Digital Commons Network^™

Commuting Smoothed Projectors In Weighted Norms With An Application To Axisymmetric Maxwell Equations, Jay Gopalakrishnan, Minah Oh

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications and Presentations

We construct finite element projectors that can be applied to functions with low regularity. These projectors are continuous in a weighted norm arising naturally when modeling devices with axial symmetry. They have important commuting diagram properties needed for finite element analysis. As an application, we use the projectors to prove quasioptimal convergence for the edge finite element approximation of the axisymmetric time-harmonic Maxwell equations on nonsmooth domains. Supplementary numerical investigations on convergence deterioration at high wavenumbers and near Maxwell eigenvalues and are also reported.

Examining News Coverage And Framing In The Context Of Environmental Reporting: Using The Sea Lion And Salmon Controversy At The Bonneville Dam As A Case Study, Tess Mcbride

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis examines how the construction of news stories reveals relationships among groups of stakeholders and how their views unfold within environmental conflict coverage. This study uses a content analysis of 161 newspaper articles concerning the sea lion and salmon controversy at the Bonneville Dam, focusing on source use and blame and solution frames in environmental conflict coverage. This analysis of articles published between January 2003 and June 2010 in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, California, and Montana contributes to research concerning journalistic norms (i.e., balance and objectivity) and news production routines, specifically within the field of environmental reporting. The findings indicate …

Erosion And Adjustment: A Bourdieuian-Inspired Analysis Of Imprisonment And Release, Joshua David Seim

Dissertations and Theses

Sociologists of punishment generally agree that the American prison exacerbates social inequality, but the mechanisms by which it does so remain somewhat fuzzy. This thesis pulls from the tradition of Pierre Bourdieu (1930-2002), a canonical theorist of power and inequality, and specifically his three "thinking tools" of field, capital, and habitus, to unveil these mechanisms. Empirically, I turn to ethnographic data I collected in a minimum-security men's prison that is generally reserved for convicts who will be released to one of the three most populated counties in Oregon. I explore how soon-to-be-released prisoners (i.e., prisoners who will be released within …

Gangs And Gang Activity In America: A Prevention Report, Portland State University. Criminology And Criminal Justice Senior Capstone

Criminology and Criminal Justice Senior Capstone Project

This report covers information on gangs, gang activity, and gang prevention. The report reveals information such as the history of gangs in the U.S., the definition of “gang,” data on prevalence, persons affected by gang activity, demographics of gangs and their members, criminal activity committed by gangs, gang hierarchical structure, prevention strategies, and effectiveness of gang prevention programs.

Population Is Power: A Snapshot Of 2010 Reapportionment And Redistricting In Oregon And Washington, Jason R. Jurjevich, Michael Burnham

Institute of Metropolitan Studies Publications

Metroscape examines the various ways Oregon and Washington reconfigure congressional and legislative districts once a decade and how new technology could further democratize future redistricting efforts.

Environmental Migrants And The Future Of The Willamette Valley: A Preliminary Exploration, Alison Wicks

Institute of Metropolitan Studies Publications

This report reviews existing data and research on predicted impacts of climate change in the Northwestern United States, and specifically focuses on the level of preparedness to accommodate new population growth due to climate migration in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. Climate change impacts in Oregon are predicted to be less severe than in other areas of the country. Generally, models project warmer, wetter winters and hotter, drier summers in the Willamette Valley and other areas west of the Cascade Range. This will likely make the Willamette Valley a more desirable place for environmentally displaced people to locate. This report considers how …

Runaway And Homeless Youth: Changing The Discourse By Legitimizing Youth Voice, Donald Dale Schweitzer

Dissertations and Theses

Undoubtedly, runaway and homeless youth (RHY) are one of the most vulnerable, yet underserved groups in our country. Well-meaning advocates have developed programs and services in an attempt to remedy this, yet there is little evidence of their effectiveness. Moreover, according to the research literature, a low utilization rate of current services by youth is a major concern. From a constructivist theoretical position, this study posits that the missing element is youth voice and the researcher hired formerly homeless youth to conduct the analysis of focus group data gathered from RHY who were participating in a range of services funded …

