Digital Commons Network^™

;(, Robert Eversmann

University Honors Theses

Stories about Hillsboro, 7/11, Target, Arco, Shari's, NAPA, Gentle Dental, Dutch Brother's, Tri-Cities, Skate World, Tijuana, Akron and Dayton Ohio.

International Perspectives On Sustainable Agriculture In Cuba, B. Danielle Smith

University Honors Theses

Since the economic crisis following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Cuba has restructured their agriculture with a greater focus on domestic production of domestically consumed produce, and a dramatic reduction of petroleum products in all aspects of food production. This overhaul has included the broad application of what is termed agroecology – agricultural practices which focus on principles of biodiversity and sustainability – and inter-farm cooperation facilitated by the National Association of Small Farmers (ANAP) and Campesino a Campesino. Academics and journalists from within and abroad have critically examined aspects of the novel reforms developed in the country …

Cellular Automata As Cellular Spaces, Max Orhai

University Honors Theses

The topology of an abstract cellular complex is developed from the idea of a locally finite space consisting of countably many elements, and can provide a coordinate- free definition of both the geometric structure and discrete dynamics of cellular automata.

A Race To The Finish: An Analysis Of Factors Contributing To The Achievement Gap In Portland Public School District, Victoria Noggle

University Honors Theses

Closing the achievement gap is one of the most talked about issues within the United States education system. The achievement gap refers to disproportionality in rates of achievement between white students and students of color. The question should not be how one closes the achievement gap but what factors contribute to the achievement gap and how these factors can be addressed. This paper looks at the achievement gap between white and black students on a national level, focusing on research addressing different factors pertaining to the gap. Five main factors contribute to the achievement gap between white and black students: …

Understanding Local Jazz Ecology : An Inquiry Into What Research Is Required To Develop A Comprehensive Understanding Of Local Jazz Scenes, Tristan Weitkamp

University Honors Theses

This paper will examine the structure of local Jazz music economies and how the concepts of ecology (interaction between organisms and their environment) can apply to understanding and improving the health of this cultural sector. It will start by examining the academic knowledge in the related areas and then explore possible research methodology in order to better understand the economic situation of a local Jazz ecology. The methodology will then be presented in a framework for studying the Jazz ecology of Portland, Oregon. Once a research methodology has been developed, steps can be taken towards an informed understanding of local …

The Socialization Of Women And Its Effect On The Wage Gap Within The United States, Kaitlin Lawrence

University Honors Theses

President Kennedy signed The Equal Pay Act in 1963, a time when women were making an average of 59 cents on the dollar compared to men. 49 years later, that value has only risen 17.5 cents. If the current rate of progress continues at the same pace, it is projected that the wage gap will cease to exist by the year 2057; 94 years after The Equal Pay Act was established. Politicians, economists and women’s rights activists, among others question what must be done to bridge the wage gap and how has it continued to be perpetuated for so long. …

Affordable Housing For Public Benefit: A Comparison Of Newly Constructed And Rehabilitated Developments In The North And Northeast Neighborhoods Of Portland, Oregon, Sara Matijascic

University Honors Theses

Rising property values and low vacancy rates have led to a high demand for affordable housing in Portland, Oregon. In order to fulfill this need, a strategy that considers development cost and potential benefits of affordable housing to the public must be put into place. In this report, I compare development cost and public benefit of two housing creation methods – new construction and rehabilitation – to determine ways to increase economic feasibility, as well as positive externalities of the development process. This inquiry is tested using a public benefit survey that was distributed to housing professionals working in Portland, …

The Value Of Well-Being: Advancing Urban Blue Infrastructure With Holistic Metrics, Lisa Marie White

University Honors Theses

The design of urban infrastructure has emerging, documented impacts on the environment, local economy, and public well-being, yet conventional design and policy goals fail to account for these emergent properties. These impacts also lack consistent quantifiable metrics and classification in the realm of city planning. Without adequately holistic cost-benefit analyses, the true value of infrastructure projects fails to be ascertained, preventing consideration of design that provides additional benefits not yet incorporated into city policy and metrics. With more people living in cities than ever before, the built environment of cities has become an increasingly important area of study, and the …

Trace Metal Analysis Of Drinking Water At Portland State University, Emma Claire Prichard

University Honors Theses

Clean drinking water is essential for human and environmental health, but pollution of drinking water sources due to lack of resources or investment allows poor drinking water quality to be pervasive even in developed areas. Portland State University, located in Portland, OR, U.S.A., had reports of poor drinking water quality in a major academic building (Cramer Hall). In order to investigate, a trace metals analysis of drinking water was conducted using EPA Method 200.7 Section 8.2: Dissolved Metals, via Inductively Coupled Plasma – Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES). Concentrations of 10 different metals were determined in 22 building areas. Results show …

