Digital Commons Network^™

Developing And Assessing Curriculum On The Physics Of Medical Instruments, Warren Christensen, James K. Johnson, Grace R. Van Ness, Elliot E. Mylott, Justin C. Dunlap, Elizabeth A. Anderson, Ralf Widenhorn

Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Undergraduate educational settings often struggle to provide students with authentic biologically or medically relevant situations and problems that simultaneously improve their understanding of physics. Through exercises and laboratory activities developed in an elective Physics in Biomedicine course for upper-level biology or pre–health majors at Portland State University, we aim to teach fundamental physical concepts, such as light absorption and emission and atomic energy levels, through analysis of biological systems and medical devices. The activities address the properties of electromagnetic waves as they relate to the interaction with biological tissue and make links between physics and biomedical applications such as microscopy …

Review Of Repertoires And Choices In African Languages By Friederike Lûpke And Anne Storch, George Tucker Childs

Applied Linguistics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Repertoires and Choices in African Languages (RCAL) will interest not only Africanists but also specialists in other geographical areas and those generally concerned with language endangerment and language documentation. In short, this is a timely book for readers of this journal. The authors, Friederike Lüpke and Anne Storch, are two of the finest scholars working on African languages today and two of the most reflective thinkers in this field. The breadth and depth of their research records (they call themselves, somewhat modestly, ‘fieldworkers’) are both exemplary, and together constitute a whole that any two other scholars would find difficult to …

The Research Process And The Library: First-Generation College Seniors Vs. Freshmen, Elizabeth F. Pickard, Firouzeh Logan

Library Faculty and Staff Publications and Presentations

In a follow-up study to the ERIAL (Ethnographic Research in Illinois Academic Libraries) Project, librarians at UIC compared the responses of first-generation college freshmen from the original study to those of seniors. The study’s aim was to determine whether student information literacy increases as a result of undergraduate education and to further explore the student research process with respect to the particular factors that inform and effect change in it. The findings showed that information literacy increased among these students, and they developed a more complex approach to the research process and the library.

Contesting The North Williams Traffic Operations And Safety Project, Amy Lubitow, Thaddeus R. Miller

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

The North Williams Traffic Safety Operations Project, overseen by the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT), was proposed in 2010. With an initial budget of $370,000, the project was designed to reduce conflict between buses, bicycles and motor vehicles on North Williams Avenue and improve the overall safety and accessibility of the street. As is common practice, PBOT’s first step in this project was to organize a stakeholder advisory committee (SAC) of interested business owners, neighborhood association representatives, residents, and key stakeholders living or working along North Williams Avenue who would be tasked with advising the city on the project. However, …

Linguistic Minorities And The Right To Languages (Minorías Lingüísticas Y Derecho A Las Lenguas), Eva NúÑEz-MéNdez

World Languages and Literatures Faculty Publications and Presentations

Resumen: Esta contribución se centra en la noción de minorías lingüísticas y en el derecho a las lenguas desde una perspectiva sociopolítica y cultural. Se ofrece una definición de lo que se considera “minoría lingüística” con ejemplos representativos de lenguas bajo esta consideración así como datos que ratifican la existencia, vitalidad y extinción de éstas según el contexto moderno de la globalización. Además se incluyen situaciones de multilingüismo y diglosia y cómo el estado ha respondido constitucionalmente a las necesidades de estas comunidades, incluyendo programas educativos, legislaciones internas y derecho de lenguas. Para ello se han escogido una selección de …

Preparation In Practice: Simultaneous Preparation Of Educational Leaders And Future Teachers For Social Justice In Professional Development Schools, Amy Daggett Petti, Sabrina Flamoe

Education Faculty Publications and Presentations

In times of crisis there are opportunities for innovation. Teacher preparation, leadership preparation, and education in general are facing a time of crisis. Teacher and principal preparation and performance are no longer just the fodder of educational journals and elite academics. When mainstream publications such as Newsweek run a cover image of a chalkboard with repeated lines of text, "We Must Fire Bad Teachers" as the solution to "saving American Education" (2010), we know the public perception of teacher preparation, teacher professionalism, and leadership in schools is in a crisis.