Criminal Justice Policy Research Institute Newsletter, Portland State University. Criminal Justice Policy Research Institute

Criminal Justice Policy Research Institute Newsletters

Newsletter provides information on:

• Latest research results
• Projects and studies underway
• Research awards and distinctions
• Recent research publications

Community Newspapers Play Significant Role In Election, Lee Shaker

Communication Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article compares coverage of the 2007 Philadelphia mayoral campaign in the city's major daily and community newspapers. The findings show that community newspapers serve as a complement to the dailies but also prove to be sources of campaign information in their own right.

Unjust Honoris Causa: Chronicle Of A Most Peculiar Dishonor, Aleksandar Jokić, Milan Brdar

Philosophy Faculty Publications and Presentations

This book offers a detailed account and analysis of the academic scandal regarding the honorary doctorate awarded to Professor Michael Walzer by Belgrade University and the events that followed.

Pathos, Winter 2011, Portland State University. Student Publications Board

Pathos

Editor: Joel Eisenhower

Issue 14

Internationalizing General Education From Within: Raising The Visibility Of Heritage Language Students In The Classroom, Evguenia Davidova

International & Global Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article analyzes the findings of a pilot project conducted in 2008–2009 as a partnership between University Studies, Portland State University’s interdisciplinary general education program, and the University’s Russian Flagship Language Partner Program. The project proposes a new approach of integrating non-English speakers’ language skills, culture, and life experiences into classroom activities of general education courses. By engaging the students as facilitators in the exploration of their own cultures and languages, the project offers a model of enriching collaborative student teaching and learning that could be applied to various interdisciplinary courses.

Using A Smartboard Smartly: Considering Digital Tools For Interaction, Collaboration And Storytelling, Susan Crichton, Jennifer Mccaffrey, Barb Brown

Northwest Journal of Teacher Education

This paper shares a book project completed in an urban Grade 1 school. While the project itself is not unique, the authentic use of multiple technologies to support the process to develop it is. The terms interaction, collaboration, and student ownership are often used to describe inquiry-based teaching and learning, and the project described here illustrates what they might mean in actual practice. Further, this paper situates the book project within the literature of Information, Communication Technology (ICT) and arts based instruction, providing an example of classroom-based technologies to enhance teaching and learning.

Small Ponds: The Challenges Facing Gifted Students In Rural Communities, Julian Burton

Northwest Journal of Teacher Education

Gifted students in rural schools often face academic and personal challenges not faced by their urban and suburban counterparts, a result of the unique educational and community environment of rural settings. New technologies and programs have had some success in mitigating the effect of the lack of academic resources and opportunities available to gifted ruralites, but challenges arising from the educational, socioeconomic, and cultural environments of rural communities remain. This paper examines several studies of the educational and affective development of gifted ruralites, with reference to the author's experience as a student and teacher in rural and remote educational settings. …

Sources And Pathways To The Environment And Environmental Presence, Tess Chadil

Environmental Science and Management Professional Master's Project Reports

In an attempt to successfully address and reduce contamination from toxic chemicals and other pollutants in the Oregon environment, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality is in the early stages of developing a comprehensive agency-wide toxics reduction plan. The plan seeks to find a more efficient, sustainable approach to addressing contaminants of concern to human and ecological health. Team Toxics, a work group compromised of members from various DEQ departments, has been created to collaborate and create the framework for developing these strategies. In summer 2009, Team Toxics was in the very early stages of development, and found the need …

Olde Towne St Helens Historic Design Guidelines, Sadie Carney, Caitlin Francis, Drew Meisel, Victor Sanders

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Workshop Projects

Throughout the northwest, portside communities are capitalizing on their rich cultural heritage by concentrating investment in their historic districts and waterfronts. From Astoria to Port Townsend, historic communities are benefiting from renewed economic vitality based on heritage tourism and the increased numbers of new businesses drawn to the district. As a former center of industry and manufacturing, Olde Towne St Helens boasts a rich heritage in its collection of buildings along the Strand and First Street. These structures offer a glimpse into the working-class, industrial past of the town and the era of shipbuilding and raw goods manufacturing that shaped …

