Digital Commons Network^™

Measuring The Geometric Accuracy Of Cnc End Mill Manufacturing Process, Daniel M. Small

University Honors Theses

This paper presents a method and analysis for determining the geometric accuracy of CNC milling machines. The method measures the accuracy of five basic geometric values: straightness, circularity, size, angularity, and position. Tolerance prediction models are found using statistical analysis. The tolerance prediction models are used to find more complex tolerance values. The results of the paper will allow manufactures to measure the actual tolerance capabilities of their machines and no longer rely on guess work. The method and analysis can also be applied to other machining processes.

Performance Of A* Based Search Algorithms In Grid-Based Stochastic Multi-Agent Systems With Static Obstacles And Non-Static Goal States, Kallen M. Harvey

University Honors Theses

In this paper, I compare the performance of various A*-based search algorithms in a search space where the assumption that goal states must be static is removed. I provide a basic overview of the algorithms used and explain how I created the environment in which the agents will move. Both off-line/incremental and real-time A*-based searches are compared to their original published versions in a grid-based environment similar to those described in each. I explain my results and make suggestions for future research.

Sustaining Rural Place: Rethinking Design Principles For Social Sustainability In Rural America, Carlie C. Donnelly

University Honors Theses

Although the population of Rural America is declining, we will likely never live in a country that does not need rural communities to sustain our natural resources. The field of urban design has developed great strategies for creating livable communities, but they are not universal strategies. The design of rural towns and community places has been neglected from the conversation of urban design principles as they are not directly applicable because of Rural America's lack of density which also results in an alternate social system. Through analysis of urban design principles and rural place making case studies, this thesis bridges …

Fighting Back Against Criminalization Of Homelessness: Martin V. City Of Boise Case Study, Kaitlyn Dey

University Honors Theses

As of 2018, Boise, Idaho is the fastest growing city in the entire United States. As the city continues to grow housing and homelessness is becoming a greater concern. The means of addressing homelessness in Boise, however, has relied heavily on criminalization. In 2009, a plaintiff filed a lawsuit against the City of Boise challenging city bans on camping and sleeping in public. The case, Martin v. City of Boise (formerly Bell v. City of Boise), has set a precedent across the country regarding criminalization of homelessness, positing the laws as a violation of the Eighth Amendment. This thesis uses …

Writing Through It, Casey M. Lowrey

University Honors Theses

This memoir spans several years of the author's life. It begins with the early years of high school, and the beautiful mess that comes with them, and ends in the rebuilding of a life following complete devastation. This manuscript incorporates poetry in order to emulate the raw vulnerability and emotion that could not fit in a prose piece. The intermingling of the two form a poetry and memoir fusion that refuses to be contained within any number of formats.

The Design And Development Of An Electromechanical Drogue Parachute Line Release Mechanism For Level 3 High-Power Amateur Rockets, Marie House

University Honors Theses

This research has developed a viable drogue parachute release system sufficient for recovering level 3 amateur rockets. The system is based on the simple mechanics of combining two lever arms and a 2 to 1 pulley interaction to create a 200:1 force reduction between the weight applied to the system and the force required to release it. A linear actuator retracts a release cord, triggering the three rings that hold the system together to unfurl from one another and separate the drogue parachute from the payload. Three variations of the concept were prototyped and tested primarily for the required pull …

A Lot Of Admiration And A Little Bit Of Worship: Parasocial Relationships And Young Women, Raz Mostaghimi

University Honors Theses

This research examines young women’s experiences with parasocial relationships (PSR) and how they use media in relation to their PSRs. I intended to determine if young women experienced romantic (PSRR) and platonic PSR in different ways with different goals, if PSR/PSRR impacted young women’s beliefs and behaviors, how PSR used social media in relation to their PSR, and if nonfictional and fictional media figures resulted in different goals for the PSR. I recruited Portland State University students who were women between the ages of 18 and 30 for a focus group and follow-up interviews on the subject of their PSRs. …

University Honors Media Archive, Noah B. Puggarana

University Honors Theses

Meet a group of Honors students that use education to interact with the city. Portland State University Honors is a focused academic community for students of all majors. This thesis, produced in partnership with the PSU School of Film is a multimedia marketing campaign for University Honors.

The two primary videos introduce prospective students to Honors Community and the liberal arts focus here at PSU Honors. Meet a group of Honors students that use education to interact with the city. Travel to London with Honors Abroad. Experience the interaction of research and community action.

