Digital Commons Network^™

Performance Metrics For Depth-Based Signal Separation Using Deep Vertical Line Arrays, John K. Boyle

Dissertations and Theses

Vertical line arrays (VLAs) deployed below the critical depth in the deep ocean can exploit reliable acoustic path (RAP) propagation, which provides low transmission loss (TL) for targets at moderate ranges, and increased TL for distant interferers. However, sound from nearby surface interferers also undergoes RAP propagation, and without horizontal aperture, a VLA cannot separate these interferers from submerged targets. A recent publication by McCargar and Zurk (2013) addressed this issue, presenting a transform-based method for passive, depth-based separation of signals received on deep VLAs based on the depth-dependent modulation caused by the interference between the direct and surface-reflected acoustic …

Phenotypic And Mutational Consequences Of Mitochondrial Etc Genetic Damage, Michael James Lue

Dissertations and Theses

Genetic mutation is the ultimate source of new phenotypic variation in populations. The importance of mutation cannot be understated, and constitutes a significant evolutionary force. Although single mutations may have little to no impact on organismal performance or fitness, when multiplied across the total number of potential sites within the genome, mutation can have a large impact. Accurate measurement of the rates, molecular mechanisms, and distributions of effects of mutations are critical for many applications of evolutionary theory. Despite the importance of both deleterious and beneficial mutations, their genome-wide patterns and phenotypic consequences are poorly understood when considering the mitochondrial …

Development Of An Optical Method For The Detection Of Homocysteine As A Disease Biomarker Using Fluorescein-Aldehydes, Aabha Barve

Dissertations and Theses

Homocysteine is a natural occurring aminothiol. It is an intermediate product in the metabolism of methionine. Methionine is an essential amino acid required for protein synthesis. Metabolic irregularities disrupt homocysteine levels in plasma. Elevated homocysteine levels are directly linked to folate and cobalamin (vitamin B12) deficiencies, and are an independent risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. High homocysteine levels have also been associated with Alzheimer's, osteoporosis, renal failure, cancer, birth defects and pregnancy complications. The association of elevated homocysteine levels with cardiovascular disease and other diseases has generated great interest in the detection of homocysteine.

An optical method for the detection …

Genes Affecting The Repair And Survival Of Escherichia Coli Following Psoralen-Induced Damage: A Dna Interstrand Crosslinking Agent, Anthonige Vidya Perera

Dissertations and Theses

Photoactivated psoralens and other agents that form DNA interstrand crosslinks are highly cytotoxic and are useful in treating a range of diseases, including vitiligo, psoriasis, and some forms of cancer. Unlike many lesions that damage only one strand of the duplex DNA, DNA interstrand crosslinks form covalent bonds with both strands. Thus, repairing these lesions is complicated both by the lack of an undamaged strand to serve as a template for resynthesis following excision, as well as the potential to form double strand breaks if both strands are incised. A number of models have proposed that repair is likely to …

"Children Need Protection Not Perversion": The Rise Of The New Right And The Politicization Of Morality In Sex Education In Great Britain, 1968-1989, Miriam Corinne Morehart

Dissertations and Theses

Two competing forms of sex education and the groups supporting them came to head in the 1970s and 1980s. Traditional sex education retained an emphasis on maintaining Christian-based morality through marriage and parenthood preparation that sex education originally held since the beginning of the twentieth century. Liberal sex education developed to openly discuss issues that reflected recent legal and social changes. This form reviewed controversial subjects including abortion, contraception and homosexuality. Though liberal sex education found support from national family planning organizations and Labour politicians, traditional sex education found a more vocal and powerful ally in the New Right.

