Digital Commons Network^™

Rupert Raj’S Written Acts Of Activism And Care Throughout The 1980s And 1990s, Mia Jakobsen

Amplify: A Journal of Writing-as-Activism

In researching acts of activism and care in Canadian queer and trans racialized history, I examined how Rupert Raj advocated and cared for other trans individuals through his writing in the 1980s and 1990s. He noticed that there were few publications for trans individuals so he created easily accessible methods to share vital information regarding research and support that would have otherwise been difficult to acquire. Raj’s writings shared vital transgender research, literature, and expertise from across the globe. He provided critical support to and for other trans men through his easily accessible publications and letters, serving as an information …

Inciting Action By Analyzing Pachirat, Rhi N. Soto

Amplify: A Journal of Writing-as-Activism

The book Every Twelve Seconds: Industrialized Slaughter and the Politics of Sight by Timothy Pachirat explores “the politics of sight”, or the intentional invisibilizing or transparentizing of repugnant acts in order to encourage or limit them, through the case study of a beef slaughter house in Omaha, NE. While also utilizing the politics of sight, Pachirat hopes for great political and social change concerning the immoral acts that happen at meat plants through a radical act of transparency: a narrative ethnography. Writers with similar goals of great change in social and political issues can make use of Pachirat’s techniques, which …

"I Know Who I Am": Draw-And-Tell Conversations With Gender-Creative Children, Eline Leemans Lenne

Dissertations and Theses

A growing number of children identify in various gender-creative ways, likely due to broader social awareness and affirmation of transgenderism. Gender-creative children face higher risks for adverse social, academic, mental health, and healthcare outcomes compared to non-transgender peers. Support from loved ones along with guidance from pediatric providers can mitigate poor outcomes and ensure that gender-creative children live healthy and happy lives. Young gender-creative children's perspectives about the aforementioned topics are markedly absent from the literature, which instead highlights adolescent and adult proxy perspectives.

In this participatory arts-based study anchored by a constructivist epistemology and informed by post-structuralist, queer, and …

Accelerating High-Throughput Phonon Calculations Via Machine Learning Universal Potentials, Huiju Lee, Vinay I. Hegde, Chris Wolverton, Yi Xia

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Phonons play a critical role in determining various material properties, but conventional methods for phonon calculations are computationally intensive, limiting their broad applicability. In this study, we present an approach to accelerate high-throughput harmonic phonon calculations using machine learning universal potentials (MLIPs) combined with an efficient training dataset generation strategy. Instead of computing phonon properties from a large number of supercells with small atomic displacements of a single atom, our approach uses a smaller subset of supercell structures where all atoms are randomly displaced by 0.01 to 0.05 UŮ, significantly reducing computational costs. We train a state-of-the-art MLIP based on …

How Does Frugal Innovation Help Young Firms In The Us? The Moderating Roles Of Venture Capital Investment And Debt Financing, Zafrin Rahman, Wanying Shi

Business Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study examines the effects of frugal innovation on firm performance among young firms located in the U.S. Though frugal innovation is a concept that originated from innovation practices among emerging market firms, firms in the developed economies have absorbed a frugal mindset and are regularly exercising frugal innovation. We develop a framework for frugal innovation by building on entrepreneurial bricolage theory. One of our research findings shows that young firms in the U.S. find frugal innovation useful in gaining firm performance. In addition, interaction effects on firm performance are tested; those between frugal innovation and venture capital (VC) equity …

Pathos, Spring 2025, Portland State University. Student Publications Board

Pathos

Editor: Adriana Stanzione

An Equitable End: Meeting The Needs Of Queer Families Within Deathcare, Nyssa Peck

University Honors Theses

This thesis seeks to explore end-of-life care experiences of queer families, focusing on interactions with palliative and hospice caregivers. Currently, end-of-life (EOL) practitioners in institutional and medical care settings are often poorly equipped to interact with queer families due to inadequate cultural training models, personal biases, and ignorance regarding the queer identities of their clients. This manifests in substantial inequities within deathcare systems regarding the accommodation of the unique needs of queer familial structures. Drawing upon multidisciplinary scholarship, I sought to examine these needs, which diverge from that of heterosexual families due to queer families’ absence of legal protections and …

Tiered Clinician Vaccine Communication Strategy To Improve Childhood Vaccine Uptake: A Cluster Randomized Clinical Trial., Douglas J. Opel, Jeffrey D. Robinson, Chuan Zhou, Kathryn Colborn, Heather Spielvogle, Anna Furniss, Christine Spina, Cathryn Perreira, Sean T. O'Leary

Communication Faculty Publications and Presentations

No experimental studies to date have tested the effectiveness of clinician communication strategies to improve vaccine uptake among children of parents with negative vaccine attitudes.

