Digital Commons Network^™

Masculinity In Fraternities: Impact On Campus Sexual Violence, Alisha K. Ram

PSU McNair Scholars Online Journal

The literature on fraternities and sexual violence has suggested that some fraternity members are more likely to adopt and maintain the values found in hegemonic masculinity (Sanday, 2007). This is significant as it can aid our understanding of how fraternities and hegemonic masculinity play a part in promoting and engaging in sexual violence. This paper investigates existing literature on masculinity and how hegemonic masculinity is enforced through fraternity participation. The literature review explores condoned behaviors and beliefs that endorse negative masculine values, which are fostered in the social fraternity lifestyle between brothers. Those values paired with the strong male social …

Inside Out, Christy Chan

Inside Out

The INSIDE OUT Project collected autobiographical phrases from Richmond, CA residents and turned them into six story tall, night-time video projections on the outside walls of Richmond City Hall. The project was censored by the city for including Spanish language phrases critical of President Trump's immigration policies. Richmond, CA is one of the most racially and socioeconomically diverse cities in California, with 1/3 of its residents foreign born. 1,000 phrases were submitted in multiple languages through free, in-person community workshops and the project's online website.

Videos of this project in the Archive collection can be found here and here

How Does Wasta Bolster Regimes? The Case Of Tunisia, Issrar Chamekh

Dissertations and Theses

This paper aims to highlight the impact of democratization on wasta by examining the everyday performance of wasta, or the use of connections and informal networks to acquire services. Despite its widespread use, I find that it is understudied as an explanatory variable in the literature on democratization and authoritarianism in the Middle East and North Africa, with Tunisia as a case study. In this paper, I argue that wasta can potentially have a consolidating effect on regimes. I examine the ways that wasta is encoded in everyday language. Using literature from Pragmatics, specifically Goffman's dramaturgical model, I find that …

Tragic Ways Of Killing A Lesbian: A Synchronic Analysis, Taylor D. Watt

University Honors Theses

Following an increase in queer characters over the last few decades, representation of the LGBTQ+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, etc.) community on television has become a particularly rich field of inquiry for interdisciplinary scholars. One area of interest, the death of contemporary lesbian characters, remains fairly underdeveloped. This thesis attempts to identify structural patterns in the deaths of lesbian characters by subjecting their narrative arcs to structural analysis, specifically a method of linguistic analysis developed by the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure. I identify structural patterns in the deaths of 6 lesbian characters which took place between the years …

The Hidden Killer: Towards Regulating Railyard Diesel Particulate Matter Emissions In Oregon, Kevin Downing, Robert Mccullough, Eric Shierman

Hatfield Graduate Journal of Public Affairs

Diesel engines are the predominant choice when moving freight, particularly for the railroad industry. Compared to gasoline engines, diesel emits relatively few of the toxic compounds generally associated with internal combustion. However, diesel engines produce a disproportionate quantity of particulate aerosols. Airborne pollutants from locomotives and freight transferring equipment in railyards significantly impact the air quality of surrounding neighborhoods. We summarize the health impacts of diesel particulates emitted from railyards in Oregon. Using the most conservative range of the EPA's assessment, we calculate a Pigouvian Tax for the railroad companies to pay, totaling $624.24 per μg/m3 for each person in …

Leaders Of Global Virtual Teams: Implications For The Identification And Training Of Successful E-Leaders, Janae R. Rainbolt

University Honors Theses

The business environment is an ever-evolving enterprise, and as technology advances so do their operations, allowing for more businesses to become global. This increase in globalization has led to the problem of how to manage these activities around the world. Virtual teams have become one solution, but they present their own challenges in regards to how to effectively manage a team that is culturally diverse and lives in various times zones. Through the analysis of 91 research articles and texts on the topic of e-leadership, this research identifies the most prevalent indicators of the management practices of leaders of efficacious …

Bleeding Into Space: Environmental Violence, Serialized Trauma, And Extradiegetic Space In Brian Wood’S Comic The Massive, Dustin C. Rozier

