Digital Commons Network^™

Adult And Juvenile Sexual Offenders: The Use Of Violence And Fantasies, Megan N. Carter

Dissertations and Theses

Child sexual abuse (CSA) has been recognized as a widespread and devastating problem in our society. Definitional challenges result in a broad range of prevalence rates for CSA varying from 60/0 to 62% for females and 30/0 to 31 % for males (Finkelhor, Araji, Baron, Browne, Peters, & Wyatt, 1986). Although CSA affects our nation's children in epidemic proportions, researchers have found little conclusive evidence regarding CSA precursors.

One promising area for exploring the etiology of CSA may be the differential patterns of sexual fantasies in juvenile and adult sex offenders. Abel, Becker, Mittleman, Cunningham-Rathner, Rouleau and Murphy (1987) found …

Essay Review: A Marxist Critique Of Michael Apple’S Neo-Marxist Approach To Educational Reform, Ramin Farahmandpur

Educational Leadership and Policy Faculty Publications and Presentations

This essay review examines Apple's most recent work. It begins by providing a brief historical account of Marxist educational theory since the late 1970s. Next, it offers an analysis and a critique of a number of the theoretical underpinnings of Apple's neo-Marxist approach to educational reform. These include, among others, his interpretation of Gramsci's concept of the 'commonsense' his employment of the 'decentered unity' which he identifies as an counter-hegemonic alliance among progressive forces on the left; and finally, his notion of a 'dual strategy' for building alliances between progressive forces on the left and those on the Right. Finally, …

Falling Into History: The Imagined Wests Of Kim Stanley Robinson In The "Three Californias" And Mars Trilogies, Carl Abbott

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

Analyzes Kim Stanley Robinson's two science fiction trilogies, the "Three Californias" trilogy '(Wild Shore, Gold Coast,' and 'Pacific Edge),' published during 1984 - 1990, and the Mars trilogy '(Red Mars, Green Mars,' and 'Blue Mars),' published during 1993 - 1996, to show how they incorporate themes of the complexity and contingency involved in settlement of the frontier associated with the "new Western history" of the 1980's - 1990's. The Mars trilogy co-opts the American West's status as a place of resource development when Robinson narrates the conquest of nature through technology. The Orange County trilogy explores, inter alia, intentional communities, …

Faculty Senate Monthly Packet October 2002, Portland State University Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Monthly Packets

The October 2002 Monthly packet includes the October agenda and appendices and the Faculty Senate minutes and attachments from the meeting held June 2002.

While Mind Dances With Heart: Nurturing Design Vocabularies Through Personal And Cultural Identities, Shenglin Chang

Proceedings of the 18th National Conference on the Beginning Design Student

Although there are many ways of approaching design. my aims "in teaching young student designers was to have them understand the importance of finding the balance between the intuitive with the rational." (Mirochnik, 2000: 65) The approach that I take in teaching my beginning landscape design studio is one in which I draw upon my former career as a dancer/ choreographer. I have found that within the process of creating and performing dance, the rational and the visceral constantly intersect: choreography and performance are processes in which the mind dances with the heart. I educate my beginning design students to …

Writing In The Contact Zone: Three Portraits Of Reflexivity And Transformation, Laurene L. Christensen

Dissertations and Theses

Culture is at the core of language teaching. Because classrooms are contact zones (Pratt 1991), teachers must have a well-developed sense of their own intercultural competence so that they may better facilitate the cross-cultural discovery inherent in language teaching. Teacher preparation programs need to provide opportunities for new teachers to increase their intercultural awareness. The purpose of this research was to qualitatively understand the experiences of pre-service teachers in a required culture-learning class at a large urban university. Specifically, the focus of this study was the completion of a mini-ethnography project designed to give the students a cross-cultural exchange. Since …

Faculty Senate Monthly Packet November 2001, Portland State University Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Monthly Packets

The November 2001 Monthly packet includes the November agenda and appendices and the Faculty Senate minutes and attachments from the meeting held October 2001.