This …

Facile Methods For The Analysis Of Lysophosphatidic Acids In Human Plasma, Jialu Wang

Dissertations and Theses

Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) influences many physiological processes, such as brain and vascular development. It is associated with several diseases including ovarian cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, colorectal cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, multiple myeloma atherosclerotic diseases, cardiovascular diseases, pulmonary inflammatory diseases and renal diseases. LPA plasma and serum levels have been reported to be important values in diagnosing ovarian cancer and other diseases. However, the extraction and quantification of LPA in plasma are very challenging because of the low physiological concentration and similar structures of LPA to other phospholipids. Many previous studies have not described the separation of LPA from other phospholipids, …

Technological Forecasting Based On Segmented Rate Of Change, Dong-Joon Lim

Dissertations and Theses

Consider the following questions in the early stage of new product development. What should be the target market for proposed design concepts? Who will be the competitors and how fast are they moving forward in terms of performance improvements? Ultimately, is the current design concept and targeted launch date feasible and competitive?

To answer these questions, there is a need to integrate the product benchmarking with the assessment of performance improvement so that analysts can have a risk measure for their R&D target setting practices. Consequently, this study presents how time series benchmarking analysis can be used to assist scheduling …

Spectroscopy, Nmr, And Electrochemistry Studies Of Protonated Aminophenyl/Pyridyl Porphyrins And Their Application In Hydrogen Evolution, Chenyi Wang

Dissertations and Theses

Spectrophotometric titrations for a full series of 4-aminophenyl/4-pyridyl meso-substituted porphyrins were carried out using methanesulfonic acid in DMSO to study the hyperporphyrin effect across different substitution patterns. The series included zero, one, two (cis and trans), three, and four meso(4-aminophenyl) groups, with the remaining meso substituents being 4-pyridyl groups. The peripheral pyridyl groups consistently protonate before the interior porphyrin pyrrole nitrogens, which protonate before the aminophenyl groups. Aminophenyl substituents increase the basicity of the pyrrole nitrogens and lead to distinctive hyperporphyrin spectra with a broad Soret band and a strong red absorption. The structure proposed to give rise to these …

Applying Gps And Accelerometers To The Study Of African Savanna (Loxodonta Africana) And Asian Elephant (Elephas Maximus) Welfare In Zoos, Matthew Robert Holdgate

Dissertations and Theses

African savanna elephants (Loxodonta africana) and Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) are a focus of welfare research in zoos due to their high intelligence, complex social structure, and sheer size. Due to these challenges, some argue that zoos are inherently incapable of providing appropriate care for elephants, while others believe that zoos can fulfill the needs of these species with improved husbandry. There is a general consensus from both within and outside of zoos, however, that zoos must improve their elephant programs or cease exhibiting these animals altogether. Now more than ever, applied research on zoo elephant welfare is needed to …

Global Time-Independent Agent-Based Simulation For Transactive Energy System Dispatch And Schedule Forecasting, Shawn Aaron Chandler

Dissertations and Theses

Electricity service providers (ESP) worldwide have increased their interest in the use of electrical distribution, transmission, generation, storage, and responsive load resources as integrated systems. Referred to commonly as "smart grid," their interest is driven by widespread goals to improve the operations, management and control of large-scale power systems. In this thesis I provide research into a novel agent-based simulation (ABS) approach for exploring smart grid system (SGS) dispatch, schedule forecasting and resource coordination. I model an electrical grid and its assets as an adaptive ABS, assigning an agent construct to every SGS resource including demand response, energy storage, and …

Design Of A Hardware Platform For Gps-Based Orientation Sensing, Daniel Eugene Kirkpatrick

Dissertations and Theses

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV's) have recently gained popularity in military, civil service, agriculture, commercial, and hobby use. This is due in part to their affordability, which comes from advances in component technology. That technology includes microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) for inertial sensing, microprocessor technology for sequential algorithm processing, field programmable gate arrays (FPGA's) for parallel data processing, camera technology, global navigation satellite systems (GNSS's) for navigation, and battery technology such as the high energy density of lithium polymer batteries.

