Digital Commons Network^™

Pacts: Critical Dispositions Necessary For A Culturally Responsive And Transformative School, Family, And Community Partnership For Black Pan-African Immigrant Students And Families, Jada Phelps, John Nimmo, Talgat Bainazarov, Zahra Abukar, Jamal Dar, Michelle Stratton, Leslie Ann Locke, Tianyang Xu

Leadership, Learning and Counseling Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study highlights a culturally responsive transformative school, family, and community partnership in the Western Region of the United States. The partnership served over 100 students and 300 parents of Black Pan-African immigrant descent responding to persistent school alienation. Using Critical Race Theory, Community Cultural Wealth, and a critical participatory action research design, we explored the structural forces shaping these experiences and the community-based responses that sought to resist them.

Data sources included professional development sessions, counterstorytelling, Theater of the Oppressed, asset mapping, and semi-structured interviews.

Findings revealed key partnership members centered five dispositions—Prophetic Activism, Asset- Based Ideology, Critical Consciousness, …

Modeling The Combined Effects Of Forest Fire And Climate Change On Snow-Water Storage In The Oregon Cascades, Joseph D. Vigil

Dissertations and Theses

Forest fire and climate change are reshaping the snow hydrology of the Pacific Northwest of the United States, yet the combined effects of these disturbances on snow accumulation, storage, and melt timing remain poorly quantified in these Mediterranean mountain watersheds. This study integrates field-based snow and radiation observations with physically based modelling to evaluate how postfire forest structure, postfire snow albedo decay, and future climate change influence snow-water storage in the Breitenbush watershed of the western Oregon Cascades. This work was conducted as part of a broader U.S. Army Corps of Engineers effort to improve postfire hydrologic prediction and flood …

"I Wasn't Broken": Addressing Stigma Associated With Dementia While Walking The Talk For Dementia, Kate Irving, Fernando Aguzzoli Peres, Walter D. Dawson, Jonathan Adrián Zegarra-Valdivia, Lingani Mbakile-Mahlanza, Sherril B. Gelmon

Institute on Aging Publications

INTRODUCTION:Walking the Talk for Dementia (WTD) convenes people from every continent and multiple perspectives, including people with lived experience, in a 40- km walk followed by a 2-day symposium. The aim is collective reflective dialogue about dementia stigma without the burden of professional hierarchies.

METHODS: Qualitative reflections during and immediately following the walk were analyzed using content analysis to identify common themes.

RESULTS: Three themes demonstrate an evolution of perspectives about dementia and stigma: “meeting the person not the label”, “a community in solidarity”, and “I wasn’t treated like I was broken, and I wasn’t broken.”

DISCUSSION: WTD created an …

The Pathways Study: Findings From Surveys Of People With Recent Experience Of Homelessness In Multnomah County, Kathleen P. Conte, Amy Laird, Desiree' J. Duboise, Susan Avila, Carlton Bone, Transformational Research For Equity And Experience In Shelter (Trees) Committee, Marisa Zapata

Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative Publications and Presentations

As historic levels of funding to resolve and prevent homelessness draws down in Multnomah County, entities providing homeless services want to know the most effective ways of supporting people experiencing homelessness. The “Pathways” study aims to help answer that question. Through surveys and interviews, we sought to understand how people navigate their lives while homeless, and in particular how they interacted with homeless services. Overall, the findings reinforce what previous studies have found: people want housing, need housing to be affordable and within their means, and value helpful effective services. This report presents findings from surveys with 541 people with …

Multiple-Valued Quantum Automata For Robotics, Yuchen Huang

Dissertations and Theses

This dissertation introduces a new type of quantum automata, their encoding and circuit realization. I concentrate on possible applications in robotics. Several methods and application of quantum automata and quantum circuit-based controllers for elementary robotic systems, with a focus on humanoid robot motion, emotion, and behavior generation are illustrated in detail. The research introduces several novel methodologies that bridge quantum computing principles with robotic control, aiming to overcome the limitations of classical deterministic and probabilistic approaches.

The dissertation first presents a quantum-circuit-based framework for generating non-repetitive and expressive (e)motions in a humanoid robot actor, using superposition and entanglement to produce …

Evaluating The Impact Of Leading Pedestrian Intervals And Curb Extensions On Conflict Frequency And Severity, Sophia Semensky

Dissertations and Theses

Leading Pedestrian Intervals (LPIs) and curb extensions are commonly implemented countermeasures intended to improve pedestrian safety at signalized intersections. While LPIs have a well-established crash reduction record, fewer studies have evaluated their impacts using surrogate safety measures or examined how curb extensions interact with LPIs to influence pedestrian-vehicle conflicts. This thesis investigates the effects of LPIs and curb extensions on pedestrian safety using detailed conflict data collected at eleven signalized intersections in the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area.

