Digital Commons Network^™

Growing Together: Strategies For Attracting And Retaining Community-Reflective Early Learning Professionals, Tonya Jo Coker

Educational Leadership Professional Doctorate Dissertations

The recruitment and retention of a diverse early learning workforce remains a critical challenge in special education. This study explores the multifaceted issues of workforce shortages, turnover rates, and the disparity between the demographics of educators and students in the Department of Early Learning within an education service district in Oregon. Through a detailed analysis of historical and current data, this study identifies systemic challenges contributing to the difficulty in attracting and retaining qualified staff, especially those who are representative of the communities they serve. Using improvement science as a methodological framework, the study tested change ideas focused on recruitment, …

Supporting Holistic Health And Gestational Diabetes Mellitus Risk Reduction Among Young Native Females Prior To Pregnancy: A Qualitative Exploration., Sarah A. Stotz, Luciana E. Hebert, Lisa Scarton, Kelli Begay, Kelly L. Gonzales, Heather Garrow, Melanie Charley, Melanie Aspaas, Denise Charron-Prochownik, Spero M. Manson

OHSU-PSU School of Public Health Faculty Publications and Presentations

AI/AN communities are disproportionately impacted by food insecurity and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Decreasing the risk of GDM can interrupt the intergenerational cycle of diabetes in AI/AN families, and can decrease diabetes-related health disparities. The goal of this study was to explore ways of supporting holistic health and reducing the risk of GDM among young American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) females prior to pregnancy. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with adult AI/AN women (>18 years) who had GDM or who have young female relatives (e.g., daughters) (n = 41), AI/AN females between 12 and 24 years (n = 18), …

“I Have One More Hour Of Power And Many Miles Of Communication To Go”: Lessons Learned From Community Research Interrupted By Climate Crises, Antonia R.G. Alvarez, Sherry Manning, Teresa Dosdos Ruelas

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Ang Pagtanom og Binhi Project is a University–Community partnership and community-based participatory research project exploring the health benefits of food sovereignty practices in the Philippines. In late 2021, in the midst of data collection, Super Typhoon Odette made landfall in the Philippines causing massive environmental and structural devastation. In the aftermath of the storm, community partners in the Philippines and members of the research team in the United States shared photos, texts, and updates. These messages included descriptions of structural and environmental damage caused by the storm and stories of mutual aid efforts and actions taken by individuals and …

From The Ocean To Our Kitchen Table: Anthropogenic Particles In The Edible Tissue Of U.S.. West Coast Seafood Species, Summer D. Traylor, Elise F. Granek, Marilyn Duncan, Susanne Brander

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Microplastics (MPs) and other anthropogenic particles (APs) are pervasive environmental contaminants found throughout marine and aquatic environments. We quantified APs in the edible tissue of black rockfish, lingcod, Chinook salmon, Pacific herring, Pacific lamprey, and pink shrimp, comparing AP burdens across trophic levels and between vessel-retrieved and retail-purchased individuals. Edible tissue was digested and analyzed under a microscope, and a subset of suspected APs was identified using spectroscopy (μFTIR). Anthropogenic particles were found in 180 of 182 individuals. Finfish contained 0.02–1.08 AP/g of muscle tissue. In pink shrimp (Pandalus jordani), the average AP/g was 10.68 for vessel-retrieved and …

Participatory Longitudinal Qualitative Interview Study To Understand Autistic Gynaecological And Obstetric Health: The Autism From Menstruation To Menopause Study Protocol, Amy Brown, Kathryn Williams, Aimee Grant, Gemma L. Williams, Harriet Axbey, Abigail Wilkins, Ellen Firth, Hazel Lim, Helen Cave, Christina Nicolaidis, Multiple Additional Authors

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Autism is a lifelong minority neurotype present from birth. There is a dearth of credible evidence to suggest gender variation in Autism prevalence, despite historical under-diagnosis of women. Autistic people Assigned Female At Birth (AFAB) have worse physical and mental health compared with non-Autistic peers. To date, the reproductive health experiences of Autistic AFAB people have been under-investigated.Methods and analysis This study aims to co-develop a quality improvement intervention to improve the reproductive health of Autistic people. The study uses Community Partnered Participatory Research (an approach similar to Community-Based Participatory Research), largely through a Community Council that co-governs the study. …

Efficient Visual Data Processing Approaches To Improve Resource Utilization, Yeganeh Jalalpour

Dissertations and Theses

With continuous advancements in technology, the volume of visual data being captured, distributed, and consumed across various applications is rapidly increasing. Enhancing the efficiency of visual data processing can improve resource consumption, making the storage, transmission, and use of this growing visual content more effective.