Reimagining Weston, Nathan Emerson, Zach Gustafson, Holly Howell, Carrie Pipinich, Matthew Rohrbach

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Workshop Projects

Weston was once a prosperous city, home to pioneers, farmers, and an active downtown. Today however, Weston faces many challenges common to communities throughout rural Oregon. The key question for this small city is: How can Weston capitalize on homegrown and regional assets in order to revitalize downtown and maximize the well-being of the community as a whole? Reimagining Weston provides a blueprint for the community to answer this question. This plan is a proactive effort by Weston residents to shape the livability and prosperity of their community over the next 20 years. Reimagining Weston consists of three primary parts: …

Vision Zero Oregon, Marielle Brown, Nick Falbo, Brandy Steffen, Michelle Van Tijen, Ben Weber

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Workshop Projects

Vision Zero Oregon (VZO) is a street safety philosophy that aims to create streets where no one will be killed or seriously injured. Vision Zero Oregon prioritizes road safety above all else. Every life is worth more than an increase in speeds or road capacity for vehicles. Achieving Vision Zero Oregon goals will require a shift in the focus of policy, laws and enforcement, and the formation of a new relationship between residents and their streets, and revolution in the way transportation departments operate their streets. This project takes on one part of this complex topic, focusing on community interest, …

Again, With Feeling! [Exhibition Catalogue], Dave Colangelo

School of Film Faculty Publications and Presentations

Again, With Feeling! presents the work of artists whose visions are injected with properties of pattern, repetition, and appropriation. Taking cues from the everyday, the works displayed show new incarnations or morphs of their originals. This multidisciplinary show explores the ‘re’-mixing, producing, or contextualizing of an original, whether through motif, object or experience. By re-negotiating the terms around their borrowed imagery or performance, these artists present us with a fresh composition of a thing we’ve seen before.

Annual Faculty Senate Minutes October 2011 - June 2012, Portland State University Faculty Senate

Annual Compilations of the Faculty Senate Minutes (Minutes Only)

Minutes of the Faculty Senate for October 2011 to June 2012.

Educational Programming For Students Who Are Deafblind: Position Statement, Amy T. Parker, Betsy L. Mcginnity, Susan M. Bruce

Special Education Faculty Publications and Presentations

Historians have described the characteristics of the field of deafblindness by examining its roots in the fields of blindness, deafness and in multiple disabilities (Collins, 1995; Enerstvedt, 1996; Fish, 1934; Hart, 2006; McInnes, 1999). Deafblindness is a unique field because it relies upon practices from the aforementioned disciplines to meet the complex communication and programming needs of individuals with very diverse conditions. However beyond its formation from multiple bases of knowledge, the deafblindness field has developed some unique characteristics which extend beyond its parent fields and it may be argued that this expansion comes from the needs of students who …

University Studies Annual Assessment 2010-2011, 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 Obvious Invisibility Of The Relationship Between Technology And Social Values, Jamie P. Ross

Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

We all too often assume that technology is the product of objective scientific research and that technology’s moral value lies in only the moral character of its user. To remove technology from a moral realm, we assume value and context neutrality. Yet the power of technology is a reflection of the values that exist in its developmental context. Technology’s moral realm is visible in the reciprocal relationship between culture and technology in the epidemiology of AIDS, clinical research and practice regarding heart disease, and DNA research. Cultural values decide what counts as a scientific question. When we look at the …

Portland Mercado: Community Economic Development To Revitalize, Uplift, And Empower, Abigail Cermak, David Ruelas, Bridger Wineman, Ellen Wyoming

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Workshop Projects

Realizing public goals of an inclusive and vibrant society requires an advocacy approach to urban planning and economic development. Adelante Planning outlines strategies based on research and case studies to successfully implement a Mercado as an economic development and business incubation strategy for Portland’s Latino community. A Mercado is a strategic planning approach targeted toward Latino populations and other minorities, particularly in gentrifying locations of the Portland Metro region.

