Digital Commons Network^™

Transdisciplinary Weed Research: New Leverage On Challenging Weed Problems?, N. Jordan, M. Schut, S. Grahan, J. N. Barney, D. Z. Childs, S. Christensen, R. D. Cousens, A. S. Davis, H. Eizenberg, David E. Ervin, C. Fernández-Quintanilla, L. J. Harrison, M. A. Harsch, S. Heijting, M. Liebman, D. Loddo, S. B. Mirsky, M. Riemens, P. Neve, D. A. Peltzer, M. Renton, M. Williams, J. Recasens, M. Sønderskov

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

Transdisciplinary weed research (TWR) is a promising path to more effective management of challenging weed problems. We define TWR as an integrated process of inquiry and action that addresses complex weed problems in the context of broader efforts to improve economic, environmental and social aspects of ecosystem sustainability. TWR seeks to integrate scholarly and practical knowledge across many stakeholder groups (e.g. scientists, private sector, farmers and extension officers) and levels (e.g. local, regional and landscape). Furthermore, TWR features democratic and iterative processes of decision-making and collective action that aims to align the interests, viewpoints and agendas of a wide range …

Reader Response [To Eric Jennings, “The Librarian Stereotype: How Librarians Are Damaging Their Image And Profession" C&Ul 23:1, 93-100], Erica Defrain, April Hathcock, Turner Masland, Nicole Pagowsky, Annie Pho, Miriam Rigby, K. R. Roberto

Library Faculty and Staff Publications and Presentations

Response to an opinion piece by column editor Eric Jennings in Volume 23, Issue 1 in College & Undergraduate Libraries entitled, "The librarian stereotype: How librarians are damaging their image and profession."

Focal Point, Volume 30, Portland State University. Regional Research Institute

Research and Training Center - Focal Point

This issue explores early psychosis intervention services. Throughout history psychosis has traumatized and permanently disrupted people's lives, but early psychosis intervention is showing that much of this trauma and disability can be prevented. Early psychosis intervention services are rapidly becoming available in every state of the US, and thousands of people who have lived through psychosis are speaking out and proving that we have every reason for hope.

Characteristics Of Cannabis-Only And Other Drug Users Who Visit The Emergency Department, Susan I. Woodruff, Cameron T. Mccabe, Melinda Hohman, John D. Clapp, Audrey M. Shillington, Kimberly Eisenberg, C. Beth Sise, Edward M. Castillo, Theodore C. Chan, Michael J. Sise

Psychology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Emergency department (ED) settings have gained interest as venues for illegal drug misuse prevention and intervention, with researchers and practitioners attempting to capitalize on the intersection of need and opportunity within these settings. This study of 686 adult patients visiting two EDs for various reasons who admitted drug use compared daily cannabis-only users, nondaily cannabis-only users, and other drug users on sociodemographic and drug-related severity outcomes. The three drug use groups did not differ on most sociodemographic factors or medical problem severity scores. Forty-five percent of the sample was identified as having a drug use problem. ED patients who used …

(Re)Presenting Peoples And Storied Lands: Public Presentation Of Archaeology And Representation Of Native Americans In Selected Western U.S. Protected Areas, Cerinda Survant

Dissertations and Theses

Every year, hundreds of thousands of people visit the Native American ancestral lands in the western United States developed for tourism and recreation. The stewards of these lands seek to engage visitors and enrich their experience, and simultaneously to protect the lands' natural and cultural resources. To achieve their mission, protected areas regularly use interpretation -- materials and experiences that aim to educate visitors about resources and see them as personally meaningful. However, there is little literature on interpretive content in protected areas, few qualitative studies of interpretation as constructed by visitors and interpreters, and little literature on the representation …

Sisters In Action For Power: How Youth-Adult Partnerships And Popular Education Can Facilitate Girl-Led Community Organizing For Equity And Justice, Samantha L. Taylor

