Digital Commons Network^™

"An Idolatry Of Sound" : Nature, The Natural, And The Castrato's Body In The Eighteenth Century, Caitlin Elizabeth Pala

Dissertations and Theses

The castrati--Italian men castrated before puberty in order to retain their high singing voice--were Europe's first superstars, reaching the height of their popularity in the first few decades of the eighteenth century. While only a tiny percentage of the European population, the castrati embodied many of the significant medical and philosophical questions of the Enlightenment that aimed to understand humanity: human emotion, physiology, sexuality, and culture. As a part of the ongoing debate over what was "natural," the castrati hold an interesting place. At the broadest level, the very existence of the castrati asked what it was to be a …

The Process Of Establishing Theoretically Grounded Measures Of Science And Chemistry Identity For Use In Undergraduate Chemistry Courses, Kathryn Nicole Hosbein

Dissertations and Theses

Identity has been theorized to aid in student persistence toward science, engineering, technology, and math (STEM) degrees. However, before we can explore the impacts of learning environments on identity, and subsequently persistence, robust measures that can aid in understanding how identity is fostered need to be available. This research study aims to create measures of identity by expanding an existing physics identity framework and contextualizing it to science and chemistry identities. Development of the measures was carried out through two distinct phases that provided evidence for reliability and multiple aspects of validity.

The first phase of the study used qualitative …

Bone Mineral Density Of The Common Bottlenose Dolphin, Tursiops Truncatus: A Proposed Model For Monitoring Osteological And Ecosystem Health, James Wright Burrus Powell

Dissertations and Theses

Bone mineral density (BMD) in the pectoral flipper of the common bottlenose dolphin, Tursiops truncatus, was examined to address the need to define a comprehensive target site for clinical osteodensitometric assessment and to establish ranges of observed bone density values for this species. Radii were analyzed using dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), the accepted standard in human medical studies. Multiple loci within the radius were identified and assessed for their correlation to BMD of the entire bone. Radii BMD were also examined for differences based on sex, age, total body length, handedness, geographical affinity, and nutritional status at time …

Attachment In Higher Education And The Workplace: A Literature Review, Emily A. Robey

University Honors Theses

This literature review explores attachment theory in the context of the workplace and higher education. The attachment research in these contexts is lacking, especially for higher education, but the data that does exist shows an important influence of attachment orientation and attachment related behaviors on the success of and interaction between individuals in these environments. Additionally, the influence of context on attachment related behaviors is explored. These discussions culminate in suggestions as to how attachment research can be further expanded upon and limitations in both the current research and this literature review.

Cortical Thickness Comparison Of Asd And Td Subjects, Jonathan Rigoberto Uriarte-Lopez

University Honors Theses

With 1 out of every 59 adolescents diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), more research interest has been dedicated to studying why ASD individuals experience their symptoms of restricted and/or repetitive behaviors, and deficits in social interaction and communication. ASD can only be diagnosed by psychiatric evaluation of behavior, and there is a lack of reliable biomarkers for ASD to verify the diagnosis. To potentially find a reliable biomarker, we compared cortical thickness in 911 ASD subjects and 999 controls from the Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange (ABIDE) dataset. The dataset was processed using the Developmental Cognition and Neuroimaging (DCAN) …

How Urban Land Use Contributes To Inequitable Health Outcomes: An Interdisciplinary Review & Analysis, Bliss Storm Croton

University Honors Theses

Using existing literature as a basis for initial review, this paper seeks to explore the relationship between urban land use and socioeconomic status as both pertain to the prevalence of psychological health diagnoses among neighborhood residents. The purpose of this analysis is to investigate the combined literature from multiple areas of research in order to gain a more holistic, up-to-date scope of knowledge regarding how discriminatory neighborhood land use may result in poorer psychological health outcomes for urban populations. By utilizing an interdisciplinary approach, some of the locally relevant, long-term impacts of uneven development and environmental injustice are examined based …

Art Therapy And Dialectical Behavioral Therapy: A Workbook, Jasmine S. Griswold

University Honors Theses

Looking into the ways in which we treat anxiety and depression in both clinical and casual settings it seemed apparent that there are similar tools being utilized to alleviate the effects, but there didn’t seem to be a cohesion of these tools. With Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) a mindfulness based approach to therapy and the use of art as a tool to create dialogue in Art Therapy (AT) it seemed appropriate to combine the modalities to create a workbook that could be used on one's own or in conjunction with a therapist.