Beyond The Bickering: Examining Event, Victim, And Offender Characteristics For Sibling Abuse Incidents In Oregon, Isabella M. Starr

University Honors Theses

Sibling violence (SV) is the most prevalent form of intrafamilial and domestic violence, yet it remains underrecognized and lacks the systematic attention given to other forms of family violence. Often minimized or misclassified as typical sibling rivalry, SV can inflict serious and lasting physical, emotional, and psychological harm on its victims. This study explores the characteristics of sibling violence incidents reported to law enforcement in Oregon between 2016 and 2023, using data from the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). Through an analysis of 5,793 single-victim, single-offender incidents, the research examines demographic patterns among victims and offenders, incident dynamics, and typological …

Reform For "These" Kids: Neoliberal Reform, Theorized Target Populations, And Spatial Injustice, Matthew S. Mccluskey, Madhu Narayanan, Erin Milne

Educational Leadership and Policy Faculty Publications and Presentations

Charter schools were originally envisioned as laboratories of innovation, but we have scant empirical evidence of how charter policies and ideas have spread beyond charter walls into the wider educational landscape. The diffusion of knowledge reflects networks of power, and tracing diffusion can unearth the discursive and power dynamics at play. Using a systematic search of publicly-available documents, this study investigated the geographic diffusion of one Charter Management Organization (CMO)—Uncommon Schools—as a case of charter discursive diffusion. Grounded in Critical Policy Analysis (CPA), we found that artifacts were located disproportionately in higher poverty zip codes housing lower percentages of non-Hispanic …

Advancing Methods For Comparative Urban Research: A City-Centric Protocol And Longitudinal Dataset For Us Metropolitan Statistical Areas, Jason R. Jurjevich, Katie Meehan, Nicholas M. J. W. Chun, Greg Schrock

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

Comparative urban research in the USA has an unacknowledged data and methodological problem at the metropolitan scale, rooted in geographic and definitional boundary changes of urban areas across time. In this article, we introduce a new spatial dataset, decision criteria, and methodological protocol for longitudinal and comparative research with US metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs)—known as ‘metros’—in a way that centers a ‘city-centric’ approach to comparison while significantly reducing spatial error and bias. First, we review gaps and limitations of existing approaches and identify three major but previously unacknowledged sources of error, including a new source of bias we call ‘spanning …

Digital Child Labor Exploitation In Sharenting: Proposing Legislative Solutions For Enhanced Child Protection, Joana Guzman Gonzalez

University Honors Theses

This thesis explores the implications of sharenting -- the practice of sharing children's information on mass media--raises urgent concerns about child safety and potential human rights violations -- and the exploitation of children in digital spaces, focusing on the risks of privacy, safety and mental health pose by the rise of kidfluencers – children influencers under the age of 18 – and family vlog channels. Through a comprehensive literature review, the research examines children's online presence's emotional, legal, and societal impacts, drawing from case studies such as Sheri Franke, Wren Eleanor, Ryan Kaji, and JoJo Siwa. The analysis reveals a …

Disrupting The Abuse-Prison Nexus: The Gendered Violence Of Prosecution And Abolitionist Feminist Approaches To Social Care Work, Sid P. Jordan, Emily Thuma, Aylaliyah Assefa Birru, Deirdre Wilson, Romarilyn Ralston, Norma Cumpian, Joseph Hankins

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

The vast majority of people in U.S. women’s prisons are survivors of interpersonal violence, a pattern that organizers and advocates have referred to as the abuse-to-prison pipeline. This article critically examines criminal prosecution from the perspectives of survivors of interpersonal violence who faced long prison sentences in California. In-depth interviews and group discussions were generated through a participatory process at a gathering to launch the University of California Sentencing Project, a partnership with the community-based organization California Coalition for Women Prisoners. The twenty-two formerly incarcerated participants had collectively spent more than 300 years imprisoned. Drawing on their lived experiences spanning …