Despite the success of the technology to date, there remains development before UAV's should be flying alongside manned aircraft or over populated …

The Scales And Shapes Of Queer Women's Geographies: Mapping Private, Public And Cyber Spaces In Portland, Or, Paola Renata Saldaña

Dissertations and Theses

Queer women's relationship to space has been under-theorized due to the difficulties in identifying particular spatial patterns that can describe their presence in urban settings. Most of the research that has focused on queer space has mentioned the difficulty of mapping queer women. The purpose of this research is to identify the ways in which the scarcity of queer women-specific space in Portland, Oregon, has affected the development of a women's community based on a queer identity, the role of intersecting identities such as race and gender identity in these communities and spaces, as well as the implications of queer …

A Novel Approach To Flow And Sediment Transport Estimation In Estuaries And Bays, Hamed Moftakhari Rostamkhani

Dissertations and Theses

Reliable estimates of river discharge and sediment transport to the ocean from large tidal rivers are vital for water resources management, efficient river and harbor management, navigational purposes, and climate analyses. Due to the difficulties inherent in measuring tidal-river discharge, hydrological and sedimentological records are typically too short to adequately characterize long-term (decadal) trends. Also, uncertainties associated with observation and calibration of hydrological models suggest a need for more accurate methods based on longer records of hydrodynamic parameters (e.g. tides). Tidal theory indicates that tides and river discharge interact through quadratic bed friction, which diminishes and distorts the tidal wave …

Intersections Of Critical Systems Thinking And Community Based Participatory Research In Developing A Web Site For Autistic Adults, Dora Madeline Raymaker

Dissertations and Theses

People with disabilities, including those on the autism spectrum, comprise the world's largest minority and experience significant inequities in Internet use. Existing standards for accessible web sites are necessary but not sufficient without the direct engagement of end users in identifying access needs. Yet little is known about methods for effective engagement, and there are no systematically derived Web accessibility guidelines for autistic end users. Here I explore a hybrid approach to direct engagement using critical systems thinking (CST) and community based participatory research (CBPR) during the co-development of a healthcare-focused web site by the Academic Autism Spectrum Partnership in …

Supporting The Aging Workforce: The Impact Of Psychosocial Workplace Characteristics On Employees' Work Ability, Jennifer Rae Rineer

Dissertations and Theses

It is estimated that by 2020, 25% of the US labor force will be aged 55 or older. Along with this demographic shift, Americans and employees in other industrialized nations are now working longer than before, either out of preference or financial necessity. Therefore, it is essential that we understand how to support employees so that they can continue working in a healthy, happy, and productive manner as they age. The construct of work ability (the extent to which people perceive they can meet the mental and physical demands of their jobs) has the potential to guide research and practice …

Aberration Corrected Photoemission Electron Microscopy With Photonics Applications, Joseph P. S. Fitzgerald

Dissertations and Theses

Photoemission electron microscopy (PEEM) uses photoelectrons excited from material surfaces by incident photons to probe the interaction of light with surfaces with nanometer-scale resolution. The point resolution of PEEM images is strongly limited by spherical and chromatic aberration. Image aberrations primarily originate from the acceleration of photoelectrons and imaging with the objective lens and vary strongly in magnitude with specimen emission characteristics. Spherical and chromatic aberration can be corrected with an electrostatic mirror, and here I develop a triode mirror with hyperbolic geometry that has two adjacent, field-adjustable regions. I present analytic and numerical models of the mirror and show …

Modifications To A Cavity Ringdown Spectrometer To Improve Data Acquisition Rates, Gregory Alan Bostrom

Dissertations and Theses

Cavity ringdown spectroscopy (CRDS) makes use of light retention in an optical cavity to enhance the sensitivity to absorption or extinction of light from a sample inside the cavity. When light entering the cavity is stopped, the output is an exponential decay with a decay constant that can be used to determine the quantity of the analyte if the extinction or absorption coefficient is known. The precision of the CRDS is dependent on the rate at which the system it acquires and processes ringdowns, assuming randomly distributed errors. We have demonstrated a CRDS system with a ringdown acquisition rate of …

Leveraging Contextual Relationships Between Objects For Localization, Clinton Leif Olson