Signature Lipids And Stable Carbon Isotope Analyses Of Octopus Spring Hyperthermophilic Communities Compared With Those Of Aquificales Representatives, Linda L. Jahnke, Wolfgang Eder, Robert Huber, Janet M. Hope, Kai-Uwe Hinrichs, John M. Hayes, David J. Des Marais, Sherry L. Cady, Roger E. Summons

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The molecular and isotopic compositions of lipid biomarkers of cultured Aquificales genera have been used to study the community and trophic structure of the hyperthermophilic pink streamers and vent biofilm from Octopus Spring. Thermocrinis ruber, Thermocrinis sp. strain HI 11/12, Hydrogenobacter thermophilus TK-6, Aquifex pyrophilus, and Aquifex aeolicus all contained glycerol-ether phospholipids as well as acyl glycerides. The n-C20:1 and cy-C21 fatty acids dominated all of the Aquificales, while the alkyl glycerol ethers were mainly C18:0. These Aquificales biomarkers were major constituents of the lipid extracts of two Octopus Spring samples, a biofilm associated with the siliceous vent walls, and …

State-To-State Migration During 1975–80 And 1985–90: An Analysis By Age, Race, Sex, And Education, Joseph Augustine Smith-Buani

Dissertations and Theses

This dissertation uses 1980 and 1990 United States census and administrative data to analyze interstate migration during 1975-80 and 1985-90, and to assess the effects of several determinants on state-to-state migration by age, race, sex, and education. Descriptions are presented of migration rates, migration stream volumes and efficiency ratios, indexes of differential migration, and regional fixed-effects regression models using theories, techniques, and methodologies from recent migration literature.

Regression analysis shows race, education, age, and sex having independent effects on interstate migration rates. A polytomous logistic regression model is used to investigate how selected variables affect the probability of state-to-state migration …

Teacher Self-Disclosure From The Perspective Of International Students In The Communication Classroom: A Case Study, Darlene J. Geiger

Dissertations and Theses

Self-disclosure as an interpersonal concept was developed almost 40 years ago with the work of Sydney Jourard. Although the original definition included nonverbal forms of communication, the concept has evolved since then into an 'intentional act of sending verbal information about one's self. In contrast, the present study broadened the definition for self-disclosure to include nonverbal behaviors and took a new methodological approach to understanding the effects that self-disclosure can have for international students in the communication classroom context.

Teacher self-disclosure from the perspectives of international students is an unexplored area and therefore a phenomenological, qualitative case study approach utilizing …

Faculty Senate Monthly Packet April 2000, Portland State University Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Monthly Packets

The April 2000 Monthly packet includes the April agenda and appendices and the Faculty Senate minutes and attachments from the meeting held March 2000.

Diy, Community, And Technology: The Impact Of Technology On Community Cohesion In The Portland Indie Rock Production Culture, Jeffrey Ross London

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of the present study was to determine whether differences exist between those steeped in the practice of the use of the computer in music production and those reared in a mostly analog environment. In addition, this study aimed to develop theory concerning who may be in or out of the technology revolution in music. The areas of inquiry included the artists' situated perceptions of the quality, production aesthetic, and community role of the computer.

Subjects were selected using a snowball sample of those producers with an interest in the topic area. As the research developed, subjects were chosen …

Faculty Senate Monthly Packet March 2000, Portland State University Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Monthly Packets

The March 2000 Monthly packet includes the March agenda and appendices and the Faculty Senate minutes and attachments from the meeting held February 2000.

The Influence Of Cultural Backgrounds On The Interpretations Of Literature Texts Used In The Esl Classroom, Barbara Jostrom Gates

Dissertations and Theses

This study was a detailed descriptive investigation into the different interpretations and perceptions that are evoked by readers of United States literature, based on their cultural backgrounds and experience. Grounded in research that advocates for the convergence of culture and literature in the language classroom and a research design based on reader-response theory, this study explored the responses of two groups of students from the University of Portland: international students, the majority of whom were English as a Second Language (ESL), and U.S. citizens, all of whom were native speakers of American English.

Through a reader-response style questionnaire modeled after …

Another Look At The Portrayal Of Minorities And Women In Prime-Time Television, Tellisa Amos

Dissertations and Theses

This study updates a 10-year longitudinal study investigating TV's portrayal of minorities and women on prime time television. Prior studies focused on the types of roles held by performers. This study extends prior research, examining not only the types of roles held by performers, but also networks' preference for women and minorities and the genre that most often feature women and minorities.

Data were collected for a consecutive five-week period from February 19, 1997 to March 14,1997. From this sample 40 dramas and 115 situation comedies were recorded and coded. Programming was taken from shows that aired in the Pacific …

Portland State Magazine, Portland State University. Office Of University Communications

Portland State Magazine

PSU’s alumni magazine, published 2-3 times a year. In this issue: Adventurous theater from around the globe comes to Portland each summer through PIP Fest; a long-forgotten burial ground in New York City is providing new clues into 18th-century slavery; dependable, dedicated and loud, Vern Schultz is always there for the Vikings; former governor Barbara Roberts is on faculty sharing what she knows best—leading in times of change; broken homes, collapsed tunnels, washed-out roads, and eroded beaches—PSU geologists say this is just the beginning; and more.