PSU McNair Scholars Online Journal

“Sisters in Action for Power: How Youth-adult Partnerships and Popular Education can Facilitate Girl-led Community Organizing for Equity and Justice” examines how grassroots community organizing has impacted women of color in Portland, Oregon. Using a case study of the non-profit organization, Sisters in Action for Power, this paper addresses the question: how do women who were youth organizers with Sisters in Action relate to the broader significance and personal impact of the community organizing work they engaged in as youth? This paper offers three critical aspects of the practice of youth-adult partnerships at Sisters in Action: (1) civic engagement, (2) …

The Impacts Of Microaggressions On The Performance Of Multiracial And Monoracial College Students, Jasmine S. Keith

PSU McNair Scholars Online Journal

This study attempts to contribute to the research on how microaggressions affect performance of multiracial and monoracial college students in both social and academic realms. Microaggressions were explored through online surveys distributed via email to several hundred students. Participants consisted of students over the age of 18 at an urban institution in the Pacific Northwest. Bivariate logistical regression and axial coding were used to analyze participant responses. The first hypothesis for this study is that multiracial college students experience more microaggressions in social settings, while monoracial students experience more microaggressions in academic settings. The second hypothesis is that multiracial students …

Prevalence And Use Of Guns In Perpetration Of Intimate Partner Violence, Caroline D. Cummings

PSU McNair Scholars Online Journal

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a social problem and public health issue in the United States that various states and the federal government have taken special precautions to alleviate. Two studies were conducted to address the problem. Study 1 examined archival data from a study that administered the Revised Conflict Tactic Scale to students taking psychology courses at Portland State University. The majority of students within the sample perpetrated psychological aggression but not physical assault. It was inconclusive whether more male than female college students perpetrated in physical assault against their partners. Lastly, less than 1% of students had ever …

Navigating Academia: A Mixed Methods Analysis Of Sense Of Community, Student-Faculty Relationships, And Student Success, Camilla Cummings

PSU McNair Scholars Online Journal

College enrollment in the United States is higher than it has ever been before. However, there is a strong delineation between students who feel supported and able to use education as a tool and students who do not. The present study aims to understand the impact of sense of community and faculty-student relationships on student success and engagement. This cross-sectional study used quantitative and qualitative methodologies to examine sense of community and engagement in 210 undergraduate students. Sense of community, mentorship, university experiences, social intelligence, and demographic variables were analyzed using bivariate correlations, multiple linear regression, t-tests, and thematic content …

Prison Programs To Reduce Recidivism: What Is The Ideal Structure Of An Inmate Reentry Program?, Magali Davila-Centeno

University Honors Theses

In the United States' correctional system, inmate programs within prisons often do not reduce recidivism. Recent surveys have shown that across the country many prisons have a form of a Prison Based Animal Program (PAP). This study examines the effect that Prison based Animal Programs have on reducing recidivism through their therapeutic effects, focusing specifically on identifying the best practices for structuring such programs and measuring outcomes, for which there is little research. The research is based on a review of journal articles, industry reports, and a case study of a PAP. The analysis incorporates the shift in emphasis from …

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

Dissertations and Theses

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

Transgender Patients' Experiences Of Discrimination At Mental Health Clinics, Corrine Ann Stocking

Dissertations and Theses

The transgender population is makes up about 0.3% of the U.S. population (Gates 2011). The term transgender is both an identity and an umbrella term used to describe people who do not adhere to traditional gender norms (Institute of Medicine 2011). Transgender people experience many barriers to services, negative health outcomes, and discrimination (Fredrikson-Goldsen et al. 2013; Institute of Medicine 2011; Eliason et al. 2009; Hendricks & Testa 2012). Mental health clinics are an important site for understanding transgender peoples' experiences due to being a gatekeeper for other medical services and their role in helping transpeople with issues surrounding coming …