This project was conducted under the supervision of Ellen Bassett, Lisa Bates, Karen Gibson, Ken Pirie, and Sumner Sharpe.

The Sicuro File: A Personal Perspective On The Struggle Over Portland State University’S Most Controversial President, David Horowitz

History Faculty Publications and Presentations

This essay offers a personal recounting of Sicuro’s tumultuous tenure and “the great governance issue of Portland State’s history,” as institutional historian Gordon B. Dodds has described it.2 By tracing a curious path from allegations of minor improprieties among favored student government leaders to widespread contention over the management style and behavior of a controversial academic leader, it traces my tangential but deeply engaged role in the dramatic power struggle erupting at Oregon’s largest urban university in the late 1980s. In doing so, it highlights significant issues affecting modern university life, from race relations, the role of competitive sports, student …

The Cultural Barriers To Integration Of Second Generation Muslims In Northern Italy, Joseph Anthony Migliore

Dissertations and Theses

In this study, I examine the existing literature and carry out a qualitative exploration in order to formulate a better understanding of the dynamics that influence the lives of 2nd generation Italian Muslims. Although monumental social and political challenges remain in confronting integration of the Muslim population and for achieving greater acceptance of Islam within the Italian public sphere, the evidence suggests that the process for integration has slowly begun. Additionally, this study examines the intellectual framework of the existing literature which addresses the issues impacting Muslim integration in Northern Italy. This issue has induced new debates within Italy on …

Campus Sexual Assault: How Oregon University System Schools Respond, Michael William Murphy

Dissertations and Theses

College is usually thought of as a time where students, often living alone for their first time, are encouraged towards healthy risk-taking behavior, as well as social, intellectual, and vocational development. Unfortunately for female students, college becomes the time of their lives where they are exposed to the highest risk of sexual victimization. Many colleges across America have taken steps to address the significant problem of sexual assault on their campuses. However, even with rising concern about the sexual victimization of college students, there remains very little systematic information published about the content of sexual assault policies, protocols and programs …

Designing And Using Virtual Field Environments To Enhance And Extend Field Experience In Professional Development Programs In Geology For K-12 Teachers, Frank Douglas Granshaw

Dissertations and Theses

Virtual reality (VR) is increasingly used to acquaint geoscience novices with some of the observation, data gathering, and problem solving done in actual field situations by geoscientists. VR environments in a variety of forms are used to prepare students for doing geologic fieldwork, as well as to provide proxies for such experience when venturing into the field is not possible. However, despite increased use of VR for these purposes, there is little research on how students learn using these environments, how using them impacts student field experience, or what constitutes effective design in light of emerging theories of geocognition.

To …

Youth Voices Of Bounty And Opportunity: High School Students' Experiences With Food And Community, Kara Marie Gilbert

Dissertations and Theses

Currently, garden-based research does not include input from young adults about their experiences and perspectives as individuals in garden-based programs, specifically those that address issues of food and community. To address this void, this qualitative research examines youth perspectives and engagement in garden-based community projects in Olympia, Washington, and Medford, Oregon. The sample of 11 students was chosen from these projects that use food as a means to engage the community and educate underprivileged young adults about local food systems. The main question that the research addresses is: Why, and in what ways, are young adults appropriate agents for community …

Highway Safety Investigation Manual For The Oregon Department Of Transportation, Karen Dixon, Christopher Monsere

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Across the state, region, and nation highway safety investigators have developed a wide variety of tools and techniques for highway safety investigation procedures. Analysis techniques can range from systematic evaluation approaches such as the Oregon Department of Transportation’s (ODOT’s) Safety Priority Index System (SPIS) down to specific localized safety assessment strategies. It is important to develop consistent methods for safety evaluations across Oregon to ensure that safety investigations are conducted in a similar manner. It is also important to develop a screening process for proper highway safety investigations and document the procedures used for this assessment.

The objective of this …