Identification Of Stuttering Moments: Is Hypermedia Training As Effective As Traditional Classroom Instruction?, Johna Delene Wakem

Dissertations and Theses

Significant deficits in clinical preparedness for fluency disorders and computer literacy have been identified through research. A hypermedia program that teaches students how to identify moments of stuttering could address both clinical preparedness issues and computer literacy. It is the purpose of this study to investigate the validity of a hypermedia program as a training tool. Twenty-one college students were divided into 2 groups based on scores from a pre-training assessment task. Group A attended traditional classroom lectures to learn the skill of stuttering identification, whereas Group B used the hypermedia program. All participants were given a post-training video assessment …

Information Content In American Television Advertising: A Replication And Update, Laura Kathleen Sandgren

Dissertations and Theses

Three hundred and seven randomly selected American network television commercials aired between October 18 and November 18, 1997 were analyzed to determine their informational value using the fourteen criteria established by Resnik and Stem in 1977. The results of this study were compared with Resnik and Stem's 1991 study, revealing that there has not been any significant change in the amount of information in American television commercials since Resnik and Stem's replication sample.

This study also used Resnik and Stem's (1977) criteria to further examine if the amount-of information contained in TV commercials varied depending on the gender or age …

Teaching Culture In German: Standards, Perspectives, Resources, Alexander Lukanich

Dissertations and Theses

Americans face a serious challenge today: the need to become more competent in the languages and cultures of the rest of the world. Technology has brought nations closer together. International trade has grown to the creation of a global economy. Americans have greater contact with the cultures of other nations and encounter growing diversity within their own borders. In spite of these demands, Americans remain largely unable to speak other languages, or understand other cultures.

Cultural instruction must play an increasingly important role in education. Foreign language teachers must teach culture as a regular and prominent part of their foreign …

The Juice Is Loose?: A Qualitative Study Of Employees' Perceptions Of Informal And Formal Communication Channels, Warren Jerome Brown

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to determine how employees perceive formal and informal communication channels within their organizational experiences. This study sought to answer two questions: One, what are employees' perceptions of formal and informal communication channels? Two, what similar or dissimilar perceptions of formal and informal communication channels emerge from interview and observational data?

I selected eight respondents from the greater Olympia, Washington and Seattle, Washington areas. Each respondent was purposely selected based upon their rich experiences across different sizes of and public/private structures of organizations. Additionally, I conducted seven observations within a medium-sized (50 -75 employee) public …

The Concept Of Trustworthiness: A Cross-Cultural Comparison Between Japanese And U.S. Business People, Masami Nishishiba

Dissertations and Theses

Since trust has been reported as an important component in both Japanese and U.S. organizations, the indication of lack of trust between Japanese and U.S. employees in Japanese subsidiaries is of great concern to management. If one wants to improve the level of trust between Japanese and U.S. employees, one must explore the reasons why they sometimes do not trust each other. Since there may be cultural differences between the two groups in the concept of trustworthiness, the first step is to examine whether Japanese and U.S. employees share the same notion of what constitutes a trustworthy person. Therefore, the …

Grandmothers Laughing: Intergenerational Transmission Of Cultural Beliefs About Pregnancy And Childbirth Among Native American Women, Claudia Robin Long

Dissertations and Theses

This dissertation reports findings from a qualitative study of intergenerational transmission of pregnancy and childbirth information among Native American women. Proposed is a theory of intergenerational transmission that explains four pathways used by Indian women to gain information about pregnancy and childbirth. Antecedent, consequent, and core elements are associated with the transmission process.

Discriminant sampling was used to identify the middle generation of Indian mothers and grandmothers, between 36 and 65 years of age, residing on or near the reservation, with experience of assimilation policies that had moved off-reservation temporarily. The researcher used the grounded theory method to analyze responses …

Opening Doors: Culture Learning And Conversational Narratives With First Generation Hmong Refugee Women, Lucy Vincent Kimbro

Dissertations and Theses

The life experiences of two first generation Hmong refugee women form the basis of this study. Through loosely structured but guided interviews, memories of their lives in Laos and in refugee camps in Thailand, as well as their perspectives, feelings, and opinions about current aspects of their lives, the effects of American culture on their family; and their engagement in the language and culture learning process are explored.

