Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Self-Help Support Groups: Choices In Participation Among Women Facing Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (Sle), Maria A. Pfeifer

Dissertations and Theses

This research study explored the experiences of 19 women who had been diagnosed with, or were still seeking the diagnosis of SLE (lupus) and their decisions regarding support group participation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the variety of factors influencing their choices in types and sources of support, their coping strategies and the reasons behind their decisions to either choose or not choose lupus support groups as a viable support resource. Those women identified as support groups attendees recalled a more emotion-focused response to their diagnosis and showed stronger reliance on seeking emotional forms of support. Conversely, …

Female Inmates Perspectives On Incarceration And Correctional Education At Coffee Creek Correctional Facility, Clara Guadalupe Ellis

Dissertations and Theses

Prisons provide us with a place to segregate criminals from the population at large, but the ongoing question is what to do with them once we have incarcerated them? On one side there is the idea that prisons should be used to punish those who have broken the law. On the other is the idea that prisons should help to rehabilitate prisoners so that they may be reintegrated into society upon their release.

The purpose of this study was to examine the role correctional education programs played in the life of female offenders in light of the debate mentioned above. …

Revisiting Invasion-Succession: Social Relations In A Gentrifying Neighborhood, Lynda Franks

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis examines the social relationships of different residents in a gentrifying neighborhood in Northeast Portland, Oregon. It examines theoretical tenants in the social identity tradition to understand social change in terms of the impact of neighborhood change on the day-to-day interactions of individuals in a gentrifying neighborhood by exploring the ways in which different members of that neighborhood define and describe the terms “neighborhood”, “neighbor”, and “neighborly behavior”.

Intergroup neighboring research posits two outcomes of neighborhood change on interactions between old and new neighbors, one of conflict, the other of cooperation. The conflict perspective proposes that, in situations where …

An Assessment Of The Impacts Of Climate Change On The Upper Clackamas River Basin With A Distributed Hydrologic Model, David Graves

Dissertations and Theses

The Pacific Northwest is dependent on seasonal snowmelt for water resources that support a significant portion of its economy. Increased temperatures resulting from higher concentrations of atmospheric greenhouse gases may cause disruptions to these resources because of reductions in the annual snowpack and variations of the timing of snowmelt. This study reconstructs and applies a GIS-based distributed hydrologic model at a monthly scale to assess the effects of future climate change on runoff from the Upper Clackamas River Basin (located near Portland, Oregon). Historic flow data and snow measurements are used to calibrate and test the performance of the hydro …

Highway Interchanges, Transportation And Land Use: An Exploration Of Changes In Transportation Volumes And Land Use Factors Within Interchange Catchments, Matthew Hampton

Geography Masters Research Papers

Highway interchanges provide the interface for and moderate access to the surface street system and help control congestion. Understanding the relationship between land use and transportation near highway interchanges can help to direct resources where they are most needed to maintain the integrity of the adjacent road system. This paper characterizes and ranks highway interchange areas in the Portland, OR Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) area with respect to changes in traffic volume and determines what factors are associated with these impacts. This study compares the transportation, population and land use patterns around 78 highways and freeway interchanges over two time …

Ambivalent Landscapes: An Historical Geography Of Recreation And Tourism On Mount Hood, Oregon, Ryan Franklin Mitchell

Dissertations and Theses

Mount Hood is an Oregon icon. The mountain has as long and rich a history of recreation and tourism as almost any other place in the American West. But contemporary landscapes on Mount Hood reveal a recreation and tourism industry that has struggled to assert itself, and a distinct geographic divide is evident in the manner in which tourism has been developed. Why? In this study I chronicle the historical geography of recreation and tourism on Mount Hood. I examine the evolution of its character and pattern, and the ways in which various communities have used it to invest meaning …

Reorganizing The Oregon Department Of Human Services : An Exploratory Case Study Of Organizational Change, Charles Anthony Gallia

Dissertations and Theses

For decades, states have tried to reorganize their human service agencies in order to more effectively coordinate and integrate client services. Despite appearing to be a reasonable undertaking, previous studies indicated that such efforts met with only limited success (Dunkle & Surles, 1998; Pindus et al. 2000; Rabin & Steinhauer, 1988; GAO, 1992; Lynn, 1980; Owens, 1985).

This study had three objectives tied to understanding this type of reorganization. First, find out whether the OD process could inform restructuring. Second, determine whether evidence of the constraints to implementing planned organizational change that have been identified in the literature, became manifest …

Visualizing Complexity : A Spatial Analysis Of Decorative Geometric Pattern In The Islamic World, 900-1400 Ad, Tracy Elizabeth Harrison

Dissertations and Theses

This study explores how the use of complex decorative geometric patterns in Islamic architecture spatially relates to advances in the fields of science and philosophy in the Islamic world between the ninth and fourteenth centuries. This project examines hypotheses developed by vario~s scholars on the forces that shaped the use of these patterns (known as the geometric mode) in Islamic architecture. The prevailing assumption that advances in mathematics contributed to the use of the geometric mode is used as a starting point for subsequent analysis.