Visual Characteristics Of The Mockumentary Format, Connor J. Mcgarry

University Honors Theses

An analysis of the evolution of the mockumentary format of filmmaking, and how the format's key visual elements contribute to its aesthetic of a fake reality. This essay also serves as a companion piece to a thesis film entitled The Race Walker, and as such, contains a reflection on how prior research of the topic contributed to the creative decisions made in the production of the film.

Is It Possible To Change Someone's Mind Online? A Graphic Design Thesis, Laurel Benson

University Honors Theses

This paper explores whether or not it is possible to change someone's mind on the internet. Using an examination of traditional argument resolution techniques as a foundation, this paper builds upon that foundation and questions whether or not such techniques are appropriate on the internet. A mixture of primary and secondary research led to a surprising conclusion. It is in fact possible to change someone's mind on the internet, but to do so often involves techniques that are diametrically opposed to the traditional argument resolution techniques that were examined in the first part of the paper. This paper proposes that …

Interactions Of Phosphatidylcholine Vesicles And Citrate-Stabilized Gold Nanoparticles, Marie Vallens

University Honors Theses

Citrate-coated gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) are increasingly implemented in many biomedical applications due to their novel electrochemical properties and further stabilization against influence from the cellular environment by conjugation of citrate ligands to the exterior of the gold nanocrystalline lattice. AuNPs have the ability to permeate the cell membrane without disturbing the nucleus, with some size regimes, without producing any known toxic effects. This work presents a collection and analysis of time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy data describing the interior of the bilayer of unsaturated 16:0 - 18:1 phosphatidylcholine large unilamellar vesicles when exposed to 5, 10, and 20 [nm]-diameter citrate-capped AuNPs at …

An Evaluation Of Vgg16 And Yolo V3 On Hand-Drawn Images, Lee Hoang

University Honors Theses

This thesis evaluates the accuracy and performance of VGG16, a convolutional neural network (CNN), and YOLO v3, an object detector, on a dataset of 1000 hand-drawn images. Unlike with photographs, which possess high amounts of detail, sketches tend to lack much detail aside from the freehand lines that comprise them. This is further detailed in prior works about Sketch-based Image Retrieval (SBIR), a classification task to map photographs to sketches; and SketchParse, a CNN that analyzes sketch features and assigns captions. In this paper, I show the differences in classification accuracy between VGG16 and YOLO v3. The former model, pretrained …

The Relationship Between Attachment Style And Hyperperceptions, Nolan E.G. Welch

University Honors Theses

Three different attachment styles from previous research were examined in a closer context to see if they were predictive of hyperperceptions in romantic relationships while using social networking sites (SNS). The hyperperception model, a new communication concept, focuses on the over-attribution of others' relationships based on brief observations through SNS usage. Undergraduate communication students recruited from the Pacific North West and another university in the Midwest, with an active Facebook account, were sampled for this research. Participants responded to survey questions designed to test if hyperperceptions occurred in their romantic relationship from observations they made on SNSs. The participants' partners …

The Relationship Between Teachers' Perceptions Of A Lack Of Parent/Family Support And Teachers' Self-Efficacy, Carson S. Mcnamara

University Honors Theses

Teachers' self-efficacy is shown to be affected by many different factors, including students, parents/families, and schools. Teachers' perception of a lack of parent/family support may be related to their reports of self-efficacy, that is, their perceived ability to successfully teach their students. This study uses data from the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 to investigate the relationship between math teachers' perceived lack of parent/family support and their teaching self-efficacy. This study controlled for teachers' educational attainment, sex, and race to improve the estimates of this relationship. Results show that there is negative relationship between teachers' perceptions of a lack …

Racial Capitalism And Expropriation In American Welfare Reform, Sam A.G. Bruns

University Honors Theses

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, or PRWORA, is a major act of US welfare legislation that was signed in 1996 by President Bill Clinton. Under the program it authorized, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF, welfare recipients can only receive benefits for up to 60 months lifetime and must maintain full time employment as soon as required by welfare administrators. As a result, welfare enrollment and the quantity of benefits distributed have decreased significantly since PRWORA was passed. The implementation of a welfare work requirement was a key goal of an anti-welfare policy position that became …

A Consideration Of Mesopredator Release And New Zealand's Predator Free Plan: A Literature Review, Kaitlin G. Thomas

University Honors Theses

Invasive mammalian predators are responsible for the loss of biodiversity and species extinctions worldwide: New Zealand is no exception. To protect native species, lethal eradication has become the primary means to control or remove invasive mammalian predators. These control attempts can indirectly affect non-target species through trophic interactions. Eliminating the apex predator can result in a release of lesser predators that can consequently continue causing damage, i.e., suppressing, the native prey population. This ecological interaction among trophic guilds is termed "mesopredator release." The research outlined in the present work provides a review of the concepts underlying mesopredator release, depicts how …