Collaboration Through Trust Building: Building Trust Among Racialized And Stigmatized Nonprofits, Shariq Siddiqui, Abdul Samad, Rafeel Wasif

Public Administration Faculty Publications and Presentations

Nonprofits collaborate to resolve common issues while improving program effectiveness and reducing replication. These collaborations can be critical for minority nonprofits in resolving their common problems. However, while literature often looks at nonprofit organizations working with the government or other organizations, it does not focus on how minority nonprofits can collaborate better with other minority organizations. Using Muslim American nonprofits as a case study, we understand better how trust can be built between nonprofits belonging to marginalized communities. We focus on the Community Collaboration Initiative, a three-year third-party-facilitated collaboration effort among Muslim-American nonprofits. Overall, Interpersonal relationships, organizational learning, and positive …

College Outcomes For Young Adults With And Without Learning Disabilities And Adhd: Formal-Disability-Programming And Informal-Disability-Supports, Dara R. Shifrer, Rachel Springer, Hannah Sean Ellefritz, Ned Tilbrook

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Inequalities by disability status in college outcomes contribute to inequalities throughout adulthood in multiple domains. As the share of students with learning disabilities and/or ADHD increases on college campuses, research is needed on how best to support these undergraduates, both through formal and informal means. We integrate the social and medical models of disability with data on nearly 17,000 young adults in the US, who typically finished high school in 2013, and find that formal-disability-programming relates negatively to college enrollment but has no apparent bearing on college persistence. Among youth with similar sociodemographic backgrounds and comparable end of high school …

Confirmation Of The Scanpyramids North Face Corridor In The Great Pyramid Of Giza Using Multi-Modal Image Fusion From Three Non-Destructive Testing Techniques, Thomas Schumacher, Polina Pugacheva, Hussien Allam, Alejandro Ramirez-Pinero, Benedikt Maier, Johannes Rupfle, Khalid Helal, Olga Popovych, Amr G. Hamza, Mohamed Sholqamy, Multiple Additional Authors

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Abstract While non-destructive testing (NDT) measurements have been reported individually for archeological surveys of cultural heritage structures, only a few studies to date have attempted to combine NDT images by means of image fusion (IF). In this article, novel multimodal IF results from three different NDT techniques collected at the Chevron located on the Great Pyramid of Giza (aka. as Khufu’s Pyramid) are presented. The Chevron is an assembly of limestone blocks located in front of the recently confirmed ScanPyramids North Face Corridor (SP-NFC), which had been previously hidden for 4500 years. Under the research activities of the ScanPyramids mission, …

Between Fire And Water: Miyazawa Kenji's Reimagining Of Opposites In Ginga Tetsudō No Yoru, Taishi Neilsen

University Honors Theses

This thesis explores how Japanese writer Miyazawa Kenji playfully uses opposites and binaries to create thematic richness in his famous children's story Ginga tetsudō no yoru (Night on the Milky Way Railroad). Despite being a children's book, the text works with mature themes such as loneliness, grief, and purpose, themes which are elevated through Kenji's idiosyncratic stylings. Through a close reading of the original Japanese text, the author isolates moments where Kenji conveys his Nichiren Buddhist worldview as part of his proselytizing mission, as well as moments that increase thematic richness, resulting in a multifaceted text that continues …

Investigating Key Structures In Protective Scenes For Llms, Eben M. Weisman

University Honors Theses

This research delves into the realm of "protective scenes" within Large Language Models (LLMs), exploring their impact on bias mitigation, deception, and context preservation. The study investigates the use of roleplay prompting human-like behavior and reasoning in LLMs, focusing on the Character-LLM framework's concept of protective scenes with graduated levels of protection. By combining insights from psychology, cognitive science, and computational analysis, this research aims to develop a framework for understanding how protective scenes influence roleplay performance in LLMs, ultimately contributing to the development of more reliable and ethical AI systems.

