Digital Commons Network^™

Fragments Of Struggle : Five Short Stories By Kobayashi Takiji, Benjamin Robert Burton

University Honors Theses

Fragments of Struggle is a collection of five English translations of short stories by Kobayashi Takiji, the hero and martyr of prewar Japan's proletarian literary movement. The short works in this project showcase the breadth of Takiji's style, and bolster the argument that he may have been a much more complex, and experimental, writer than he is often given credit for. Furthermore, this collection may feature some of the first English translations of wall fiction (kabe shōsetsu), a sub-genre of the Japanese proletarian literary movement that thrived in the early 1930s.

Social Constructs In Film Culture: The Effect Of It On The Performing Arts, And The Destroyed Association Of Signs To Enhance Meaning, Eileen W. Tom

University Honors Theses

Semiotics is the study of signs and how they produce meaning in society. How can the lens of semiotics (specifically the components and the relationship between the signifier and the signified) reform the audience and performer systems? This thesis serves as an examination of the relationship between the audience and performer, how each play a part in creating meaning within a given performance piece. This project provides a method on how to rebuild the world of the film to enhance a theme. The primary evidence consists of statistics gathered from a viewing of a staged reading that was written specifically …

Affect Perception In Computer Mediated Communication, Rachel E. Townsend

University Honors Theses

The perception of affect influences the subjective perception of an individual’s environment (Isbell & Burns, n.d.). Accurate affect perception leads to increased resilience and positive coping mechanisms when faced with daily life stressors (Robinson, Moeller, Buchholz, Boyd, & Troop-Gordon, 2012). Communication technologies have revolutionized the ways in which individuals connect to one another professionally and socially (Joseph B. Walther, 1992). This study investigated accurate affect perception in computer mediated communication (CMC) from a multidisciplinary perspective. One hundred fifty four research participants ( = 26.84, = 9.66) responded to a self-report questionnaire hosted by Qualtrics.com. A multiple linear regression was conducted, …

Américo Castro, Saint James, And Spain: The History Of A Belief, Daniel Blanchard

University Honors Theses

The present essay is broadly interested in the problem of writing history, and the way different manners of confronting this problem are received and represented in the modern day as our historiographical compass increases in depth, scope, and capacity. Within the breadth of this theme, my case study is centered on the Spanish historian Américo Castro (1885–1972), an author whose work embodies not only the Spanish intellectual trends of his day, but also a substantial swath of Western philosophy and academic scholarship. I demonstrate the influence of existential philosophy on Castro, as well as the myopic filter of nationalism through …

Music And Acculturation: Using Culture-Focused Music Therapy To Address The Adverse Effects Of Acculturative Stress, Christopher A. Arnold

University Honors Theses

More than any other demographic in the United States, Native American populations experience the highest rate of suicide proportional to population size. This is just one of numerous statistics indicative of the overall status of Native American psychological health. There has been increasing research demonstrating that Native American suicide rate and depression is positively associated with acculturative stress, and negatively associated with traditional heritage cultural integration. Because an increased amount of acculturative stress for Native Americans is correlated with high suicide rate and occurrence of depression, while increased traditional culture integration may be linked to lower suicide rate and occurrence …

Adoption And Child Trafficking: Structural Violence In The International Adoption System, Vanessa Virgiel

University Honors Theses

In the United States there exists as part of the institution of international adoption a hegemony of “saving” orphans from developing or economically devastated nations. This hegemony is a factor contributing to an adoption “market” in orphans, leading to incidences of the trafficking of children as part of the intercountry adoption system. This study's purposes are thus twofold. First it is a preliminary attempt within the academic realm to determine the emergence of this hegemony by delineating the US history of intercountry adoption from its origins in the mid-1940s as a response to humanitarian crises, to its current status as …

The Cully Park Inter-Tribal Gathering Garden: Place-Making Through Indigenous Eco-Cultural Reclamation, Randall Morris

Geography Masters Research Papers

Portland's history and geography are patterned, like any city, by spatial imaginings both utopian and dystopian. This examination of the raw landscape of the city’s nascent garden space in Cully Park is an attempt to research a third manifestation of space, one that might be called heterotopia. This research into the Inter-Tribal Gathering Garden is a search for a more complete accounting of place, one which also acknowledges the variety of non-human agencies (a list which would include streets, planning documents, various plants, historical accounts, and even the consistent boundaries of the space itself) found in all heterogeneous …

Pdxscholar Annual Report 2013, Karen Bjork

Library Faculty and Staff Publications and Presentations

This report details the third year of operation for PDXScholar, Portland State University's institutional repository. The report covers the period between January 1, 2013 and December 31, 2013.