Living With Water In A Modern World: An Analysis Of Water Relationships In Two Globally Different Rural Areas, Haley Morris

University Honors Theses

This paper investigates how embodied emotions influence access, allocation, and use of water among farmers experiencing droughts. The paper engages with the hydrosocial cycle and emotional geographies to understand how power dynamics and emotions shape nature-society relations. Case studies of droughts in western Rajasthan, India and central Arizona, United States were used to highlight how social and political factors play out through embodied emotions with access, allocation, and use of water. Peer reviewed secondary materials were used for the overall qualitative literature analysis. While, a qualitative thematic analysis on existing theoretical and empirical literature was used to code how emotions …

Portland Oregon's "Right To Return" Policy & Its Relation To Urban Renewal: A Community Psychology Approach, Diadira J. Pedro-Xuncax

University Honors Theses

As displacement begins to be a concerned result of urban renewal and gentrification, city officials are implementing policies to reverse its devastating effects. Specifically, the City of Portland (2015) recently implemented their $96 million policy "Right to Return" to address issues of mass displacement of long-term black residents through a point-based preference policy for affordable housing. While this policy is commendable and perhaps the first step in correcting a city’s heinous history riddled in racism, it is not enough as it stands. Through an interdisciplinary lens I argue that RTR falls short in five major ways: it ignores and dismisses …

Haematoloechus Lung Flukes In American Bullfrogs: Prevalence And Associations Of Infection, Bethany Frantz

University Honors Theses

The prevalence and intensity of infection by lung flukes (Haematoloechus sp.) was examined by dissecting 1,590 American bullfrogs (Rana catesbeiana) collected between 2013 and 2018, from Conboy Lake National Wildlife Refuge, Washington. Overall infection, across all age classes, was 59.7% (n=1,580) and mean intensity was 17 (n=169; SD=19.3, range=1-166). A logistic regression model showed a significant relationship between infection and frog snout-to-vent length, gape, and collection year. Sex had a significant relationship to infection (χ²=7.31, df=1, P=0.007). Presence of odonates in the stomach was also significantly related to infection (χ²=22.49, df=1, P<0.001). This study expands on the current breadth of knowledge on this taxon in anurans into a previously unstudied region of the United States and emphasizes the use of odonates as secondary intermediate hosts.

Colocha: A Memoir, Julieta Castro

University Honors Theses

Both historically and currently, societies across the globe are inequitably structured and stratified based on gender, race, sex, ethnicity, nationality, ability, and many other social or physical markers of ‘difference’. And yet, despite the enduring presence of unbalanced power dynamics in human culture, there have always been voices resisting that control. From early cultures to modern cultures, storytelling continues to be a site for self awareness, critical analysis, self understanding, self preservation, and even healing. For my research, I am interested in exploring how critical self reflective writing can serve as a language and tool that works to resist the …

Facial Image Characterization And Reconstruction Using Singular Value Decomposition, Jessica R. Robinson

University Honors Theses

An image reconstruction algorithm is tested by means of a facial image database. Because image processing requires a significant amount of storage and computing power, singular value decomposition, or SVD, is used to harvest the values needed to execute the algorithm. A theoretical framework of SVD is also included. By means of this low-dimensional procedure, images are able to be reconstructed with varying quality.

Mexico's Newest Threat: Cártel De Jalisco Nueva Generación (Cjng), Maria Teresa Olivares

University Honors Theses

Lessons from history in the Mexican Drug War demonstrate that the kingpin strategy, a model developed by the Colombian government in the 1980s, has led to failure for Mexico in its drug war. Because of the significant reduction in violent crime in Colombia, many policymakers have pointed to Colombia’s case as an example for Mexico. This idea, however, is concerning because the contexts in both countries differ. Therefore, the kingpin strategy should not be implemented to capture or kill the leader of the Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), Nemesio Oseguera Ramos, alias "El Mencho," because the differences in the …

Reference-Dependence Performance: Managing And Meeting Expectations, Jose A. Rojas-Fallas

University Honors Theses

Reference-dependence has been a topic of interest in recent history for the field of economics. It’s implications that utility is not solely based on outcomes, but rather how outcomes are interpreted from a previously set expectation has the potential to effect many aspects of incentive structures. In this research, subjects complete a real effort task in which they are provided with information that creates shocks in their expectations. These shocks make the individual readjust to the new information, impacting performance in the real-effort task. We conclude that reference-dependence performance is impacted by adjusting reference points that may have a positive …

