, Deborah Kay Warren

Dissertations and Theses

This study was part of the Portland Language Development Project. The purpose was to establish reliability for the Goodenough Draw-A-Man Test. Additionally, nonlinguistic cognitive performance scores were correlated with soores from expressive and receptive language test soores. Finally, scores of overall cognitive function and of nonlinguistic cognitive function in children with normally developing language (NL) and with expressive language delay (ELD) were compared. The original group size was 60 children, 30 with ELD at the age of 20 months, and 30 who were a matched control group. These subjects were reevaluated during Kindergarten. The Draw-A-Man Test was administered to assess …

Faculty Senate Monthly Packet November 1994, Portland State University Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Monthly Packets

The November 1994 Monthly packet includes the November agenda and appendices and the Faculty Senate minutes and attachments from the meeting held October 1994.

Second Grade Academic Performance In Normal Children, Children With A History Of, And Children With Expressive Language Delay, Kathleen Ann Clancy

Dissertations and Theses

Interest in children who are diagnosed with expressive language delay has increased over the years. This has resulted in follow-up studies which have suggested that these children would have difficulties in academics during their elementary school years (Hall & Tomblin, 1978; Weiner, 1974) The current study sought to determine if children with a history of and children with continued expressive language delay would have problems with academics once they reached the second grade. The Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT) was used to measure academic performance. It was chosen for it's reliable standardization and use of five different subtest areas to …

Comparison Of Training Methods In A Branch Environment, Lisa Peterson Davidson

Dissertations and Theses

This study addressed a need to identify the effectiveness of in-branch, employee administered training programs. A comparison of various training methods and a ranking of the effectiveness of those methodologies would enable managers to make informed training design and purchase decisions.

The purpose of this study was to determine the differences between four training methods as evaluated by post-training assessment scores. This study also sought to determine the following: 1) did all four methods significantly impact short term material recall?, and 2) did gender impact training effectiveness? The training methods studied were: video; study guide; video plus study guide; video …

Beam Propagation In Parabolically Tapered Graded-Index Waveguides, Anthony A. Tovar, Lee W. Casperson

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

To a good approximation, the electromagnetic-propagation characteristics of graded-index waveguides can be written in terms of polynomial-Gaussian modes. For uniform quadratic-index waveguides the behavior of these modes is well known. However, there are sometimes practical reasons for using tapered waveguides, but detailed propagation solutions are known for only a few specific taper functions. The parabolic taper is perhaps the most important special case, and the solution-generating techniques that we generalize are used to obtain analytic solutions for this case.

Gender Differences In Slow Expressive Language Development, Cynthia Lee Hare-Blye

Dissertations and Theses

The contemporary research suggests that some children who present with early language delays as toddlers outgrow their delays while others continue to develop long-term language difficulties. Several studies over the years have focused on factors that might aid in predicting the outcome of late talkers. This current study emphasized exploring gender as a possible predictive factor.

The purpose of this study was to determine if significant differences exist in the rate of growth in language skills, as indexed by scores on the Developmental Sentence Scoring (DSS) procedure of boys versus girls who are late to start talking as toddlers. The …

The Effects Of Phonological Processes On The Speech Intelligibility Of Young Children, Susanne Shotola-Hardt

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between occurrence of 10 phonological processes, singly and in groups, with mean percentage of intelligibility of connected speech samples. Participants in the study included 4 adult listeners (3 females, one male) and 46 speakers aged 48 to 66 months (16 females, 30 males). Percentage of occurrence scores for phonological processes (independent variables) were obtained by the administration of The Assessment of Phonological Processes - Revised (Hodson, 1986). Percentage of intelligibility for 100-word connected speech samples (dependent variables) were obtained by orthographic transcription (words understood divided by 100).

The single processes …

Meeting Notes 1994-10-13 , Joint Policy Advisory Committee On Transportation

Joint Policy Advisory Committee on Transportation

No abstract provided.

Temporal Characteristics Of Words Surrounding A Moment Of Stuttering, Janice Kaye Young

Dissertations and Theses

Past theories have shown that stuttering results from a breakdown in the speaker's accurate timing of movement from one sound to the next. The efficacy of timing therapies is based on the proposal that stuttering diminishes as the amount of planning time for the phonetic voice-onset coordinations increases (Perkins, Bell, Johnson & Stocks, 1979). Acoustic information as to the parameters of the timing breakdown is critical to designing fluency facilitation and stuttering treatment programs. The present research investigated differences in word durations in the vicinity of the stuttered moment. Durations of words inunediately preceding and following the stutter were examined …

Faculty Senate Monthly Packet October 1994, Portland State University Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Monthly Packets

The October 1994 Monthly packet includes the October agenda and appendices and the Faculty Senate minutes and attachments from the meeting held June 1994.

The Concepts Of Mother In Children's Stories In Translation From Print To Visual Media: A Content Analysis, Karen Martin Tanski

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this research was two-fold. First, this thesis sought to uncover the implicit concepts associated with mothers in children's stories. Second, this thesis attempted to chart changes in portrayals of mother when translated from print to a visual medium. This research maintains that the concepts of mother in children's stories contain cultural ideals that are related to society's evolving perceptions of mother.

Eighteen mother/surrogate mother portrayals were analyzed in 15 novels and 15 videotapes. Each portrayal was coded according to marital status, range of behaviors, 41 individual behaviors within five categories, and the amount of storytime.

The results …

Meeting Notes 1994-09-08 , Joint Policy Advisory Committee On Transportation

Joint Policy Advisory Committee on Transportation

No abstract provided.

Portland State Magazine, Portland State University. Office Of University Communications

Portland State Magazine

PSU’s alumni magazine, published 2-3 times a year. In this issue: Jack Dunn has been a while of motion, a non-stop talker and a winning baseball coach for the past 20 years; science, social science and liberal arts general requirements are gone and all eyes are on Portland State; what happens to the children when there is no home to go home to?; Oregonians thought they were safe from radon, but a new study has uncovered local hot spots; and more.

Meeting Notes 1994-08-11 , Joint Policy Advisory Committee On Transportation

Joint Policy Advisory Committee on Transportation

No abstract provided.