Digital Commons Network^™

Adaptive Execution Of Data Parallel Computations On Networks Of Heterogeneous Workstations, Robert Prouty, Steve Otto, Jonathan Walpole

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Parallel environments consisting of a network of heterogeneous workstations introduce an inherently dynamic environment that differs from multicomputers. Workstations are usually considered “shared” resources while multicomputers provide dedicated processing power. The number of workstations available for use is continually changing; the parallel machine presented by the network is in effect continually reconfiguring itself. Application programs must effectively adapt to the changing number of processing nodes while maintaining computational efficiency. This paper examines methods for adapting to this dynamic environment within the framework of explicit message passing under the data parallel programming model. We present four requirements which we feel a …

Laser Resonators Using Tiered Fresnel Mirrors, Bruce Dale Ulrich

Dissertations and Theses

A reflective Tiered Fresnel Zone Plate, herein called a Tiered Fresnel Mirror TFM, with a focal length on the order of a meter is studied for use as the mirror(s) in a Fabry-Perot interferometer type of laser. The relative phase transition within the individual zones (ideally smooth from zero to pi) is stair-stepped or tiered in the longitudinal direction of the mirror. Within an individual zone the step height is constrained to a constant whereas the width of the tiers are monotonically decreased when traversing radially outward so that the overall profile follows the ideal smooth curve. The effectiveness of …

Meeting Notes 1994-02-10 , Joint Policy Advisory Committee On Transportation

Joint Policy Advisory Committee on Transportation

No abstract provided.

Comet: A Synthetic Benchmark For Message-Passing Architectures, Nalini Ganapati, Steve Otto, Jonathan Walpole

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Rapid advances in hardware technology have led to wide diversity in parallel computer architectures. This diversity makes it difficult to evaluate or compare the performance of different parallel computers. Existing benchmarks tend either to be too architecture-specific, or too high-level. Both problems can result in benchmarks that not only provide insufficient information on the performance characteristics of the computer being tested, but are also difficult to port. New benchmarking approaches are needed for new architectural classes, particularly distributed-memory, message-passing computers. This paper focuses on benchmarking distributed-memory message-passing computers. A synthetic benchmark called CoMet (COmmunication METrics), is presented. CoMet is based …

Adaptive Notch Filter, Yuchen Huang

Dissertations and Theses

The thesis presents a new adaptive notch filter (ANF) algorithm that is more accurate and efficient and has a faster convergent rate than previous ANF algorithms. In 1985, Nehorai designed an infinite impulse response (UR) ANF algorithm that has many advantages over previous ANF algorithms. It requires a minimal number of parameters with constrained poles and zeros. It has higher stability and sharper notches than any ANF algorithm until now. Because of the special filter structure and the recursive prediction error (RPE) method, however, the algorithm is very sensitive to the initial estimate of the filter coefficient and its covariance. …

Meeting Notes 1994-01-13 [Part A] , Joint Policy Advisory Committee On Transportation

Joint Policy Advisory Committee on Transportation

No abstract provided.

Meeting Notes 1994-01-13 [Part B] , Joint Policy Advisory Committee On Transportation

Joint Policy Advisory Committee on Transportation

No abstract provided.

Persistence Influences On The Minority Student Attending A Predominantly White Postsecondary Urban Institution: The Student Perspective, Annmarie O'Brien

Dissertations and Theses

This dissertation is an examination of influences that have contributed to the retention of a group of minority students attending a predominately white postsecondary institution. The focus of the study is on the students' perspectives and the meaning and personal interpretation students draw from influences that impinge upon them and from their interactions with the college experience. From a sociological perspective this view and emphasis on meaning is described as the sociology of everyday life. The component of the sociology of everyday life which directed the methodology is symbolic interactionism. The data collection instrument was a focused interview. Variables from …

Programmable Analog Array Circuit, Marek Perkowski, Edmund Pierzchala

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

There is disclosed a programmable analog or mixed analog/ digital circuit. More particularly, this invention provides a circuit architecture that is ?exible for a programmable electronic hardWare device or for an analog circuit Whose input and output signals are analog or multi-valued in nature, and primarily continuous in time. There is further disclosed a design for a current-mode integrator and sample-and-hold circuit, based upon Miller effect.

Annual Faculty Senate Minutes October 1994 - June 1995, Portland State University Faculty Senate

Annual Compilations of the Faculty Senate Minutes (Minutes Only)

Minutes of the Faculty Senate for October 1994 to June 1995.

Settlement Patterns In The Portland Region: A Historical Overview, Carl Abbott

Portland Regional Planning History

Cities exist because they serve two basic functions--to generate economic value and to sustain social and cultural values. In the most fundamental sense, the interaction of these two urban roles determines the growth of metropolitan areas and patterns of land use and settlement within those urban areas.

