Digital Commons Network^™

Determinants And Impacts Of Demand-Side Management Program Investment Of Electric Utilities, Philipp Degens

Dissertations and Theses

From the late seventies through the early 1990's electric utilities were facing many different forces that caused them to invest into demand-side management programs (DSM). Roots of the growth of DSM can be found in the high inflation and energy price shocks of the late seventies and early eighties, spiraling building costs of generation, safety and environmental concerns, increased costs of new capacity with possible exhaustion of scale economies, unexpected high elasticity in the demand for electricity, and public utility commissions that sought alternatives to the resulting high rate increases. This study develops and estimates four equations that look at …

A Comparative Study Of Perceptions Of Superintendents, High School Principals, And High School Department Chairs On The Role Of The High School Academic Department Chair: The Voice Of The Administrator, William Anthony Korach

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this exploratory descriptive study was to provide a first step in clarifying the role of the high school academic department chair as it is currently practiced in the state of Oregon. The study examined from the administrative perspective the potential for the continued development of the educational leadership role of the department chair as an administrative resource for instructional improvement. A researcher-constructed questionnaire was used to gather data from 27 Oregon school district superintendents, 34 high school principals, and 118 high school department chairs from English, math, science, and social studies departments in those same high schools.

Factors Occurring In Youth Suicide Behavior In Oregon, Kathy Goss

Dissertations and Theses

There has been an epidemic rate of increase in youth suicide since 1960. Professionals, teachers, counselors and parents want to identify youth at risk of suicide and intervene prior to an attempt or a suicide. The premise of this study is that youth who display similar risk factors as past attempters and completers may be at risk of attempting themselves and can be identified by these risk factors. This is a quantitative and descriptive study of youth suicide attempters and completers in the state of Oregon in 1989 and 1990 in an effort to further identify risk factors of youth …

Determining The Factors Influential In The Validation Of Computer-Based Problem Solving Systems, Leslie Anne Morehead

Dissertations and Theses

Examination of the literature on methodologies for verifying and validating complex computer-based Problem Solving Systems led to a general hypothesis that there exist measurable features of systems that are correlated with the best testing methods for those systems. Three features (Technical Complexity, Human Involvement, and Observability) were selected as the basis of the current study. A survey of systems currently operating in over a dozen countries explored relationships between these system features, test methods, and the degree to which systems were considered valid. Analysis of the data revealed that certain system features and certain test methods are indeed related to …

Mechanisms Of Pentachlorophenol Induced Charge Transport In Lipid Membranes, William Charles Brown

Dissertations and Theses

Pentachlorophenol (PCP) is one of the prominent environmental pollutant that has penetrated into food chain and is present in humans. Health concerns have been raised since daily intake of PCP by the US population is estimated to be 16-19 µg. PCP facilitates dissipation of electrochemical potential gradients of hydrogen ions across energy transducing membranes, which are the energy sources for the conversion of adenosine diphosphate into adenosine triphosphate. Closely linked to these dissipative effects is the development of electrical conductivity in lipid membranes, induced by the presence of PCP. Three modes of PCP - induced membrane electrical conductivity were theoretically …

Minimization Of Sum-Of-Conditional-Decoders Structures With Applications In Finite Machine Epld Design And Machine Learning, Sanof Mohamedsadakathulla

Dissertations and Theses

In order to achieve superior speed in sequencer designs over competing PLD devices, Cypress brought to market an innovative architecture, CY7C361. This architecture introduced a new kind of universal logic gate, the CONDITION DECODER (CDEC). Because there are only 32 macrocells in the chip, saving only one CDEC gate can be quite important (the well-known "fit/no-fit problem"). A problem that is related to the fitting problem of the Cypress CY7C361 chip is the SOC Minimization. Due to the limited low number of macrocells in CY7C361, a high quality logic minimization to reduce the number of macrocells is very important. The …

A Study Comparing Musical Abilities Of Stutterers And Nonstutterers, Megan Creswell

Dissertations and Theses

Rhythm is a feature of both music and speech that has been successfully used in the treatment of speech disorders, particularly stuttering, for many years. The successful use of rhythm in the treatment of dysf luencies of speech may be due to stutterers' perceptual deficiencies in music and rhythm abilities. Research supports the view that there are differences between stutterers and nonstutterers in timing and rhythmic capabilities. This study, therefore, sought to determine whether there was a difference between the perceptual musical abilities of stutterers versus nonstutterers as measured by the Seashore Measures of Musical Talents, Revised (1960). Data collected …

Faculty Senate Monthly Packet December 1995, Portland State University Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Monthly Packets

The December 1995 Monthly packet includes the December agenda and appendices and the Faculty Senate minutes and attachments from the meeting held November 1995.

