Bioculture Journal
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Thōt phāpā at Wat Čantharāwāt
No full textTyped index of tape recording of Thōt phāpā at Wat Čantharāwāt.Typed index of tape recording of Thōt phāpā at Wat Čantharāwāt
Exploring Barriers to the Utilization of Mental Health Services at the Policy and Facility Levels in Khartoum State, Sudan
No full textThesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2012This study took place in Khartoum state, Sudan from August 2011 to April 2012. The purpose of the study was to explore barriers to the utilization of mental health services in Khartoum state. The study was mixed in nature applying both qualitative and quantitative designs. We interviewed four policy makers and 30 health care providers from three public psychiatric facilities. We also examined records on utilization of services. The study addressed barriers to the utilization as perceived by policymakers and health care providers and came up with several recommendations on areas for improvement
Promoting Listening Reading Comprehension for Nonverbal English Language Learners Who Have a Severe Intellectual Delay
No full textThesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2012This study used an alternating treatment design to examine the use of a listening reading comprehension intervention package. This package was implemented in English as well as bilingually (on alternating days). This package was applied to four participants who were English Language Learners, were diagnosed with a severe intellectual delay, and were nonverbal. No studies to date have applied a listening reading comprehension program to participants with such unique challenges. All participants demonstrated an increase in both their total number of responses to comprehension questions and in their communication attempts. Participants demonstrated increases in both the English-only intervention and the bilingual intervention, however, when the bilingual intervention was implemented, a slightly larger increase in initiating communication and answering questions was seen. Future research should continue to explore what language instruction should be provided in for students with severe intellectual delays who are ELL and nonverbal
Active Learning and Submodular Functions
No full textThesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2012Active learning is a machine learning setting where the learning algorithm decides what data is labeled. Submodular functions are a class of set functions for which many optimization problems have efficient exact or approximate algorithms. We examine their connections. 1. We propose a new class of interactive submodular optimization problems which connect and generalize submodular optimization and active learning over a finite query set. We derive greedy algorithms with approximately optimal worst-case cost. These analyses apply to exact learning, approximate learning, learning in the presence of adversarial noise, and applications that mix learning and covering. 2. We consider active learning in a batch, transductive setting where the learning algorithm selects a set of examples to be labeled at once. In this setting we derive new error bounds which use symmetric submodular functions for regularization, and we give algorithms which approximately minimize these bounds. 3. We consider a repeated active learning setting where the learning algorithm solves a sequence of related learning problems. We propose an approach to this problem based on a new online prediction version of submodular set cover. A common theme in these results is the use of tools from submodular optimization to extend the breadth and depth of learning theory with an emphasis on non-stochastic settings
Analysis and Design of Multi-antenna Systems for Physical-layer Security and Interference Characterization
No full textThesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2012It has become crucial to provide effective solutions to the security issues associated in a wireless transmission medium. The essential goal of physical-layer security is to enable the transmission of confidential messages over a wireless medium in the presence of unauthorized eavesdroppers. We begin with an overview of the foundations dating back to the pioneering work on physical-layer security, and the evolution of secure transmission strategies from point-to-point channels to multiple-antenna systems. The explosion of interest in multi-antenna systems led to the realization that exploiting the available spatial dimensions could also enhance the secrecy capabilities of wireless channels. Our work analyzes and optimizes multi-antenna systems under various assumptions on system model and channel information: transmission only versus joint transmission/jamming, perfect channel state information (CSI), imperfect CSI, and completely unknown CSI. With perfect CSI: We first study the problem of joint transmit and cooperative jamming to maximize the secrecy rate of MISOSE wiretap channels. We reduce the problem of maximizing the secrecy rate to the problem of finding the optimal jamming levels, and solve it by a one-dimensional search that is computationally affordable. We then study MIMOME wiretap channel with transmit beamforming (the rank-1 constraint on the transmit covariance matrix) and cooperative jamming. We propose an iterative algorithm by relating the MIMOME channel to the effective MISOSE channel. With imperfect CSI: assuming the CSI of the receiver and the eavesdropper channel belong to given uncertainty sets, we optimize the worst-case secrecy rate of the MISOSE wiretap channel. By proving the saddle-point solution, we transformed the worst-case optimization problem into a quasi-convex optimization problem. Moreover, for jamming-aided MISOSE channel with imperfect CSI, we propose to approximate the worst-case secrecy rate as the worst-case SINR-ratio problem. A minimax solution is shown to exist for the problem, based on which some insightful results of the optimal transmit and jamming covariances are obtained. A quasi-convex optimization algorithm that is tractable and efficient is provided for solving the worst-case SINR-ratio problem. With no CSI: We study how cooperative jamming helps improve the secure throughput of large decentralized networks where both the locations and CSI of eavesdroppers are unknown. The spatial distributions are modeled as Poisson point processes. The helping jammers broadcast artificial noise that confuses eavesdropper but zero-forcing to the legitimate receiver. A jamming protocol based on IEEE 802.11 RTS/CTS is proposed. Closed-form results analyze the benefits of jamming on secure communications. This thesis continues on analyzing large distributed networks using stochastic geometry. The geometry of the locations of the nodes plays a key role since it determines the signal-to-interference-plus-noise-ratio (SINR) at each receiver. The advantages of using stochastic geometry are: 1) performance metric can be exactly derived in some important cases, and tightly bounded in many others; 2) performance depends on fundamental network parameters, such as the densities of the underlying point processes. Design insights are obtainable from these performance expressions. Specifically, we study the performance of minimum-mean-square-error (MMSE) receivers under supposition of multiple Poisson point processes, non-homogeneous Poisson process and cluster Poisson point process of interferers. We discover that the SINR outage exhibits a superposition property for multiple homogeneous (or non-homogeneous) Poisson fields of interferers. Using this property, we extend the outage analysis to Poisson clustered processes which is formed by Poisson clusters consisting of Poisson distributed children points
U/Pb ages of Eocene and younger rocks of the eastern flank of the central Cascade Range, Washington, USA.
