Digital Commons Network^™

Interview With Sarah Patterson, Lettuce Grow Garden Foundation, 2009 (Audio), Sarah Patterson

All Sustainability History Project Oral Histories

Interview of Sarah Patterson by Diane Mahon in Portland, Oregon on July 29th, 2009.

The interview index is available for download.

Interview With Steve Cohen, Planning & Sustainable Development, 2009 (Audio), Steve Cohen

All Sustainability History Project Oral Histories

Interview of Steve Cohen by Chris Stephens at Ecotrust Building, Portland, Oregon on July 28th, 2009.

The interview index is available for download.

Interview With Marissa Madrigal, Jeff Cogen Chief Of Staff, 2009 (Audio), Marissa Madrigal

All Sustainability History Project Oral Histories

Interview of Marissa Madrigal by Andrea Schons in Portland, Oregon on July 23rd, 2009.

The interview index is available for download.

Increasing The Reliability Of Ecological Models Using Modern Software Engineering Techniques, Robert M. Scheller, Brian R. Sturtevant, Eric J. Gustafson, Brendan C. Ward, David J. Mladenoff

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Modern software development techniques are largely unknown to ecologists. Typically, ecological models and other software tools are developed for limited research purposes, and additional capabilities are added later, usually in an ad hoc manner. Modern software engineering techniques can substantially increase scientific rigor and confidence in ecological models and tools. These techniques have the potential to transform how ecological software is conceived and developed, improve precision, reduce errors, and increase scientific credibility. We describe our re-engineering of the forest landscape model LANDIS (LANdscape DIsturbance and Succession) to illustrate the advantages of using common software engineering practices.

Variational Theory Of Balance Systems, Serge Preston

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications and Presentations

In this work we apply the Poincare-Cartan formalism of the Classical Field Theory to study the systems of balance equations (balance systems). We introduce the partial k-jet bundles of the configurational bundle and study their basic properties: partial Cartan structure, prolongation of vector fields, etc. A constitutive relation C of a balance system is realized as a mapping between a (partial) k-jet bundle and the extended dual bundle similar to the Legendre mapping of the Lagrangian Field Theory. Invariant (variational) form of the balance system corresponding to a constitutive relation C is studied. Special cases of balance systems -Lagrangian systems …

Invasive Species Management Plan For Oswego Lake, Daniel Warren, Mark Sytsma

Environmental Science and Management Professional Master's Project Reports

This Invasive Species Management Plan defines an overarching strategy for the Lake Oswego Corporation (LOC) to mitigate threats from invasive species to Oswego Lake. Invasive species pose a direct risk to recreational and aesthetic uses of the lake, critical LOC infrastructure, and ecological communities within the lake. The Plan is particularly concerned with two bivalve mollusks in the genus Dreissena: the zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) and the quagga mussel (Dreissena bugensis). These mussels grow in dense colonies that damage watercraft and underwater structures as well as displace native species. A recent scientific report found that …

Holism And Human History, Martin Zwick

Complex Systems Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper uses a systems-theoretic model to structure an account of human history. According to the model, a process, after its beginning and early development, often reaches a critical stage where it encounters some limitation. If the limitation is overcome, development does not face a comparable challenge until a second critical juncture is reached, where obstacles to further advance are more severe. At the first juncture, continued development requires some complexity-managing innovation; at the second, it needs some event of systemic integration in which the old organizing principle of the process is replaced by a new principle. Overcoming the first …

Learning, Identity And Agency : Secondary Mathematics Professional Developers' Lived Experiences Of Participation And Collaborative Inquiry In Professional Learning Communities, Susan Stein

Dissertations and Theses

This study of professional development for professional developers used a narrative inquiry design to understand the lived experience of two professional developers as they participated in professional learning communities (inquiry groups), and learned to improve their practice as inquiry group facilitators. The study's purposes included: investigating professional developers' experience and practice in inquiry groups; amplifying professional developers' voices in the professional development field; and suggesting recommendations for educational leadership.