The Risks Of The Rose City: Assessing The Social Vulnerability Of Communities To Multiple Environmental Hazards In The Portland Metropolitan Area, Daniel R. Logan

Geography Masters Research Papers

In the past three decades, research in the geography of hazards and disasters has expanded beyond the response to hazard events and incorporated the concepts of preparedness, recovery, and mitigation. These issues require a complete understanding of the vulnerability of places to hazards, not only in regards to hazard characteristics but in regards to social and economic conditions as well. This paper offers a case study in hazard exposure and social vulnerability analysis which incorporates the methodology of two previous studies on the same topics. A geographic information system was used to determine vulnerable areas and populations exposed to five …

The Cully Park Inter-Tribal Gathering Garden: Place-Making Through Indigenous Eco-Cultural Reclamation, Randall Morris

Geography Masters Research Papers

Portland's history and geography are patterned, like any city, by spatial imaginings both utopian and dystopian. This examination of the raw landscape of the city’s nascent garden space in Cully Park is an attempt to research a third manifestation of space, one that might be called heterotopia. This research into the Inter-Tribal Gathering Garden is a search for a more complete accounting of place, one which also acknowledges the variety of non-human agencies (a list which would include streets, planning documents, various plants, historical accounts, and even the consistent boundaries of the space itself) found in all heterogeneous …

Pathos, Winter 2014, Portland State University. Student Publications Board

Pathos

Editor: Kate Marshall

Volume 8 No.2

Wendy Ewald Edited By Nolan Calisch, Wendy Ewald, Nolan Calisch

Reference Points

"Wendy Ewald, edited by Nolan Calisch, offers a survey of the past and present work of photographer and conceptual artist Wendy Ewald, including insight into her collaborative process and inspiration, and a collection of thoughtful reflections from a collaborator, a colleague, and a contemporary artist who have been touched by her work.

This book is part of the Reference Points series published through Portland State University Art and Social Practice MFA Program. The series is an evolving pedagogical framework in which graduate students formulate and research a significant topic or practitioner(s) related to socially engaged art. Because …

Art & Education, Luis Camnitzer, Pablo Helguera, Betty Marín

Reference Points

This book is part of the Reference Points series published through Portland State University Art and Social Practice MFA Program. The series is an evolving pedagogical framework in which graduate students formulate and research a significant topic or practitioner(s) related to socially engaged art. Because the series is designed to shift and respond to the concerns of the program's current students and faculty, mode, structure and content are open-ended.

Portland State And The Ge College Bowl, Clarence Hein

Historical Articles and Essays

On March 7, 1965 the Portland State College Bowl team defeated Birmingham-Southern University to become, with five straight wins, record-breaking champions of the nationally televised college trivia game show, the GE College Bowl. Clarence Hein writes about the team's path to the win and their significance to Portland State.

Is There Room For Plantations In Fair Trade?, Daniel Jaffee

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

When the certifier Fair Trade USA (FTUSA) announced in 2011 that it would split from the international fair trade system and create its own certification scheme, the fair trade movement erupted in controversy. Arguing that it was wrong to exclude hired laborers from the benefits of fair trade, FTUSA’s new standards for the first time permit the unlimited certification of all crops from agribusiness plantations, including coffee. However, largely missing from the rhetoric on both sides of this move was a deeper discussion of the significance of agribusiness plantations. The article focuses on the question, is there room within fair …

The Revolution Will Not Be Stereotyped: Changing Perceptions Through Diversity, Annie Pho, Turner Masland

Library Faculty and Staff Publications and Presentations

Chapter 12. In this chapter, we examine the connection between increasing diversity in the library workplace and dispelling stereotypes. We explore how diversity in the academic library workforce can have positive effects in dispelling stereotypes through visibility, outreach, and education. We also want to rethink what we mean when we discuss diversity and what it entails. This is important to the process of examining library diversity initiatives and how they can fall short of complete inclusion. We also explore how activist librarians have defied the librarian stereotype and what we can learn from them. In order to create desired changes, …

Teaching Australian Literature In A Class About Literatures Of Social Reform, Per Henningsgaard

English Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article presents an intriguing thesis about proximity and identification, distance and empathy based on the experience of teaching Sally Morgan’s My Place to American university students alongside Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle and Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin in a class examining literature as an agent of social change. Indeed, its response to the question, “How does the Australian production of My Place influence its American reception?” will surprise many people. Students more readily demonstrate empathy with characters and are prepared to ascribe their unenviable life circumstances to social structures that propagate oppression when reading literature about cultural groups …

Love's Labour's Lost: A History Of The Question "Why Is There No Socialism In The United States?", Alexander M. Dunphy

University Honors Theses

Why is there no socialism in the United States? This question has plagued radicals and scholars alike for over a hundred years, and various responses are beyond count. However, less attention has been paid to what asking the Question actually means. A chronological study of the various attempts to answer it reveals far more than a history of radicalism. As the Question has been passed from Marxists, to Socialists, to Progressives, to Communists, to Consensus oriented social scientists to the New Left, to Cultural scholars, to Neoconservatives, and up to today, each generation of scholars, commentators and activists has tackled …

The Rise Of Non-Marital Cohabitation: Review And Analysis Of Existing Research, Natalia Mosailova

University Honors Theses

Beginning in the 1970's, young adults are more likely to announce that they are moving in with a partner rather than entering marriage. As rates of legal marriage between ages 16-26 are continuing to decline, the rates of cohabitation are rising two-fold. Compared to previous decades, individuals in our society are now more hesitant to enter marriage and are more likely to try out their relationships through cohabitation before making a commitment. Archival research on pre-engagement cohabitation suggests that, contrary to popular culture beliefs, pre-engagement cohabitation is a predictor of both marital divorce in marriages and relationship dissatisfaction. Despite the …

The Occurrences, References And Projected Attitudes About Lgbt Lifestyles In Children's Media: A Content Analysis Of Animated Films, Michael Caldwell

University Honors Theses

This study included a selection of 5 top-grossing animated children's films looking for hints, references and projected attitudes about LGBT lifestyles. I hypothesized that there would be no out-right gay characters whatsoever, but only hints or strong hints to, and that they would be exemplified through gender transgressions, intense same-sex interactions, and contain a focus on male masculinity. Furthermore, I hypothesized that all categories would be used primarily for humor. Results held true with these predictions where all categories were used for humor 83% of the time, with a focus on male characters. The results also support the noted increase …

Foucault Concept Communication: An Examination Of Alcoholics Anonymous, Amanda Joy Arms

University Honors Theses

While previous research on the 12-step program of Alcoholics Anonymous has covered a wide range of topics, there is a gap which exists in the lack of examination of the 12-step program through the lens of the underlying mechanisms of power. The concepts which most clearly reflect these mechanisms of power are explicated by Michel Foucault and his work. This gap can be best summed up as a lack of comprehensive and exhaustive, textual analysis of multiple texts provided by AA to members of their fellowship. This thesis uses Foucauldian discourse analysis in an exhaustive manner, to examine pieces of …

Animosity And Community Size Correlation In Bilingual Telephonic Interactions Between Customer/Social Service Representatives And Hispanic Clients: Understanding How Hispanic Community Size Affects Hostility Levels In Customer And Social Services From State To State, Scarllet Bautista

Anthós

The purpose of this research is to understand how the Hispanic community size affects the telephonic interactions between FEP (Fluent English Proficient) customer/social service representatives and LEPs (Limited English Proficient). I hypothesize that the larger the Hispanic community in a state, the more tense bilingual telephonic interactions will be. I evaluated a total of 179 English/Spanish consecutive interpreting calls over the course of nine days. I took note and counted various aspects of the interaction: voice, use of profanity, use of sarcasm to express disgust and sudden telephone hung ups from the LEP customer/client and attitude, tone, use of pleasantries, …

The Media’S Presentation Of The Second Chance Act: Funding For Reentry Following Prison, A Content Analysis, Ailene Joyce Farkac

University Honors Theses

The US prison system has multiplied by four since 1980; each year about 730,000 people enter state and federal prisons and 700,000 people exit. As a result of this expansion, there is a massive increase of formerly incarcerated people reentering local communities every year. Budget cuts in prison programs and in local government’s social services are causing these individuals to be less educated and less prepared for reintegration; communities are also ill prepared to absorb them. The Second Chance Act was signed into law by President Bush on April 9, 2008. It authorized a pool of about $393m (renewed in …

Characteristics Of Medicaid Clients In Assisted Living, Residential Care, Memory Care, And Adult Foster Homes 2013-2014, Paula C. Carder, Jacklyn Nicole Kohon, Sheryl Dejoy Elliott, Maximilian West, Amanuel Zimam, Margaret B. Neal

Institute on Aging Publications

In collaboration with the Aging and People with Disabilities (APD) program of Oregon’s Department of Human Services (DHS), Portland State University’s Institute on Aging generated this report of Medicaid clients living in community-based care (CBC) settings in the state of Oregon. The Oregon legislature appropriated funds for DHS to collect information about these community-based care providers which will allow DHS, providers, and the public to better understand characteristics of Medicaid clients living in different CBC settings.