University Honors Theses

In Brian Wood's The Massive, a comic detailing a world suffering from ecological destruction due to the actions of the Anthropocene, Environmental and Trauma Studies are uniquely positioned to find a new medium of representation in the hybrid word and image form of comics. This series, which consists of serialized issues with both an individual and collective narrative structure, must work to both maintain the overall narrative while telling smaller stories within each issue. In The Massive, each issue works to situate the reader within the framework of the story through flashbacks of individual characters and the climate …

Fostering Racial And Ethnic Identity For Transracial Adoptees: The Importance Of Culturally Competent Transracial Adoption Training Programs For White Adoptive Parents, Emily J. Moxon

University Honors Theses

Transracial adoption, which is the adoption of a child of a race or ethnicity different from the race or ethnicity of the adoptive parents, is a relatively new practice with the first reported case in the U.S. in 1948 (The Adoption History Project, n.d.). As such, there is a limited amount of academic research that is currently available studying the effects of this practice on the Transracial Adoptee (TRA) in their cultural, ethnic, and racial socialization processes and on how well they adjust to a racialized society outside of their adoptive family unit. Since the 1940s, an estimated one million …

Self-Disclosure And Physiological Responses Among Adults Who Stutter, Sulema Rodriguez

University Honors Theses

Purposes: (1) To explore self-disclosure, physiological and affective responses in easy and difficult speaking situations, (2) to investigate physiological and affective responses in self-disclosure and no self-disclosure speaking contexts, (3) to examine types of self-disclosure statements used along with physiological responses, (4) and to gain an understanding of reasons why and how adults who stutter choose to self-disclose or not self-disclose about their stuttering.

Method: Four adults who stutter were randomly assigned to self-disclosure and non self-disclosure speaking contexts. Heart rate, skin conductance, and affective responses were measured during the following focus areas: 1) start baseline, 2) anticipation of the …

The (Mis)Use Of One-Way Anova Testing In Sociology Research Papers And Their Implications, Nancy Yang

University Honors Theses

Null hypothesis testing has been used increasingly over previous years. Many papers have been released critiquing the use and interpretation of these tests, particularly in the fields of medicine and other physical sciences. This study considers the use of Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) testing, a type of null hypothesis test, in sociology research papers. In this study, peer reviewed research articles have been gathered and analyzed based on their misuse and misinterpretation. Common misuses include proof of the null hypothesis and lack of further explanation of statistically significant results in relation to argument of the research. These interpretations, or lack …

Impacts Of A Parental Consent Law On Teen Birth And Abortion Rates In Kansas, Cameryn Carr

University Honors Theses

In 2011 Kansas passed a bill requiring minors seeking an abortion to receive notarized consent from both parents before the procedure could be performed. Kansas is one of three states who require both parents to give consent before an abortion is performed. Relying on past scholarship, a review of past literature and methodology is conducted. In this project, we quantify how this consent law impacted birth and abortion rates for teens in Kansas. Using difference-in-difference regression analysis, this study finds that the law is associated with a decrease in minor teen abortion rates and birth rates in Kansas. We also …

Relationship Between Empathy And Language Proficiency In Adult Language Learners, Mika Sakai

Dissertations and Theses

This study reviews concepts and the mechanism of empathy, and the relationship between empathy and language proficiency, focusing on the aspect of cognitive empathy. It also discusses whether empathy levels could be developed by learning language to a highly proficient level. I compared the empathy levels between high and low proficiency second-language learners to determine if there was correlation between empathy and other factors such as gender, studying abroad, education background, and usage of a second language. I found that there was no relationship between empathy level and language proficiency level; however, there was one between empathy and gender. For …

The Future Of War: Cyber-Attacks And Aggression In International Law, Jamie Hogan

University Honors Theses

Cyber-attacks are becoming more advanced, and more dangerous, but can these simple lines of code be considered acts of war? My research looks at cyber-attacks through international law framework regarding jus ad bellum, the resort to war. After looking at cyber-attacks through this lens, it is possible to declare certain types of cyber-attacks as acts of aggression, and ultimately allow states to invoke their right of self-defense in response to these attacks. My research will then address the need for international law regulating these new weapons of war.