This chapter examines a case study of a school committed …

Portland, Oregon's Long Hot Summers: Racial Unrest And Public Response, 1967-1969, Joshua Joe Bryan

Dissertations and Theses

The struggles for racial equality throughout northern cities during the late-1960s, while not nearly as prevalent within historical scholarship as those pertaining to the Deep South, have left an indelible mark on both the individuals and communities involved. Historians have until recently thought of the civil rights movement in the north as a violent betrayal of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s vision of an inclusive and integrated society, as well as coinciding with the rise, and subsequent decline, of Black Power. But despite such suppositions, the experiences of northern cities immersed in the civil rights struggle were far more varied …

Curriculum Change 2013-2014, Portland State University

Bulletin & Curriculum Change Documents

No abstract provided.

Iktomi: A Character Traits Analysis Of A Dakota Culture Myth, Marianne Sue Kastner

Dissertations and Theses

This qualitative study comparing three separate English-language versions of a single Dakota cultural myth "Iktomi" presents a novel systematic approach for analyzing Native American folk tales to understand how stories function as tools of transmission of cultural information and knowledge. The method involved coding character traits according to type with regard to representation, ability, or attribute to ascertain patterns among the codes and elucidate character roles and relationships, reorganizing the coded traits into paired polarized correspondences to clarify relationships among traits, and assessing pronoun use and documenter effect pointing to gender-specific character activity. Findings revealed an encoded framework illuminating how …

Predictors Of Student's Attitudes Toward Science Literacy, Irina I. Holden

Communications in Information Literacy

Being information and science literate are crucial in an age when scientific developments influence the political arena and vice versa. In order to become active and responsible citizens, students must understand such issues as global warming and stem cell research. Furthermore, they must be lifelong learners, capable of researching and educating themselves about new scientific developments. These are some of the complex issues that information literacy educators must address. This article reports on the results of a survey of student's attitudes towards science literacy and lifelong learning, and on variables associated with their attitudes. Most of the students' attitudes were …

Transgressing Sexuality: An Interdisciplinary Study Of Economic History, Anthropology, And Queer Theory, Jason Gary Damron

Dissertations and Theses

This interdisciplinary thesis examines the concept of sexuality through lenses provided by economic history, anthropology, and queer theory. A close reading reveals historical parallels from the late 1800s between concepts of a desiring, utility-maximizing economic subject on the one hand, and a desiring, carnally decisive sexological subject on the other. Social constructionists have persuasively argued that social and economic elites deploy the discourse of sexuality as a technique of discipline and social control in class- and gender-based struggles. Although prior scholarship discusses how contemporary ideas of sexuality reflect this origin, many anthropologists and queer theorists continue to use "sexuality" uncritically …

Rutherford Family Collection Celebration: Exhibit Catalogue, Charlotte Rutherford, Marti Clemmons, Meg Langford, Jeanne Roedel, Tasha Triplett, Marc Carpenter, Patricia Schechter

"Say We Are Here" Exhibit

This is the catalogue for the exhibit, "Say We Are Here: Culture, Community and Activism across Four Generations of Black Oregonians."

Hawaiian Presence At Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, Douglas C. Wilson

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Fort Vancouver, as the colonial "Capital" of the Pacific Northwest in the 1820s-1840s, supported a multiethnic village of 600-1,000 occupants. A number of the villagers were Hawaiian men who worked in the agricultural fields and sawmills of the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) operations. Identification of Hawaiian residences and activities has been an important element of studies of Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, Vancouver, Washington, since the 1960s.

Kauanui calls for a "broad research agenda that accounts for Hawaiian movements in their respective contexts of conditions, periods, reasons, and desires, to allow us to better account for Hawaiian presence on the …

Variation In Genes Related To Cochlear Biology Is Strongly Associated With Adult-Onset Deafness In Border Collies, Jennifer S. Yokoyama, Ernst T. Lam, Alison L. Ruhe, Carolyn A. Erdman, Kathryn R. Robertson, Aubrey A. Webb, D. Colette Williams, Melanie L. Chang, Marjo K. Hytönen, Hannes Lohi, Steven P. Hamilton, Mark W. Neff

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The domestic dog offers a unique opportunity to study complex disorders similar to those seen in humans, but within the context of the much simpler genetic backgrounds of pure breeds, which represent closed populations. We performed a whole-genome search for genetic risk factors of adult-onset deafness in the Border Collie, a breed of herding dog that relies on acute hearing to perceive and respond to commands while working. Adult-onset deafness in Border Collies typically begins in early adulthood and is similar to age-related hearing loss in humans. This earlier onset has particular impact on the utility of working Border Collies …

