Digital Commons Network^™

The Making Of Modern Egypt: The Egyptian Ulama As Custodians Of Change And Guardians Of Muslim Culture, Marai Boauod

Dissertations and Theses

Scholarship on the modern history of the Middle East has undergone profound revision in the previous three decades or so. Many earlier perceptions, largely based on modernization theory, have been either contested or modified. However, the perception of the Egyptian ulama (the traditionally-educated, religious Muslim scholars) in academic scholarship remains largely affected by the legacy of hypotheses of the modernization theory. Old assumptions that the Egyptian ulama were submissive to political power and passive players incapable of accommodating, let alone of fathoming, conditions of the modern world, and who chose or were forced to retreat from this world, losing much, …

Thermal Decomposition Of Electronic Cigarette Liquids, Robert Paul Jensen

Dissertations and Theses

Electronic cigarette liquid (e-liquid) is a solution of propylene glycol and/or glycerol with varying concentrations of nicotine and flavorants. Inhalation of vaporized e-liquid is a method of nicotine delivery that is growing in popularity and is commonly regarded as safe relative to smoking traditional tobacco products. The thermal decomposition of glycerol and propylene glycol is typical of alcohols and has been investigated, although not exhaustively. In this work, samples of propylene glycol and glycerol were vaporized using an electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) and were analyzed for evidence of decomposition using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. E-cigarettes are shown to degrade glycerol …

Semantic Knowledge Use In Discourse Produced By Individuals With Anomic Aphasia, Stephen Kintz, Heather Harris Wright, Gerasimos Fergadiotis

Speech and Hearing Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background---Researchers have demonstrated that people with aphasia (PWA) have preserved semantic knowledge (Dell et al., 1997; Jefferies & Lambon Ralph, 2006). However, Antonucci (2014) demonstrated that some PWA have impaired access to certain types of knowledge more than others. Yet, all these studies used single concepts. It has not been demonstrated whether PWA have difficulty accessing certain types of features within a discourse sample.

Aims—The main goals of this study were to determine if semantic knowledge and two category types were used differently within discourse produced by participants with anomic aphasia and healthy controls.

Method & Procedures—Participants …

Perceptions Of Hmong Parents In A Hmong American Charter School: A Qualitative Descriptive Case Study On Hmong Parent Involvement, Kirk T. Lee

Dissertations and Theses

Parental involvement plays an essential role in the United States (U.S.) educational system. However, parental involvement poses many challenges for Hmong parents in American schools. Many assumptions are made on the parts of teachers, staff, and Hmong parents about parents' roles pertaining to their involvement in their children's education. Hmong parents struggle to reconcile beliefs, attitudes, and values that they bring with them from Laos with the expectations found in the U.S. due to their unfamiliarity with the U.S. educational system.

This study employed the used a qualitative, descriptive case study approach to examine the perceptions of Hmong parents involvement …

Japanese Dialect Ideology From Meiji To The Present, Nao Okumura

Dissertations and Theses

The intent of this study is to examine the trajectory of ideology regarding standard Japanese and dialects from the historical perspective, and also to discuss the cause of the post-war shift of the ideology. Before the war, the government attempted to disseminate hyojun-go aiming at creating a unified Japan in the time when many countries were developing to be nation states after industrial revolution. After the Pacific war, the less strict-sounding term kyotsu-go was more often used, conveying an ideology of democratization. Yet despite the difference in the terms, speaking a common language continues to play a role of unifying …

Fact Or Fiction? Exploring Assumptions About Esl Writers, Alissa J. Hartig

Applied Linguistics Faculty Publications and Presentations

No abstract provided.

Intersections Between Law And Language: Disciplinary Concepts In Second Language Legal Literacy, Alissa J. Hartig

Applied Linguistics Faculty Publications and Presentations

International mobility among graduate students of law presents unique challenges for the teaching and learning of Legal English. Master of Laws (LL.M.) students, for example, often bring both prior legal training and professional experience from their home jurisdiction to their graduate studies abroad. Taking a closer look at the experience of these students as they engage with genres associated with another legal system provides insight into broader issues of intersections between language and content in English for Legal Purposes. This article draws on case studies of four LL.M students from China and Saudi Arabia, a civil law jurisdiction and an …

Volunteering In Oregon: Strengths And Opportunities In The Nonprofit Sector, Callie H. Lambarth, Lindsey Anne Cochran