Dissertations and Theses

Object localization is currently an active area of research in computer vision. The object localization task is to identify all locations of an object class within an image by drawing a bounding box around objects that are instances of that class. Object locations are typically found by computing a classification score over a small window at multiple locations in the image, based on some chosen criteria, and choosing the highest scoring windows as the object bounding-boxes. Localization methods vary widely, but there is a growing trend towards methods that are able to make localization more accurate and efficient through the …

Energy Efficiency And Conservation Attitudes: An Exploration Of A Landscape Of Choices, Mersiha Spahic Mcclaren

Dissertations and Theses

This study explored energy-related attitudes and energy-saving behaviors that are no- or low-cost and relatively simple to perform. This study relied on two data sources: a longitudinal but cross-sectional survey of 4,102 U.S. residents (five biennial waves of this survey were conducted from 2002 to 2010) and a 2010 cross-sectional survey of 2,000 California residents. These two surveys contained data on two no- and low-cost behaviors: changing thermostat setting to save energy (no-cost behavior) and CFL installation behavior (low-cost behavior). In terms of attitudes, two attitudinal measures emerged from these data following a Cronbach's alpha and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA): …

Paleological And Ecological Impacts Of Virus Silicification, James Robert Laidler

Dissertations and Theses

Silicification of organisms in silica-depositing environments can impact both their ecology and their presence in the fossil record. Although microbes have been silicified under laboratory and environmental conditions, viruses had not been, prior to this work. Bacteriophage T4 was successfully silicified under laboratory conditions that closely simulated those found in silica-depositing hot springs. Virus morphology was maintained during the short period of silicification (48 hours), and a clear elemental signature of silicon and phosphorus was detected by energy-dispersive X-ray spectrophotometry (EDX). However, the EDX signature of silicified virus was not sufficiently distinct from that of cell membrane or phosphate minerals …

A Corpus Based Analysis Of Noun Modification In Empirical Research Articles In Applied Linguistics, Jo-Anne Hutter

Dissertations and Theses

Previous research has established the importance of the nouns and noun modification in academic writing because of their commonness and complexity. However, little is known about how noun modification varies across the rhetorical sections of research articles. Such a perspective is important because it reflects the interplay between communicative function and linguistic form.

This study used a corpus of empirical research articles from the fields of applied linguistics and language teaching to explore the connection between article sections (Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion; IMRD) and six types of noun modification: relative clauses, ing-clause postmodifiers, ed-clause postmodifiers, prepositional postmodifiers, premodifying nouns, and …

School Culture And The Affective Learning Needs Of Latino Long-Term English Learners, Maureen Ray

Dissertations and Theses

The US Department of Education projects that by the year 2030 the total English Learner (EL) population in US schools will exceed 40 percent. Currently, by the time ELs make it to high school, after 6 or more years in English Language Development (ELD) programs, the majority (59 percent), are Long Term English Learners (LTEL). LTEL students represent a variety of ethnicities and language groups, but the focus of this qualitative study is LTEL students who identify as Latino LTEL. The purpose of this qualitative study was to describe and explain recently graduated Latino LTEL's perceptions of the impact of …

Activist Doctors: Explaining Physician Activism In The Oregon Movement For Single-Payer Healthcare, Jennifer Cullen Loomis

Dissertations and Theses

Changes in American healthcare over the last half century have created social and economic crises, presenting challenges for doctors and patients. The recently-implemented Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is an incremental reform that does little to change the complex multi-payer financing characterizing American healthcare. There have been growing demands for more equitable financing arrangements, notably, a single-payer healthcare system in which medical care is financed through a single, non-profit payer and in which medical care is treated as a public good and medically-necessary care is available to everyone.