Limiting Noise Exposure Associated With Hearing Aid Use, Alison Mary Gilbert

Dissertations and Theses

Industrial workers who have sustained hearing losses often wear hearing aids on the job in order to hear their co-worker's speech. However they risk damaging their hearing further by amplifying the high levels of background noise typical of such environments. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has established guidelines to protect workers' hearing. A maximum allowable level of 90 dBA averaged over a period of eight hours is considered safe. Wearing hearing aids on the job may expose an individual to considerably higher levels, however no guidelines as to maximum allowable levels of amplified noise exist at this time. …

Perceived Fairness Of A Child-Care Subsidy In A Temporary Agency: An Equity Theory Approach, Pamela Bermudez

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to extend research findings on perceived equity into the context of the contingent workforce by examining employees' perceived fairness of a child-care subsidy (i.e., distributive justice perception) in a temporary employment agency. The variables of interest to the study were perceived fairness, comparison other, input importance, organizational responsibility and family-friendliness. The variables were examined on three levels of subsidy status (i.e., subsidy group, parents/no-subsidy group, and nonparents group). A cover letter and a questionnaire regarding perceived fairness of the child-care subsidy were mailed to all employees who had worked for the temporary agency in …

The Leadership Of John Mcloughlin In Relation To The People And Events Of Pacific Northwest History, 1824-1846, J. David Holliday

Dissertations and Theses

In a day when governments, judicial systems, businesses, and religious and social organizations are increasingly faced with such issues as population growth, crime, political correctness, and economic and environmental instability there is a correspondingly increased demand for able, responsible and inspired leaders. Though prominent historical figures took their stand in an era much different from our own, they faced many problems which share a common root with those of any age. A closer look at such individuals not only illuminates the strengths and weaknesses of their characters but offers valuable insights regarding the nature of their failures and successes. It …

American Students' Expectations Of Teachers In The Japanese Language Classroom, Nariyo Kono

Dissertations and Theses

The Japanese as a foreign language classroom in the United States is full of information about the target culture and cross-cultural interaction between American students and Japanese instructors. This cross-cultural interaction promotes culture learning but sometimes produces potential conflicts due to American students and Japanese instructors having different expectations of each other.

The purpose of this study was to investigate student expectations of their Japanese teachers and to explore similarities and differences among Japanese and American expectations. The research questions addressed were 1) What do American students expect of their Japanese teachers in the Japanese language classroom? Do their expectations …

Learning Work In The Esl Classroom: An Evaluation Of Textbooks Designed To Teach Esl In The Workplace, Amy Taylor-Henry

Dissertations and Theses

A growing number of American businesses are offering ESL courses at the work site; likewise, more and more textbooks designed specifically for teaching ESL in the Workplace (EWP), are being written and published. The need for an evaluation of these new texts with regard to current teaching methodology, the particularities of EWP, and the social implications of EWP is a vital one. A good EWP text, besides serving as a guide and resource for learners, can also facilitate intercultural understanding, increase awareness of workers' rights and unions, and promote participation in training programs for job flexibility and promotion. Most importantly, …

Dna Sequences Involved In The Regulation Of Human C-Myc Gene Expression By Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 (Hsv-1), Shanli Ye

Dissertations and Theses

The human c-myc gene is a cellular proto-oncogene composed of three exons and two introns. Transcription of c-myc is controlled by two promoters, P1 and P2. The activity of these promoters is regulated by many factors, such as cellular transcription factors E2F, YY1, and HSV-1 immediate-early proteins, ICP0, ICP4.

Many regulatory elements located both upstream of and between P1 and P2 have been identified, and some of these are required for optimum expression of c-myc. In this thesis research, a region downstream from P2 in the c-myc exon 1 was identified by its response to transactivation …

An Analysis Of Oregon Department Of Transportation Planned Highway Construction Projects For Selected Years From 1978 To 1992, Glen A. Fleming

Dissertations and Theses

Construction of highway projects is one of the most important and expensive state government functions. Highway construction projects bring revenue and jobs to the locales in which they are built, in addition to providing a better transportation infrastructure within or between communities, states or nations.