Approximately 600 hours of video data were collected across four matched intersection pairs and three before–after sites. Pedestrian and vehicular volumes, turning speeds, …

Impact Of Parent Education Programmes On Confidence And Self-Efficacy In Parents Of Preterm Infants: A Systematic Review, Puja Padbidri, Veena Joshi, Hollie Hix-Small, Pooja Bhavarth Dekhane

Educator Licensure Faculty Publications and Presentations

Objective:

Families of preterm infants can experience high stress during neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) hospitalisation, which interferes with the development of parenting confidence and self-efficacy through active engagement with their infants. Parent NICU support programmes provide guidance and education to build this connection. This systematic review examined the effects of parent education programmes on confidence and self-efficacy among parents of preterm infants.Design Systematic review in PubMed/Medline, PsycINFO, CINAHL, Google Scholar and Web of Science.Setting NICU.Participants Parents of preterm infants.Intervention Education programmes offered to parents in the NICU.Main outcome measures Quantitative surveys measuring parent confidence or self-efficacy.Results 14 studies met …

Reinvesting In A Lived Experience Workforce: An Exploration Of Why Peer Support Specialists Leave The Field, Morgan Rae Pelot

Dissertations and Theses

Peer support specialists (PSSs) are individuals who use their lived experience of mental health challenges along with formal training to provide peer support to other individuals experiencing similar challenges. PSSs have only become integrated into the mental health care system within the last several decades. Recently, a study reported a trend of PSSs leaving the field of peer support, but there is a gap in the literature exploring factors that may influence this decision. This study examined if self-efficacy, motivations to join the workforce, and negative work experiences were related to workforce retention. A secondary cross-sectional analysis was conducted on …

Relational Histories: Exploring The Transmission Of Ceramic Technology In The Norton Sound Region Through Petrographic Analysis, Laurel Michelle Diciuccio

Dissertations and Theses

Ceramic technology in the Bering Strait region of the North American Arctic dates to approximately 2,500 BP and is broadly divided into two traditions: the Early Arctic (Norton, pre-1,500 BP) and the Late Arctic (Thule, post-1,500 BP). While Arctic ceramic studies have focused on raw material sourcing, vessel use, and cooking performance, this research investigates forming methods and ceramic fabrics to better understand their place in the technological behavioral chain. This approach fills a gap in the literature by centering on vessel construction and offers new insights from Norton Sound sites, including type sites Iyatayet and Nukleet.

Macroscopic and petrographic …

Mental Health Under Pressure: A Scoping Review Of Suicide In The Dental Workforce, Man Hung, Spencer John, Nicholas Beasley, Amir Mohajeri, Connor Schwartz, Martin S. Lipsky

Institute on Aging Publications

Aims:

Suicide among healthcare professionals is a growing concern. Despite evidence of high psychological distress in dental practice, suicide in dentists remains underexplored. This scoping review systematically examined the literature on suicide and suicidal ideation among dentists, including prevalence, risk factors, and temporal trends.

Methods:

Searches of PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Dentistry and Oral Sciences Source identified English-language studies reporting suicide, suicidal ideation, or related mental-health risks in dental professionals. Duplicates were removed; titles/abstracts and full texts were screened against predefined criteria. Data were extracted and thematically analysed.Results Fourteen studies met the inclusion criteria and were mostly retrospective …

An Applied Anthropological Study Of Conflict Reduction: Fostering A Culture Of Safety At A Homeless Service Organization In Portland, Or, Katelyn Champion

Dissertations and Theses

Hygiene 4 All's (H4A) hub of operation provides hygiene services and resources to houseless individuals in Portland, OR. H4A seeks to foster a culture of safety, sanctuary, and welcome. During an internship that took place between February and December, 2025, I studied the organization's policies and practices, with a focus on how their formal and informal processes worked to lessen moments of social friction, escalations, and violent incidents. I apply theory regarding organizational management, practice theory, design, symbolic interactionism, and trauma-informed care to contextualize the research. I employed ethnographic methods, including participant observation, interviews, and document analysis, to identify themes …

Scale-Dependent Particle Transport Over Urban-Like Roughness In Turbulent Flow, Rae Riddle

