Digital Commons Network^™

Scientology's Faq: Sciencing, Tech-Romancing, Simulacra, & Simulation An Estranged Content Analysis, David Scott Morrill

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis examines how the practice of sciencing, tech-romancing, simulacra, and simulation manifests in both the text and symbols used on audiences of the Church of Scientology’s outreach materials. It specifically examines its official FAQ page. Self-framing was observed that satisfied the definition of sciencing and tech-romancing. Under an Estranged approach, Morrill examined selections of the Church’s FAQ pages, coding for instances of sciencing, tech-romancing, simulacra, and simulation. The data indicate that the Church frequently adopts simulacra and engages in simulation. The Church was seen frequently adopting technological and scientific symbols and jargon. The degree of sciencing, tech-romancing, simulacra, and …

Mussel Squeeze: Dissolved Oxygen And Temperature Can “Squeeze” Zebra Mussels Out Of Invaded Reservoirs, Crysta Gantz, Rich Miller, Steve Wells, Mark D. Sytsma, Angela Strecker

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) are an aquatic invasive species that cause extensive economic and ecological impacts and are a management priority in areas outside of their native range. Survivorship and distribution of zebra mussels within a waterbody are thought to be influenced by temperature and dissolved oxygen conditions, but detailed information to confirm the importance of these environmental controls is necessary to inform management efforts. We measured planktonic zebra mussel veliger density and adult survivorship in San Justo Reservoir in central California to determine distribution and timing of spawning in relation to temperature and dissolved oxygen throughout winter, spring, and …

Spatial Validation Of Agent-Based Models, Kristoffer Wikstrom, Hal T. Nelson

Public Administration Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper adapts an existing techno–social agent-based model (ABM) in order to develop a new framework for spatially validating ABMs. The ABM simulates citizen opposition to locally unwanted land uses, using historical data from an energy infrastructure siting process in Southern California. Spatial theory, as well as the model’s design, suggest that adequate validation requires multiple tests rather than relying solely on a single test-statistic. A pattern-oriented modeling approach was employed that first mapped real and simulated citizen comments across the US Census tract. The suite of spatial tests included Global Moran’s I, complemented with bivariate correlations, as well as …

Hydraulic Redistribution Under Saline Conditions, Josh Gottlieb

Civil and Environmental Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Water scarcity and soil salinity are dual stressors for plants in arid, salt-affected ecosystems. Hydraulic redistribution, a hydraulic adaptation which moves water through plant roots into dry or saline soil regions along potential gradients, aids plant survival in stressful environments. Recent theory regarding hydraulic redistribution proposes limitations on the process within saline soils. This study applies a minimalist resistor-capacitor model of the soil-plant-atmosphere system to the experimental conditions of a 2010 study investigating hydraulic redistribution in a salt affected area. The effectiveness of the model is evaluated, and a sensitivity analysis is conducted to identify key dynamics affecting the moisture …

The Time Is Right For An Antarctic Biorepository Network, Kristin M. O’Brien, Elizabeth L. Crockett, Bryon J. Adams, Charles D. Amsler, Hannah J. Appiah-Madson, Allen Collins, Thomas Desvignes, Sarah Eppley, Multiple Additional Authors

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Antarctica is a central driver of the Earth’s climate and health. The Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica serves as a major sink for anthropogenic CO2 and heat (1), and the loss of Antarctic ice sheets contributes significantly to sea level rise and will continue to do so as the loss of ice sheets accelerates, with sufficient water stores to raise sea levels by 58 m (2). Antarctica's marine environment is home to a number of iconic species, and the terrestrial realm harbors a remarkable oasis for life, much of which has yet to be discovered (3). Distinctive oceanographic features of the …

Confederate Statues In University Opinion Newspaper Articles: An Analysis Of Themes And Attachment, Jamie Nicole Knopf

Dissertations and Theses

Many have asked for Confederate monuments' removal while others argue that they should remain or be recontextualized. Knopf analyzed themes found in Southern university student newspapers on the monument issue and how the statues related to community attachment. Using thematic analysis, Knopf identified six themes across the articles, and found that both removal and recontextualization arguments refer to the ideology behind the statues and the impacts this can have on students. Instances of attachment were used in both removal and recontextualization articles.