Caring About Aftercare: Thesis Presentation Of Initial Findings, Sage B. Fuentes

University Honors Theses

While previous research has studied the impact of stigma and non-normative play within the BDSM and kink community, previous psychological research involving BDSM practitioners has not investigated the cultural practice of aftercare that tends to follow the highly sensationalized acts within the culture. The current study examines this cultural practice by giving a series of semi-structured interviews to assess the importance of aftercare and how it impacts negotiations and play. BDSM practitioners (n = 11) participated in audio recorded interviews regarding questions on identity, kink, aftercare, consent, and negotiation. 72.73% of individuals rated aftercare as mostly to largely important in …

Recruitment Marketing: How Do Wellness And Work-Life Benefits Influence Employer Image Perceptions, Organizational Attraction, And Job Pursuit Intentions?, Amy Christine Pytlovany

Dissertations and Theses

A global talent shortage is motivating employers to change the way they approach recruitment. To stay competitive, business leaders are strategizing new ways to attract employees and market their organizations to prospective employees. This research examined the impact of work-life and wellness programs on employer image perceptions (instrumental, symbolic, and experiential) and recruitment outcomes (organizational attraction and job pursuit intentions). It integrated these literatures to inform evidence-based organizational decision-making.

Study materials were developed with pilot testing conducted using Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk). Pilot 1 (N = 40) assessed the value of 32 types of benefits across traditional (e.g., health …

Support From Inside Out: Exploring Whether Various Social Supports Assist In Reducing Prison Rule Violations, Sarah Renee Lazzari

Dissertations and Theses

Scholars argue that prison rule violations are a way to assess whether individuals are engaging in prosocial behaviors. Individuals who engage in prosocial behaviors, during periods of incarceration, are less likely to engage in behaviors that result in official rule violations. Decreasing rule violations is one way to work towards a safer prison environment, while also preparing individuals for release. The current study uses cross-sectional data form the 2004 Survey of Inmates in State and Federal Facilities, in order to examine whether multiple types of prisons programs, which will be framed as various types of social supports, influence the frequency …

Connections Between Sensory Sensitivities In Autism; The Importance Of Sensory Friendly Environments For Accessibility And Increased Quality Of Life For The Neurodivergent Autistic Minority., Heidi Morgan

PSU McNair Scholars Online Journal

Many adults diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) experience sensory processing sensitivities. Research shows that 94.4% of adults with ASD report co-occurring sensory differences that impact their daily life in a significant way. These sensitivities can create accessibility challenges for the autistic neurominority, especially for autistic individuals with hypersensitivities. This literature review has two purposes. First, it seeks to better understand how these sensory differences impact the experience of individuals in the neurodivergent autistic minority and the correlations between sensory overload, accessibility, mental, emotional and physical health. Secondly, the epistemology influencing this review is critical in nature and is aligned …

Alignment Of Theoretically Grounded Constructs For The Measurement Of Science And Chemistry Identity, Kathryn Nicole Hosbein, Jack Barbera

Chemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

Identity has been theorized to aid in student persistence within STEM disciplines. In this study, science and chemistry identity were defined as being recognized as a science or chemistry person within the classroom. To generalize the effects that identity has on student persistence, a measurable construct must be defined, operationalized, and tested in multiple settings with different populations. This project addressed the first step in the process, defining the construct and grounding it in an established theoretical framework. This qualitative project utilized a previously described physics identity framework, with sub-constructs of performance/competence, recognition, and interest, as a starting point for …

Plea Decision-Making: The Influence Of Attorney Expertise, Trustworthiness, And Recommendation, Kelsey S. Henderson, Reveka Shteynberg