For this study, two spatial databases were created. One contains over two hundred and twenty …

Evaluating Deliberative Democracy : Comparing Habermas' Discourse Ethic And Evaluations Of Consensus Process In Residential Cooperatives, Katheryn Sutter

Dissertations and Theses

How do deliberators reason together on what is best? Planners, policy analysts and community developers should know how to recognize the validity of participatory deliberations claimed to give groups voice in policy decisions. Policy analyses have lost power in the face of postmodern critiques of objectivity. Practical policy analyses require more than objective validity for they express results of what Jürgen Habermas refers to as normative rationality. This study followed John Forester's recommended research agenda for rigorous empirical analyses of policy process deliberations using Jürgen Habermas' Theory of Communicative Action. Three successful residential communities were identified with organizational and institutional …

Forest Resource Use, Land-Use, And Ecotourism In The RíO PláTano Biosphere Reserve, Honduras, Christina Marie Friedle

Dissertations and Theses

The Río Pláttano Biosphere Reserve, a tropical rainforest reserve in the northeastern corner of Honduras, is home to several subsistence-based indigenous groups, including the Miskito, Pech and Garifuna, as well as the non-indigenous Ladinos. Communities within the reserve depend on forest resources, swidden agriculture, marine resources and/or small-scale ranching as the foundations for local economies. Regulations placed on these subsistence practices, after establishment of the biosphere reserve in 1980, have created unique and new pressures and resulted in a blend of traditional and innovative resource use. A notable result is the promotion of ecotourism as a solution for meeting the …

Development And Validation Of The Sustainability Climate Survey, David Edward Hall

Dissertations and Theses

Motivated by an assumption of and concern about the unsustainable trajectory of modern human civilization, the purpose of this study was to develop a measurement tool to assist organizations striving to align their operations with principles of sustainability. The relevant context is established with consideration of the dimensions of environment, society and economy, as well as their interconnections, with an eye towards sustainability. Some of the challenges and opportunities presented to organizations by the current unsustainable trajectory are reviewed. The social constructs of culture and climate (organizational and psychological) are discussed as important to understand organizational life. I propose the …

Does The "News" Come First? Social Responsibility, Infotainment, And Local Television Newscasts In Portland, Oregon: A Content Analysis, Carey Lynne Higgins

Dissertations and Theses

This study examines the infotainment versus social responsibility debate as it applies to local television newscasts in the United States. An overview of the concerns surrounding infotainment as news follows, including a look at a newsroom's traditional responsibilities to its viewers, as well as its current role in adding to parent company profit. Socially responsible hard news and infotainment characteristics are defined as they apply to television news broadcasts, both within the context of news story content and in presentation style.

A descriptive content analysis examines these characteristics within the late night local newscasts airing in Portland, Oregon. Portland is …

The Friendship Group Motivational Systems: Naturally-Occurring Resources And Liabilities During The Transition To High School, Carrie Jeanne Furrer

Dissertations and Theses

Peer groups are a powerful part of young people's lives. As the first step in investigating the potential of peers as developmental resources or liabilities during the normatively stressful transition to high school, the purpose of this study was to identify and measure the features of peer relationships that shape healthy development, and the contextual conditions that promote them. The Friendship Group Motivational System (FGMS) is a new conceptualization that includes two individual level concepts (friendship group interactions and self-system processes), and an emergent motivational group-level concept (friendship group engagement and disaffection). Items were developed to measure the 13 constructs …

Methods For Correcting Topographically Induced Radiometric Distortion On Landsat Thematic Mapper Images For Land Cover Classification, David Michael Rosen

Geography Masters Research Papers

Satellite imagery is commonly used to study land-use, land-cover change in mountainous areas. Classification of land-cover types is particularly difficult in this type of terrain because topography affects the spectral response of surface features. Several techniques have been developed to help compensate for this topographic effect and to increase classification accuracy.