Policy Analysis: Minimum Wage In The Portland Metropolitan Area, Aaron Kaufman

Hatfield Graduate Journal of Public Affairs

Oregon’s current minimum wage of $9.25 per hour is unsustainable as it does not provide adequate nutritional resources or housing for full time employees. Additionally, employers of minimum wage workers often rely on social safety net benefits for their workers which effectively subsidize wages. This creates an unnecessary burden on the taxpayer. Oregon Senate Bill 1532 increases the minimum wage incrementally within Portland’s Metropolitan Area to $14.75 in 2022. This wage provides full time minimum wage workers enough income for adequate nutrition and reasonable housing while reducing reliance on social safety net programs.

Connecting To Nature, Community, And Self: A Conservation Corps Approach To Re-Engaging At-Risk Youth In Science Education, Sara Jo Linden

Dissertations and Theses

The social and environmental challenges of the coming decades will require that individuals possess environmental literacy: the understanding of natural systems combined with a sense of care for the earth, and the confidence and competency to act on its behalf. At the same time, disengaged youth need education environments that foster belonging and promote affective outcomes. The youth conservation corps model provides a natural context for engaging academically at-risk youth in environmental science education, while fostering connection to nature and student self-efficacy in ways that are experiential, relevant, and relationship-based. The focus of this study was a conservation corps program …

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

Dissertations and Theses

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

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

Empowering Students To Make Sense Of An Information Saturated World: The Evolution Of Information Searching And Analysis, James H. Wittebols

Communications in Information Literacy

How well students conduct research online is an increasing concern for educators at all levels but especially higher education. The paper describes the evolution of a course that grew from a unit within a course to a whole course that examines confirmation bias, information searching and the political economy of information as keys to becoming more information and media literate. After a key assignment in which students assess their own tendency to engage in confirmation bias, students choose a social justice issue to investigate across web, news and academic research resources. Designed to build good analytical skills in assessing the …

Two Parts Reflection, One Part Selfie: A Visual Alternative To The Minute Paper, Kellie Meehlhause

Communications in Information Literacy

For almost 40 years, the Minute Paper has been a quick and easy means of learning assessment, both in the college classroom and library instruction. More recently, the use of social media, particularly selfies, has gained popularity by connecting with students through the technology they are most familiar with. This column makes the case for combining the Minute Paper and selfies in order to gain an insight into students' skill development and retention after a library session. Adaptable to a variety of classes and learning outcomes, the activity enables students to actively use what they learned rather than passively reflecting …

Reporting Or Reconstructing? The Zine As A Medium For Reflecting On Research Experiences, Silvia Vong

Communications in Information Literacy

In a research-based course, undergraduate third year students were asked to submit their reflections on their research experience in the zine medium. While the literature shows that the zine medium can encourage students to reflect meaningfully about their experiences, evaluating the medium, which is a mix of text and visuals, can be challenging for the instructor. This paper explores the value of zines as a medium for reflection using the 4R Reflection Scale as a framework. The 4R Scale by Ryan and Ryan (2015) outlines four levels, reporting and responding, relating, reasoning and reconstructing, to determine the depth of thinking …

Creating An Engaging Library Orientation: First Year Experience Courses At University Of California, San Diego, Crystal Goldman, Dominique Turnbow, Amanda Roth, Lia Friedman, Karen Heskett

Communications in Information Literacy

This article focuses on the development of an engaging library orientation module for UC San Diego First Year Experience (FYE) courses. The library module included a brief in-class presentation about research concepts and library services, an online interactive library scavenger hunt given as an in-class activity, and a homework assignment where students created public service announcements highlighting their favorite library space or resource. Over 400 FYE students completed the library module, and many indicated a marked increase in comfort using the library by the end of the module. Recommended practices are included for those wishing to create a similar module.

