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Simulation And Emulation Of Massively Parallel Processor For Solving Constraint Satisfaction Problems Based On Oracles, Gunavant Dinkar Chaudhari

Dissertations and Theses

Most part of my thesis is devoted to efficient automated logic synthesis of oracle processors. These Oracle Processors are of interest to several modern technologies, including Scheduling and Allocation, Image Processing and Robot Vision, Computer Aided Design, Games and Puzzles, and Cellular Automata, but so far the most important practical application is to build logic circuits to solve various practical Constraint Satisfaction Problems in Intelligent Robotics. For instance, robot path planning can be reduced to Satisfiability. In short, an oracle is a circuit that has some proposition of solution on the inputs and answers yes/no to this proposition. In other …

Disordered Thought, Disordered Language: A Corpus-Based Description Of The Speech Of Individuals Undergoing Treatment For Schizophrenia, Lucas Carl Steuber

Dissertations and Theses

The characteristics of patient speech are used in clinical settings to make assumptions about the thought processes of people with psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia. However, there have not been any studies of the language of people with schizophrenia that present evidence drawn from a large group of speakers. This study employs a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods to determine whether 140 medicated individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia exhibit the linguistic abnormalities claimed in the literature. It also compares the speech of people with schizophrenia with that of people diagnosed with depression in order to assess whether there is a …

Annotated Brief Of Professors Of Public International Law And Comparative Law As Amici Curiae In Samantar V. Yousuf, Chimène Keitner

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Politics Of Corporate Alien Tort Cases, Chimène Keitner

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Foreign Official Immunity And The "Baseline" Problem, Chimène Keitner

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Aba's Project To Revise The Criminal Justice Standards For The Prosecution And Defense Functions, Rory K. Little

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

M.B.Z. V. Clinton: Whither Jerusalem?, Calvin R. Massey

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Development Of A Hybrid Atomic Force And Scanning Magneto-Optic Kerr Effect Microscope For Investigation Of Magnetic Domains, Andrew James Lawrence

Dissertations and Theses

We present the development of a far-field magneto-optical Kerr effect microscope. An inverted optical microscope was constructed to accommodate Kerr imaging and atomic force microscopy. In Kerr microscopy, magnetic structure is investigated by measuring the polarization rotation of light reflected from a sample in the presence of a magnetic field. Atomic force microscopy makes use of a probe which is scanned over a sample surface to map the topography. The design was created virtually in SolidWorks, a three-dimensional computer-aided drafting environment, to ensure compatibility and function of the various components, both commercial and custom-machined, required for the operation of this …

The Binfords And Mort Publishing Company And The Development Of Regional Literature In Oregon, Jeremy Skinner

Dissertations and Theses

During the first half of the twentieth century there was a flourishing of publishers in the United States that specialized in books with content targeted for regional audiences. One of the largest regional publishers west of the Mississippi was the Binfords & Mort publishing company of Portland, Oregon. In 1930, Binfords & Mort began publishing works of fiction, history, poetry, children's literature, and natural history by Pacific Northwest authors with content focused on the Pacific Northwest. Between 1930 and 1984, when the Binford family sold the publishing company, Binfords & Mort published around one thousand titles, and became a one …

A Study Of Soil Organic Matter And Its Controlling Factors In Portland, Oregon, Megan Dillon

Dissertations and Theses

Traditionally, local above- and below-ground plant and microbial communities, temperature and precipitation, topography and texture and composition of parent material have been thought to govern the soil processes that lead to soil organic matter accumulation over decades or centuries. Soil organic matter is a substantial global reservoir of carbon and disturbance of equilibrated soils often leads to efflux of significant quantities of CO2. Anthropogenic influences shift the inputs, disturb the structure and alter the biochemistry of soil, profoundly disrupting soil-forming processes. Urbanization leads to soil organic matter equilibria that are different from those in naturally forming soils. Measurement of soil …