Possibilities For Inertial Electrostatic Confinement Fusion, Jeffrey Edward Black

Dissertations and Theses

While most of the fusion energy research is focused on magnetic confinement, there have been several alternative confinement methods aimed at the development of smaller and less expensive reactors. A number of these devices utilize a spherically convergent beam of recirculating ions, a technique known as inertial electrostatic confinement (IEC). This study looks at several aspects of IEC devices, including measurements of the fusion rate of an IEC device with a wire mesh electrode cathode, and a solid titanium cathode. In addition, several computational studies were performed to explore the possibilities for IEC fusion. These include development of a 1D-1P …

Faculty Senate Monthly Packet December 2022, Portland State University Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Monthly Packets

The December 5, 2022 Monthly packet includes the December agenda and appendices and the Faculty Senate minutes and attachments from the meeting held November 7, 2022.

Biomechanical And Sensory Feedback Regularize The Behavior Of Different Locomotor Central Pattern Generators, Kaiyu Deng, Alexander J. Hunt, Nicholas Szczecinski, Matthew Tresch, Hillel J. Chiel, Charles Heckman, Roger Quinn

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

This work presents an in-depth numerical investigation into a hypothesized two-layer central pattern generator (CPG) that controls mammalian walking and how different parameter choices might affect the stepping of a simulated neuromechanical model. Particular attention is paid to the functional role of features that have not received a great deal of attention in previous work: the weak cross-excitatory connectivity within the rhythm generator and the synapse strength between the two layers. Sensitivity evaluations of deafferented CPG models and the combined neuromechanical model are performed. Locomotion frequency is increased in two different ways for both models to investigate whether the model’s …

Scaling Epa-Rimm With Multicore System Management Interrupt Handlers, Alexander K. Freed

Dissertations and Theses

Continuous runtime integrity measurement mechanisms (RIMMs) can be used for timely detection of kernel and hypervisor rootkits. Researchers have proposed running RIMMs in privileged execution environments, such as the x86 architecture’s System Management Mode (SMM), to detect interference from rootkits that have gained control of the host operating system. However, the extended amount of time in SMM required to perform inspections can cause severe disruption to the host. A previously proposed RIMM design called EPA-RIMM addresses this by decomposing long inspections across multiple System Management Interrupts (SMI), the interrupt used to invoke SMM.

EPA-RIMM is intended for deployment on server-class …

The Next Wave Of Abolishing Parking Mandates, Catie Gould, Jeannette Lee

PSU Transportation Seminars

The movement to eliminate parking mandates is having a big moment. This summer, both Oregon and California took statewide action to roll back minimum off-street parking requirements, relegalizing homes and businesses regardless of how many parking spots they have. We’ll take a look at why parking reform is so important, what to expect next in Oregon, and lessons from cities who have already gone all the way to delete this regulation from their zoning code.

Feasibility Of Tracking Human Kinematics With Simultaneous Localization And Mapping (Slam), Sepehr Laal, Paul Vasilyev, Sean Pearson, Mateo Aboy, James Mcnames

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

We evaluated a new wearable technology that fuses inertial sensors and cameras for tracking human kinematics. These devices use on-board simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) algorithms to localize the camera within the environment. Significance of this technology is in its potential to overcome many of the limitations of the other dominant technologies. Our results demonstrate this system often attains an estimated orientation error of less than 1^o and a position error of less than 4 cm as compared to a robotic arm. This demonstrates that SLAM’s accuracy is adequate for many practical applications for tracking human kinematics.