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications and Presentations

Attorney recommendations influence defendant plea decisions; and the degree of influence likely rests on the perceived trustworthiness and level of expertise of the attorney (factors of source credibility). We explored attorney source credibility factors and how these characteristics influence defendants’ plea decision-making. MTurk participants read a hypothetical plea scenario and were asked to imagine themselves as the defendant in a DWI/DUI case making a plea decision; in the scenario, we manipulated the defense attorney’s level of trustworthiness, expertise, and plea recommendation. There was a significant interaction between attorney recommendation and trustworthiness on defendants’ plea decisions; participants who were advised to …

Reclaiming A Unified American Narrative Lexical, Grammatical, And Story Metaphors In A Discussion Of Polarized Identities, L. David Ritchie

Communication Faculty Publications and Presentations

As part of an on-going project to apply metaphor analysis to understanding the cultural polarization that has recently obstructed discourse about political and cultural issues in both the United States and Europe, this essay examines the lexical, grammatical, and story metaphors in a recent editorial column, by conservative columnist Ross Douthat, that also focuses on this topic. In a key section of the essay, Douthat uses a blend of complex grammatical and lexical metaphors to highlight the contrast between the traditional American identity narrative of settlement and conquest and a recently emerged liberal counter-narrative, which Douthat epitomizes by quoting former …

Learn Model Of Career Trajectories: Application To The Stem Postdoctoral Scholar, Audrey J. Jaeger, Karen J. Haley, Tara D. Hudson

Educational Leadership and Policy Faculty Publications and Presentations

Postdoctoral scholars constitute a sizeable population within the academic workforce. Given the intended role of a postdoc position as a time of advanced training and professional development for a future academic career, particularly in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields, it is important to understand whether and how well the career-related needs of postdocs are being met. The purpose of this research was to understand STEM postdoctoral scholars’ career trajectories, with particular attention to the influences on their career-related decision making, by applying the Life Experiences and Role Negotiations (LEARN) model to qualitative data from interviews with 19 STEM …

"I Wouldn't Know Where To Start": Perspectives From Clinicians, Agency Leaders, And Autistic Adults On Improving Community Mental Health Services For Autistic Adults, Brenna B. Maddox, Samantha Crabbe, Rinad S. Beidas, Lauren Brookman-Frazee, Carolyn Cannuscio, Judith Miller, Christina Nicolaidis, David Mandell

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Most autistic adults struggle with mental health problems, and traditional mental health services generally do not meet their needs. This study used qualitative methods to identify ways to improve community mental health services for autistic adults for treatment of their co-occurring psychiatric conditions. We conducted semistructured, open-ended interviews with 22 autistic adults with mental healthcare experience, 44 community mental health clinicians, and 11 community mental health agency leaders in the United States. The participants identified clinician-, client-, and systems-level barriers and facilitators to providing quality mental healthcare to autistic adults. Across all three stakeholder groups, most of the reported barriers …

Family, School, And Forms Of Capital, Sonja Taylor

Dissertations and Theses

This dissertation contains three separate but related papers, each with a different focus. In the three papers, I sought to gain a deeper understanding of how different forms of cultural and social capital appeared in the relationship between families and schools. The first paper covers an interview study exploring how teachers in elementary school understood and used email to facilitate partnership with parents, a form of social capital that has the potential to benefit families from all class backgrounds. The second paper investigates the relationship between socioeconomic status, bonding social capital and cultural capital; I tested whether social capital affected …

A Computational Model For Recovery From Brain Injury, Wayne Wakeland

Systems Science Friday Noon Seminar Series

A computational simulation model calculates recovery trajectories following traumatic brain injury (TBI). Prior publications include a multi-scale framework for studying concussion and a systems-level causal loop diagram (CLD) and discussion of feedback processes. The scope of the computational model goes beyond concussion to include all severities of TBI. A set of first order ordinary differential equations and their associated parameters determines recovery trajectories. While highly speculative, the model serves to demonstrate the potential utility of computational models in this context. Much more research will be needed to create a properly supported research model that could be used for clinical trial …