Low-Latency Estimates For Window-Aggregate Queries Over Data Streams, Amit Bhat

Dissertations and Theses

Obtaining low-latency results from window-aggregate queries can be critical to certain data-stream processing applications. Due to a DSMS's lack of control over incoming data (typically, because of delays and bursts in data arrival), timely results for a window-aggregate query over a data stream cannot be obtained with guarantees about the results' accuracy. In this thesis, I propose a technique, which I term prodding, to obtain early result estimates for window-aggregate queries over data streams. The early estimates are obtained in addition to the regular query results. The proposed technique aims to maximize the contribution to a result-estimate computation from all …

Motivation In Late Learners Of Japanese: Self-Determination Theory, Attitudes And Pronunciation, Shannon Guinn-Collins

Dissertations and Theses

The present study examined a hypothesized relationship between the following variables: intrinsic and extrinsic motivation as described by Self-Determination Theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985), integrative and instrumental orientation (Gardner & Lambert, 1972), attitudes toward pronunciation, and accent in English-speaking late learners of Japanese. Data collection occurred in two steps: First, English-speaking participants completed three questionnaires designed to measure their motivation and attitudes toward pronunciation; they then provided speech samples in Japanese. Native speakers of Japanese then rated these speech samples holistically on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 indicating a strong foreign accent, and 5 indicating a native …

The Moving To The Beat Documentary And Hip-Hop Based Curriculum Guide: Youth Reactions And Resistance, Jennifer Wallin-Ruschman

Dissertations and Theses

Many of the academic and popular treatments of hip-hop overlook the complexity of the phenomenon. Hip-hop is often portrayed solely as a source of corruption and regressive tendencies or, alternatively, as a sort of savior for otherwise marginalized individuals and source of revolutionary power. This thesis situates hip-hop between these poles and draws out its progressive and regressive aspects for analysis. Considering its vast global influence and a growing body of academic literature, hip-hop has been notably understudied in the field of psychology. Alternatively, educational theorists and practitioners have realized the power of hip-hop in revisualizing an emancipatory education that …

Logic Realization Using Regular Structures In Quantum-Dot Cellular Automata (Qca), Rahul Singhal

Dissertations and Theses

Semiconductor industry seems to approach a wall where physical geometry and power density issues could possibly render the device fabrication infeasible. Quantum-dot Cellular Automata (QCA) is a new nanotechnology that claims to offer the potential of manufacturing even denser integrated circuits, which can operate at high frequencies and low power consumption. In QCA technology, the signal propagation occurs as a result of electrostatic interaction among the electrons as opposed to flow to the electrons in a wire. The basic building block of QCA technology is a QCA cell which encodes binary information with the relative position of electrons in it. …

The Prevalence And Predictive Nature Of Victimization, Substance Abuse & Mental Health On Recidivism: A Comparative Longitudinal Examination Of Male And Female Oregon Department Of Corrections Inmates, Anastacia Konstantinos Papadopulos

Dissertations and Theses

As a consequence of increased awareness and the current scholarly debate regarding women's differential predictors of recidivism, criminal justice agencies are working with researchers in the field to expand their knowledge in this area. In 2007, Portland State University researchers in collaboration with the Oregon Department of Corrections conducted an investigation of factors emerging in the pathways and gender responsive literature as predictive of women's recidivism in a randomly selected sample of female (n=150) and male (n=150) inmates. This study used information gathered from that investigation for two purposes: (1) to assess the prevalence rates of victimization experiences (childhood, adolescent …

The Fantastic Machine, Nathaniel M. Weinham

Dissertations and Theses

The Fantastic Machine - the story of a man who struggles to keep family & friends safe when evil visits 1905 Portland, Oregon.

"Art Feeling Grows" In Oregon : The Portland Art Association, 1892-1932, Patrick A. Forster

Dissertations and Theses

Founded in 1892, the Portland Art Association (PAA) served as Oregon's and the Pacific Northwest's leading visual arts institution for almost a century. While the Association formally dissolved in 1984, its legacy is felt strongly today in the work of its successor organizations, the Portland Art Museum and Pacific Northwest College of Art. Emerging during a period of considerable innovation in and fervent advocacy for the arts across America, the Association provided the organizational network and resources around which an energetic and diverse group of city leaders, civic reformers and philanthropists, as well as artists and art educators, coalesced. This …