The purpose of this study is to compare topographic correction methods to determine which produces the most accurate results. Method 1 does not use any topographic correction, serving as a control. Method 2 is based on the Lambertian model, and uses topographical data as variables in an equation. Method …

Preliminary Study Comparing Precipitation Quality Between Nominal Land Uses In Portland, Oregon, Lacey Sullivan

Environmental Science and Management Professional Master's Project Reports

The purpose of this study is to analyze the precipitation quality in various land use categories throughout Portland. Because of its significance in the removal of atmospheric pollutants, wet deposition is an important component to study. In addition to its significant role in cleansing the atmosphere, wet deposition can have a direct impact on the ecosystem due to its potential pollutant load. Various land uses may provide different emission sources, each uniquely affecting the composition of the atmosphere. A literature review found few studies comparing precipitation quality between local land uses within an urban area. Wet deposition studies seem to …

Community Benchmarks: An Analysis Of Performance Measurements In Urban Planning Management, Susan Joan Daluddung

Dissertations and Theses

New public management practices in the U.S. call for governmental accountability, performance measures and benchmarks. Community benchmarks research provides a basis for current information and further research for planners and educators in the urban planning profession. A benchmark is simply a standard for performance or targeted level of service delivery aspired to by the city. Community benchmarks, as defined by the researcher, are tied to an adopted community plan. Community plans take many shapes including the General or Comprehensive Plan, the city's budget document, or a variety of strategic planning documents.

The intent of the study was to complete research …

Fuel Model Development And Fire Simulation Analysis In The Wildland-Urban Interface : The Case Of Forest Park, Portland, Oregon, David Malcolm Kuhn

Dissertations and Theses

Forest Park, a 5,000 acre heavily-forested park within the city limits of Portland, Oregon was selected as the study area for performing a fire simulation analysis. A well-documented fire swept over a large area of the park in 1951, and provides both direct inputs, including the ignition point, and context for the present day fire simulations. The goal of the research was two fold. First, determine the difference between small area simulations using standard and custom surface fuel models. Second, determine if fire simulation can be an effective tool in assessing fire danger and behavior in a wildland-urban interface environment …

"We Want Smokestacks And Not Swamps" : Filling In Portland's Guild's Lake, 1906-1925, Kathleen D. Tucker

Dissertations and Theses

Between 1905 and 1926. developers. real estate speculators, and the Port of -Portland filled in Guild's Lake, a riparian marsh that had been the location for Portland's 1905 Lewis and Clark.: Exposition and Oriental Fair. There were two phases in the filling process. The first phase, which began before the fair ended and lasted until 1914, involved developers using high-pressured hydraulic hoses to sluice soil from nearby hills into the lake. Their primary goal was to terrace the hillside to create a high-end view neighborhood; Guild's Lake was a convenient "dump" for the gravel and dirt. During the second phase. …

Humane Education : The Effects Of Animals In The Classroom On Children's Empathy In Japanese Elementary Schools, Mika Maruyama

Dissertations and Theses

Although humane education, promoting children's kindness toward animals, has been evaluated as a factor influencing children's kindness toward humans later in their life, the effect of a classroom pet hasn't been well studied. The current study investigated the influence of intensified daily interactions with living animals in the classroom on the development of empathy among Japanese children. Specifically, the study examined (a) the effect of introducing animals into the classroom on children's empathic behaviors and attitudes, and (b) the generalization of this animal-directed empathy to humans.

Actor And Partner Effects Among Marital Dyads In Retirement Adjustment And Well-Being, Julie Guenette Howard

Dissertations and Theses

Our understanding of and interest in how retirement impacts the lives of individuals have grown over the past 20 years. Studies to date have ranged from small, convenience samples composed primarily of men to large, national longitudinal samples of men and women from different professional and socioeconomic backgrounds. There is consensus in the literature that older adults generally function better with a partner; however, gaps remain. We know little about the impact of retirement beyond the individual, although research in other areas on couples has produced evidence of crossover and contagion effects relative to depression and other outcomes, including absenteeism, …

Re-Imaging A Neighborhood : The Creation Of The Alberta Arts District, Portland, Oregon, Meredith R. Rizzari

Dissertations and Theses

Art is often used as a catalyst to stimulate redevelopment and neighborhood change. This often occurs inadvertently as the presence of artists in certain communities can attract both public and private investment to revalorize economically depressed areas. Marginal neighborhoods in inner-urban areas offer inspiration and diversity to artists seeking lower-cost housing. Their presence effectively makes these marginal communities "safe" for middle-class residents looking to live in a funky, urban neighborhood. Ultimately, however, artists are eventually priced out of the communities they helped to create.

The Alberta district in northeast Portland, Oregon has used art to create an identity that distinguished …

"Alberta Arts District" : Boundaries And Belonging Among Long-Time Residents In A Culturally Changing Neighborhood, Sammy Shaw

Dissertations and Theses

This study takes a cultural perspective in studying the "Alberta Arts District," a gentrifying neighborhood in Northeast Portland in which bohemian cultural production/consumption has become the dominant and commodified vision of the community. Survey data demonstrates residents' general opinions and levels of participation in the changing neighborhood. Forty long-time residents, black and white, homeowners and renters, are interviewed in-depth regarding their perceptions of change. Long-time residents of gentrifying neighborhoods are often overlooked as a less powerful group that only has to negotiate rising rents and property values. This study approaches the meaning of neighborhood changes for long-time residents who have …