Persistence In Higher Education: A Qualitative Study Of Student Perceptions, Beliefs, Outlook And Context In Qatar, Batoul Khalifa, Ramzi Nasser, Atmane Ikhlef, Janet S. Walker, Said Amali

Regional Research Institute for Human Services

This study attempts to address the challenges of students in higher education in Qatar. The study draws on student perceptions, beliefs, outlook, and context; we approach the study through grounded means by posing leading interview questions with the aim of exploring and probing. The approach is grounded in that no specific theory drives the questions; rather, the responses from the interview often require interpretation through theory to justify the findings. The sample comprised 35 students who were interviewed through probing and questioning techniques. The questions led to converging responses, which were segregated into themes. A large majority of students felt …

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

World Languages and Literatures Faculty Publications and Presentations

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

Research & Strategic Partnerships: Quarterly Review, Volume 3, Issue 2, Portland State University. Research & Strategic Partnerships

Portland State Research Magazine

Portland State University plays a central role in our city’s transformation into the country’s leading laboratory for transportation innovation. Starting over a decade ago, our engineering and urban studies researchers began receiving federal funding to study the connections between the ways people get around in cities and their quality of life. This issue of the RSP Quarterly Review highlights this growing body of work, focusing on the contributions made by the Transportation Research and Education Center, or TREC.

Relationships That Extend Beyond The Fence-Line: Private Landowner Attitudes And Interest In Conservation Easements, Ashley Lyn Vizek

Dissertations and Theses

Private land conservation provides an opportunity to address problems of habitat fragmentation and biodiversity loss caused by an increase in the development and parcelization of private land. Conservation easements (CEs) are an innovative tool used by land trusts to protect significant natural qualities of private land in perpetuity, while also allowing the land to remain in private ownership. Traditionally, property represents an individualistic relationship, however, CEs redefine this relationship by seeking to maximize the overlap in private and public goods in property. In this study, I explore the relationship between the common good and private property through an analysis of …

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

Dissertations and Theses

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

The Importance Of Online Peer Relationships During The Transition To Motherhood: Do They Decrease Stress, Alleviate Depression And Increase Parenting Competence?, Bobbie Sue Arias

Dissertations and Theses

This research addressed the challenges faced by women in today's society during the transition to motherhood, and explored the possible benefits of an online natural helping network of blogging peers. Given the content of the literature describing the transition to motherhood and the many hardships that pose possible obstacles for an ideal transition, this research attempted to uncover the reasons why mothers blog and what benefit, if any, they experience as a result of blogging. This study explored the following questions: Why do women blog during the transition to motherhood? What is the relationship among the seven identified variables: blogging …

Domestic Violence Risk Assessments: Considerations For Selection And Use, Ryan M. Labrecque

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications and Presentations

Focuses on Senate Bill 789 (Increases penalty for crime of strangulation) and what to consider when mandating law enforcement officers to perform domestic violence risk assessments.

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

Dissertations and Theses

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

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

Student Research Symposium

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

How Calculus Students At Successful Programs Talk About Their Instructors, Annie Bergman, Dana Kirin, Ben Wallek

Student Research Symposium

Over the past decade, numerous reports point to the need for national efforts to increase the number of students pursuing and professionals with degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields (see for example NSB, 2007; PCAST, 2012; Thomasian, 2011). According to the PCAST report (2012) increasing the retention rate of the students who enter college intending to major in a STEM field has the potential to significantly decrease the gap between the number of STEM degrees produced and the projected number of STEM degrees needed to sustain the United States position in the global market. While there are …

Analytic Thinking Predicts Vaccine Endorsement: Cognitive Style As An Antecedent Of Vaccine Attitudes, Daniel A. Anderson

Student Research Symposium

Relationships between cognitive style (CS) and affective orientation toward childhood vaccines (AO) were tested in a sample of US adults, controlling for known covariates. Findings suggest an analytic cognitive style predicts greater likelihood of endorsing childhood vaccination (higher AO). Results highlight relationships between individual cognition and cultural influences upon vaccine-beliefs.