Dissertations and Theses

This study employs direct numerical simulation (DNS) to investigate the dispersion of inertial particles in turbulent flow over three-dimensional urban-like roughness at Reτ = 200. Particles with Stokes numbers St = 5, 25, and 100 are tracked over cubic arrays with spanwise spacings Sy from 2h to 32h, where h = δ/8 and δ is the half-channel height, alongside a smooth-wall reference case. The results reveal scale-dependent particle responses characterized by three distinct regimes. First, high-inertia particles (St = 100) align strongly with mean secondary flows, exhibiting organized plumes above roughness elements. Their vertical transport peaks at intermediate spacing …

The Ladies' Home Journal: Dormant Seeds Of The Feminine Mystique Pre-Wwii, Isis Santos Villaça

University Honors Theses

At the turn of the 20th century, magazines were becoming increasingly available to the middle class. Throughout the 1890–1930s, the industry put forth an entire new iteration of publications that came to be popular with female readers. One of the most successful publications from this period, The Ladies' Home Journal, distinguished itself through its strong editorial presence on the page. The editors of the Ladies' Home Journal intended to create a "traditional" female identity that reflected domesticity in the journal, which countered the rising notions of the New Woman. Simultaneously, the publication aimed to create an educational product with …

From Reclamation To Restoration: Remaking Nature On Portland's Peninsula, Theus Richards

University Honors Theses

This environmental history of the North Portland Peninsula is a critical case study of a landscape in transition, where new "natures" have been constructed through shifting projects of reclamation and restoration. The Port of Portland, who controlled the Peninsula, transformed the marshy bottomlands near the confluence of the Columbia and Willamette Rivers to accommodate greater networks of industrial infrastructure and expand their capacity for global trade. Beginning in 1967, the Port began dredging operations to fill Ramsey Lake to make way for the construction of Rivergate Industrial District. Through this process, Smith & Bybee Lakes were set aside as a …

Measuring Indigenous Cultural Strengths: A Systematic Review Of A Decade Of Approaches., Melissa L. Walls, Danica Love Brown, Victoria M. O'Keefe, Evan J. White, Miigis Gonzalez, Ivy Blackmore, Tara L. Maudrie, Meenakshi Richardson, Timothy R. Werwie, Hariata G Tai Rakena, Multiple Additional Authors

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Indigenous Peoples experience severe health inequities rooted in experiences of colonization. Calls for strengths-based, culturally grounded research and practice to redress these harms continue to grow. This systematic review assesses how Indigenous "culture" has been quantified in research across the globe over a 10-year span. Following PRISMA guidelines, we searched four databases (2013-2023) for peer-reviewed, English-language articles featuring quantitative measures of Indigenous culture as a positive/protective factor. Data were extracted via a double coding system to assess cultural domains, operationalization strategies, and sociodemographic characteristics of reviewed studies. We reviewed 279 records and identified 461 measures, 289 of which were unique. …

Carver, Kafka, And Woolf On Re-Enchanting Modernity, Zachary Davis

University Honors Theses

Though removed from the time of the modernists, Raymond Carver shares similar interests with Woolf and Kafka in his late century story "Cathedral," as he investigates art's capacity for creating meaning, or "re-enchanting." While Carver investigates the function of art in a chaotic world, his story does not feature a central artist figure or a hierarchical social structure surrounding the artistic process, but rather an organic artistic experience which creates community among the characters. In this way, "Cathedral" can be seen as a mediation between Woolf's and Kafka's distinct, if not opposing, reactions to Matthew Arnold's prophecy that "most of …

Arid: Agglomerative Regionalization Via Information Divergence, A Novel Clustering Algorithm For Geo-Spatial Data, Joshua David Sills

Dissertations and Theses

Regionalization is a clustering problem that seeks to partition geospatial data into geographically contiguous regions while remaining internally homogeneous in their attributes. It has been successfully applied towards the development of urban planning, natural resource discovery, and ecological analysis. Existing popular approaches optimize homogeneity using Euclidean or variance-based criteria, which ignore distributional differences such as variance shifts, multimodality, and higher-order dependence. This thesis introduces ARID (Agglomerative Regionalization via Information Divergence), a spatially constrained agglomerative clustering framework that replaces distance-based merging with an information-theoretic, Ward-like criterion that utilizes the Kullback-Leibler (KL) divergence. ARID constructs a neighborhood graph from coordinate space and …

Disability, Inclusion And Language-In-Education Policy In The Global South: The Colombian Context, Rosa Dene David, Kimberley Brown