A literature review developed a framework grounded in social, situated learning theory. It revealed that professional development needed to provide teachers with opportunities to collaborate in inquiry groups to solve problems …

Monte Carlo Green's Function Formalism For The Propagation Of Partially Coherent Light, Scott A. Prahl, David G. Fischer, Donald D. Duncan

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

We present a Monte Carlo-derived Green's function for the propagation of partially spatially coherent fields. This Green's function, which is derived by sampling Huygens-Fresnel wavelets, can be used to propagate fields through an optical system and to compute first- and second-order field statistics directly. The concept is illustrated for a cylindrical f/1 imaging system. A Gaussian copula is used to synthesize realizations of a Gaussian Schell-model field in the pupil plane. Physical optics and Monte Carlo predictions are made for the first- and second-order statistics of the field in the vicinity of the focal plane for a variety of source …

Comparison Of The Focal Properties Of Selected Magnetic And Electrostatic Lenses And Tests Of Their Theoretical Models, Luis Thomas Almarez

Dissertations and Theses

The main goal of the present research is to determine whether there is a significant difference between the aberrations of magnetic and electrostatic electron lenses when they are used in the same way. Comparison of the lenses was done in an electron-optical bench, set up to resemble a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Five different lenses, two magnetic and three electrostatic, were compared. Each group included two lenses with different lens-field lengths (pole-face spacing in magnetic lenses and interior length in electrostatic lenses). The lenses were used in turn to focus the electron beam into a demagnified image, or probe. The …

Finite Sample Properties Of Minimum Kolmogorov-Smirnov Estimator And Maximum Likelihood Estimator For Right-Censored Data, Jerzy Wieczorek

Dissertations and Theses

MKSFitter computes minimum Kolmogorov-Smirnov estimators (MKSEs) for several different continuous univariate distributions, using an evolutionary optimization algorithm, and recommends the distribution and parameter estimates that best minimize the Kolmogorov-Smirnov (K-S) test statistic. We modify this tool by extending it to use the Kaplan-Meier estimate of the cumulative distribution function (CDF) for right-censored data. Using simulated data from the most commonly-used survival distributions, we demonstrate the tool's inability to consistently select the correct distribution type with right-censored data, even for large sample sizes and low censoring rates. We also compare this tool's estimates with the right-censored maximum likelihood estimator (MLE). While …

Development Of An Ambient Pressure Laser-Induced Fluorescence Instrument For Nitrogen Dioxide, Jeremy Parra, Linda Acha George

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Concerns about the health effects of nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) and its role in forming deleterious atmospheric species have made it desirable to have low-cost, sensitive ambient measurements of NO₂. We have developed a continuous-wave laser-diode laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) system for NO₂ that operates at ambient pressure, thereby eliminating the need for an expensive pumping system. The current prototype system has achieved sensitivity several orders of magnitude beyond previous efforts at ambient pressure (limit of detection of 2 ppb, 60 s averaging time). Ambient measurements of NO₂ were made in Portland, Oregon using both the standard NO₂ chemiluminescence method and the …

Operational Verification Of A Relativistic Program, Robert T. Bauer

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Engineering eorts to achieve scalable multiprocessor perfor- mance for concurrent reader-writer programs have resulted in a family of algorithms that are non-blocking and that tolerate interprocessor in- terference. Because these algorithms accept a unique frame of reference for each processor's accesses to memory, they typify a concurrent pro- gramming technique for shared memory multicore architectures called relativistic programmming.

Rigorous verification of these algorithms is not possible with existing semantic based approaches because the semantics under approximates multiprocessor behavior and the algorithms rely on abstruse interactions with the operating system that aren't reconciled with language seman- tics.

The Read-Copy Update (RCU) …

Interview With Ted Labbe, Depave, 2009 (Audio), Ted Labbe

All Sustainability History Project Oral Histories

Interview of Ted Labbe by Chris Fogg in Portland, Oregon on May 31st, 2009.

The interview index is available for download.

Interview With Tom Patzkowski, Rebuilding Center, 2009 (Audio), Tom Patzkowski

All Sustainability History Project Oral Histories

Interview of Tom Patzkowski by Greg Peterson at the Rebuilding Center in Portland, Oregon on May 27th, 2009.

The interview index is available for download.