Toward A Richer Shade Of Blue: The Impact On Oregon Police Officer Perceptions Of Racial Minorities After Anti-Racial Profiling Training, David Andrew Kline

Dissertations and Theses

Four fatal shootings, during police interactions, of unarmed people-of-color occurred in the Portland, Oregon Metro Area from 2003 to 2010 calling into question from members of the community whether or not the officers involved and hence their representative police departments had been racially profiling. Of interest in this study is whether or not cutting edge anti-racial profiling police officer trainings have an impact on how officers in Oregon perceive members of racial minority groups. A review of literature found that previous inquiries into racial prejudice among police officers may be present and that previous efforts to address racial ethics in …

Modeling The Impact Of Roof Reflectivity, Integrated Photovoltaic Panels And Green Roof Systems On The Summertime Heat Island, Adam Scherba

Dissertations and Theses

This study presents the results of a modeling effort to explore the role that sustainable roofing technologies play in impacting the rooftop energy balance, and the resultant net sensible heat flux into the urban atmosphere with a focus on the summertime urban heat island. The model has been validated using data from a field experiment. Roofing technologies explored include control dark membrane roof, a highly reflective (cool) roof, a vegetated green roof, and photovoltaic panels elevated above various base roofs. Energy balance models were developed, validated with experimental measurements, and then used to estimate sensible fluxes in cities located in …

Social And Human Capital: Contributing Effects Of Incarceration On Neighborhoods, Jacqueline Victoria Swofford

Dissertations and Theses

Interest in human and social capital's contribution to the desistence of crime is increasingly popular amongst criminologists, economists and policy makers. However, little attention has been drawn to the influence human and social capital indicators contribute towards the relationship between the re-entry process and juvenile crime at the neighborhood level. The current study hypothesizes the existence of a mediating relationship between human and social capital indicators (2000) and the rates of receiving formerly incarcerated persons (1997-2002) and juvenile arrest (2006-08) in 92 Portland, Oregon neighborhoods. Portland, Oregon receives more formerly incarcerated persons from Oregon's state correctional facilities than any other …

Information Processing In Two-Dimensional Cellular Automata, Martin Cenek

Dissertations and Theses

Cellular automata (CA) have been widely used as idealized models of spatially-extended dynamical systems and as models of massively parallel distributed computation devices. Despite their wide range of applications and the fact that CA are capable of universal computation (under particular constraints), the full potential of these models is unrealized to-date. This is for two reasons: (1) the absence of a programming paradigm to control these models to solve a given problem and (2) the lack of understanding of how these models compute a given task. This work addresses the notion of computation in two-dimensional cellular automata. Solutions using a …

A Computational Model Of Adaptive Sensory Processing In The Electroreception Of Mormyrid Electric Fish, Eran Agmon

Dissertations and Theses

Electroreception is a sensory modality found in some fish, which enables them to sense the environment through the detection of electric fields. Biological experimentation on this ability has built an intricate framework that has identified many of the components involved in electroreception's production, but lack the framework for bringing the details back together into a system-level model of how they operate together. This thesis builds and tests a computational model of the Electrosensory Lateral Line Lobe (ELL) in mormyrid electric fish in an attempt to bring some of electroreception's structural details together to help explain its function. The ELL is …

Runaway And Homeless Youth: Changing The Discourse By Legitimizing Youth Voice, Donald Dale Schweitzer

Dissertations and Theses

Undoubtedly, runaway and homeless youth (RHY) are one of the most vulnerable, yet underserved groups in our country. Well-meaning advocates have developed programs and services in an attempt to remedy this, yet there is little evidence of their effectiveness. Moreover, according to the research literature, a low utilization rate of current services by youth is a major concern. From a constructivist theoretical position, this study posits that the missing element is youth voice and the researcher hired formerly homeless youth to conduct the analysis of focus group data gathered from RHY who were participating in a range of services funded …