Engaging In A Rural Deaf Community Of Practice, Kara Gournaris

Dissertations and Theses

The number of students taking American Sign Language (ASL) at the post-secondary level continues to increase as more Deaf-related graduate programs and employment settings require fluent ASL skills. Western Oregon University (WOU) is one of the few existing programs in the United States that offers four years of ASL instruction; however, as a rural university it has limited access to a Deaf community. The problem of practice is that students often have little exposure to rich language models who are fluent in ASL, which impacts their legitimate peripheral participation (LPP) in the local Deaf communities of practice (CoPs) and reduces …

Parr Going The Distance: How Migratory Difficulty Influences Red Muscle Lipid Storage In Juvenile Oncorhynchus Mykiss, Emily Jean Morse

Dissertations and Theses

Adult salmonid populations embarking on difficult migrations have evolved to store more somatic energy prior to river entry. While it is known that lipids are the primary fuel for endurance swimming in fish, uncertainty still surrounds how these mechanisms are utilized by juvenile fish during seaward migration. A key phase in salmonid migration is the preparatory season of feeding and growth before swimming downstream. During this period, juvenile fish build somatic fuel stores through dietary uptake. Intestinal microbiota of steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) vary drastically across their geographic range, with significant differences in the coastal and inland subspecies' …

"What About The Men? Investigating Alcohol Consumption, Masculinities, And Risky Sex In Peri-Urban Eswatini, Aaron Jackson Levine

Dissertations and Theses

This study focuses on the narratives Swazi men create around drinking, masculinity, and sexual behavior. Alcohol myopia theory, motivational-expectation theory of drinking, and Connell's theory of masculinities were used to create research that details how alcohol and the cultural environment of gendered social drinking intertwine and interact with each other to form the gender structure of eSwatini. Twenty Swazi men were sampled by convenience, given semi-structured interviews, and questioned about their perceived and internal reasoning for the drinking of themselves and others, the observed drinking behaviors of others, their own drinking behaviors, how they viewed women in and accepted women …

The Dangerous New Us Consensus On China And The Future Of Us-China Relations, Mel Gurtov, Mark Selden

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

The trade war and technological competition with China are symptomatic of a much larger issue: a dangerous gridlock in US-China relations that may become permanent, with dire consequences not just for the two countries’ economies but also for the global economy and quite possibly East Asia’s and international security. Martin Wolf, Financial Times columnist, is right to conclude: “Across-the-board rivalry with China is becoming an organising principle of US economic, foreign and security policies.”¹ The fact that this conflict has occurred at a time of trade, investment, and security disputes between the US and its major allies, US-Russia tensions, …

Toxic Chemical Governance Failure In The United States: Key Lessons And Paths Forward, Ariana M. Chiapella, Zbigniew Grabowski, Mary Ann Rozance, Ashlie D. Denton, Manar A. Alattar, Elise F. Granek

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Over 40 years of regulations in the United States have failed to protect human and environmental health. We contend that these failures result from the flawed governance over the continued production, use, and disposal of toxic chemicals. To address this failure, we need to identify the broader social, political, and technological processes producing, knowing, and regulating toxic chemicals, collectively referred to as toxic chemical governance. To do so, we create a conceptual framework covering five key domains of governance: knowledge production, policy design, monitoring and enforcement, evaluation, and adjudication. Within each domain, social actors of varying power negotiate what constitutes …

A Comprehensive Examination Of Electronic Wayfinding Technology For Visually Impaired Travelers In An Urban Environment, Martin Swobodzinski, Amy T. Parker