Evaluation Of Metaverse Integration Of Freight Fluidity Measurement Alternatives Using Fuzzy Dombi Edas Model, Muhammet Deveci, Ilgin Gokasar, Oscar Castillo, Tugrul Daim

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Developments in transportation systems, changes in consumerism trends, and conditions such as COVID-19 have increased both the demand and the load on freight transportation. Since various companies are transporting goods all over the world to evaluate the sustainability, speed, and resiliency of freight transportation systems, data and freight fluidity measurement systems are needed. In this study, an integrated decision-making model is proposed to advantage prioritize the freight fluidity measurement alternatives. The proposed model is composed of two main stages. In the first stage, the Dombi norms based Logarithmic Methodology of Additive Weights (LMAW) is used to find the weights of …

Applying A Mt. Mazama Volcanic Ash Treatment As A Trail Accessibility Improvement, Charles Riley, Ashton Greer, Matthew D. Sleep

TREC Final Reports

A procedure has been developed for implementing a topically applied Mt. Mazama volcanic ash trail surface amendment for improving trail firmness and stability. This project involved implementation of previously conducted Mt. Mazama volcanic research by applying a Mazama Ash and Portland Cement solution over a 0.2-mile section of the Geo Trail at the Oregon Institute of Technology Klamath Falls campus. Testing was performed to verify ideal Ash-to-Cement-to-Water ratios. A procedure was developed and applied for batching and mixing the dry materials on-site, spreading and integrating the dry material with the existing trail surface, and wetting and compacting the surface. After …

Enabling Decision-Making In Battery Electric Bus Deployment Through Interactive Visualization, Xiaoyue Cathy Liu, Gabrielius Kudirka, Biao Kuang, Yirong Zhou, Jianlin Chen

TREC Final Reports

The transit industry is rapidly transitioning to battery-electric fleets because of the direct environmental and financial benefits they could offer, such as zero emissions, less noise, and lower maintenance costs. Yet the unique spatiotemporal characteristics associated with transit system charging requirements, as well as various objectives when prioritizing the fleet electrification, requires the system operators and/or decision-makers to fully understand the status of the transit system and energy/power system in order to make informed deployment decisions. A recently completed NITC project, No. 1222 titled An Electric Bus Deployment Framework for Improved Air Quality and Transit Operational Efficiency, developed a bi-objective …

Data From: Machine Learning Predictions Of Electricity Capacity, Marcus Harris, Elizabeth Kirby, Ameeta Agrawal, Rhitabrat Pokharel, Francis Puyleart, Martin Zwick

Complex Systems Faculty Datasets

This research applies machine learning methods to build predictive models of Net Load Imbalance for the Resource Sufficiency Flexible Ramping Requirement in the Western Energy Imbalance Market. Several methods are used in this research, including Reconstructability Analysis, developed in the systems community, and more well-known methods such as Bayesian Networks, Support Vector Regression, and Neural Networks. The aims of the research are to identify predictive variables and obtain a new stand-alone model that improves prediction accuracy and reduces the INC (ability to increase generation) and DEC (ability to decrease generation) Resource Sufficiency Requirements for Western Energy Imbalance Market participants. This …

Resurfacing A Trail In Oregon Using Volcanic Ash, Charles Riley, Ashton Greer

TREC Project Briefs

In the latest instance of taking research to practice, researchers at Oregon Tech have completed a pilot section of trail using a NITC-developed sustainable paving method. A quarter-mile section of the Klamath Geo Trail, just east and up the hill from the Oregon Tech Klamath Falls campus, has been successfully resurfaced using volcanic ash from Mount Mazama.

Social Media Impact On Small Brick And Mortar Businesses, David N. Bowles

University Honors Theses

This thesis examines the implementation of various strategies and goals for small to medium brick-and-mortar enterprises regarding their use of social media. Drawing from primary data collection with small brick-and-mortar businesses within the greater metro area of Portland, Oregon, the value of social media is the ability of an organization to create a sense of value for their consumers while promoting positive relations and enhancing the consumer's ability to interact with an organization on a more personal level. Focusing on the implementation of various strategies and promotional efforts to increase the success of these small businesses and align their organizational …

Sequential Frame-Interpolation And Dct-Based Video Compression Framework, Yeganeh Jalalpour, Wu-Chi Feng, Feng Liu

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Video data is ubiquitous; capturing, transferring, and storing even compressed video data is challenging because it requires substantial resources. With the large amount of video traffic being transmitted on the internet, any improvement in compressing such data, even small, can drastically impact resource consumption. In this paper, we present a hybrid video compression framework that unites the advantages of both DCT-based and interpolation-based video compression methods in a single framework. We show that our work can deliver the same visual quality or, in some cases, improve visual quality while reducing the bandwidth by 10--20%.