The Impact Of Covid-19 On The United States Higher Education System, Phoenix Daniel Van Wormer

University Honors Theses

In the spring of 2020, colleges across the United States rapidly transitioned to online/remote learning during the COVID-19 global pandemic. Since then, online and remote learning have evolved into an integral component of higher education. This thesis examines the extent to which COVID-19-mandated remote and online learning impacted students pursuing higher education in the United States. By utilizing research that compares academic structures before and after the pandemic, I demonstrate how the shift to online and remote learning has changed teaching and learning methods. I also evaluate the impact of these changes on student performance and engagement, with particular focus …

From Farm To Friend: Fostering Compassion Toward Farmed Animals Through Design, Natalie Kosmos

University Honors Theses

This thesis explores how human compassion for farmed animals can be fostered through design. By analyzing the existing language, imagery, and social norms surrounding animal commodification, the research highlights the root of the issue: how humans perceive farmed animals in relation to themselves. Understanding how humans view and think about farmed animals is important for creating a message that disrupts these existing norms. The culmination of this thesis is a campaign, "From Farm to Friend" which is designed to be approachable and informative, encouraging the audience to have compassion for farmed animals and change their perception, from farm--to friend.

Working Paper No. 93, The Father, The Son, And The ‘Sulphuric’ Spirit: Reflections Upon Gunnar Myrdal's Early Writings Dealing With J. M. Keynes, Plus The ‘Great Recession’, Niccolo Cellini

Working Papers in Economics

This inquiry explores Gunnar Myrdal's contributions to counter-cyclical fiscal policy, emphasizing his belief in accumulating surpluses during economic growth and deploying them during downturns. The first section discusses Myrdal's critique of traditional austerity measures, advocating for transparency in deficit spending and highlighting the psychological impact of fiscal policy. The second section compares Myrdal’s views with John Maynard Keynes’, noting their shared concerns regarding unemployment while emphasizing Myrdal's focus on social equity and institutional reform. The final section applies Myrdal’s framework to the U.S. response to the Great Recession, analyzing the limitations of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and …

Working Paper No. 94, Franklin Roosevelt, His New Deal Policies, And The Ending Of Laissez-Faire, Amanda F. Worman

Working Papers in Economics

This inquiry seeks to establish that what were widely known and recognized as Franklin Roosevelt’s distinct ‘New Deal’ policies sought to offset some of the disruptive effects associated with the ending of Laissez-faire. Roosevelt’s upbringing, education, as well as his entry into the political sphere¾ starting out in New York State¾helped to shape the economic thinking that would later provide a foundation for what would become his New Deal policies advanced by his administration during the years of the Great Depression. Actions and policies indicative of Roosevelt’s policy thrust also align with arguments presented by the British economist, John Maynard …

Abiotic Variables Drive Different Aspects Of Fish Community Trait Variation And Species Richness Across The Continental United States, Alicia Mcgrew, Crysta Gantz, Brigid Wills, Benjamin Baiser, Sydne Record, Phoebe L. Zarnetske, Angela L. Strecker

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Intraspecific trait variation (ITV) is an increasingly important aspect of biodiversity and can provide a more complete perspective on how abiotic and biotic processes affect individuals, species' niches and ultimately community-level structure than traditional uses of trait means. Body size serves as a proxy for a suite of traits that govern species' niches. Distributions of co-occurring species body sizes can inform niche overlap, relate to species richness and uncover mechanistic drivers of diversity. We leveraged individual-level body size (length) in freshwater fishes and environmental data from the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) for 17 lakes and streams in the contiguous …

Working Paper No. 89, Towards A Veblenian View Of The Digital Realm, Tanner Weber

Working Papers in Economics

This inquiry seeks to establish that Thorstein Veblen’s writings offered insights that could assist us in understanding the digital realm in contemporary times. Through advancing his thinking for dealing with the instincts of idle curiosity and workmanship, in particular, Veblen provided an understanding of capital as technologies, especially, that should be valued as contributions to the common and joint stocks of knowledge. Back in his day, Veblen’s understanding of capital, ownership, and private property offered ways for us to think of some of the potential usages of technology as well as a range of possibilities for sabotage. What …

Signifying Improvement: Reform Symbols As Discursive Practice In School Improvement Plans, Madhu Narayanan, Matthew S. Mccluskey