The Impact Of Integrating Traditional Ecological Knowledge In Summer Camps On Middle School Students' Understanding Of The Nature Of Science, SapoóQ'Is WiíIt'es Ciarra Solina Greene

Dissertations and Theses

The Nature of Science (NOS) and traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) have commonalities in the knowledge bases: they are both ways of explaining the natural world; founded on a set of practices and the historical accumulation of knowledge; and part of the education is learning practices and developing knowledge of the concepts that are foundational to the disciplines. Throughout the United States, schools are attempting to strengthen students' understanding of NOS through various approaches, although few have adopted the integration of TEK into curriculum. This research assesses two summer camps for middle school students that are science focused, one with TEK …

Faculty Senate Monthly Packet October 2019, Portland State University Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Monthly Packets

The October 2019 Monthly packet includes the October agenda and appendices and the Faculty Senate minutes and attachments from the meeting held June 3, 2019.

Mixed Signals: The Unintended Effects Of Diversity Initiatives, Tessa L. Dover, Cheryl R. Kaiser, Brenda Major

Psychology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Organizational diversity initiatives—programs and policies intended to increase the fairness of organizations and promote the inclusion, hiring, retention, and promotion of underrepresented groups—are ubiquitous. Despite the widespread implementation of diversity initiatives, several empirical investigations point to challenges associated with these initiatives. We suggest that one of the challenges hindering the effectiveness of diversity management involves the unintended signals that these initiatives send. Specifically, we review social psychological evidence that the mere presence of diversity initiatives can have unintended consequences through the communication of (1) fairness signals, (2) inclusion signals, and (3) competence signals. The presence of organizational diversity initiatives may …

Cultivating Moral Imagination Through Deliberative Pedagogy: Reframing Immigration Deliberation For Student Engagement Across Differences. A Response To "Deliberating Public Policy Issues With Adolescents: Classroom Dynamics And Sociocultural Considerations", Lisa Weasel

Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

In “Deliberating Public Policy Issues with Adolescents,” the authors described what they determine to be an unsuccessful attempt at deliberative pedagogy on the topic of immigration in three high school classrooms that differed demographically. Specifically, the authors observed that students failed to engage with evidence, stuck with their initial viewpoints, and only listened politely to those with different views, rather than interacting across differences to reach consensus. While student positionality, as the authors suggest, is important to take into account, there may be ways to reorient deliberations on “wicked problems” such as immigration, which are by their nature prone to …

Techniques For Electronic Resource Management: Terms And The Transition To Open, Jill Emery, Graham Stone, Peter Mccracken

Library Faculty and Staff Publications and Presentations

Growing Open Access (OA) options, Big Deal price pressure, fluid e-book purchasing models, and the need for ongoing assessment: it all adds up to a lot of moving parts. More than ever, you need a pragmatic framework for managing the many details of your online materials. TERMS—Techniques for Electronic Resource Management Systems—gave you one. Now its creators, incorporating five years of notes and input from many voices in the field, have updated their influential lifecycle model. In six sections you will circle through selection, procurement and licensing, implementation, troubleshooting, evaluation, and preservation and sustainability. Offering targeted guidance on both basic …

Open City'S Abschied: Teju Cole, Gustav Mahler, And Elliptical Cosmopolitanism, Josh Epstein

English Faculty Publications and Presentations

This essay addresses Teju Cole’s Open City (2011), a deconstructed bildungsroman preoccupied with Gustav Mahler’s late compositions. Building on Theodor Adorno’s account of Mahler, the essay argues that Cole positions Julius’s violent subjectivity in dialectical tension with the patterns of consumption that inform both his and Mahler’s intellectual landscapes. Previous scholarship, though attentive to Cole’s cosmopolitanism, has ignored the novel’s fixation on Mahler: a Jewish Bohemian-Austrian composer whose cosmopolitan sensibilities led him to appropriate a range of literary and musical sources, Western and Eastern. These sources, Adorno argued, are mediated in Mahler’s music as “pseudomorphs” that unravel their own pretenses …