Equity & Diversity

The Volunteering in Oregon (VIO) project, conducted in 2016 and commissioned by The Oregon Community Foundation (OCF), sought to explore key questions related to volunteering in Oregon among nonprofits in the state. The VIO project included a statewide electronic survey with a random sample of nonprofit organizations, an electronic survey with a convenience sample of volunteers within these nonprofits, interviews with representatives from nonprofit organizations, and three case studies based on a document review and key stakeholder interviews with representatives of each organization. Ultimately, the aim of the VIO project was to identify recommendations and action steps for how OCF …

Language, Memory, And Exile In The Writing Of Milan Kundera, Christopher Michael Mccauley

Dissertations and Theses

During the twentieth century, the former Czechoslovakia was at the forefront of Communist takeover and control. Soviet influence regulated all aspects of life in the country. As a result, many well-known political figures, writers, and artists were forced to flee the country in order to evade imprisonment or death. One of the more notable examples is the writer Milan Kundera, who fled to France in 1975. Once in France, the notion of exile became a prominent theme in his writing as he sought to expose the political situation of his country to the western world--one of the main reasons why …

Identity Construction And Language Use By Immigrant Women In A Microenterprise Development Program, Linda Eve Bonder

Dissertations and Theses

Researchers have explored immigrant identity in various contexts, but few studies have examined identity in low-income immigrant women entrepreneurs. To address this research gap, I conducted in-depth interviews with eight low-income Latino immigrants who were starting their own businesses and receiving support through a local microenterprise development program (MDP). The study explored how participants' microenterprise efforts affected their identities and their investments in learning English.

The research found that entrepreneurship promoted positive identity construction by providing opportunities for participants to develop personal and cultural pride, strengthened parental roles, and interdependence with the community. These benefits helped participants decrease family stress …

Cultures-Of-Use And Morphologies Of Communicative Action, Steven L. Thorne

World Languages and Literatures Faculty Publications and Presentations

In this article I revisit the cultures-of-use conceptual framework-that technologies, as forms and processes comprising human culture, mediate and assume variable meanings, values, and conventionalized functions for different communities (Thorne, 2003). I trace the antecedent arc of investigation and serendipitous encounters that led to the 2003 publication and conclude by proposing that digital environments and the human experience of activity form unified ecologies with agency distributed through the system.

Digging Deeper: Can Patrons Use Our Resources, And Are Basic Digital Literacy Classes Enough?, Cindy Gibbon, Jill Castek

Presentations and Publications

We know our resources are easy to use and our patron training is relevant...don’t we? International assessment data show the US population scores below the international average in problem solving in technology-rich environments. At risk of disrupting the status quo, a public library collaborates with an urban university on a project funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services to assess patrons’ skills. Results will help inform how library services and digital content are presented and will help ensure patron training content includes meaningful skills. Come learn how our research might reflect the needs of your patrons.

Portland State 20/20 Newsletter, Strategic Planning Development Team, Portland State University. Office Of The President

Newsletters

The most current newsletter includes additional information about the implementation of the Strategic Plan and discusses the Equity Lens and student success.

Intercultural Interactions Among Burmese Refugees In Multicultural Middle School Classrooms, Matthew Carl Mcparker

Dissertations and Theses

The largest refugee group entering the United States in recent years is from Burma. Refugee students face a daunting set of challenges, from language and cultural differences to living in poverty, in becoming successful in their new homes. To be successful in schools and gain cultural and social capital, refugee students must learn and internalize the specific norms of their classrooms. In middle school, students are particularly reliant upon their peers for support, making peer interactions especially important. In multicultural settings, students have ample opportunities for intercultural interactions, which can help refugee students navigate their new settings and become more …

Social Capital And Cultural Identity For U.S. Korean Immigrant Families: Mothers' And Children's Perceptions Of Korean Language Retention, Su-Jin Sue Jung

Dissertations and Theses

Through increasing immigration, the U.S. society is becoming more linguistically and culturally diverse. Yet, as many U.S. language minority groups seek to assimilate, they face many challenges. One challenge is that their home language does not match the dominant language, English, that their children are learning at school. For Korean communities, maintaining Korean language presents a problem for families, especially for the mothers and children. The purpose of this study was to explore the U.S. Korean immigrant mothers' and children's perceptions of and experience with maintaining the Korean language and the effect that has on the development of social capital …