An examination of the involvement of Hmong women in research and ethnographic accounts concerning Hmong culture, history, and experience, show that Hmong women's perspectives have often been overlooked or disregarded. One purpose …

A Comparison Of Two Second Language Acquisition Models For Culturally And Linguistically Different Students, Karen Dorothy Kuhn

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this thesis research was to determine if there were significant educational advantages in terms of sociocultural development for culturally and linguistically different students enrolled in a two-way bilingual education program as compared to those directly mainstreamed. Eighteen third-grade students were selected from two schools in the same school district. Half of the subjects spent their third grade year in a two-way bilingual educational program while the other half were mainstreamed into a submersion education program. Each subject was culturally (Hispanic) and linguistically (Spanish was the dominant language) different from mainstream students. A qualitative summary and statistical analyses …

An Ethnographic Study Of Chinese Adolescent Identity In Taipei, Taiwan : Franchise Hangouts, Jui-Fang Ruby Chen

Dissertations and Theses

One of the discriminating changes that Taiwan is experiencing is a shift in young people's view of "self," manifested in and through their daily activities within its cultural context (Yang, 1981). The question arises, how do Taiwan's adolescents shape their view of "self' within this contemporary context at the intersection of Eastern and Western cultures? This thesis examined on how Chinese adolescent identity was constituted symbolically in and through their speech practices within a public social context, a typical Westernized dining place--McDonald's, a U.S. fast food restaurant, and how such a locale both served and made sense by these urban …

The Socio-Cultural Content Analysis Of English As A Foreign Language Textbooks Used In Junior High School In Taiwan, Republic Of China, Vivian Yann-Ling Lu

Dissertations and Theses

The English textbooks evaluated are used to prepare students for the competitive high school entrance examinations in Taiwan, thus students spend a great deal of time studying them. Though the textbooks were stated to be designed for language and cultural learning purposes, it seems no study exists that examines to what degree there is clear articulation between the government's stated culture learning goal and actual textbook content. Therefore, this study examines to what degree the textbooks allow students to reach said goal, that is, "to increase culture awareness of the societies and cultures of foreign countries and our own" (Junior …

Japanese Students' Perception Of Their Language Learning Strategies, Michiyo Ozawa

Dissertations and Theses

Students' use of language learning strategies (LLSs) is affected by their educational backgrounds and academic requirements, and so are their attitudes toward language learning. This study investigates Japanese students' perception of their English LLSs in different language environments: Japan and the United States.

A group of 43 Japanese students from Otemae College participated in a cultural study program at Portland State University. The group consisted of 28 students who studied for two terms (ST Group) and 15 students who studied for three terms (LT Group).

In this study, a combination of a self-assessment questionnaire, dialogue journals, and a card-ranking activity …

A Cross-Cultural Study Of The Speech Act Of Refusing In English And German, Charla Margaret Teufel

Dissertations and Theses

Language students must learn to communicate effectively in cross-cultural settings, avoiding unwitting violations of culturally determined norms of behavior. This study compares German learners of English (GEs) with native speakers of English (AEs) and German (GGs), studying pragmatic transfer associated with the face-threatening speech act of refusal.

Data elicitation involved a written role-play questionnaire composed of twelve refusal situations, including four refusal stimulus types (requests, invitations, offers, and suggestions) and interlocutors of higher, lower, and equal status. Response strategies were identified and classified, and the three groups were compared in terms of frequency and content of strategies chosen.

Overall, the …

Final Environmental Impact Statement For The Bal'diyaka Interpretive Center At Gregory Point On The Oregon Coast In Coos County, Joseph A. Maser

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians, in partnership with the Coos Bay District of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) are proposing to construct and operate an interpretive center near or on the South Coast of Oregon, near Coos Bay. The Bal'diyaka Interpretive Center is envisioned to contain a 51,000 square foot main building, a recreated coastal Indian village, an ethnobotanical interpretive trail, vehicular circulation and parking, and utilities infrastructure.

This Environmental Impact Statement analyzes four alternatives for this proposed interpretive center. The proposed action of the BLM would locate the Bal'diyaka Interpretive Center on Gregory …

Lewis And Clark On The Columbia River: The Power Of Landscape In The Exploration Experience, William L. Lang

History Faculty Publications and Presentations

During their 1804-06 transcontinental expedition, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark expected that the Columbia River and its tributaries would provide relatively easy passage to the Pacific Coast. Instead, they encountered a formidable barrier of raging waters and disjunctive ecological zones. Continuous frustrations caused the explorers to offer harsh judgments of the landscape and some of the Indians, whom they labeled as primitive and treacherous. These descriptions contrasted greatly with their more positive portrayals of landscape and peoples encountered elsewhere during the trip.