Educational Leadership and Policy Faculty Publications and Presentations

School Improvement Plans (SIPs) have been shown to be generally of poor quality and written more as acts of compliance than efforts at genuine reform. This raises the question: if SIPs are ineffective at improving schools, what is their larger purpose? In this conceptual paper, we argue that SIPs are discursive sites where schools can signal their adherence to ostensibly proven and acceptable models of reform. They do so through the use of reform symbols, discursive markers that signal legitimized organizational change through the adoption of accepted modes of improvement. We illustrate this concept by showing how a variety of …

Working Paper No. 90, Social Hierarchies In The Music Industry And Thorstein Veblen's Understanding Of Institutions, Citlactli Carrera López

Working Papers in Economics

This inquiry seeks to establish that Thorstein Veblen’s understanding of institutions could be used to offer insights into social hierarchies found within the music industry. Institutions, as viewed by Veblen, are structures that are influenced by and extensions of habits that provide an understanding of human behavior. Society creates standards which determine the way that the population operates, setting levels of what is considered as correct and incorrect behaviors. Institutions have a way of altering the way society is governed, setting expectations and new mindsets of how people should interact with each other. Through the introduction of new technologies, these …

Kellogg Creek Student Macroinvertebrate Monitoring Program, Peyton Priestman, Amy Van Riessen

Urban Ecosystem Research Consortium of Portland/Vancouver

The Kellogg Creek Student Macroinvertebrate Monitoring Program is a community science initiative launched in 2024 by the North Clackamas Watersheds Council in partnership with North Clackamas School District classrooms. The program supports the Kellogg Creek Restoration and Community Enhancement Project, a multifaceted restoration project happening in Downtown Milwaukie that will remove Kellogg Dam and create a publicly accessible natural area within Milwaukie. The Kellogg Creek Student Macroinvertebrate Monitoring Program uses data collected by students to evaluate changes in the water and habitat quality in lower Kellogg Creek following the removal of Kellogg Dam using “before-after-control-impact” (BACI) experimental design. Students use …

Managing A Lake That Flows Both Ways, Katie Rodriguez, Tim Clark, Rob Zisette

Urban Ecosystem Research Consortium of Portland/Vancouver

Vancouver Lake, an urban eutrophic lake in Vancouver, WA, is considered a regional “gem” but, despite decades of research and restoration efforts, the lake and its users continue to suffer from a variety of issues including annual toxic HABs and noxious aquatic weeds. Championed by the local Friends of Vancouver Lake group, the state legislature has awarded Clark County funds to restore Vancouver Lake through the development and implementation of a management plan.

Development of the 2023 Vancouver Lake Management Plan (VLMP) included engaging technical experts and local stakeholders, and evaluating feasible management alternatives using lake modeling and cost-effectiveness analyses. …

Lichen Diversity In Portland Metro Area, Nora Dunkirk

Urban Ecosystem Research Consortium of Portland/Vancouver

Lichens are keystone species ubiquitous around the world. Lichens are important air quality indicators across urban and natural ecosystems. The biodiversity of lichens can be great, but as species sensitive to air-pollution, the biodiversity in urban ecosystems does not always match the biodiversity of surrounding natural areas. For this work I used the citizen science tool iNaturalist to compile a list of the most frequently observed lichen species in the Portland-Vancouver Metro Region. Public tools like iNaturalist make lichen surveys accessible to more people. I present details about how to identify the five most frequently observed lichen species, and summary …

Springwater Wetlands Enhancement In The Johnson Creek Watershed, Lents And Powellhurst-Gilbert Neighborhoods, Tressie Word, Rose Horton, Amy Chomowicz

Urban Ecosystem Research Consortium of Portland/Vancouver

Over the past two decades, Springwater Wetlands floodplain restoration has focused on reducing flooding, enhancing habitat, and improving community amenities on City of Portland property. Project construction is nearing completion. Sharing lessons learned in project plans, designs, funds, permits, floodplain enhances and construction process with the urban restoration community also important.

For context, regional climate and land use changes reduce watershed habitat function and increase local floods. Johnson Creek is one of the few free-flowing streams in Portland and has a long history of nuisance and catastrophic flooding. For over a century, government agencies focused on flood control with limited …