In the state of Oregon, its Department of Transportation (ODOT) publishes a document forecasting planned highway construction expenditures for the next six years. This document was called, until recently the six-year highway program; it is the Department's primary programming document for planned highway construction expenditures in the next six years, with updates every two years. …

A Swamp In The Desert: Theory, Water Policy, And Malheur Lake Basin, Cristin R. Mandaville

Dissertations and Theses

Two perspectives are debated in current United States water policy model development. One perspective calls for policy based on normative values, such as an environmental ethic. The second perspective calls for policy based on empirical, quantifiable values, for instance, economic benefits and costs. This theoretical debate arises from differing assumptions about what is problematic in contemporary water policy, and in turn gives rise to many water policy models. Developing such models ostensibly provides frameworks useful for developing real-world water policies. This paper proposes that these water policy models are not in fact useful frameworks for policy applications because the models …

People On The Edges Of Dreams, Francesca B. French

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis is composed of a collection of twelve short stories, varying in length from 2 to 14 pages. Each story contains its own discrete theme, but fits as well within the overarching theme of the collection as a whole. This overarching theme is what gives the collection its cohesiveness. The main theme of the larger work can be found in the title of the collection, People on the Edges of Dreams. In many of the stories dreams, or dream-states, figure in the lives of the protagonists. In addition to the dream-state theme there is a less obvious theme, which …

Complexity Properties Of The Cellular Automaton Game Of Life, Andreas Rechtsteiner

Dissertations and Theses

The Game of Life is probably the most famous cellular automaton. Life shows all the characteristics of Wolfram's complex Class IV cellular automata: long-lived transients, static and propagating local structures, and the ability to support universal computation.

We examine in this thesis questions about the geometry and criticality of Life. We find that Life has two different regimes with different dimensionalities. In the small scale regime Life shows a fractal dimensionality with D_s = 0.658 and in the large scale regime D₁ = 2.0, suggesting that the objects of Life are randomly distributed. We find that Life …

Social Support As A Buffer Of The Relationship Between Work And Family Involvement And Work-Family Conflict, Tracy Lynn Monzon

Dissertations and Theses

With dual-career couples and single-parent families on the rise, adults may find themselves overloaded with work and family responsibilities, resulting in the experience of work-family conflict (WFC). Further, employers appear to be demanding more from their employees, while giving less. Therefore, it is important to discover ways in which to manage the conflict between the work and family domains. Since level of involvement within a particular domain has been previously demonstrated to have a positive effect on WFC, the present study examined the possible moderating effects of social support on the relationship between work and family involvement and WFC. Surveys …

Botanical Variations, Anthony Bernert

Dissertations and Theses

The botanical theme in my art developed from years of photographing the native flora of Oregon with a macro-lens and studying botany and natural history. The appreciation which I developed for the evolution of flora and fauna and for the balances and complexities of the environments that sustain them is reflected in the work that I completed during my two years in the Master of Fine Arts program. The composition of the abstract paintings in acrylic medium which I completed my first year in the program were based on the cycles and seasons of nature. Repetition and variation of pictorial …

Equivalent Relationship Of Function-Level Representation And Implementation Of Unified Indexing Of Fft Algorithms, Nee-Hua Cho

Dissertations and Theses

With the advance of the VLSI technology, the FFT algorithm has been pushed further in solving the multidimensional array signal processing in real time. Many DSP chip users have tried to find ways to improve addressing huge data in multidimension systems with minimum cost and maximum performance. However, there is no efficient method to address data for 1-D to M-D FFTs.

A methodology has been defined to conquer the addressing problem of M-D FFT. It is well known that the twiddle factor matrix of Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) can be recursively factored into basic butterfly stage matrices. The matrix can …

Malt Drying Model Verification For Efficiency Improvement, John David Kribs

Dissertations and Theses

The aim of this work has been to minimize the thermal energy required to dry malt in deep beds while maintaining malt quality, and without increasing the drying time more than one hour. Malt drying usually takes place in deep bed (.7-1 m) driers by forcing hot air through the bed.

Measurements of inlet and outlet relative humidity, temperature, and airflow at a drier at Great Western Malting Company's Vancouver, Washington facility were made to find average moisture content versus time. The measurements were used to develop a wetted surface model of a malt bed. However, the model was not …

Effects Of Receptive Language Deficits On Persisting Expressive Language Delays, Traci Lee Giacherro

Dissertations and Theses

Predicting language outcomes in children who at age two are "late talkers" is a concern of Speech Language Pathologists. Currently, there is no conclusive data allowing specialists to predict which children will outgrow their delays and which children will not. The purpose of the present study is to analyze the effect of a receptive language delay on the outcome of the slow expressive language delayed child, and determine whether or not it is a viable predictor of poor outcomes.