Reading L2 Russian: The Challenges Of The Russian-English Dictionary, William J. Comer

World Languages and Literatures Faculty Publications and Presentations

This descriptive study examines when and how students use Russian-English dictionaries while reading informational texts in Russian and what success they have with word lookup. The study uses introspective verbal protocols (i.e., think-alouds) to follow how readers construct meaning from two texts while reading them for a limited time first without a dictionary and then with access to a paper bilingual dictionary. Quantitative and qualitative data about readers’ language and dictionary skills are presented based on the readers’ think-aloud protocols for the dictionary portion of the reading sessions. The data reveal patterns of dictionary usage and problems in finding words …

The Editing And Publishing Of Tim Winton In The United States, Per Henningsgaard

English Faculty Publications and Presentations

Per Henningsgaard presents us with a detailed analysis of 'The editing and publishing of Tim Winton in the United States', and more broadly of the work of cultural translation. Henningsgaard's essay is a fascinating excursion for readers of Winton into the pragmatic details of difference and similarity in national vocabularies and in modes of perception between the purportedly symbiotic North America and Australia. We also gain an appreciation of what the material production of literature entails for authors, editors, publishers and readers globally. We are given the chance to contemplate how ‘the literary’ exists not beyond the marketplace, but certainly …

Book Review Of, The Status Of Social Studies: Views From The Field, Gayle Y. Thieman

Education Faculty Publications and Presentations

Gayle Thieman reviews The Status of Social Studies: Views from the Field, which provides information on how social studies is being taught in United States schools.

Fated To Pretend?: Culture Crisis And The Fate Of The Individual, Rebecca Jade Ok

Dissertations and Theses

The question of this thesis is whether the individual can resolve the problem of culture crisis in her own case. Culture crisis is a historical moment in which our culture leads us to expect a world drastically different from the one in which we find ourselves. This thesis will focus on the experience of Generation Y in the fall-out of the 2008 Recession. It will be argued that we need a Wittgensteinian view of language in order to account for the phenomenon of culture crisis. It will be suggested that our individual has to be a Nietzschean individual in order …

Response To Intervention For English Learners: Big Ideas And Myth Busters, Julie Esparza Brown

Education Faculty Publications and Presentations

This presentation focuses on the key features of response to intervention (RTI)

Sisyphus Rolls On: Reframing Women's Ways Of “Making It” In Rhetoric And Composition, Kristin Bivens, Martha Mckay Canter, Kirsti Cole, Violet Dutcher, Morgan Gresham, Luisa Rodriguez-Connal, Eileen Schell

Harlot: A Revealing Look at the Arts of Persuasion

This is a multi-vocal, multi-institutional piece that examines ways women "make it" in rhetoric and composition. It is in the spirit of being more inclusive that we present our ideas about women's ways of making it in rhetoric and composition. This inclusiveness includes a written transcript of our audio narratives. Humbly, we present our work in this piece after four years of writing and revising in the work spaces we all know so well and offer several glimpses of the work women do as writing teachers. We honor all of the women who teach writing -- those who have made …

Language At Play: Digital Games In Second And Foreign Language Teaching And Learning. Language Learning & Technology, Steven L. Thorne, Erin Watters

World Languages and Literatures Faculty Publications and Presentations

A review of Language at Play: Digital games in second and foreign language teaching and learning Julie Sykes and Jonathan Reinhard 2013 ISBN 10: 0-205-00085-1 US 157 pp. Pearson New York, US

by Steven L. Thorne, Portland State University and University of Groningen and Erin Watters, Portland State University

Negotiating The Inclusion Of Nanoscience Content And Technology In Science Curriculum: An Examination Of Secondary Teachers' Thinking In A Professional Development Project, Jennifer Gayle Wells

Dissertations and Theses

The Next Generation Science Standards represent a significant challenge for K-12 school reform in the United States in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines (NSTA, 2012). One important difference between the National Science Education Standards (NRC, 1996) and the Next Generation Science Standards (Achieve, 2013) is the more extensive inclusion of nanoscale science and technology. Teacher PD is a key vehicle for implementing this STEM education reform effort (NRC, 2012; Smith, 2001).