Our Lips Are Sealed: A Social Constructionist Approach To Understanding Menstrual Concealment At Menarche, Olivia S. Agrusa

University Honors Theses

At menarche, menstruators receive messages from various sources that urge them to conceal evidence of their menstruation. Concealment refers to the notion that menstruation is to be hidden, especially from men. This belief is often exploited and/or expressed in interactions between menstruators, mothers, and peers, in advertisements, educational materials, day-to-day conversation, and personal disciplinary actions. Themes of concealment are analyzed within a social constructionist framework to understand how narratives develop over time to guide human behavior and maintain social order. This paper argues that the menstrual concealment taboo is a social construction that has been institutionalized into the fabric of …

The Use Of Aromatherapy For The Treatment Of Post-Operative Nausea Vomiting, Mikayla J. Whitley

University Honors Theses

Post-operative nausea vomiting (PONV) is one of the most common complications after surgery and a significant cause of dissatisfaction among post-operative patients. Traditional first line treatment of PONV with antiemetic medications can cause severe side effects and can have compounding interactions with other medications. Aromatherapy has been increasing in popularity for the treatment of PONV due to its safety, absence of drug interaction and side effects, and rapid onset due to ease of administration and patient driven treatment. This study looks at a trial of QueaseEASE, an aromatherapy product for PONV, at a hospital in the Pacific Northwest. Overall initial …

Untitled Screenplay, Lora A. Herman

University Honors Theses

The following document is a working copy of an untitled fictional screenplay in which the story and characters are the original work of Lora A. Herman.

In 2082 North America, the United States no longer exists as a governing entity. The vast majority of the landscape that once comprised the USA is unlivable due to irreparable advances in climate change -- flood, fire, freeze, and drought.

The remaining society has restructured itself to focus less on controlling its population and their free will, and to instead focus on maintaining the integrity of and resources for the man-made contained communities that …

Teaching Geometrical Optics By Modeling Fluidic Lenses Formed By Water-Walking Insects, Erin Woodcock

University Honors Theses

When a water-walking insect sits atop the surface of a fluid, its legs create shadows that are disproportionately large and are surrounded by bright rings of light. While these shadows are prominent, their cause is not easily perceptible to an observer’s eye. The phenomenon is the result of the formation of fluidic lenses caused by the insect legs deforming the surface of the fluid. In this work, an experimental setup is created to emulate the conditions under which these shadows are formed and explore the properties of the shadows and the deformed fluid's surface. The setup is inexpensive, consisting of …

The Green Gentrification Of N. Williams Avenue, Marcco T. Higham

University Honors Theses

The Albina District in North Portland, Oregon has experienced a tumultuous cycle of disinvestment, decline, and now reinvestment that has caused a shift in its racial and socio-economic composition . As new sources of investment and capital have been introduced into this historically black neighborhood, a new housing redevelopment trend has emerged that reflects consideration to sustainable design and "eco-conscious" lifestyles. This style of redevelopment in N. Williams Avenue caters to those with higher incomes that desire an "urban" and "sustainable" lifestyle through their housing choices. In this paper I argue that this new housing trend is a gentrifying phenomenon …

Measuring The Association Between Perceived Stress And Incidence Of Infectious Disease Or Illness In College Students In Portland, Or, Trinity E. Joroski

University Honors Theses

The purpose of this study was to measure the association between perceived stress and incidence of infectious disease or illness within a large participant group consisting primarily of local college students residing in Portland, Oregon. This was conducted using the widely used and well validated Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), which was distributed via social media platforms, various Portland State establishments such as the campus recreation center, in addition to reaching students by means of talking with professors and other peers. It was found that the condition regarding whether or not an individual missed class or work due to an illness, …

The Consolidation Of Feminine And Feminist Identities: Third Wave Perspectives On Cosmetic Ritual, Grace Hartley

University Honors Theses

Feminists have long been stereotyped as disapproving of traditional forms of feminine expression, said to ascribe to a "'bra burning' Puritanism". And while this has been somewhat over exaggerated, there is some truth to the general feminist critique on traditional feminine accoutrements such as heels, lipstick, the color pink, etc. This is evidenced in seminal feminist works, such as "The Second Sex", "The Feminist Mystique", and from these works comes a profusion of anti-feminine sentiment. However, like many aspects of second wave feminism during the rise of the third wave, this conception of feminine expression was questioned and reformed. Second …