Interview With Ivy Dunlap, Bureau Of Environmental Services, 2009 (Audio), Ivy Dunlap

All Sustainability History Project Oral Histories

Interview of Ivy Dunlap by Kris Thomason at Portland State University on May 23rd, 2009.

The interview index is available for download.

Interview With Kirk Davis, Glumac International, 2009 (Audio), Kirk Davis

All Sustainability History Project Oral Histories

Interview of Kirk Davis by Jay Fielding at Glumac International, Portland, Oregon on May 22nd, 2009.

The interview index is available for download.

Isotopic Signatures And Concentration Profiles Of Nitrous Oxide In A Rice-Based Ecosystem During The Drained Crop-Growing Season, Z. Q. Xiong, M. A. K. Khalil, G. Xing, Martha J. Shearer, Christopher Lee Butenhoff

Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations

The stable isotopic composition of nitrous oxide (N₂O) in agricultural soils can improve our understanding of the relative contributions of the main microbial processes (nitrification and denitrification) responsible for N₂O formation in soils, and can provide constraints for the atmospheric N2O budget. Here, we present soil profiles featuring N₂O concentrations and δ¹⁵N and δ¹⁸O values in N₂O over time, which permit the in situ identification of processes and sites of N₂O production in a rice-based ecosystem seeded with winter wheat. Our δ¹⁵N and δ¹⁸O soil profile values support the conclusion that denitrification is the dominant process behind N₂O production during …

Interview With Hilary Pfeifer, Art On Alberta, 2009 (Audio), Hilary Pfeifer

All Sustainability History Project Oral Histories

Interview of Hilary Pfeifer by Franziska Davis at Portland State University on May 14th, 2009.

The interview index is available for download.

Electron Transport And Sensor Characteristics Of Tin Dioxide Based Nanocrystalline Materials, Allen Chaparadza

Dissertations and Theses

Wide band gap, transparent semiconductor Sn0₂ is an n-type conductor and is widely used as a sensor material as well as transparent electrode material e.g. in solar cells and flat panel displays. Recent discovery of p-type doping with Li has opened exciting possibilities in new classes of sensors and transparent nanoelectronic devices. Li-doping in SnO₂ nanoparticles was explored through a gel-sol method of synthesis to examine the influence of reaction conditions such as pH, dopant concentration, and calcination temperature. The Li doping in nanoparticles was characterized using nuclear reaction analysis and the nanostructure with high-resolution electron transmission microscopy …

Active Site Chemistry Of The Nadph-Dependent:7-Cyano-7-Deazaguanine (Preq0) Nitrile Oxidoreductase, An Enzyme Involved In Queuosine Biosynthesis, Bobby Wai Keung Lee

Dissertations and Theses

Queuosine (Q) is a modified nucleoside found at the wobble position of bacterial and eukaryotic transfer RNAs (tRNAs) that are specific for the amino acids tyrosine, histidine, aspartate and asparagine. A recently discovered enzyme in the biosynthetic pathway of Q, the NADPH-dependent 7-cyano-7-deazaguanine oxidoreductase (QueF), carries out the two-fold, four-electron reduction of Q precursor preQ0 to preQ1 and represents the first example of the enzymatic conversion of the nitrile functional group to an amine. Presented herein are kinetic, spectroscopic, mutational, biophysical, and isotope labeling studies directed at the elucidation of the chemical and kinetic mechanisms of this new class of …

Faculty Senate Monthly Packet May 2009, Portland State University Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Monthly Packets

The May 2009 Monthly packet includes the May agenda and appendices and the Faculty Senate minutes and attachments from the meeting held May 2009.

Prediction Of Persistence Of Fertilizer-Derived Cadmium In Oregon Agricultural Soils Using Equilibrium Modeling And Fertilizer Release Kinetics, Fungai Mukome

Dissertations and Theses

Organic farming has become a multimillion dollar industry and while much emphasis is put on subsequent fertilizer inputs onto these fields, very little consideration is given to the prior fertilization activities of these soils. For a farm to be certified organic it means no harmful chemicals have been applied for at least three years.

