Thesis (Ph. D.)--Oregon State University, 2008. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 175-181). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Modern communication protocols present the software designer with problems of asynchrony, real-time response, high throughput, robust exception handling, and multi-level interfacing. An operating system which provides lightweight processes and inexpensive inter-process communication offers solutions to all of these problems. This thesis examines the use of the multi-process structuring facilities of one such operating system, Verex, to implement the protocols defined by CCITT Recommendation X.25. The success of the multi-process design is confirmed by a working implementation that has linked a Verex system to the Datapac public network for over a year. The processes which make up the Verex X.25 software are organized into layers according to the layered definition of X.25. Within the layers, some processes take the form of finite-state machines which execute the state transitions specified in the protocol definition. Matching the structure of the software to the structure of the specification results in software which is easy to program, easy to understand, and likely to be correct. Multi-process structuring can be applied with similar benefits to protocols other than X.25 and systems other than Verex. / Science, Faculty of / Computer Science, Department of / Graduate

This project involves a telephone-based information retrieval system. Users interact with the computer by pressing buttons on a telephone keypad and listening to the computer respond by way of a speech synthesizer. The purpose of this project is to redesign and revise an existing information retrieval system. The goals of this project include simplifying the job of the menu designer and providing a way so experience can aid users to perform a given task faster than previously possible. Key objectives of this project are adding a keyword command interface to the existing menu driven interface and developing a flexible menu representation scheme for the menu designers. The original system is part of a National Science Foundation funded project entitled "Integrated Research Paradigm For Information Technology," The system works by speaking lists of keywords using a synthesizer and allowing the user to choose the most appropriate keyword from each list. After selecting a keyword the user is given another list of more specific keywords. By repeating this process the user should eventually reach some desired information. Whenever a user selects a particular keyword the system will present him with a message pertaining to that keyword. Tasks accomplished include implementing a menu driven system together with a keyword command system and allowing use of a simplified menu representation scheme. Testing might evaluate the effectiveness of these changes. One comparison involves single keying versus double keying versus menu driven user interfaces. Another comparison concerns the effects of command completion and various methods of handling user errors. Keying issues, such as the association of function to the keys, and the effects of feedback messages could also be studied. / Master of Science

Modern integrated circuit layouts are so complex that databases often have to deal with a million or more geometric objects. For circuit and layout designers to be able to cope with such complex circuits, we (tool designers) must provide more and more support in such areas as design rule checking, circuit extraction, compaction, and routing. To support these tools the database must provide fast geometric operations for region queries, neighbor finding, and location of empty space. Furthermore, in order to build practical interactive systems the database must also permit fast incremental modifications. This thesis describes the design of a database that satisfies the above requirements. The database, based on a data structure called corner stitching, consists of all data structure definitions and operations, the rule based system, hierarchical structures, database I/O, and interface for the CAD tool designer. The implementation techniques for a layout editor are also described. The most important feature of the database is that the complexity of key operations for neighbor finding, region queries, and location of empty space depend on local factors and are independent of overall layout size. The above mentioned features should make it possible to design tools that operate incrementally. / M.S.

MEMS gyroscopes have become an essential component in consumer, industrial and automotive applications, owing to their small form factor and low production cost. However, their poor stability, also known as drift, has hindered their penetration into high-end tactical and navigation applications, where highly stable bias and scale factor are required over long period of time to avoid significant positioning error. Improving the long-term stability of MEMS gyroscopes has created new challenges in both the physical sensor design and fabrication, as well as the system architecture used for interfacing with the physical sensor. The objective of this research is to develop interface circuits and systems for in-situ control and self-calibration of MEMS resonators and resonant gyroscopes to enhance the stability of bias and scale factor without the need for any mechanical rotary stage, or expensive bulky lab characterization equipment. The self-calibration techniques developed in this work provide 1-2 orders of magnitude improvement in the drift of bias and scale factor of a resonant gyroscope over temperature and time.

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No description available.

This thesis focuses on the use of surface modifiers as tools for probing and/or controlling interfaces. Surface modification of transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) with organic and organometallic modifiers can be used as a tool for mediating interfacial energetics as well as probing the kinetics of charge-transfer at the metal oxide/organic interface. The synthetic tunability of these modifiers allows us to design molecules based on various parameters, which include the nature of the binding, spacer, and terminal groups. Based on this framework, several modifiers were synthesized and used to investigate surface energy tuning as well as charge injection kinetics as a function of molecular structure. More specifically, we use XPS/UPS to examine the evolution of the chemical structure and frontier orbital levels of the TCO/organic interface as a function of the chosen surface modifier. In addition, we investigate the impact that various molecular binding groups have on mediating the kinetics of charge-transfer. In the last section of this body of work we examine the development of dielectric nanocomposite films for capacitor applications. More specifically, we examine the use of phosphonic acid modifiers to functionalize barium titanate nanoparticles in order to provide miscibility with a suitable polymer host. The effect of various modifiers on the dielectric properties not nanocomposite thin films was examined.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 1998. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 133-140). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

This document describes the design and construction of a high performance Micro Channel interface. The interface collects image data from a color linescan camera and transfers this data into the Micro Channel system memory. A maximum data transfer rate of 20 Mbytes/sec can be achieved using the camera interface. Programmability is offered in features such as collected field-of-view, data format, collection method, and camera control. A DOS device driver is developed for the collection of camera images. The final design is constructed to collect images intended for real-time image processing by Micro Channel resident processor(s). / M.S.