Image and video data constitute a significant share of internet traffic, making video compression a critical factor in enhancing overall data throughput by improving the video compression ratio. Capturing, transferring, and storing raw video data is challenging due to the substantial resources required for both storage and computation. Video compression, however, can significantly mitigate these …

A Contemporary Examination Of Racial Intraminority Relations: Attitudes, Motivations, And Barriers To Participation In Collective Action, Jaboa Shawntaé Lake

Dissertations and Theses

Social movements globally and within the U.S. are gaining widespread acknowledgment as many individuals become more aware of systems of disadvantage and oppression, gain a better understanding of their root causes, and engage in collective ways to approach social change. Social science research on engagement with collective action has started to go beyond looking only at majority-minority relations (such as between White and Black people) to examine solidarity and coalition building between minoritized groups. This dissertation expands the literature both on collective action and intraminority intergroup relations through three manuscripts. Chapter II explores various social attitudes (e.g., awareness of privilege …

Working Paper No. 85, Alexis De Tocqueville And The American Wealth Gap, Chloe Kneedler

Working Papers in Economics

This inquiry seeks to establish that French lawyer and scholar, Alexis de Tocqueville, observed as early as the 1830s, what would later emerge as the American wealth gap. After a nine-month journey that included his traveling through different parts of the nascent United States, Tocqueville wrote a two-volume book titled: Democracy in America [1835]. Over the length of his two volumes, Tocqueville reflects upon his experiences and observations drawn from the American nation in its fifth decade. Throughout this book, Tocqueville described the democratic structure of this country as emblematic of what could be expected from this “New World,” and …

Recovery Of Black Carbon Concentrations In Burned Forests In Wyoming, Usa, Monica Vanesa Zapata Villegas

Dissertations and Theses

Burned forests that remain standing following fire release light-absorbing particles (LAPs), including black carbon (BC), into winter snowpacks, reducing snow surface albedo and accelerating snowmelt timing for decades postfire. Although the role of LAPs in seasonal snow has been extensively studied, the spatiotemporal variability of LAPs' contributions to snowmelt relative to time-since-fire and burn severity remains unknown. This study aimed to quantify the spatiotemporal variability of forest fire effects on LAPs in snow and associated snow albedo in the Triple Divide region of western Wyoming, headwaters of the Colorado, Columbia, and Missouri rivers. Using geochemical analysis and radiative transfer modeling, …

It's Going To Be Okay: Experiences And Perceptions Of People Who Seek Reassurance At Work, Liana Bernard

Dissertations and Theses

This study examined the experiences and perceptions of people who seek reassurance at work using a mixed methods (focus groups and experimental) approach. Reassurance-seeking is an attempt to elicit supportive communication from another person to help one reduce experienced anxiety. First, using focus groups with 32 participants, this study found that people seeking reassurance at work develop complex cognitive structures to reduce the prospective negative impacts of reassurance-seeking behaviors, particularly for those with marginalized identities. Then, in a 3x2 between-person experimental design in which employee gender and reassurance-seeking were manipulated, participants read a transcript of an interaction between an employee …

University Studies Annual Assessment 2023-2024, Portland State University. University Studies Program

University Studies Annual Assessment Reports

Annual in-depth examination and assessment of Portland State University's general education model, the University Studies Program. The tools and methods used to assess student learning are faculty driven and developed.