Nationally-representative surveys have demonstrated widespread physician support for single-payer legislation. Yet, …

On The Estimation Of Volumes Of Roadways: An Investigation Of Stop-Controlled Minor Legs, Joel Stephen Barnett

Dissertations and Theses

This effort seeks to answer the question; can a transferable model be developed from easily obtainable, publicly available land-use, census, roadway, and network data for the use in safety performance functions? 474 stop-controlled minor legs were used as the training data set using ordinary least squares regression. A best-fit model of maximum independent variables, n=12 was chosen using an exhaustive approach using Mallow's Cp to select the model with least bias in the predictors. The results of the analysis revealed that the combination of variables from Washington, Ohio, and North Carolina did not have a strong relationship. The best-fit model …

The Right To Dream: Assessing The Spatiality Of A Homeless Rest Site In Portland, Oregon, Stephen Przybylinski

Dissertations and Theses

The continued increase in homelessness in Portland, Oregon is in part a result of the systemic restructuring of the welfare state as well as a shift in local governance purviews. Primarily this has eradicated the affordable housing stock in the city which is compounded by the limited availability of emergency shelter spaces. These and other financial constraints have left a depleted service support system to cover a rising homelessness problem. In response to this, contemporary social movements have been focusing attention on economically marginalized groups such as the homeless, calling for rights to access resources in cities such as housing. …

Chemical Reaction Network Control Systems For Agent-Based Foraging Tasks, Joshua Stephen Moles

Dissertations and Theses

Chemical reaction networks are an unconventional computing medium that could benefit from the ability to form basic control systems. In this work, we demonstrate the functionality of a chemical control system by evaluating classic genetic algorithm problems: Koza's Santa Fe trail, Jefferson's John Muir trail, and three Santa Fe trail segments. Both Jefferson and Koza found that memory, such as a recurrent neural network or memories in a genetic program, are required to solve the task. Our approach presents the first instance of a chemical system acting as a control system. We propose a delay line connected with an artificial …

Safety At Half-Signal Intersections In Portland, Oregon, Todd Robert Johnson

Dissertations and Theses

The safety at half-signalized intersections in Portland, Oregon is analyzed in this thesis using 10 years of crash history and analysis of video that was collected at a subset of intersections. A half-signalized intersection has a standard red-yellow-green traffic signal for automobiles on the major road, a stop sign for motorists on the minor road, and a pedestrian signal with actuation for pedestrians and/or bicyclists on the minor road. Although prevalent in Canada, this type of intersection control is not typically found in the United States because the MUTCD explicitly prohibits its use. Half-signal use is limited mostly to two …

Die Unbewältigte Vergangenheit: The Third Generation And The Holocaust In Recent Literature And Film, Dana Lynne Capage

Dissertations and Theses

Processing the Holocaust and its disruption to society has emerged as a significant preoccupation, both privately and publicly, since the war ended almost seventy years ago. By taking up the topic, contemporary artists, often called the "third generation," die Enkel or die Dritten in German, argue that grappling with the past is a process that cannot yet be laid to rest. The cultural production of some of these artists is the focus of this study.

Some, like German literary scholar Ernestine Schlant, have argued that past efforts to process history have been lacking. Her review of West German, post-war literature, …

Sensible Air To Air Heat Recovery Strategies In A Passive House, Santiago Martin Rodriguez-Anderson

Dissertations and Theses

Due to rising energy costs and concerns about global climate change, high performance buildings are more in demand than ever before. With roughly 20% of the total energy consumption in the United States being devoted to residential use, this sector represents a significant opportunity for future savings. There are many guidelines and standards for reducing building energy consumption. One of the most stringent is the Passive House Standard. The standard requires that that air infiltration is less than or equal to 0.6 air changes per hour at a 50 Pascal pressure difference (ACH 50), annual heating energy is less than …

Developmental Perspectives On Motivational Resilience: Predictors Of Eighth-Grade At-Risk Students' Academic Engagement And Achievement, Heather Anne Brule

Dissertations and Theses

This study uses the concept of stage-environment fit (Eccles et al., 1993) in conjunction with self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985) to guide an investigation of at-risk eighth graders' motivational and academic resilience. A developmentally-calibrated method was used to divide students into motivational and academic resilience groups based on their resilient, average, or stress-affected levels of academic engagement and GPA. Data from 167 eighth graders and 155 sixth graders were used to examine the extent to which students' ratings of autonomy, teacher support, peer support, and engagement in garden-based education were related to resilience group membership, and whether these four …