Entanglement: Health, Healing And Society In Africa, Haley Noel

Anthós

As a continent, Africa has been explored, exploited, and largely abandoned by the West. During the colonial era of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, foreign powers encountered diverse cultures, superstitions and disease before promptly labeling the entire continent a dangerous and primitive place. For early explorers and colonialists, disease and the threat of ill health is what defined Africa. They overlooked the pre-existing strategies and practices that Africans had adapted to guard against certain diseases, either ignoring them or labeling the misunderstood safety nets as primitive. Also overlooked was the importance of societal organization and communal cooperation among …

Case Study: The Optimization Of Information Flow & Organization In Software Development, Farshad Madani, Bing Wang, Xiaowen Wang, Corey White, Liying Wang

Engineering and Technology Management Student Projects

Trial and error are inevitable in the process of software development; the redesign is wasteful when unfocused communication occurs within the development process. To speed up this development process, we optimized the information flow and redesigned the development organization into chunks. First, we investigated the information flow between tasks and coupled tasks into phases utilizing the Design Structure Matrix (DSM) so that the information exchange among chunks of tasks is as few as possible. In this way, the redundant iterations of tasks are eliminated. Meanwhile, we also grouped the engineers into groups according to the tasks, in this; we eliminated …

Complexity Theory And Political Change: Talcott Parsons Occupies Wall Street, Martin Zwick

Complex Systems Faculty Publications and Presentations

Complexity theory can assist our understanding of social systems and social phenomena. This paper illustrates this assertion by linking Talcott Parsons' model of societal structure to the Occupy Wall Street movement. Parsons' model is used to organize ideas about the underlying causes of the recession that currently afflicts the US. While being too abstract to depict the immediate factors that precipitated this crisis, the model is employed to articulate the argument that vulnerability to this type of event results from flaws in societal structure. This implies that such crises can be avoided only if, in Parsons' terms, structural change occurs …

Raps Sheet, April 2012, Retirement Association Of Portland State

RAPS Sheet: Monthly Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Faculty Senate Monthly Packet April 2012, Portland State University Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Monthly Packets

The April 2012 Monthly packet includes the April agenda and appendices and the Faculty Senate minutes and attachments from the meeting held March 2012

The Portland Spectator, March 2012, Portland State University. Student Publications Board

Portland Spectator

Editor: Sasha Chedygov

Articles in this issue include: PEP up your education: Portland State students gather in the Park Blocks to protest the ever-increasing cost of education; Social justice through hip hop: A one-day conference in the Multicultural Center explores the true meaning of hip hop; ASPSU grade book: See what your student government has been up to lately, and whether they’re meeting their expectations; Food carts and liquor: Food carts fight for their right to purchase annual liquor licenses, but the OLCC has some concerns; Artist profile: Adventure galley: This energetic, world-renowned indie rock sensation has moved to Portland, …

Understanding Qualitative And Quantitative Research Paradigms In Academic Medicine, Laura Castillo-Page, Sue Bodilly, Sarah Bunton

University Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Qualitative research is becoming more prominent in academic medicine and health care fields, and an increasing number of publications using qualitative methods are featured in prominent journals; thus, recognizing the different available approaches can benefit researchers of all types. While a debate may wage between proponents of qualitative versus quantitative research, both sets of methods—and often a blend of the two—offer important insights into the problems the academic medicine community faces.

Developing An Integrated History And Future Of People On Earth (Ihope), Robert Costanza, Ida Kubiszewski, Scott Heckbert, Kathy A. Hibbard, Sander Van Der Leeuw, Steve Aulenbach, Simon Brewer, Michael Burek, Sarah Cornell, Carole L. Crumley, Lisa J. Graumlich, Michelle Hegmon, Stephen T. Jackson, Paul Sinclair, Sverker Sörlin, W. L. Steffen, Carl Folke, J. A. Dearing, Vernon Scarborough

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

The Integrated History and future of People of Earth (IHOPE) initiative is a global network of researchers and research projects with its International Program Office (IPO) now based at the Stockholm Resilience Center (SRC), Upsalla University, Arizona State University, Portland State University, and the Australian National University. Research linked to IHOPE demonstrates that Earth system changes in the past have been strongly associated with changes in the coupled human-environment system. IHOPE supports integrating knowledge and resources from the biophysical and the social sciences and the humanities to address analytical and interpretive issues associated with coupled human-earth system dynamics. This integration …

Complexity Theory And Political Change: Talcott Parsons Occupies Wall Street, Martin Zwick