"That's The Test?" Washback Effects Of An Alternative Assessment In A Culturally Heterogeneous Eap University Class, Abigail Bennett Carrigan

Dissertations and Theses

To determine learner attitudes toward an alternative assessment, additional washback effects, and possible relationships between cultures of learning and learner attitudes, a mixed methods study was conducted in an advanced multicultural EAP (English for Academic Purposes) class in the USA, where a poster project was implemented as a summative assessment. Qualitative and quantitative data from a pre- and post-test questionnaire as well as classroom observations and an interview with the instructor were used to investigate learners' attitudes towards the assessment. The twenty-four participants representing five cultures of learning from the Middle East, South America and Southeast Asia expressed largely positive …

Chronic Absenteeism Report, Ann Curry-Stevens, Connie Kim-Gervey, Chief Education Office Research Team

Center to Advance Racial Equity Publications and Reports

The Chief Education Office (CEdO) has commissioned this report on chronic absenteeism in Oregon schools to better understand this problem in general, to specifically hear from students and families most likely to be chronically absent, and to present recommendations for the State and local communities. This report is a result of collaboration between CEdO, Portland State University (PSU), and the Coalition of Communities of Color (CCC). Researchers from PSU conducted all of the original research. This report builds on previous work in Oregon and around the country, but it is not a duplication of existing research. Instead, the research is …

The Development And Validation Of The Social Recovery Measure, Casadi "Khaki" Marino

Dissertations and Theses

Mental health recovery is a complex phenomenon involving clinical, functional, physical, and social dimensions. The social dimension is understood to involve meaningful relationships and integration with supportive individuals and a wider community. While the recovery model developed from a movement led by consumers and survivors of the mental health system to promote hope, self-determination, and social inclusion, the clinical aspects of recovery have dominated mental health research and practice. The under-investigated area of social recovery calls for psychometrically sound measurement instruments. The purpose of the current study was to develop and validate the Social Recovery Measure (SRM). The study was …

The Sensorimotor Approach To Color Perception And The Necessity Of Socio-Cultural Considerations For Color Naming, Matthew Watts

Student Research Symposium

In this paper I argue against Kevin O’Regan’s claim that the “biological reflectance function” and its notion of “simple” colors naturally lead to a biologically consistent standard for species wide color naming. Although the simplicity of these colors may allow for easier apprehension, the notion that color simplicity will naturally lead to a consistent standard for the naming of basic color hues across a species is inconsistent with the idea of objective colors in the way that he portrays it. While it fixes many of the traditional explanatory issues surrounding color perception, it opens up new explanatory issues surrounding color. …

Cross-Cultural Understanding, Sajjad Haider

Student Research Symposium

This case-study is about the cross-cultural management and how it affects the employee relations and ultimately impacts their performance, if not handled properly. The case delves into different situations where understanding of the other cultural values, norms, work practices and human behavior is critical for foreign managers to succeed.

The case entails how a foreign FMCG company faced with the difficult and challenging situation in China. In order to fix the problems, the corporate headquarter sent three of their bright personnel; Janet, Peter and William to China. They were tasked to improve the HR, marketing & sales and distributions channels. …

Culturally Specific Bilingual Arts Integration, Danielle L. Malan

Student Research Symposium

Today's young people are a source of growing social and academic concern. Combined with economic, cultural and linguistic barriers, Latino students are an even greater concern. Studies have demonstrated qualitative improved learning with either arts integration or with bilingual education. After a literature review, there was no conclusive quantitative evidence done prior to this study in 2015, for the benefits of combining the two to use bilingual arts integration as a method for improved learning. Could bilingual arts education improve learning? The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of bilingual arts integration on learning, and the positive …

Ignoring Ethics With Style: Writing Sentences For "Non U.S. Persons", Ryan Smith Madan

Harlot: A Revealing Look at the Arts of Persuasion

Ignoring Ethics with Style: Writing Sentences for "Non U.S. Persons" argues for the importance of understanding the ethical dimensions of sentence writing. To illustrate, I cite the stylistic features of a recent public exchange about the legality of government surveillance between Director of Intelligence James Clapper and U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Mark Udall. I also discuss my own experience teaching writing to college students in order to reflect on need for a new generation of writers to recognize the relationship between clarity and ethics.