TREC Final Reports

In this project, we distilled an inventory of smartphone-based electronic travel aid technology for the wayfinding of visually impaired travelers in an urban environment based on a thorough review of software marketplaces and the academic literature. Subsequently, we solicited structured input from domain experts and visually impaired individuals on their experiences and evaluations pertaining to personal telecommunication technology for safe and efficient wayfinding. The insights gained from this project are instrumental for the conceptualization and development of integrated route planning and guidance application that address the distinct information needs and expectations of individuals with a vision-related functional impairment. The very …

A Csra-Binding, Trans-Acting Srna Of Coxiella Burnetii Is Necessary For Optimal Intracellular Growth And Vacuole Formation During Early Infection Of Host Cells, Shaun Wachter, Matteo Bonazzi,, Kyle Shifflett, Abraham Moses, Rahul Raghavan, Michael F. Minnick

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Coxiella burnetii is an obligate intracellular gammaproteobacterium and zoonotic agent of Q fever. We previously identified 15 small non-coding RNAs (sRNAs) of C. burnetii. One of them, CbsR12 (Coxiella b urnetii small RNA 12), is highly transcribed during axenic growth and becomes more prominent during infection of cultured mammalian cells. Secondary structure predictions of CbsR12 revealed four putative CsrA-binding sites in stem loops with consensus AGGA/ANGGA motifs. We subsequently determined that CbsR12 binds to recombinant C. burnetii CsrA-2, but not CsrA-1, proteins in vitro. Moreover, through a combination of in vitro and cell …

Interrogating The Construction And Representations Of Criminalized Women In The Academic Social Work Literature: A Critical Discourse Analysis, Sandra Marie Leotti

Dissertations and Theses

In the United States today, there are 2.3 million people behind bars in jails and prisons. Mass incarceration has swept up the United States to such a degree that we are known globally for holding more people in correctional facilities than any other country in the world. Although women have always, and still do, reflect a smaller proportion of the correctional population, over the last 40 years, their rates of criminalization and imprisonment have far outpaced that of men's. Drastic increases in the criminalization of women are intimately connected to the entrenchment of social disadvantage enabled under neoliberal globalization. Neoliberal …

Post-Colonial Fantasy And Intersectional Heroism Within Who Fears Death, Miranda Hubbard

University Honors Theses

Speculative fiction has a long and troubled relationship with colonialist ideologies. While the abstraction within the genre lends itself to broader societal critiques, in practice it can contain problematic narratives that dehumanize othered groups (ibid), enforce racial constructs, and avoid direct engagement with the oppressive structures it invokes. Nnedi Okorafor's novel, Who Fears Death, resists this defamiliarization. Utilizing the conventions of speculative fiction, Okorafor conjures real-world racist and sexist structures. Who Fears Death is an intersectional text, blending genre, race theory, and feminism to interrogate questions of authorship, agency, and identity within a colonialist, patriarchal society. Its representation of …

Use Of Two-Replisome Plasmids To Characterize How Chromosome Replication Completes, Nicklas Alexander Hamilton

Dissertations and Theses

All living organisms need to accurately replicate their genome to survive. Genomic replication occurs in three phases; initiation, elongation, and completion. While initiation and elongation have been extensively characterized, less is known about how replication completes. In Escherichia coli completion occurs at sites where two replication forks converge and is proposed to involve the transiently bypass of the forks, before the overlapping sequences are resected and joined. The reaction requires RecBCD, and involves several other gene products including RecG, ExoI, and SbcDC but can occur independent of recombination or RecA. While several proteins are known to be involved, how they …

"Poverty Wages Are Not Fresh, Local, Or Sustainable": Building Worker Power By Organizing Around (Re)Production In Portland's "Sustainable" Food Industry, Amy Katherine Rose Coplen

Dissertations and Theses

Although conscious consumers flock to sustainability-branded restaurants and grocery stores to "vote with their forks" for environmental sustainability and vibrant local economies, workers in these industries face the same poverty wages, discrimination, and exploitative labor practices that plague the food service and retail industries at large. Despite rapid growth and labor degradation, low-wage workers in these industries have largely been left behind by the mainstream labor movement and the alternative food movement. Whereas in the past, progressive social movements worked to alter power relations between labor and capital through collective action, today's mainstream labor movement focuses on servicing its dwindling …