Systems Science Friday Noon Seminar Series

Complexity theory can assist our understanding of social systems and social phenomena. This paper illustrates this assertion by linking Talcott Parsons' model of societal structure to the Occupy Wall Street movement. Parsons' model is used to organize ideas about the underlying causes of the recession that currently afflicts the US. While being too abstract to depict the immediate factors that precipitated this crisis, the model is employed to articulate the argument that vulnerability to this type of event results from flaws in societal structure. This implies that such crises can be avoided only if, in Parsons' terms, structural change occurs …

Community Archives And The Limitations Of Identity: Considering Discursive Impact On Material Needs, Cristine N. Paschild

Library Faculty and Staff Publications and Presentations

This article examines how a postmodern-influenced discourse of identity shapes and influences critical analysis of community archives, both internally and externally, and asks if the accompanying terms of engagement shift focus, to negative effect, from the more pressing needs and challenges of these institutions and projects. Looking to archival professional literature and to a recent self-assessment of the Japanese American National Museum, the article argues that an overarching emphasis on questions of identity can distract community institutions from pragmatic evaluations of sustainable practice and can inadvertently mire archivists in a marginalizing rhetoric that blurs the issues at hand.

Bulletin: General Catalog Issue 2012-2013, Portland State University

Bulletin & Curriculum Change Documents

No abstract provided.

Cooperation, College Knowledge, And Strong Parent Communities In The L.A. Concrete Jungle: The Case For Family-Centered Outreach, Michael J. Smith

Education Faculty Publications and Presentations

Urban African American teens are unprepared to compete for jobs in the global marketplace, but higher education professionals could partner with parents to reverse this trend. After reviewing parent involvement literature, this paper shares findings from a study of urban African American parents involved in their children's outreach programs. It found that outreach programs empowered parents by creating "community" and strengthened cultural capital while providing social capital that made parents partners in their children's college choice process.

Promoting Cross-Cultural Competence And Awareness In Teacher Education: Toward The Integration Of Western And Non-Western Perspectives, Stephen Woolworth, Vidya Thirumurthy

Northwest Journal of Teacher Education

Calls for culturally competent teachers persist amidst the ongoing diversification of the P-12 student population (Aud et al. 2010), continued racial homogeneity of the teacher workforce (Boser, 2011), chronic academic achievement disparities between majority and minority student groups (Vanneman et al., 2009), and persistent racial disproportionality in school discipline practices (Losen et al, 2012). In an effort to encourage and promote cross-cultural competence and awareness, we describe a graduate seminar we designed and taught around the integration of western and nonwestern perspectives on cognition, development and learning. We share a number of insights gained from the seminar experience and conclude …

Critical Inquiry And Collaborative Action: Transforming A College Of Education To Recruit And Retain Underrepresented Populations To Teacher Education, Marilyn Chu, David Carroll, Maria Timmons Flores, Kristin French

Northwest Journal of Teacher Education

This documentary account describes how a task force comprised of college of education faculty and university admissions staff from a medium sized comprehensive university engaged in a critical inquiry process to address the issue of recruiting and retaining underrepresented students in teacher education (i.e., men and culturally and linguistically diverse students). The group examined the issues and challenges associated with an education college‘s recruitment, application, selection and retention processes. The paper suggests how critical inquiry groups of higher education faculty and staff may support the transformation of policies, practices and relationships needed to increase the number of teacher candidates from …

Shaping The Future Past: Finding History, Creating Identity In The Kwan Hsu Papers, Lisa Chere' Donnelly

Dissertations and Theses

Dr. Kwan Hsu was neither a superstar nor a celebrity. Her name does not come up in conversations about important contributors to her field of biophysics nor is she instantly recognizable for her contributions to Portland State University's international program or the state of Oregon's business ties with China. Yet she was a contributor, a cog-in-the-wheel, at the very least, in all of these areas and more. She was a peripheral member of a well-known Chinese family, but few in the United States know of or perhaps have interest in, but otherwise, she had no great connections or family ties …

Giving Voice To The Peace And Justice Challenger Intellectuals: Counterpublic Development As Civic Engagement, Tom Harry Hastings

Dissertations and Theses

"Let knowledge serve the city" reads the golden letters on a pedestrian bridge just 200 feet from my faculty office in Neuberger Hall at Portland State University. Public peace scholarship might allow knowledge to help the polis by keeping it out of war via changing the national discourse toward a strong and informed peace analysis. Educators have an uneasy relationship to public scholarship and mainstream media have a nervous attitude toward public peace intellectuals. Institutions of higher learning are also often either unaware or uncomfortable with a public promotion of a positive peace platform. Academic writing and research is hard …