Applied Linguistics Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper calls for a shift related to English language-in-education policy and inclusive education initiatives in Colombia to ensure that English language learners with disabilities receive equitable and inclusive classroom instruction that is context-appropriate. We call for English language initiatives and policies to draw from theories and practices from both the Global South and the Global North in order to teach towards inclusive education. Trends in both English language teaching and inclusive education have drawn upon the Global North for solutions, which cannot be systemised to fit one international standard. Instead, using the Colombian context as an example, the present …

Drowning Prevention In The West: Who Did It Better?, Arran Hedley

University Honors Theses

This paper aims to communicate the differences on how the US, UK and Australia have approached drowning prevention in each of their nations. This paper addresses drowning statistics within each nation, national, state and local policies, access to public facilities, and the preventative strategies, swim lessons and Lifeguarding. These are the criteria each nation is being graded upon, because each criteria is a factor that can help mitigate drowning deaths.

For literature around this subject, there are many papers on each individual nation's approach to drowning but in researching there does not appear to be a comparison of the nations' …

Pressed For Time: The Role Of Time Pressure And Attentional Awareness On The Mental Health Of Employed Informal Dementia Caregivers, Kate Bishop

University Honors Theses

Informal caregivers for individuals with Alzheimer’s and related dementias (ADRD) experience increased time demands and poorer well-being, especially when caregiving is combined with paid employment. Subjective feelings of high time pressure, which include feeling rushed and short on time, relate to poorer self-reported measures of mental health more than objective task load. Attentional awareness is one of the fundamental components of mindfulness alongside nonjudgmental acceptance; it has been linked with more optimal mental health and feelings of having enough time. This cross-sectional study examined whether higher levels of perceived time pressure would relate to poorer self-reported mental health functioning and …

Effectiveness Of Peace Education And Recommendations For Implementation In The Sultanate Of Oman's School Curriculum, Vision 2040, Mohamed Al Braiki

Dissertations and Theses

This study explores peace education as an institutional process within the Sultanate of Oman's K–12 education system. Currently, Oman Vision 2040 articulates commitments to social cohesion, global citizenship, and holistic development. Existing empirical research indicates constant challenges related to bullying, student well-being, emotional distress, and school-related harm. This study conceptualizes peace education as a structural and relational mechanism embedded within institutional routines, leadership practices, and conflict-management responses. Using a qualitative integrative review design, the study examines peer-reviewed research, policy documents, and institutional analyses relevant to Oman, the Gulf region, and broader peace education scholarship. The analysis is guided by theoretical …

Turning Point: Usa, 2020 Election Denialism And Its Consequences, Zack George

University Honors Theses

Current President of the United States, Donald Trump interrupted the peaceful transfer for power for the first time in 250 years. In the typical study of the events surrounding this interruption, much focus is made on the events of the January 6th Capitol Riot. Firstly, this thesis examines the 2 months in the leadup to the 2020 election and how the Trump administration acquired and attempted to execute their plans to commit a self-coup, keeping the administration in power in the face of the election victory and transition to the Presidency of election-winner, Joe Biden. Secondarily, it will contextualize and …

The Collective Impact Of Physical Activity, Somatic Therapy, And Nature-Based Spirituality (Pastans) On Individuals Recovering From Substance Use Disorders (Suds), Sara R. Maddox

University Honors Theses

This correlation research study explores the collective impact of physical activities, somatic therapies, and nature-based spirituality (referred to as PASTANS, a term created by the researcher) on individuals recovering from substance use disorders (SUDs). The study aimed to evaluate how these practices enhanced emotional regulation and fostered community development, thereby supporting sustained recovery and overall well-being. PASTANS interconnected to alleviate cravings and rewire brain reward pathways, promoting cultural connections through activities that resonated with pre-colonial traditions and were accessible to atheists and agnostics.

Participants engaged in movement and somatic practices in natural settings, including yoga and hiking. Somatic therapies are …

Fentanyl Use Among People Who Inject Drugs In Two Large Pacific Northwest Metropolitan Areas., Lauren Lipira, Sara N. Glick, Courtney Moreno, Lalaine Sevillano, Matthew A. Town, Timothy W. Menza

Regional Research Institute for Human Services

Background

We examined fentanyl use and outcomes among people who inject drugs (PWID) in the urban Pacific Northwest (PNW).