Within this framework of metropolitan functions, five factors have strongly affected American urban settlement patterns. The first section of this report briefly introduces these broad forces. The central section traces in detail the ways in which the factors have shaped settlement and land use in the Portland area over the last 150 years. …

Threshold Characteristics Of Multimode Semiconductor Lasers, Lee W. Casperson, Mehdi Khoshnevissan

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The effects of spontaneous emission on the threshold characteristics of multimode laser oscillators with mixed line broadening are considered in detail. Most previous studies of multimode laser operation have emphasized the two limits of homogeneous and inhomogeneous broadening. With homogeneous broadening there is a tendency for oscillation in a single longitudinal mode, while in the inhomogeneous limit oscillation over much of the gain spectrum is expected. All practical lasers are somewhere between these limits, and this study explores the mode characteristics of lasers with mixed line broadening. Special attention is given to the important practical case of semiconductor diode lasers, …

Transform Method Of Processing For Speckle Strain-Rate Measurements, Donald D. Duncan, Sean J. Kirkpatrick, F. Fausten Mark, Lawrence W. Hunter

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

We have developed a highly sensitive method for measuring thermal expansion, mechanical strain, and creep rates. We use the well-known technique of observing laser speckle with a pair of linear array cameras, but we employ a data-processing approach based on a two-dimensional transform of the speckle histories from each camera. This technique can effect large gauge sizes, which are important in the assessment of the spatial statistics of creep. Further, the algorithm provides simultaneous global estimates of the strain rates at both small- and large-scale sizes. This feature may be of value in the investigation of materials with different short- …

The Schooling Of Vietnamese-American High School Students In Oregon: Their Perspectives, Minh Van Tran

Dissertations and Theses

Research on the education of Vietnamese-Americans is very limited, and mainstream media continue to project Vietnamese students either as high achievers or gang affiliated (Castro, 1983; Davis & McDaid, 1992). This kind of projection can mask the real issues that Vietnamese students are facing. Based on Cummins' (1979) Contextual Interaction Theory, this study examined the views of Vietnamese-American high school students in Oregon regarding their schooling under four major areas: Community Background Factors, Educational Input Factors, Instructional Treatment, and Student Input Factors. In particular, this study examined factors, within the above four areas, pertaining to the schooling of Vietnamese-American high …

Numerical Simulation Of Nonequilibrium Effects In An Argon Plasma Jet, C. H. Chang, John D. Ramshaw

Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Departures from thermal (translational), ionization, and excitation equilibrium in an axisymmetric argon plasma jet have been studied by two?dimensional numerical simulations. Electrons, ions, and excited and ground states of neutral atoms are represented as separate chemical species in the mixture. Transitions between excited states, as well as ionization/recombination reactions due to both collisional and radiative processes, are treated as separate chemical reactions. Resonance radiation transport is represented using Holstein escape factors to simulate both the optically thin and optically thick limits. The optically thin calculation showed significant underpopulation of excited species in the upstream part of the jet core, whereas …

Software Engineering And Tqm, Fernando E. Rivera

Engineering and Technology Management Student Projects

Quality cost, quality management, quality assurance, quality control, quality improvement, personnel for quality, employee involvement, and statistical process control are all issues in TQM that can be implemented in Software Engineering Organizations. In this research, the author tries to show different techniques, methodologies and tools that today are in use by many organizations to address the necessity of excellence in software development. In order to organize the work, the author has divided it in three sections. The section Team Building presents a framework to help Information System Managers ISM) to build a software team. The second is a series of …

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: Multnomah County looks to the PSU Center for Sociological Research for help in improving its jury system; blacks were a common sight on the American frontier, but their stories are seldom told; until recently the placing of disabled children in state facilities required parents to relinquish custody; why has the university enjoyed such athletic success and attracted such quality coaches and players?; and more.

Planning The Oregon Way : A Twenty-Year Evaluation, Carl Abbott, Deborah A. Howe, Sy Adler

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

Oregon's pioneering land use system is nationally recognized and serves as a valuable model and benchmark for other states. This volume examines the Oregon system, describes its strengths and weaknesses, and gives recommendations for the future.

Viking 1994, Portland State University

The Viking (Yearbooks)

Portland State University 1994 yearbook

Carbon Monoxide In The Antarctic Atmosphere: Observations Of Decreasing Concentrations, M. A. K. Khalil, R. A. Rasmussen

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Hydroxyl radicals remove hundreds, perhaps thousands, of organic gases from the atmosphere and are often regarded as am index of the oxidizing capacity of the Earth's atmosphere (Thompson 1992). In recent years, there have been growing concerns that, over the past century and now, human activities may be depleting hydroxyl concentrations by adding huge amounts of carbon monoxide and methane to the atmosphere. Reduction in the hydroxyl concentrations can then indirectly lead to more global warming, stratospheric ozone depletion, and other disturbances in atmospheric chemistry. Carbon monoxide (CO) is a key component in the determination of hydroxyl radical (OH) concentrations: …

A Method For Determining Ice-Thickness Change At Remote Locations Using Gps, Christina L. Hulbe, I. M. Whillans