The Distribution And Reproductive Success Of The Western Snowy Plover Along The Oregon Coast - 2022, David J. Lauten, Kathleen A. Castelein, Daniel Farrar, Mary Lee, Eleanor P. Gaines

Institute for Natural Resources Publications

We monitored the distribution, abundance and productivity of the federally threatened Western Snowy Plover (Charadrius nivosus nivosus) along the central and south coast of Oregon from 1 April – 15 September 2022. We surveyed and monitored plover activity in a project area that included, from north to south, Sutton Beach, Siltcoos River estuary, the Dunes Overlook, North Tahkenitch Creek, Tenmile Creek, Coos Bay North Spit, Bandon Snowy Plover Management Area, New River Habitat Restoration Area (HRA) and adjacent lands, and Floras Lake. Our objectives for the project area in 2022 were to: 1) estimate the size of the adult Snowy …

Sensor Formed From Conductive Nanoparticles And A Porous Non-Conductive Substrate, Erik T. Thostenson, Thomas Schumacher

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

In various aspects, the sensors include a substrate that is porous and non-conductive with nanoparticles deposited onto the substrate within pores of the substrate by an electrophoretic process to form a sensor element. The nanoparticles are electrically conductive. The sensor includes a detector in communication with the sensor element to measure a change in an electrical property of the sensor element. The change in the electrical property may result from alterations in quantum tunneling between nanoparticles within the sensor element, in various aspects.

Cruise, A Tool For The Detection Of Iterons In Circular Rep-Encoding Single-Stranded Dna Viruses, Adam Jones, George W. Kasun, Joel Stover, Kenneth M. Stedman, Ignacio De La Higuera

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Iterons are short, repeated DNA sequences that are important for the replication of circular single-stranded DNA viruses. No tools that can reliably predict iterons are currently available. The CRUcivirus Iteron SEarch (CRUISE) tool is a computational tool that identifies iteron candidates near stem-loop structures in viral genomes.

Working Paper No. 74, Some Influential Effects Of The Typewriter On The American Economy, Bander Qadan

Working Papers in Economics

This inquiry seeks to establish that the introduction of the typewriter generated effects upon the American economy by promoting productivity increases, enhancing communications, and improving management. In addition, this inquiry seeks to illustrate how the typewriter affected American businesses by providing efficiency in time management and documents’ production. Furthermore, this inquiry shall showcase how the typewriter affected women’s work in the American economy, especially with respect to inclusivity within the workplace as well as the enhancement of communications. Additionally, this inquiry shall analyze how the development of the QWERTY keyboard and its related “lock-in” generated effects on the American economy.

Study On The Spatiotemporal Dynamic Of Ground-Level Ozone Concentrations On Multiple Scales Across China During The Blue Sky Protection Campaign, Haoji Wu, Lin Pei, Xiaowei Zhu, Bin Guo, Dingming Zhang, Multiple Additional Authors

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Surface ozone (O3), one of the harmful air pollutants, generated significantly negative effects on human health and plants. Existing O3 datasets with coarse spatiotemporal resolution and limited coverage, and the uncertainties of O3 influential factors seriously restrain related epidemiology and air pollution studies. To tackle above issues, we proposed a novel scheme to estimate daily O3 concentrations on a fine grid scale (1 km × 1 km) from 2018 to 2020 across China based on machine learning methods using hourly observed ground-level pollutant concentrations data, meteorological data, satellite data, and auxiliary data including digital elevation model (DEM), land use …

Prediction Of Curing Time/Shear Strength Of Non-Conductive Adhesives Using A Neural Network Model, Kyung-Eun Min, Jae-Won Jang, Jun-Ki Kim, Sung Yi, Cheolhee Kim

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Electronic packaging has been developed with high resolution and fine interconnection pitches. Non-conductive adhesives (NCAs) have been growing with the increase of I/O pad count and density, along with fine pad bond pitch interconnections. Prediction and optimization of NCA characteristics are inherently complicated due to various and extensive materials composing NCAs. In this study, a framework predicting the curing time and shear strength of an NCA is established by a neural network model. NCA formulations with 4 resins, 3 hardeners, 8 catalysts, and a coupling agent were selected from in-house experiments, and an artificial neural network (ANN) with one dense …