Methods We conducted secondary analysis of data from the 2022 National HIV Behavioral Surveillance PWID cycle from Portland, OR and Seattle, WA. We calculated proportions of any fentanyl, injection fentanyl, non-injection fentanyl, and street pill use. Next, we compared characteristics, behaviors, and outcomes by any fentanyl use. Finally, we estimated adjusted relative risk (aRR) of overdose outcomes associated with fentanyl use and injecting less associated with type of street pill use.

Results

Among 835 PWID, 76% reported fentanyl use, 47% injection …

Reasoning In Large Language Models Across Multilingual, Long-Context, And Symbolic Settings, Sina Bagheri Nezhad

Dissertations and Theses

Large Language Models (LLMs) are increasingly deployed as general-purpose reasoners, yet their reliability degrades in three settings that frequently arise in practice: multilingual inputs, long contexts, and symbolic or formally constrained domains. In multilingual settings, uneven training coverage produces substantial performance disparities and uncertain generalization to languages with little or negligible pretraining exposure. In long-context settings, relevant evidence may be sparsely distributed, and models exhibit the "lost-in-the-middle" phenomenon, undermining retrieval and multi-step synthesis. In symbolic settings such as mathematics, small arithmetic or logical slips invalidate solutions, and prose rationales are difficult to verify automatically.

This dissertation first characterizes these failure …

Book Review Of, Invading The American Canon: Translators Of Russian Literary Fiction, 1863-1984, Cassio De Oliveira

World Languages and Literatures Faculty Publications and Presentations

Book Review of, Invading the American Canon: Translators of Russian Literary Fiction, 1863-1984

Effects Of Fib-Based Sample Preparation On Semiconductor Strain Characterization, Daniel Carl Hedinger

Dissertations and Theses

Channel strain engineering has been an important topic in semiconductor manufacturing due to the significant carrier mobility gains it can provide. The need for strain characterization at the individual device level, combined with the rapidly shrinking size of semiconductor devices, has led to development of various transmission electron microscopy (TEM) based strain characterization methods including nano beam electron diffraction (NBD). These methods rely on focused ion beam (FIB) sample preparation to produce election transparent TEM samples. This dissertation studies the effect of different FIB sample preparation modalities on the measured strain in p-type 14nm FinFET devices. TEM samples were produced …

Navigating Homelessness And Housing Accessibility: An Ethnography Of Guests At Operation Nightwatch, Chase Kawika Patton

Dissertations and Theses

In 2025, over 7,000 individuals in Portland, Oregon experiencing unsheltered homelessness are without access to shelter or transitional housing. In this resource gap Operation Nightwatch (ON) provides material support for people experiencing homelessness (PEH) in the University District neighborhood of downtown Portland. This study focused on the experiences of chronically homeless guests of Nightwatch as they navigated homelessness and housing access. The study relied on semi-structured interviews with staff and guests and on-site participant observation to determine the availability of support to access housing in a system governed by Coordinated Access and the Housing First model. Primary research took place …

A 2030 Energy Transition Pathway For Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic, Kasiet Nurlanbekova

University Honors Theses

Bishkek remains heavily dependent on thermal generation to meet winter electricity and heating demand, while seasonal air pollution and growing urban energy demand continue to place pressure on aging infrastructure. Although Kyrgyzstan has adopted renewable energy targets, implementation remains limited, and winter reliability in the capital continues to depend on centralized combined heat and power generation.

This study evaluates whether Bishkek can improve its seasonal electricity adequacy by 2030 through alternative supply portfolios built around currently planned projects and moderate renewable additions. Using a seasonal portfolio model, the baseline and scenario 1 are compared. The baseline includes CHP-1 modernization, CHP-2, …

Madwoman Makings: The Modern Girl As An Object Of Fear And Fascination In Unno Jūza’S "Mrs. Hirumi's Refrigeration Bag", Eliza Joy Mortimer

University Honors Theses

This thesis argues that Unno Jūza's 1937 short story "Mrs. Hirumi's Refrigeration Bag" uses the sensational tropes of deviant detective fiction to both stage and interrogate interwar Japanese anxieties around gender, science, and modernity. Focusing on the figure of Mrs. Hirumi—a scientifically empowered and sexually assertive female plastic surgeon who dismembers and cryogenically preserves her husband—the author reads her as a radical iteration of the Japanese Modern Girl character. By drawing on scholarship on deviant detective fiction, imperial modernity, and Kazue Harada's concept of (re)productivity, this thesis demonstrates how the short story both reproduces misogynistic criminological discourse and unsettles heteronormative …