The Role Of Dna Topoisomerases In The Completion Of Dna Replication, Parisa Mokhtari

Dissertations and Theses

Accurate replication of the genome is essential to maintain cellular life. Completing DNA replication on the chromosome is central to this task and involves several enzymes, including RecBCD, RecG and SbcCD-ExoI, which process, join, and resolve the two convergent replication forks. This event is certain to generate a number of structural complexities involving supercoiling, tangles and knots as the two DNA replication forks converge which must be resolved to maintain the integrity of the genome. Structural knots and tangles generated during DNA replication, transcription and segregation are typically resolved by DNA topoisomerases. E. coli encodes four DNA topoisomerases--two type I …

Taking Up Space And Making Demands: Portland State University Students Construct The Free And Autonomous Refaat Alareer Memorial Library, Aaron Roussell, Anonymous

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Student campus protest has been a hallmark of US social movements for decades. Edited versions of these movements are lauded in university courses on historical social change. Yet a variety of commentators in traditional media, campus administration, and political administration display a calculated confusion when it comes to contemporary campus movements, particularly around Palestine. This article aims to clear up that confusion, outlining the protests and occupations that took place in spring 2024 on the campus of Portland State University and in its renamed Refaat Alareer Memorial Library, setting them in their national (and international) context, and outlining the violent …

Sustainability Assessment Of Photovoltaic Cells In Cross-Functional Applications, Achyuth Ravilla

Dissertations and Theses

Achieving the G7 countries' net-zero emissions target by 2050 requires integrating photovoltaic (PV) systems into diverse cross-functional applications that support sustainable energy transitions across multiple sectors. This dissertation explores the economic and environmental sustainability of three such applications: agrivoltaics, lower-dimensional materials in perovskite solar cells, and PV-electrochemical water-splitting technologies for hydrogen production. Employing life cycle assessment (LCA) and techno-economic analysis (TEA), we address the knowledge gap in comprehensive evaluations of PV-integrated solutions.

The first chapter assesses agrivoltaic systems (AVS), which combine PV systems with agriculture to mitigate land-use conflicts while enhancing food and energy production. Findings indicate that AVS designs, …

Recontextualized Knowledge: Available Designs Of The Long-Form Youtube Video Essay, Michelle Lynn Arendt

Dissertations and Theses

Recontextualization - the intricate process of transferring meaning material from one social semiotic context to another - is the primary avenue through which science and social science are communicated to general audiences. The prevailing popularity of social media platforms such as YouTube has encouraged a digital turn in recontextualization research and practice, with considerable emphasis given to navigating web 2.0's unique participation structure. However, compared to professional organizations, which contribute the largest amount of recontextualized scientific or social scientific content to social media platforms, independent user-generated creators consistently produce more successful content. Of interest to this project is the YouTube …

Applying Positive Unlabeled Learning Techniques And Using The Kullback-Leibler Divergence To Improve Geothermal Surveying Assessments, Martín Thomas Rodriguez

Dissertations and Theses

As we face the current climate crisis, the discovery of geothermal energy resources has the potential to greatly reduce our dependence on fossil fuels worldwide. However, the development of any new energy infrastructure is expensive and depends on the willingness of energy agencies and developers to make initial investments based on calculated risk measures. One such measure, called geothermal favorability, is the likelihood that a site has conditions favorable for geothermal systems containing recoverable energy potential. Its prediction from existing geophysical datasets proves to be a nontrivial task. The prediction of geothermal favorability can be framed as a binary classification …

Laundry Program Evaluation, Jacen Greene, Sandra Comstock, Marisa Zapata

Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative Publications and Presentations

Nearly 4,000 people were reported as experiencing unsheltered homelessness in Multnomah County in 2023 (Theriault, Roots & Okeke, 2023). Studies by the Homelessness Research and Action Collaborative (HRAC) at Portland State University and other researchers have identified an urgent need for free laundry services among people experiencing unsheltered homelessness in the Portland region. A lack of access to clean laundry is associated with negative impacts on mental and physical health, as well as environmental impacts from wet or dirty textiles that are discarded rather than being reused.