The overall hypothesis tested by this research was that equilibrium adsorption models can adequately represent the behavior of fertilizer-derived cadmium in Oregon agricultural soils and that such model results can be easily incorporated into risk assessment models, transport study models and persistence studies for organic or …

Exploring The Sensitivity Of Horn's Parallel Analysis To The Distributional Form Of Random Data, Alexis Dinno

Community Health Faculty Publications and Presentations

Horn's parallel analysis (PA) is the method of consensus in the literature on empirical methods for deciding how many components/factors to retain. Different authors have proposed various implementations of PA. Horn's seminal 1965 article, a 1996 article by Thompson and Daniel, and a 2004 article by Hayton et al., all make assertions about the requisite distributional forms of the random data generated for use in PA. Readily available software is used to test whether the results of PA are sensitive to several distributional prescriptions in the literature regarding the rank, normality, mean, variance, and range of simulated data on a …

Automated Crystal Phase And Orientation Mapping Of Nanocrystals In A Transmission Electron Microscope, Peter Moeck, Sergei Rouvimov, Edgar F. Rauch, Stavros Nicolopoulos

Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations

An automated technique for the mapping of nanocrystal phases and orientations in a transmission electron microscope (TEM) is described. It is based on the projected reciprocal lattice geometry that is extracted from electron diffraction spot patterns. The required hardware allows for a scanning‐precession movement of the primary electron beam on the crystalline sample and can be interfaced to any newer or older TEM. The software that goes with this hardware is flexible in its intake of raw data so that it can also create orientation and phase maps of nanocrystal from high resolution TEM (HRTEM) images. When the nanocrystals possess …

Extended Superposed Quantum State Initialization Using Disjoint Prime Implicants, David Rosenbaum, Marek Perkowski

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Extended Superposed Quantum State Initialization Using Disjoint Prime Implicants (ESQUID) is a new algorithm for generating quantum arrays for the purpose of initializing a desired quantum superposition. The quantum arrays generated by this algorithm almost always use fewer gates than other algorithms and in the worst case use the same number of gates. These improvements are achieved by allowing certain parts of the quantum superposition that cannot be initialized directly by the algorithm to be initialized using special circuits. This allows more terms in the quantum superposition to be initialized at the same time which decreases the number of gates …

The Design And Implementation Of A Safe, Lightweight Haskell Compiler, Timothy Jan Chevalier

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Typed programming languages offer safety guarantees that help programmers write correct code, but typical language implementations offer no proof that source-level guarantees extend to executable code. Moreover, typical implementations link programs with unsafe runtime system (RTS) code. I present a compiler for the functional language Haskell that preserves some of the properties of Haskell’s type system. The soundness proof for the combination of the compiler and a verified RTS requires a proof that the compiler emits code that cooperates correctly with the RTS. In particular, the latter proof must address the boundary between the user program and the garbage collector. …

Quantum Multiplexers, Parrondo Games, And Proper Quantization, Faisal Shah Khan

Dissertations and Theses

A quantum logic gate of particular interest to both electrical engineers and game theorists is the quantum multiplexer. This shared interest is due to the facts that an arbitrary quantum logic gate may be expressed, up to arbitrary accuracy, via a circuit consisting entirely of variations of the quantum multiplexer, and that certain one player games, the history dependent Parrondo games, can be quantized as games via a particular variation of the quantum multiplexer. However, to date all such quantizations have lacked a certain fundamental game theoretic property.

The main result in this dissertation is the development of quantizations of …

Quaternions, Octonions, And The Quantization Of Games, Aden Omar Ahmed

Dissertations and Theses

We present an effect on classical games that is obtained by replacing the notion of probability distribution with the notions of quantum superposition and measurement. Our particular focus will be on two and three player games where each player has precisely two pure strategic choices. Games in normal form are represented as "payoff" functions.

Game quantization requires the extension of these functions to much larger domains. The main result of this work is the co-ordinatization of these extended functions by either the quaternions or octonions in order to obtain computationally friendly versions of these functions. This computational capability is then …

Faculty Senate Monthly Packet April 2009, Portland State University Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Monthly Packets

The April 2009 Monthly packet includes the April agenda and appendices and the Faculty Senate minutes and attachments from the meeting held March 2009