Foreign Word Alert, Foreign Word Alert: Rethinking Editorial Approaches To The Italicization Of Foreign Terms, Katey Trnka

Book Publishing Final Research Papers

Several style guides dictate that foreign words in running text be set in italics, but those individuals concerned with marginalization are questioning this rule in increasing numbers. With an eye to authorial intent and inclusiveness, is it time to do away with this stylistic dictum wholesale, or are there valid reasons for keeping this convention in play?

525,600 Minutes: How Do You Measure Cultural Diversity In Oregon Trade Publishing?, Alyssa Gnall

Book Publishing Final Research Papers

In this paper I will explore the ongoing conversation about the state of diversity in the publishing industry, the identity of the Pacific Northwest as a bastion of diversity relative to New York City, and whether and how the economic concept of cultural diversity can be useful to publishers committed to increasing diversity in their lists or amongst their staff. Generally speaking, the term “diversity” refers to the social choice to be inclusive of everyone regardless of race, sex, class or economic status, etc. In this paper, I will also refer to the economic concept of cultural diversity. In publishing, …

Elevating The Translator: Next Steps In Promoting International Literature, Olenka Burgess

Book Publishing Final Research Papers

Enthusiastic readers both inside and outside the publishing industry have lamented the paucity of international literature translated into English. Despite the widely held belief that translated literature doesn’t sell, small presses and literary organizations have emerged over the past decade to take the lead in advocating for more translated literature and more recognition for those who, despite the near impossibility of making a living from their craft alone, continue to spill unfathomable hours into the pursuit of literary translation. In response to this advocacy, media coverage of translated literature has grown considerably, and it is increasingly common to see translations …

Publishing Puzzles: Some Implications Of Literary Diffculty For The Editor, Brendan Brown

Book Publishing Final Research Papers

The specter of literary difficulty is at bottom the very same as, or a primary aspect of, that which has dogged and driven textual scholars and literary theorists, linguists and philosophers of language, educators, legislators, theologians, and aesthetes—in short, “professional readers” of all stripes—from time immemorial. As such, it carries with it a bevy of unknowns, questions thus far neither satisfactorily answered nor, in many cases, even fully and properly articulated. This likely has a great deal to do with the fact that the term difficulty is and has historically been applied in a variety of senses to a radically …

Open Engagement 2016 Catalog, Jen Delos Reyes

Open Engagement

2016 — Oakland, California — POWER

"Open Engagement is an artist-led initiative directed and founded by Jen Delos Reyes committed to expanding the dialogue around and serving as a site of care for the field of socially engaged art. We highlight the work of transdisciplinary artists, activists, students, scholars, community members, and organizations working within the complex social issues and struggles of our time. Since 2007, OE has presented ten conferences in two countries and six cities, hosting over 1,800 presenters and over 7,000 attendees. In addition, OE managed a publishing arm, and assembled a national consortium of institutions, colleges, …

What’S Their Story? Using An Online Assessment Tool To Learn About Patron Skills, Amy Honisett

Presentations and Publications

We believe our patrons can use our electronic resources, but international assessment data tell a different story. The US population scores below the international average in problem solving in technology-rich environments, so Multnomah County Library and Portland State University are collaborating on a project funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services to assess patrons' online abilities and how those abilities map to common library tasks. Results will help inform how online library services are presented and will help ensure computer class content includes meaningful skills.

Chinookan Villages Of The Lower Columbia, Henry B. Zenk, Yvonne P. Hajda, Robert T. Boyd

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Villages were the center of Chinookan life, filling the role that tribes did for Native people in other parts of North America. Every village of any size or significance had a recognized leader or chief, and constituted a named local group with which its members identified themselves. Although the villages themselves are long vanished, early travelers, missionaries, and settlers have left us eyewitness accounts of what some were like. The names and approximate locations of many more can be reconstructed from historical sources and information shared by later generations of lower Columbia River Native people.

As contributors to the recently …

Exploring How Problem Solving In Technology-Rich Environments Can Be Used To Design Responsive Programming, Jill Castek, Amy Honisett

Presentations and Publications

This session explored a project that assesses community members’ digital skills using Education and Skills Online (ESO) – a valid and reliable assessment tool based on PIAAC that addresses Literacy, Numeracy, and Problem Solving in Technology Rich Environments (PS-TRE). The project will use these data to determine how the abilities of patrons map to the common library tasks that libraries assume patrons are able to access and use in a meaningful way.