In an attempt to address these and other issues, the City of Portland …

A Faculty Workshop On Developing Students As Discipline-Situated Researchers, William Badke, Elizabeth Kreiter, Qinqin Zhang

Communications in Information Literacy

The reference librarians of Trinity Western University have a strong mission-driven commitment to teach information literacy, but there is a significant contrast between the amount of instruction they can provide and the demanding task of developing all students as skilled researchers. The growing teach-the-teacher model suggested an option to enlist faculty in providing a larger portion of information literacy instruction themselves. With strong support from academic administration, three librarians devised an initial faculty workshop as part of the university’s faculty professional development series, followed by four detailed weekly sessions. They based their activities on several factors: first, faculty members would …

Factors Impeding Mental Health Help-Seeking: A Literature Review, Justin Benner

University Honors Theses

This article is an examination and review of a selection of research articles published in relation to factors that serve as barriers that inhibit the mental health help seeking process. Untreated mental illness is a significant problem within the United States, with a reported more than half of adults within the United States not receiving treatment. In order to discover possible causes, 28 articles all released within the last 20 years, had a primary focus on barriers to mental health treatment seeking and featured adult populations within the United States were chosen. Findings where that stigma both serves as a …

Let Me In: Building An I-O Bridge That Combats The Subtle Redlining Of The Scientist-Practitioner Gap, Henri T. Maindidze, Laura Brooks Dueland, Jason G. Randall, Aisha Taylor

Psychology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Amid discussions of the scientist–practitioner gap in I-O, it is often assumed that there is a single bridge to cross that has two parties on either side: academic researchers and practitioners. However, whether intentionally or not, small businesses have largely been neglected in efforts to fortify the bridge between the aforementioned parties, leaving the route between academic research and small businesses poorly maintained. As such, our commentary will focus on various aspects of the points of invitation for debate provided in Zhou et al. (Reference Zhou, Campbell and Fyffe2024), namely the prevalence of the scientist–practitioner gap between I-O researchers and …

The Inclusion Of Metacognition In Source Evaluation Instruction, Anthony Tardiff

Communications in Information Literacy

Though the ACRL Framework holds metacognition as crucial to exercising information literacy, its emphasis was reduced from prominence in early drafts to a single mention in the final document. At the same time, few of the frequently-taught sets of source evaluation criteria include a step for self-awareness. This raises the question: do librarians explicitly teach metacognitive concepts when they teach source evaluation? Online library guides about source evaluation from various colleges and universities in Washington state were analyzed, and librarians who taught source evaluation were surveyed to determine whether and to what extent metacognitive concepts were included as part of …

Mapping Out Information Literacy: A Textbook Review, Alyssa Russo

Communications in Information Literacy

This narrative review examines the thematic content and evolution of information literacy textbooks published between 2005 and 2022. Analyzing sixteen textbooks, it explores two themes: the research process and conceptual foundations of information literacy. The research process theme highlights the procedural aspects of conducting library research, delineating the steps from topic selection to presentation. The conceptual foundations of IL theme reveals a discrepancy in how textbooks address the broader conceptual underpinnings of information literacy, particularly the context of a rapidly changing information society. This review highlights the focus on practical skills and the relative lack of discussions on broader contexts …

Mathematics Education Reform Through Socio-Political Means: A Synthesis, Nadine Ferguson

University Honors Theses

Mathematics education urgently needs reform, as traditional approaches fail to meet the diverse needs of today's student populations. Conventional teaching methods, which often focus on rote memorization and procedural understanding, overlook mathematics being a human activity that is inherently interlinked with culture. This paper explores three key approaches to reforming mathematics education: differentiation, culturally responsive mathematics (CRM), and critical mathematics. Grounded in Rochelle Gutiérrez's definition of equity--which emphasizes nurturing students' mathematical identities and agency--this analysis evaluates how each approach addresses four critical goals: ensuring access for all students to complex mathematics, fostering student confidence, promoting collaboration, and making mathematics relevant …

Synthesis Of Binary-Input Multi-Valued Output Optical Cascades For Reversible And Quantum Technologies, Ishani Agarwal, Miroslav Saraivanov, Marek Perkowski

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper extends the decomposition from the group theory based methods of Sasao and Saraivanov to design binary input multivalued output quantum cascades realized with optical NOT, SWAP, and Fredkin Gates. We present this method for 3, 5, and 7 valued outputs, but in general it can be used for odd prime valued outputs. The method can be extended to realize hybrid functions with different valued outputs. A class of local transformations is presented that can simplify the final cascade circuits. Using these simplifying transformations, we present an upper bound on the maximum number of gates in an arbitrary -variable …