No full textThesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2012Geological units located on the eastern flanks of the central Cascade Range, the Summit Conglomerate of Natapoc Mountain, Sugarloaf Peak, Basalt Peak, Horse Lake Mountain, Pole Ridge, Wenatchee Dome at the Cannon mine, and the Wenatchee Formation east of the Columbia River, have not been well dated or constrained by high precision U/Pb techniques. Zircons separated from samples were submitted and prepared for U-Pb isotopic dating; analyses were performed by isotope dilution-thermal ionization mass spectrometry (ID-TIMS) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Sixty-five dates were obtained from samples taken from igneous, sedimentary, and volcanic units from the region in and around the eastern flanks of the Cascade Range. The units sampled with results intrude crystalline basement or uncomformably overlie deformed lower Tertiary rocks. I compared those results where possible to previous work. The results reveal a robust post-Eocene tectonic history and contain evidence of late Oligocene, Miocene, and Pliocene volcanism. Specifically, the andesite of Natapoc Mountain dates to the early Pliocene at 3.981 +/- 0.053Ma. The Basalt Peak intrusion at the north intersection of the Coulter Creek and Entiat Faults dates to the late Oligocene at 27.42 +/- 0.017Ma; Sugarloaf Peak east of the Ential fault at the Eocene/Oligocene boundary at 36.0 +/- 0.43 Ma and the Wenatchee Dome intrusion through Eocene Chumstick Fm. at 44.447 +/- 0.027Ma. The results of this study represent the newest high-precision zircon U-Pb geochronology dates for the samples tested
Developing a Critical Dialog for Educational Technology: Understanding the Nature of Technology and the Legacy of Scientific Management in Our Schools
No full textThesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2012This dissertation examines the legacy of scientific management and the dominance of one-dimensional thinking in the field of educational technology. Through this analysis, I demonstrate that the ways practitioners and policymakers frame educational technology, assess its effectiveness, and make judgments about its potential, often exclude essential reference points such as the origins of the field, the nature of technology and alternative critical frameworks. In order to properly evaluate educational technology, it is necessary to unpack and explore the historical, moral, and political motives that frame current thinking in the field. To that end, the ideas of the father of scientific management, Fredrick W. Taylor, and critical theorist, Herbert Marcuse, were examined around five themes: truth, human nature, relationship to society, nature of technology, and the aims of education. These themes were then applied to a textual analysis of the National Educational Technology Plans from 1996 through 2010 to demonstrate the prevalence of techno-rational language in recent national educational technology policy. The conclusion identifies ways for policymakers and practitioners to recognize and critically engage with techno-rational thought and the nature of technology in the field of educational technology
Understanding Community Care Organizations: A case study of 100% access in Lane County, OR
No full textPoor Oral Health and Quality of Life in U.S. Older Adults with Diabetes
No full textThesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2012Context: Older adults with diabetes are at increased risk of periodontal disease and poor dentition, which may affect overall health, functional status and quality of life. Objective: To determine the association between health-related quality of life and oral health among U.S. older adults with diabetes mellitus. Design, Setting and Participants: Study of a nationally representative sample of 70,363 U.S. older adults (aged ≥65 years) with diabetes, using data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System 2006, 2008 and 2010. Main Outcome Measures: Health-related quality of life as measured by the Healthy Days Core Module. Results: Loss of permanent teeth from caries or periodontal disease was associated with increased odds of worse self-rated general health (adjusted OR=1.25, 95% CI 1.13-1.37). Lack of dental care in the preceding 12 months was associated with increased odds of worse self-rated general health (adjusted OR=1.34, 95% CI 1.25-1.44) compared to receiving dental care in the preceding 12 months. Poor dentition and longer time interval since last dental care were associated with increased number of physically unhealthy days. Older adults with diabetes had worse dentition and were less likely to receive recent dental care than older adults without diabetes. Conclusions: Health-related quality of life and oral health were worse in older adults with diabetes compared to older adults without diabetes