The subject information used in this project was compiled from the data collected and reported by Paul (1991) during the Portland …

Influence Of Heater Orientation On Fluctuations In Steady-State Nucleate Boiling, William F. Osborne

Dissertations and Theses

In observations of steady-state nucleate boiling, fluctuations in the temperature and heat flux might initially appear to be completely random. However, it was shown that, for a vertically mounted platinum wire in liquid nitrogen, the fluctuations about the steady-state exhibit an average counterclockwise circulation when the heat flux is plotted versus the superheat temperature. An area associated with the average circulation was proposed as a numerical measure of stability for steady-state nucleate boiling. The mechanisms for the generation of these fluctuations are thought to be the feedback of the bubbles rising past the wire and the differential heating and cooling …

John Rawls, Feminism, And The Gendered Self, Lori Kinder Macarthur

Dissertations and Theses

John Rawls's theory of justice, which he calls "justice as fairness," has proven to be most influential with regard to the course of contemporary political theory. In both of Rawls's books, A Theory of Justice and Political Liberalism, his aim was to present a theoretically-compelling defense of deontological liberalism, and to present a set of principles by which to fairly order a just society.

While Rawls's project has attracted a fair number of proponents over the years, it has also been a popular target for liberal and nonliberal critics alike. A recurrent theme among these criticisms has been an …

Performance Of The Housing Market In Abudhabi City And The Government Housing Policies, Nasser Saif Almansoori

Dissertations and Theses

This research examines the government housing policies and the performance of the housing market in AbuDhabi City. AbuDhabi City and other cities in United Arab Emirates were among the poorest cities in the world about thirty years ago but the new wealth from oil production which started during the early 1960s changed that fact completely. AbuDhabi City, the capital of U.A.E., experienced the most dramatic change in the country as it went through a massive urban transformation. Housing the city's rapidly growing population became among the top priorities of the government and this led to the adoption of many housing …

Medieval Christocentric Imagery In Selected Novels By Georges Bernanos, Catherine Ann Elia

Dissertations and Theses

In the fictional world of the twentieth century author, Georges Bernanos, a medieval spirituality is reflected through Christocentric imagery.

This study highlights the Christocentric focus of medieval spirituality found in three bernanosian characters: Donissan in Sous le Soleil de Satan, Chantal in La Joie, and le curé d'Ambricourt in Journal d'un curé de campagne. Two medieval images, the Mirror and the Way, provided a backdrop for considering common thematic characteristics.

This study is divided into two parts. Part One comprises two chapters which present background for textual analysis in Bernanos' three novels. Chapter one explores formative elements …

The Use Of The First Language (L1) And The Target Language (Tl) In The Foreign Language Classroom, Jeanine L. Huber

Dissertations and Theses

Oftentimes it is the foreign language classroom that provides the basic foundation for language exposure and acquisition. In the context of the foreign language classroom there is not much exposure to the TL outside of this setting. This being the case, the quantity of the TL should be relatively high as it is an essential requisite for language acquisition. In addition, most recent research tends to suggest that high quantities of TL from the instructor is ideal. The main purpose of this study has been to focus on university-level foreign language classrooms to explore the issue of language choice, Ll …

The Love Poems Of John Clare And John Keats: A Comparative Study, Elizabeth Stafford Grodd

Dissertations and Theses

This study addresses lesser known works of romantic poets John Clare and John Keats--Clare's Child Harold and Keats's poems to Fanny Brawne. Although these works have been the brunt of negative criticism because Clare was considered insane at the time of the composition of Child Harold and Keats was accused of using the poems to give vent to his personal sufferings, nonetheless I argue that the love poems are significant for several reasons. They are a reflection of the poets' personal experiences and also demonstrate their remarkable and surprisingly similar creative abilities in the way they use poetry as a …

Evaluable Functions In The GöDel Programming Language: Parsing And Representing Rewrite Rules, Janet Vorvick

Dissertations and Theses

The integration of a functional component into a logic language extends the expressive power of the language. One logic language which would benefit from such an extension is Gödel, a prototypical language at the leading edge of the research in logic programming. We present a modification of the Gödel parser which enables the parsing of evaluable functions in Gödel. As the first part of an extended Gödel, the parser produces output similar to the output from the original Gödel parser, ensuring that Gödel modules are properly handled by the extended-Gödel parser. Parser output is structured to simplify, as much as …