What Do Consistency And Personableness In The Interview Signal To Applicants? Investigating Indirect Effects On Organizational Attractiveness Through Symbolic Organizational Attributes, Annika Wilhelmy, Martin Kleinmann, Klaus G. Melchers, Filip Lievens

Psychology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Personnel selection research has recognized the importance of providing applicants with both standardized (i.e., “consistent”) and individualized (i.e., “personable”) treatment during interviews. However, research has yet to examine the mechanisms underlying the effects of perceived consistency and personableness in the interview on applicants’ attraction to organizations. Drawing from signaling theory, we investigate how interview consistency and personableness impact organizational attractiveness. To this end, we developed a conceptual model that proposes that applicants interpret perceived interview consistency and personableness as signals about what the organization is like in terms of symbolic organizational attributes (organizational competence and benevolence, Lievens and Highhouse 2003), …

Urbanicity As A Moderator Of The Relationship Between Stigma And Well-Being Outcomes For Individuals With Serious Mental Illnesses, Emily Leickly

Dissertations and Theses

During the deinstitutionalization movement in the 1960s, community mental health centers and supportive and affordable housing for people with serious mental illnesses (SMI) was concentrated in economically disadvantaged urban centers. Today, these urban centers are becoming increasingly gentrified and unaffordable for people with SMI. Affordability is no longer synonymous with urban living, and supportive housing for people with SMI is increasingly found in non-urban areas. Given this shift, it is important to understand the potential impacts of non-urban living on people with SMI. Non-urban environments provide potential benefits for the general population, including reduced traffic and increased proximity to the …

Believe Our Stories & Listen: Portland Street Response Survey Report, Greg Townley, Kaia Sand, Thea Kindschuh

Psychology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Many advocates, local officials, and people experiencing homelessness agree that Portland needs a better way to respond to low-priority calls for service involving those experiencing homelessness and behavioral health crises. This report examines efforts to address homelessness in Portland through the development of a plan to dispatch the Portland Street Response unit rather than police.

A team of community partners spread out across the city July 16 and 18 to interview people experiencing homelessness to help inform the design of the Portland Street Response pilot project (PSR). An additional team went out on Sept. 6.

Members of Street Roots, Sisters …

Self-Regulatory Consequences Of Observing Others Making Goal Progress: A Longitudinal Field Study In Weight Loss Groups, James P. Reynolds, Thomas L. Webb, Kathleen C. Mcculloch, Grainne M. Fitzsimons

Psychology Faculty Publications and Presentations

OBJECTIVE: What happens when people see others making progress toward a goal that they also hold? Is it motivating or could it undermine goal pursuit because people feel that they have made progress themselves (i.e., they experience vicarious goal satiation)?

METHODS: We investigated these questions in a longitudinal field context - a group weight loss programme. N = 132 participants who were overweight or obese and attended weekly weight loss classes completed questionnaires over 11 weeks to investigate the consequences of observing other people making progress toward their goal of losing weight

RESULTS: Observing others making good progress was associated …

Literature Review Of The Effectiveness Of Intercultural Competence In The Mepi Program, Haley L. Wells

University Honors Theses

This research examines the Middle Eastern Partnership Initiative Student Leaders Program (MEPI SLP) looking for components of intercultural competence in the classes and activities the students participate in during the four-week immersive program. During these four weeks Student Leaders from the Middle East and North Africa study conflict resolution, community leadership, and democratic institutions, build a community engagement project to implement in their home countries when they return, and participate in program and cultural activated chosen to use what they learn in the classroom. After analyzing documents obtained from MEPI administrators I used the Intercultural Competence and Knowledge VALUE Rubric …

Portland State Magazine, Portland State University. Office Of University Communications

Portland State Magazine

PSU’s alumni magazine, published 2-3 times a year. In this issue: Winners of the PSU Cleantech Challenge; Oregon’s vote-by-mail system as a national model; the BUILD EXITO program creates the next generation of health researchers; PSU’s Black Studies program turns 50; retired professor Laureen Nussbaum elevates Anne Frank’s literary prowess and her own story of survival; regional teacher of the year, Mercedes Muñoz; and more.