The context of this dissertation study is Project Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Outreach (NANO), a secondary level professional development program for teachers that provides a summer workshop, …

The Association Between Insurance Status And Cervical Cancer Screening In Community Health Centers: Exploring The Potential Of Electronic Health Records For Population-Level Surveillance, 2008-2010, Stuart Cowburn, Matthew J. Carlson, Jodi A. Lapidus, Jennifer E. Devoe

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Introduction: Cervical cancer incidence and mortality rates in the United States have decreased 67% over the past 3 decades, a reduction mainly attributed to widespread use of the Papanicolaou (Pap) test for cervical cancer screening. In the general population, receipt of cervical cancer screening is positively associated with having health insurance. Less is known about the role insurance plays among women seeking care in community health centers, where screening services are available regardless of insurance status. The objective of our study was to assess the association between cervical cancer screening and insurance status in Oregon and California community health centers …

Measuring Global Coherence In Aphasia, V. Galetto, S. Kintz, T. West, Heather Harris Wright, Gerasimos Fergadiotis

Speech and Hearing Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Discourse coherence may be conceptualized as representing the listener's ability to interpret the overall meaning conveyed by the speaker. Discourse schemas serve as the organizing frameworks for placing the essential discourse elements within a language sample (Bloom, Borod, & Santschi-Haywoor, Pick, & Obler, 1996; Peterson & McCabe, 1983). When the essential elements are provided a logical consistency of the discourse schema is maintained and the listener perceives the discourse as coherent (Ditman & Kuperberg, 2010; Trabasso, van den Broek, & Suh, 1989; van den Broek, Virtue, Everson, Tzeng, & Sung, 2002). Global coherence refers to the ability to semantically relate …

Effects Of Truncation On Language Sample Analysis In Aphasia, Gerasimos Fergadiotis, Heather Harris Wright

Speech and Hearing Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

The goal of this study is to determine if the length of a language sample elicited from a person with aphasia (PWA) is of consequence when making inferences about the patient's functional language ability. When conducting a language sample analysis, a sample representing a snapshot in time is used to make inferences about an individual's language capacity in general. However, current findings are inconclusive regarding the ideal length of the language sample necessary to draw valid conclusions about patients (e.g. Heilman, Nockerts, & Miller, 2010).

E Mau Ana Ka HaʻAheo: A Case Study On Ke Kula Kaiapuni ʻO ʻĀnuenue, Zachary Kealohalaulā Wong

PSU McNair Scholars Online Journal

After the illegal overthrow of Queen Liliʻuokalani in 1893, ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi, the language of the Kanaka Maoli, was considered a political and cultural threat to the new Republic of Hawaiʻi. In 1896, Sanford B. Dole signed Act 57 into law, mandating that the “English language shall be the medium and basis of instruction at all public and private schools” (Benham and Heck, 1998). Without the legal right to teach ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi in schools or use it in government, new generations no longer learned the language as their grandparents once did, and therefore the number of native speakers dramatically decreased. In …

Mixed-Race Studies; Misstep Or The Next Step For Ethnic Studies In A Blending Nation?, Jennifer E. Robe

PSU McNair Scholars Online Journal

In January of 2011, the New York Times reported that 2010 U.S. Census data shows that younger generations are self-reporting their racial identity as multiracial or mixed-race in higher numbers than ever before¹. Classes in higher education that engage with race and ethnicity, often but not always as part of Ethnic Studies programs in universities, discuss and critique the categorizations of race and ethnicity. However, there is a social, political and economic power and privilege that groups have in being recognized as part of a categorized racial and/or ethnic group that mixedrace or multiracial identified individuals do not have when …

Against Metametaphysical Semanticism, Ryan Marquez

PSU McNair Scholars Online Journal

This paper presents a brief overview of meta-metaphysics and gives an account of why the various philosophers believe such a field exists, or ought to exist. The paper then discusses one particular approach in meta-metaphysical analysis as described by Eli Hirsch called semanticism and how it purports to resolve the problems within traditional metaphysics. Finally, it makes the case that Hirsch’s account utilizes first-order metaphysical assumptions in its argumentation and thus undermines its legitimacy as being part of an independent philosophical field.

