Digital Commons Network^™

A Profile Of Sophomore Inquiry Students Fall 2023, Rowanna L. Carpenter

University Studies Assessment Research

In order to better understand the students who enroll in Sophomore Inquiry (SINQ) courses and begin to identify areas where they may need support, University Studies (UNST) began collecting and compiling data on these students. This report presents a profile of SINQ students from Fall 2022. It presents an overview of all students enrolled in SINQ during Fall 2022 and then summarizes information from the Prior Learning Survey. It is organized around three areas that contribute to student success: academic preparation and concern; financial and physical wellbeing; and connectedness to campus.

Writing Outside The Soviet Canon: Aleksandr Kozachinskii's "The Green Wagon" As Roman A Clef And Odesa Memoir, Cassio F. De Oliveira

World Languages and Literatures Faculty Publications and Presentations

This essay analyzes Aleksandr Kozachinskii’s 1938 Russian-language novella “The Green Wagon” as a roman à clef and exemplar of the Odesa Myth that has been unjustly neglected in literary scholarship. Reasons for the neglect of “The Green Wagon” include the historical context of its publication, between the Great Purges of 1936–1938 and the outbreak of World War II; Kozachinskii’s untimely death; and the conventional interpretation of the novella that reduces it to a fictionalized account of Kozachinskii’s friendship with Evgenii Petrov in Odesa during the early Soviet period. Against such a reductionist reading, and on the basis of recent archival-based …

#Blackatcmo: Challenging Charter Schools Through Youth Instagram Counterstories, Madhu Narayanan, Matthew Mccluskey

Educational Leadership and Policy Faculty Publications and Presentations

As protests flared in 2020, Black students took to Instagram to voice their experiences at ‘no-excuses’ Charter Management Organizations (CMOs). Such schools have presented a discourse of high achievement and social justice. Yet, in the span of a few weeks, hundreds of posts on Instagram offered rarely heard counter-narratives of the experience of being a student of Color at such schools. This paper analyzes how social media posts combine online discourse and youth culture to provide insight into the racialized experience of schooling. We show how these posts created distinct visual signatures, co-opted the well-crafted narratives of CMOs, and took …

Csq Portland/Seattle Contributors Index

INDEX of Portland/Seattle Contributors

No abstract provided.

Spartina Species Invasive In Coastal Salt Marshes And Mudflats Of The Pacific Northwest, Gabriel E. Campbell, Ashley Newcomb, Jacob Rose

Center for Lakes and Reservoirs Publications and Presentations

Spartina (cordgrass) species are invasive plants that threaten the Pacific Northwest of the United States of America. This document contains a literature review, map of known occurrences, and identification guide of Spartina species invasive in coastal salt marshes and mudflats of the Pacific Northwest.

National Emissaries For Preventive Healthcare. Visiting Nurses In Interwar Bulgaria And Yugoslavia, Evguenia Davidova

History Faculty Publications and Presentations

In the interwar period, as part of a wholesale reorganization of public healthcare, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia saw the emergence of a new healthcare protagonist: the visiting nurse. Grounded in archival materials, by means of an analysis that intertwines gender and class, this article argues that the visiting nurse became a crucial (and cheaper) link between the hospital and the home in the fight against social diseases and reducing child mortality. These social interactions were often mediated by international humanitarian organizations. In this context, the visiting nurse serves as another bridge—this time between national and international public health policies. Visiting nurses …

Employing The Houseless As Corporate Social Responsibility, Nicholas A. Smith, Larry R. Martinez, Shi (Tracy) Xu, Anna Mattila, Lisa Yixing Gao

Psychology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Purpose

Many hospitality organizations see the benefits of engaging in corporate social responsibility (CSR), which can take many forms. This study aims to examine one relatively unique form of CSR: hiring individuals experiencing houselessness. This research aimed to investigate the impact of hiring individuals experiencing houselessness on customers’ behavioral intentions, attitudes toward an organization and perceptions of CSR actions.

Design/methodology/approach

Across two experiments, this study investigated the impact of employing individuals experiencing houselessness on customers’ perceptions of the employee and organization using organizational legitimacy theory.