This report is based on an analysis of Medicaid data provided by DHS. The study goals were to:

• describe Medicaid clients’ health-related needs, service …

Resident And Home Characteristics Report 2014: Adult Foster Homes, Paula C. Carder, Sheryl Dejoy Elliott, Aubrey Limburg, Jacklyn Nicole Kohon, Amanuel Zimam, Maximilian West, Margaret B. Neal

Institute on Aging Publications

In collaboration with the Aging and People with Disabilities program of Oregon’s Department of Human Services (DHS), Portland State University’s Institute on Aging conducted this research study of adult foster homes (AFH) throughout the state of Oregon. The Oregon legislature appropriated funds for DHS to collect information from these community-based care providers that will allow DHS, providers, and the public to better understand resident characteristics and adult foster home services.

This report summarizes findings from the first state-wide survey of licensed adult foster homes in Oregon. The survey goals were to:

• describe resident health-related needs, service use, and demographic characteristics; …

Work-Family Conflict, Family-Supportive Supervisor Behaviors (Fssb), And Sleep Outcomes, Tori Laurelle Crain, Leslie B. Hammer, Todd Bodner, Ellen Ernst Kossek, Phyllis Moen, Richard Lilienthal, Orfeu Buxton

Psychology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Although critical to health and well-being, relatively little research has been conducted in the organizational literature on linkages between the work-family interface and sleep. Drawing on Conservation of Resources theory, we use a sample of 623 information technology workers to examine the relationships between work-family conflict, family-supportive supervisor behaviors (FSSB), and sleep quality and quantity. Validated wrist actigraphy methods were used to collect objective sleep quality and quantity data over a one week period of time, and survey methods were used to collect information on self-reported work-family conflict, FSSB, and sleep quality and quantity. Results demonstrated that the combination of …

Determined: Start To Finish - Year 1 : The Freshman To Sophomore Experience, Kathleen Steppe

University Honors Theses

For students, the first year of college holds with it specific challenges. This honors thesis describes elements of and provides valuable insight into the college student’s journey, relative to their first-year experience. The largest portion of this thesis focused on review of literature pertaining to institutional support and college retention. This denotes the relationship between each consumer of higher education and the multitude of options from which they can choose to invest in to begin pursuit of their degree. Because of the varied relational aspects between institutional support and retention, also reviewed was literature aligned with efficacy of systems and …

The Community Of Practice And Safety Support (Compass) Total Worker Health™ Study Among Home Care Workers: Study Protocol For A Randomized Controlled Trial, Ryan Olson, Diane Elliot, Jennifer Hess, Sharon Thompson, Kristy Luther, Brad Wipfli, Robert R. Wright, Annie Mancini Buckmaster

Psychology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background: Home care workers are a high-risk group for injury and illness. Their unique work structure presents challenges to delivering a program to enhance their health and safety. No randomized controlled trials have assessed the impact of a Total Worker Health™ program designed for their needs.

Methods/design: The COMPASS (COMmunity of Practice And Safety Support) study is a cluster randomized trial being implemented among Oregon’s unionized home care workers. Partnering with the Oregon Home Care Commission allowed recruiting 10 pairs of home care worker groups with 8 participants per group (n = 160) for balanced randomization of groups to intervention …

Latino Parents' Perspectives On Barriers To Autism Diagnosis, Katharine Zuckerman, Brianna Sinche, Angie Pamela Mejia, Martiza Cobian, Thomas Becker, Christina Nicolaidis

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Recent estimates suggest that Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) affect more than 1% of U.S. children over age 3, and rates ASD diagnosis may be increasing.1 ASDs can be reliably diagnosed,2 and early diagnosis is associated with improved long-term developmental and family outcomes.3 However, many children meeting ASD diagnostic criteria are never diagnosed4 or are diagnosed years after onset of symptoms.4,5 Delayed diagnosis is a particular problem among Latino children:6,7 Latino children receive a diagnosis of an ASD 2.5 years later than white non-Latino children.8 Latino children are also less likely to carry an ASD diagnosis; however, when diagnosed, they are …