An Examination Of Non-Waged Labor And Local Food Movement Growth In The Southern Appalachians, Amy Kathryn Marion

Dissertations and Theses

Farmers have traditionally depended on their families or paid employees to cover their extensive labor needs. Today, non-waged labor models are gaining popularity, especially among small, ecologically-oriented farms. Apprenticeships and internships can be a primary form of training for a population of new and beginning farmers, many of whom are entering the field without farming backgrounds. However, many question the sustainability and justness of these arrangements. As a new phenomenon, very little research examines the relationship between non-waged labor models like agricultural apprenticeships and alternative food movements. In this exploratory study, the author surveyed nearly 250 farmers growing for local …

Situational Context Of Police Use Of Deadly Force: A Comparison Of Black And White Subjects Of Fatal Police Shootings, Shana Lynn Meaney Ruess

Dissertations and Theses

Police use of deadly force is an understudied yet deeply important issue in our society. Recent years have seen a dramatic increase in public concern over use of deadly force, particularly when that force is used against people of color. Due to the relative low frequency of deadly force incidents, little is known about when such force is used, or who it is used on. Recent studies have found a racial disparity between white and black subjects of deadly force, with black subjects significantly over represented as a proportion of the population. This study further expands our understanding of police …

Closure Or Censure? Examining The Determinants Of Disclosure Of Sexual Assault Among College Students, Whitney Head-Burgess

Dissertations and Theses

Sexual assault is an ongoing problem on college campuses, with some projections indicating that one in four college women has experienced some sexual coercion or assault during her time at university. Recent national policy has strove to address the problem through legislation like the 2013 Campus Sexual Violence Elimination Act. Nonetheless, the crime remains the most underreported in the nation despite policy and law which explicitly defines what constitutes sexual assault. However, most victims of sexual assault will disclose what happened to someone else, even if they choose not to report.

This research examines sexual assault disclosure practices on a …

Effects Of Regulation Intensity On Marijuana Black Market After Legalization, Sikang Song

Dissertations and Theses

Since 2012, many states and Canada have legalized the use and sale of recreational marijuana. One of the expected benefits of the legalization is that the establishment of a legal cannabis market would eliminate the black market which has been the main form of marijuana trade for decades. Even though legal options are available for marijuana producers and consumers, the black market is still thriving in states where recreational marijuana has been legalized. The reasons behind the persistence of the marijuana black market are complex. One of the main arguments is that the legalized states have failed to establish a …

The Drive-Inn: Producer Space For Visionaries, Portland, Corey Cabrera, Melissa Meagher, Clayton Crowhurst, Jacob Pavlik, Jarrod Howard, Spencer Stegmann

Real Estate Development Workshop Projects

Consisting of retail, industrial office, production space and a one-of-a-kind tenant amenity rooftop cinema space, the Drive-in experience metaphorically hints to the production process with space for collaboration, creation & illustration. Say goodbye to one-size-fits-all creative office space that has inundated Portland for the past five years. The Drive-in caters to a missing niche of visionary tenants with unprecedented design and shiny owner returns. Take a seat and relax. This is the Drive-in.

Travel Behaviors Of Persons With Intellectual And Developmental Disabilities, Joseph C. Totten

Civil and Environmental Engineering Master's Project Reports

People with intellectual and developmental disabilities live different lives than the general population. Often prohibited from driving, persons with intellectual disabilities cite transportation as top concern, limiting their independence and freedom to live, work or recreate where and when they choose. Improving services for persons with developmental disabilities requires that engineers and planners understand how persons with intellectual disabilities travel, and what types of transportation are available to them. This report hopes to identify the availability of transportation options to persons with developmental disabilities such that planners, engineers and advocates can determine how altering the transportation system might affect persons’ …