Cognitive Apprenticeship Strategies For The Media Literacy Classroom, Nate Floyd, Jaclyn Spraetz

Communications in Information Literacy

Inspired by the apprenticeship model of teaching and learning, two instructors report on their efforts to place current events at the center of a semester-long media and information literacy course. They discuss strategies to harness curiosity about contemporary topics (e.g., misinformation, climate change, algorithms, right-to-repair, blockchain, artificial intelligence, etc.), and create engagement-driven course content. The paper provides concrete examples of activities and assignments used to situate learning in real-world contexts and build students' confidence in navigating information independently. This case study offers insights for other educators seeking to apply cognitive apprenticeship principles to media and information literacy instruction.

Centering Relevance In Information Literacy Teaching And Learning, Anne Jumonville Graf

Communications in Information Literacy

The process of determining whether a source of information is relevant is multidimensional, dynamic, and subjective. This essay puts information science scholarship on relevance, including the process and nature of making relevance judgments, in conversation with models of teaching and learning information literacy. Teaching librarians are encouraged to recognize students’ relevance judgments as sites of reflection and instruction. This essay suggests a variety of ways librarians might do this, from re-thinking source evaluation methods to emphasizing the opportunities available at the source selection stage. The process of determining relevance is a practical site of reflective possibility and deserves greater attention …

Building On Strengths: A Collaborative, Asset-Focused Approach To Teaching Critical Information Literacy Skills, Rebecca B. Penrose, Kristi J. Chavez

Communications in Information Literacy

This article showcases an instructor–librarian collaborative model for teaching critical information literacy (CIL) skills in a higher education course by incorporating interactive workshops into a sequence of required course assignments. Using an asset-focused design, this assignment sequence allows students to first demonstrate their existing research strategies and then evaluate those strategies during workshop activities, applying the CIL principles they are learning. In this way, the approach recognizes students’ existing strengths and builds upon them, while emphasizing self-reflection opportunities and an intentional research focus on diversity, equity, inclusion, and representation. Results from our one-year study are also highlighted. The suggested instructional …

Evaluating The Multi-Valued Bartlett Processor, Daniel Robert Frister

Dissertations and Theses

A variety of approaches exist to track targets in the ocean using acoustic sensors, and the complex mix of source characteristics, environmental effects, and sensor array limitations can make the selection of an appropriate algorithm challenging. This thesis models in simulation a recently proposed signal processing method that is intended for use with a large rectangular sensor array to track the bearings of multiple sources. The method, referred to as the Multi-Valued Bartlett (MVB) processor, is an eigenvector beamformer that leverages the capabilities of large arrays to locate in bearing multiple sources simultaneously. The analysis of this thesis details the …

Ioc Consensus Statement: Interpersonal Violence And Safeguarding In Sport, Yetsa A. Tuakli-Wosornu, Kirsty Burrows, Kari Fasting, Mike Hartill, Ken Hodge, Keith Kaufman, Emma Kavanagh, Sandra L. Kirby, Jelena G. Macleod, Margo Mountjoy, Sylvie Parent, Minhyeok Tak, Tine Vertommen, Daniel J. A. Rhind

Psychology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Interpersonal violence (IV) in sport is challenging to define, prevent and remedy due to its subjectivity and complexity. The 2024 International Olympic Committee Consensus on Interpersonal Violence and Safeguarding aimed to synthesise evidence on IV and safeguarding in sport, introduce a new conceptual model of IV in sport and offer more accessible safeguarding guidance to all within the sports ecosystem by merging evidence with insights from Olympic athletes.

Bike Buses: An Evaluation Of An Emerging Active Transportation To School Intervention, Evan Howington, Nathan Mcneil, John Macarthur

TREC Faculty and Staff Publications

Bike buses are a relatively new form of active transportation to school (ATS) that have primarily emerged in Europe and the United States. A form of coordinated, group bike riding along a defined route to school, bike buses are an outgrowth of Safe Routes to School interventions in North America that seek to reverse the declining rates of walking and biking to school among children. Our initial phase of research included a literature review of social and environmental factors affecting ATS in the contemporary North American context, and two convenience surveys of bike bus coordinators and parent participants. This initial …