Findings

Results demonstrate that employees known to be houseless elicited more positive employee and organizational …

The Role Of Preprocessing For Word Representation Learning In Affective Tasks, Nastaran Babanejad, Heidar Davoudi, Ameeta Agrawal, Manos Papagelis

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Affective tasks, including sentiment analysis, emotion classification, and sarcasm detection have drawn a lot of attention in recent years due to a broad range of useful applications in various domains. The main goal of affect detection tasks is to recognize states such as mood, sentiment, and emotions from textual data (e.g., news articles or product reviews). Despite the importance of utilizing preprocessing steps in different stages (i.e., word representation learning and building a classification model) of affect detection tasks, this topic has not been studied well. To that end, we explore whether applying various preprocessing methods (stemming, lemmatization, stopword removal, …

Direct Care Staff Experiences In Oregon Assisted Living, Residential Care And Memory Care Communities, 2022, Paula Carder, Sarah Dys, Lindsay Schwartz, Diana Jacoby, Jacklyn N. Kohon, Dani Himes, Madeleine Fox, Sheryl Elliott, Lauren Bouchard, Portland State University Institute On Aging

Institute on Aging Publications

Resident care assistants (e.g., direct care workers, caregivers, personal care aides) provide the majority of services to assisted living, residential care and memory care-endorsed (ALF/RCF) residents. They faced significant burdens during the COVID-19 pandemic, which amplified existing challenges in some ALF/RCF communities, yet little is known about their work experiences. This qualitative study collected data through focus group and individual interviews with 21 resident care assistants and 12 external colleagues who have experience hiring, training or managing resident care assistants and other ALF/RCF staff, including registered nurse consultants, staffing agency operators, state policy staff, ALF/RCF community operations managers, and advocates. …

Highly Power Dense Dc To Three-Phase Ac Modular Converters With Tiny Module Capacitors, Wiwin Hartini Lew

Dissertations and Theses

A Modular Multilevel Converter (MMC) is an attractive candidate in high power conversion due to its modularity and scalability. The energy storage element, namely the module capacitance in the MMC submodule circuit, is typically large and when scaled to convert high power, requires very bulky module capacitors. In addition to deteriorating the power density, the design necessitates the use of electrolytic capacitors, which further affects the overall converter efficiency and reliability. This research presents an MMC submodule topology and the accompanying modulation approach that reduces the submodule capacitance requirements significantly compared to conventional MMC topology (few micro-farads versus several milli-farads). …

Delineating Differences In How Us High Schools Are Racialized, Dara Shifrer, C. J. Appleton

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Schools’ overt or explicit practices are a dominant lens through which education researchers and policymakers attempt to understand how schools are racially inequitable. Yet, Lewis and Diamond argue that contemporary racial inequalities are largely sustained through implicit factors, like institutional practices and structural inequalities. Ray’s framework on racialized organizations similarly outlines how our racialized sociopolitical structure becomes embedded in organizations, legitimating and perpetuating the racialized hierarchy. We apply illustrative cluster analysis techniques to rich data on schools, teachers, and students from the nationally representative High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 to find that structural inequities (e.g., student body, sector, average …

As You Like It: Building, Executing, And Assessing An Adaptable Library Instruction Program For First-Year Experience Courses, Joy I. Hansen

Communications in Information Literacy

Providing targeted experiences for first-year students both inside and outside the classroom is essential for building connections and creating a foundation for skill development necessary for academic success. Many first-year programs include a standalone course for incoming students or specific content weaved into existing course offerings. Information literacy skill-building holds an important place in these efforts; therefore, instruction librarians are provided additional opportunities to collaborate with faculty and reach students. Depending upon the size of the institution, however, the sheer number of first-year courses combined with shrinking library staff pose challenges. This Innovative Practices article is one library’s experience with …

Metacognitive Awareness For Il Learning And Growth: The Development And Validation Of The Information Literacy Reflection Tool (Ilrt), Sara Robertson, Michele Burke, Kimberly Olson-Charles, Reed Mueller

Communications in Information Literacy

This article describes the development and validation of the Information Literacy Reflection Tool (ILRT), a metacognitive self-assessment for use with undergraduate researchers. It was developed as a teaching and learning tool with the intent to help students recognize and engage the metacognitive domain as a step toward developing personal agency and self-regulation as lifelong, metaliterate learners. Throughout the scale development, three studies were conducted with nine expert reviewers and 44 community college students to consider content and face validity and 542 community college students as part of an item-reduction and construct validation effort. The resulting scale is most appropriately construed …

Working Paper No. 67, Insights Into Project Cybersyn, Leah Herrera

Working Papers in Economics

This inquiry seeks to establish that back in the 1970s Chile’s “Project Cybersyn” offered novel approaches and specific technologies that appeared to have benefitted capitalism as a system. The Spanish name, SYNCO served as an acronym for Sistema de Información y Control. President Salvador Allende expected that the attributes associated with Project Cybersyn could assist his efforts in implementing his variant of socialism. Cybersyn consisted of a network (Cybernet), software (Cyberstride), computers, a economic simulator known as CHECO, and a control room (Opsroom.) Cybersyn reached an advanced prototype stage; however, its fate was also tied to the interests of the …

Working Paper No. 69, Towards An Evolutionary History Of Gleaning, Stella Burlingame

Working Papers in Economics

This inquiry seeks to establish that the act of gleaning can be understood through an evolutionary approach. Because gleaning has been practiced in some form in almost every agricultural system, this inquiry shall consider several different regions and time periods, taking into account the distinct economic and social structures. The segments of history to be explored here range from antiquity, as documented in Scripture, through early modernity, and into the post-modern era.