Marginalized Characters In Contemporary American Short Fiction, Timur Shishkin

Dissertations and Theses

The focus of the present research work is the contemporary American short stories that bring up issues of compulsory norm and the conflict between marginalized characters and their environment. This research was based on those short stories that seemed to represent the idea of being "different" in the most complex and multilayered way, and its goal was to unfold new aspects of the conflict between "normal" and "abnormal"/"different". Variations of norm as well as diversity within the marginalized raise a number of questions about the reasons for their inability to coexist peacefully. The close reading and the analysis of the …

Investigating Future Variation Of Extreme Precipitation Events Over The Willamette River Basin Using Dynamically Downscaled Climate Scenarios, Andrew Jason Halmstad

Dissertations and Theses

One important aspect related to the management of water resources under future climate variation is the occurrence of extreme precipitation events. In order to prepare for extreme events, namely floods and droughts, it is important to understand how future climate variability will influence the occurrence of such events. Recent advancements in regional climate modeling efforts provide additional resources for investigating the occurrence of extreme events at scales that are appropriate for regional hydrologic modeling. This study utilizes data from three Regional Climate Models (RCMs), each driven by the same General Circulation Model (GCM) as well as a reanalysis dataset, all …

Investigating Student Understanding Of The Law Of Conservation Of Matter, Shirley Lynn Tremel

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to gather information about how students learn the foundational concept of conservation of matter during a non-chemistry unit on the rock cycle. The unit covered the rock cycle, rock types, and the law of conservation of matter and took place in a sixth grade classroom of 30 students. A mixed methods, quasi-experimental, pre-post, delayed post design was used to measure student understanding of the concept of conservation of matter as it relates to the rock cycle. Students made significant learning gains from pre-test to post-test and showed mastery in less complex subject areas, but …

Ce-Qual-W2 Water Quality And Fish-Bioenergetics Model Of Chester Morse Lake And The Cedar River, Vanessa I. Wells

Dissertations and Theses

Many communities are currently seeking to balance urban water needs with preservation of sensitive fish habitat. As part of that effort, CE-QUAL-W2, a hydrodynamic and temperature model, was developed for Chester Morse Lake and the lower Cedar River, WA. Chester Morse Lake is approximately 10 km long with a maximum depth at full pool of 40 m. The Cedar River model started immediately downstream of the Chester Morse dam and ended 21 km downstream at Landsburg, where drinking water is diverted for the City of Seattle. This water quality model was coupled with a fish habitat and bioenergetics model for …

Student Approaches To Combinatorial Enumeration: The Role Of Set-Oriented Thinking, Elise Nicole Lockwood

Dissertations and Theses

Combinatorics is a growing topic in mathematics with widespread applications in a variety of fields. Because of this, it has become increasingly prominent in both K-12 and undergraduate curricula. There is a clear need in mathematics education for studies that address cognitive and pedagogical issues surrounding combinatorics, particularly related to students' conceptions of combinatorial ideas. In this study, I describe my investigation of students' thinking as it relates to counting problems. I interviewed a number of post-secondary students as they solved a variety of combinatorial tasks, and through the analysis of this data I defined and elaborated a construct that …

High Speed Wireless Networking For 60ghz, Candy Yiu

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis examines the problem of providing high data-rate wireless connectivity to users in indoor environments. The goal is to be able to reach Gbps/user rates even when there are multiple users present. The technology that we study is to use the 60 GHz spectrum whose special propagation properties make it ideally suited to this task. The approaches developed include using multiple spatially distributed smart antennas in a room or multiple co-located antennas to provide coverage where needed and when needed. All the antennas are connected to a single access point which allows us to dynamically change spectrum and link …

Molecular Genetic Analysis Of Creld1 In Patients With Heterotaxy Disorder, Samaneh Zhian

Dissertations and Theses

Heterotaxy refers to the abnormal arrangement of internal organs in relation to each other. Model organism studies have shown that functions of more than eighty genes are required for normal asymmetric left-right organ development. CRELD1 has been shown to be necessary for proper heart development and mutations in CRELD1 are known to increase risk of cardiac atrioventricular septal defects (AVSD). AVSD is the most common form of heart defect associated with heterotaxy, and we have previously shown that some individuals heterotaxy-related AVSD have mutations in CRELD1.

Therefore, we propose to examine the CRELD1 gene in a large sample of …