K-12 Racial Equity Work In The Predominantly White Pacific Northwest: Interracial Conversations, Counter-Stories, And Considerations, Bradley Justin Parker

Dissertations and Theses

K-12 public education in the United States, post Brown v. Board of Education (1954), has historically maintained a predominantly White teaching force, and has persistently underserved students of Color in terms of academic, social, and emotional outcomes. Additionally, K-12 school-based racial equity work that strives to address the operation of racism is inconsistent, difficult to measure, and has not demonstrably created more racially equitable experiences or outcomes for students or educators of Color. In this project, I critically explore K-12 school-based efforts towards more racial equity in the predominantly White Pacific Northwest, and I take an intentional and critical look …

Enlarging The Stokes Shift By Weakening The Π-Conjugation Of Cyanines For High Signal-To-Noise Ratiometric Imaging, Yongkang Yue, Tingting Zhao, Zhou Xu, Weijie Chi, Xiaojun Chai, Jiahong Ai, Jiawei Zhang, Fangjun Huo, Robert M. Strongin, Caixia Yin

Chemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is one of the key features of a fluorescent probe and one that often defines its potential utility for in vivo labeling and analyte detection applications. Here, it is reported that introducing a pyridine group into traditional cyanine-7 dyes in an asymmetric manner provides a series of tunable NIR fluorescent dyes (Cy-Mu-7) characterized by enhanced Stokes shifts (≈230 nm) compared to the parent cyanine 7 dye (nm). The observed Stokes shift increase is ascribed to symmetry breaking of the Cy-Mu-7 core and a reduction in the extent of conjugation. The fluorescence signals of the Cy-Mu-7 dyes …

A Novel Voc Breath Tracer Method To Evaluate Indoor Respiratory Exposures In The Near- And Far-Fields; Implications For The Spread Of Respiratory Viruses, Hooman Parhizkar, Mark Fretz, Aurelie Laguerre, Jason Stenson, Richard Corsi, Kevin Van Den Wymelenberg, Elliott T. Gall

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background

Several studies suggest that far-field transmission (>6 ft) explains a significant number of COVID-19 superspreading outbreaks.

Objective

Therefore, quantifying the ratio of near- and far-field exposure to emissions from a source is key to better understanding human-to-human airborne infectious disease transmission and associated risks.

Methods

In this study, we used an environmentally-controlled chamber to measure volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released from a healthy participant who consumed breath mints, which contained unique tracer compounds. Tracer measurements were made at 0.76 m (2.5 ft), 1.52 m (5 ft), 2.28 m (7.5 ft) from the participant, as well as in the …

Cocm: Co-Occurrence-Based Consistency Matching In Domain-Adaptive Segmentation, Siyu Zhu, Yingjie Tian, Fenfen Zhou, Kunlong Bai, Xiaoyu Song

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper focuses on domain adaptation in a semantic segmentation task. Traditional methods regard the source domain and the target domain as a whole, and the image matching is determined by random seeds, leading to a low degree of consistency matching between domains and interfering with the reduction in the domain gap. Therefore, we designed a two-step, three-level cascaded domain consistency matching strategy—co-occurrence-based consistency matching (COCM)—in which the two steps are: Step 1, in which we design a matching strategy from the perspective of category existence and filter the sub-image set with the highest degree of matching from the image …

Of Back Stories, Byways & Entangled Aesthetics Of Epistemology: Teaching Art, Poetic Protest And Curricular Alterity In A Time Of Ethicide, Molly Quinn

Northwest Journal of Teacher Education

Of Back Stories, Byways & Entangled Aesthetics of Epistemology: Teaching Art, Poetic Protest and Curricular Alterity in a Time of Ethicide engages autobiographical analysis to illumine and offer examples of what art and poetry may offer as forms of nonviolent resistance and protest for teachers and teacher educators in challenging curricular epistemicide and advancing educational ethics and justice.