Working Paper No. 68, Variables Precipitating The Extermination Of The American Bison, Cameron Winterer

Working Papers in Economics

This inquiry seeks to establish that innovations in tanning technology advanced by Europeans in the late 19th century accelerated the destruction of the bison, and subsequently the downfall of bison-reliant indigenous groups of the Great Plains, especially. The North American bison is considered as a crucial natural resource in the plains region of North America. What this inquiry seeks to emphasize is that advancements in technology, coupled with a growing demand for bison hides, contributed to the demise of bison populations. Lastly, this inquiry seeks to examine the near extinction of the plains bison and some of the effects their …

Increasing Collaboration To Improve Student Outcomes: Improvement Science, Cassandra Diane Thonstad

Dissertations and Theses

The aspiration of achieving equitable outcomes for all students is a focus of schools, districts, and communities but has largely remained unattainable with the top-down implementation of change ideas and directives that come and go as quickly as they are implemented. Too often the direct users, students and classroom staff, are left out of the conversations around what works best to improve student success, contributing to the achievement gaps experienced by our students of color, students receiving special education or English language services, or in the case of a hook discipline, young men. By utilizing Improvement Science through collaboration across …

Scientology's Faq: Sciencing, Tech-Romancing, Simulacra, & Simulation An Estranged Content Analysis, David Scott Morrill

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis examines how the practice of sciencing, tech-romancing, simulacra, and simulation manifests in both the text and symbols used on audiences of the Church of Scientology’s outreach materials. It specifically examines its official FAQ page. Self-framing was observed that satisfied the definition of sciencing and tech-romancing. Under an Estranged approach, Morrill examined selections of the Church’s FAQ pages, coding for instances of sciencing, tech-romancing, simulacra, and simulation. The data indicate that the Church frequently adopts simulacra and engages in simulation. The Church was seen frequently adopting technological and scientific symbols and jargon. The degree of sciencing, tech-romancing, simulacra, and …

Hydraulic Redistribution Under Saline Conditions, Josh Gottlieb

Civil and Environmental Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Water scarcity and soil salinity are dual stressors for plants in arid, salt-affected ecosystems. Hydraulic redistribution, a hydraulic adaptation which moves water through plant roots into dry or saline soil regions along potential gradients, aids plant survival in stressful environments. Recent theory regarding hydraulic redistribution proposes limitations on the process within saline soils. This study applies a minimalist resistor-capacitor model of the soil-plant-atmosphere system to the experimental conditions of a 2010 study investigating hydraulic redistribution in a salt affected area. The effectiveness of the model is evaluated, and a sensitivity analysis is conducted to identify key dynamics affecting the moisture …

Balancing Free Play And Structured Learning Opportunities In Early Childhood Education Classrooms: Contrasting Perceptions Of Teachers And Researchers, Logan Mentzer

University Honors Theses

This study explored how early childhood education classrooms can provide a balance of learning opportunities that are both initiated by the child and facilitated by the teacher. Three transitional/preschool teachers were interviewed along with two researchers who study preschool/kindergarten classrooms. The results of this study found four strategies that are used in early childhood education classes that allow both child exploration and adult facilitation: 1) creating close teacher-child relationships; 2) creating close lead-assistant teacher relationships; 3) using both mental and physical planning; 4) using guided questions to teach. There were interesting differences in contrasting perspectives of early childhood education teachers …

The Resident View In Community- Based Care Residential Settings, Diana L. White, Ozcan Tunalilar, Serena Hasworth, Jaclyn Winfree

Institute on Aging Publications

The Resident VIEW is a measure of person-centered care (PCC) from residents’ perspectives and was previously studied in nursing homes. The current study presents descriptive data for the Resident VIEW in community-based care settings including assisted living, residential care (AL/RC), and adult foster homes (AFH). Using a two-stage sampling design, we recruited 31 AL/RC and 119 AFH in Oregon and completed face-to-face structured interviews with 227 and 195 residents, respectively. Residents provided ratings for both the importance of and their experience with 66 items that tapped into PCC practices in eight domains. Results are provided for each item, many of …

Confederate Statues In University Opinion Newspaper Articles: An Analysis Of Themes And Attachment, Jamie Nicole Knopf

Dissertations and Theses

Many have asked for Confederate monuments' removal while others argue that they should remain or be recontextualized. Knopf analyzed themes found in Southern university student newspapers on the monument issue and how the statues related to community attachment. Using thematic analysis, Knopf identified six themes across the articles, and found that both removal and recontextualization arguments refer to the ideology behind the statues and the impacts this can have on students. Instances of attachment were used in both removal and recontextualization articles.