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Ice-thickness changes at remote locations on ice sheets can be determined by means of precise Global Positioning System (GPS) surveys with interferometric solutions. Remote sites are precisely surveyed relative to GPS receivers on rock. Repeat observations of the position of a remote site provide its vertical velocity. The difference between this velocity and accumulation rate is an indicator of change in ice-sheet thickness. Allowance must be made for the movement of survey markers due to firn compaction and down-slope ice motion, To allow for firn compaction, very long- poles arc placed to a sufficient depth in the firn that the …

Neutron-Scattering Study Of Librations And Intramolecular Phonons In Rb_{2.6}K_{0.4}C_{60}, D. Reznik, W. A. Kamitakahara, D. A. Neumann, J. R. D. Copley, J. E. Fischer, Robert M. Strongin, M. A. Cichy, Amos B. Smith Iii

Chemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

We report the results of inelastic neutron-scattering measurements on Rb_2.6K_0.4C₆₀. Librational modes were observed as broad peaks with maxima between 4.1 and 4.7 meV, as the temperature is lowered from 300 to 12 K. As in K₃C₆₀, no change in the width or position of the librational peak was observed when the sample was cooled through the superconducting transition. Thus any coupling of the librations to electronic states is small. The magnitude of the orientational potential barrier was estimated from the librational peak frequency. A flat background observed in the …

Output-Based Performance Measures For The North Carolina Alliance For Competitive Technologies, Sheila A. Martin

Institute of Metropolitan Studies Publications

The North Carolina Alliance for Competitive Technologies (NC ACTs) is an organization operated by the state of North Carolina to coordinate technology development and, deployment activities in the state. The mission of NC ACTs is to apply innovation, technology, and technical resources to promote economic growth in the state. NC ACTs will operate as a central, strategic organization to guide existing resources and to develop new resources when necessary.

To accomplish its mission, NC ACTs must coordinate institutions and organizations that currently offer technology development and deployment into a rational, customer-driven system that measures and rewards results. Timely, reliable assessment …

Private Profit Versus Public Service: Competing Demands In Urban Transportation History And Policy, Portland, Oregon, 1872-1970, Martha J. Bianco

Dissertations and Theses

This dissertation is a case study of the history of urban transportation policy in Portland, Oregon, between 1872 and 1970. The emphasis is on mass transit policy formulated and implemented by the private and public sectors as response to crises within both the local transit industry and the urban political economy. These crises are placed in the context of the continuing conflict between the industry's right to profit and its obligation to meet the competing demands of its constituencies: ridership's demands for low fares and comprehensive service; labor's demands for competitive wages; downtown businesses' demands for peak-hour service; and the …

Case Studies Of The Structure, Dynamics, And Outcomes Of Interdisciplinary Team Organization In Oregon Middle Schools, Gail Lyon

Dissertations and Theses

Middle school literature advocates interdisciplinary team organization as a structure that enhances student learning and teacher satisfaction. In an interdisciplinary team, teachers responsible for different content areas collaboratively plan the instructional program for a shared group of students. Yet, fewer than fifty percent of the nation's middle schools use an interdisciplinary team structure, and research indicates that teams are fragile and temporary. Few studies were found that described interdisciplinary team organization at the team or individual teacher level.

The purpose of this case study is to describe the structure, dynamics, and outcomes of interdisciplinary teams of teachers in middle schools. …

Memo To Ernis And Carly Houk From Ernie Bonner, Ernest Bonner

Ernie Bonner Collection

No abstract provided.

Meeting Notes 1993-12-09 , Joint Policy Advisory Committee On Transportation

Joint Policy Advisory Committee on Transportation

No abstract provided.

Development Of High-Technology Industries In The Portland/Vancouver Metropolitan Area: An Analysis Of Regional And Intraregional Factors Affecting High-Tech Firm Locations, Ulf Eichner

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis aims to investigate local conditions of high-tech industry development in the Portland/Vancouver CMSA. To do so, the research proceeds in four major stages. First, it is analyzed how historical factors contributed to the rise of high-tech industries in the CMSA. The second part consists of mapping the distribution pattern of hightech establishments. The U.S. Bureau of Census' County Business Patterns statistics are used to calculate the number of high-tech establishments and employees by branch (SIC code) and county; two high-tech directories help to identify the exact firm locations. Thirdly, an explanatory set of locational factors is established, based …

Faculty Senate Monthly Packet December 1993, Portland State University Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Monthly Packets

The December 1993 Monthly packet includes the December agenda and appendices and the Faculty Senate minutes and attachments from the meeting held November 1993.

Script-Based Qos Specifications For Multimedia Presentations, Richard Staehli, Jonathan Walpole

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Multimedia presentations can convey information not only by the sequence of events but by their timing. The correctness of such presentations thus depends on the timing of events as well as their sequence and content. This paper introduces a formal specification language for playback of real-time presentations. The main contribution of this language is a quality of service (QOS) specification that relaxes resolution and synchronization requirements for playback. Our definitions give a precise meaning to the correctness of a presentation. This specification language will form the basis for a QOS interface for reservation of operating system resources.