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Avram Hiller

He’S Just A Man: Power Imbalance Between Female And Male Characters In American Sitcoms, Wenona Kimbro

PSU McNair Scholars Online Journal

This paper describes the occurrence and context of dismissive, condescending, and infantilizing linguistic behavior as used by female characters toward male characters in stable heterosexual partnerships portrayed in American entertainment television. This study is based on grounded theory, in that the initial interpretive framework for the analysis stemmed from preliminary data gathered in the study; this working framework directed the analytical approach during subsequent data processing, and was then further developed in response to the overall findings. The methodology used in this study is discourse analysis, an applied linguistic method of studying small units of spoken and written language, such …

Front Matter Volume 7, 2013, Mcnair Scholars Program

PSU McNair Scholars Online Journal

Front matter includes program background, Table of Contents, and a complete listing of 2012 Portland State McNair Scholars.

Front Matter Volume 6, 2012, Mcnair Scholars Program

PSU McNair Scholars Online Journal

Front matter includes program background, Table of Contents, and a complete listing of 2011 Portland State McNair Scholars.

The Use Of Politeness Strategies In Email Discussions About Taboo Topics, Katrina Pariera

PSU McNair Scholars Online Journal

Computer-mediated communication, such as email, offers us a chance to understand how social relationships are built and maintained in an environment in which interlocutors not only lack the paralinguistic that are vital to face-to-face conversation, but are participating in a medium which has had little time to develop rules of conduct. According to Brown and Levinson (1987) people will use certain politeness strategies to enhance face between themselves and their interlocutors. These strategies will depend on the level of intimacy between the participants, and the seriousness of the situation. In this study I compare the politeness strategies used by 29 …

Molding The History Of A Maritime Empire: The Role Of The Thirteenth‐Century Mosaics Of San Marco In Reforming The Venetian Past, Heather Mccambly

PSU McNair Scholars Online Journal

The mosaics of the Venetian Church of San Marco embody how this empire used imagery for political and ecclesiastical purposes. The church of San Marco is recognized as a force which drew the island fragments of primitive Venice into a unified city and empire. This paper will examine the thirteenth-century mosaics by analyzing a variety of factors in the visual environment and the iconography of the mosaics themselves. First, I will examine briefly the nature medieval visuality and the previous architectural and artistic tradition within San Marco, moving then to analysis of the mosaics of the Old Testament cycle, the …

Front Matter Volume 2, 2006-2008, Mcnair Scholars Program

PSU McNair Scholars Online Journal

Front matter includes program background, Table of Contents, and a complete listing of 2006-2008 Portland State McNair Scholars.

An Bó Bheannaithe: Cattle Symbolism In Traditional Irish Folklore, Myth, And Archaeology, Amy Sherwood

PSU McNair Scholars Online Journal

This paper explores the role cattle played in Iron Age Irish society, in their sociopolitical and economic systems, as a means of subsistence, and finally as a symbol within their belief system. Religious traditions play an integral role in any society and have a profound and systemic effect on many other aspects of culture, and should therefore be of great interest to archaeologists. However, belief systems might not be well-represented by material culture. In order to potentially understand the relationship between Iron Age Irish economy and religion, in this case as it pertains to cattle, it is necessary to make …

Victor‐Lévy Beaulieu And Québec's Linguistic And Cultural Identity Struggle, Anna Marie Brown

PSU McNair Scholars Online Journal

This article discusses language policy, ethnic identity and bilingualism in Quebec, Canada, through the lens of the writing of Victor Levy Beaulieu.

Faculty Mentor: Jennifer Perlmutter