Agenda Setting And Europe's Common Immigration Policy, Jamie P. Surface

Dissertations and Theses

For over a decade the European Union has been immersed in an immigration crisis. As the desired destination for millions of people fleeing unrest in the Middle East and war in Ukraine, the EU has developed its own social, political, and humanitarian crisis. Lacking policy commonality across its member states on how to accept and manage the mass waves of migrants, the EU continues to struggle with implementing a common immigration policy. This research examines EU immigration issues, policies, and the failures of successful collaboration stymying the implementation of a standard immigration policy. Using the agenda setting model of John …

Possibilities For Inertial Electrostatic Confinement Fusion, Jeffrey Edward Black

Dissertations and Theses

While most of the fusion energy research is focused on magnetic confinement, there have been several alternative confinement methods aimed at the development of smaller and less expensive reactors. A number of these devices utilize a spherically convergent beam of recirculating ions, a technique known as inertial electrostatic confinement (IEC). This study looks at several aspects of IEC devices, including measurements of the fusion rate of an IEC device with a wire mesh electrode cathode, and a solid titanium cathode. In addition, several computational studies were performed to explore the possibilities for IEC fusion. These include development of a 1D-1P …

You Need This: Global Fast Fashion, Environment, And Consumption Culture, Alexandra Lamm

Student Work

In looking at how global production of clothing has increased and shifted, we see the impacts in places like workers rights, environmental issues and cultural consumption. Although vastly different, through examination we will see how all are intrinsically linked. We have reached a truly global economy, and even when threatened with negative consequences of mass consumption in our daily lives, the road to actual change in the fashion industry becomes harder in time due to our dependency on the industry as a whole.

The Power Of Counterstory With Martín Alberto Gonzalez, Martín Alberto Gonzalez

PDXPLORES Podcast

In this episode of PDXPLORES, Chicano & Latino Studies Professor Martín Alberto Gonzalez discusses the counterstory. As Gonzalez explains, counterstories are a narrative form of scholarly communication that uses stories to disrupt oppressive narratives established by empowered groups. Counterstory does so by pointing to the roles that systems of oppression, like white supremacy, racism, sexism, and capitalism, play in society, and higher education, in particular, by providing alternative narratives.

Click on the "Download" button to access the audio transcript.

Scaling Epa-Rimm With Multicore System Management Interrupt Handlers, Alexander K. Freed

Dissertations and Theses

Continuous runtime integrity measurement mechanisms (RIMMs) can be used for timely detection of kernel and hypervisor rootkits. Researchers have proposed running RIMMs in privileged execution environments, such as the x86 architecture’s System Management Mode (SMM), to detect interference from rootkits that have gained control of the host operating system. However, the extended amount of time in SMM required to perform inspections can cause severe disruption to the host. A previously proposed RIMM design called EPA-RIMM addresses this by decomposing long inspections across multiple System Management Interrupts (SMI), the interrupt used to invoke SMM.

EPA-RIMM is intended for deployment on server-class …

The Practice Of Dry Needling In Physical Therapy, Sarah A. Robertson

University Honors Theses

This thesis is a systematic review that discusses the current state of the treatment modality of "Dry Needling" in the field of physical therapy. To do this, current studies of the patient outcomes associated with Dry Needling are analyzed and discussed, as well as legislation at both the state and national levels.

Social Media Impact On Small Brick And Mortar Businesses, David N. Bowles

University Honors Theses

This thesis examines the implementation of various strategies and goals for small to medium brick-and-mortar enterprises regarding their use of social media. Drawing from primary data collection with small brick-and-mortar businesses within the greater metro area of Portland, Oregon, the value of social media is the ability of an organization to create a sense of value for their consumers while promoting positive relations and enhancing the consumer's ability to interact with an organization on a more personal level. Focusing on the implementation of various strategies and promotional efforts to increase the success of these small businesses and align their organizational …

Intersectionality Pertaining To The Disproportionate Rates Of Black Women In Prisons And Jails, Mackenzie Heller

University Honors Theses

The incarceration rates of Black women in America surpass even all other demographics. Yet, Black women are often not on the news when discussing prison rates in the United States. Rather we see Black men, Hispanic men, and so forth. While these people do make up large portions of the prison system they are seeing a decline in their incarceration rates. Black women are often pushed to the sidelines when discussing matters that can be seen as central to their livelihoods.

This thesis addresses the intersectionality that only Black women experience and how that affects their imprisonment rates and experiences …