Digital Commons Network^™

Islam In Central Asia: A Religion And A Heritage, Jordan Pahl

Young Historians Conference

Despite the growing relevance of the Central Asian region to modern-day foreign affairs, little is generally understood by the public about these countries. Few people can name the five Central Asian republics and even fewer understand the complicated social, political, and religious history of the region. This paper explores the prevalence of Islam in the Central Asian states and the influence of the former Soviet Union's anti-religious policies on the region. Through extensive research as well as interviews conducted with modern-day Central Asian students living in the region, the unexpected implications of the anti-religious policies are revealed, and the current …

Academic Libraries And The Credit-Bearing Class: A Practical Approach, Margaret G. Burke

Communications in Information Literacy

Academic librarians are expanding their teaching roles and increasing numbers are involved in teaching information literacy by means of the credit-bearing class. Librarians at the Axinn Library at Hofstra University have been teaching credit-bearing classes since 2001. While doing research on the subject, the author found that the literature contained very little practical information concerning this important responsibility for academic librarians. In order to answer some questions that arose from Axinn librarians' experiences with credit-bearing classes, a survey was conducted using the Association of College and Research Libraries' Information Literacy Instruction's Discussion List as the study group. Among the topics …

Super Hardcore Subversion, Rob Pickering

Harlot: A Revealing Look at the Arts of Persuasion

Geneviéve Goulet is virtually unknown, but her alter ego, LuFisto "the Super Hardcore Anime," is renowned to professional wrestling fans in Canada, Japan, and Mexico as a competitor who will face all challengers, regardless of gender. This resolve, along with her agency over how her image is distributed to the public, creates Goulet as a positive female role-model in the hegemonics of her chosen industry. I am a fat, twice-divorced male born and living in the American Midwest, so of course I'm a wrestling fan, but in spite of that, there is room in approaching wrestling for intellectual and feminist …

The Subtleties Of Social Exclusion: Race, Social Class, And The Exclusion Of Blacks In A Racially Mixed Neighborhood, Daniel Monroe Sullivan, Jonathan Picarsic

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

We use interviews, content analysis, and surveys to describe how a neighborhood association in a racially mixed neighborhood in Portland, Oregon (USA) subtly excludes many blacks from being full members of the neighborhood. In contrast to explicit cases of social exclusion, this neighborhood association excludes blacks without ever referring to race. They instead justify their actions—e.g., helping close down a black social club and discouraging more affordable housing—based on such nonracial goals as increasing homeownership, minimizing crime, and maximizing “economic diversity.” We argue that without the inclusion of black residents and their neighborhood organizations (e.g., churches) in the decision-making process, …

Visualizing Fair Trade Coffee, Daniel Jaffee, Philip Howard

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The fair trade certification world has entered a period of major change. The recent departure of Fair Trade USA from the international certification system led by Fair Trade International (formerly FLO), and its decision to develop separate U.S. standards that permit certification of plantation-produced coffee, cocoa, and other crops, has thrown the meaning of the U.S. fair trade label into question. The recent appearance of a new certification—The Institute for Marketecology (IMO) “Fair For Life” label—has made the panorama even more complex. These developments follow a decade of struggles within the fair trade movement over the nature of its relationship …

A Region By Any Name: From Ecotopia To Cascadia Megaregion, Visions Of The Pacific Northwest Have Been Secessionist In Nature, Carl Abbott

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

For two hundred years—from the earliest exploration by European and American mariners and fur traders, until 1975—the region made up of Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia had a stable personality. This was a region that produced natural resources—fish, furs, forest products, fruit, electricity from flowing water, and wheat from fertile fields. This is the Northwest that H. L. Davis depicted in Honey in the Horn, Emily Carr painted from her Vancouver and Victoria studios, and Ken Kesey dissected in Sometimes a Great Notion. It is the Northwest that Molly Gloss and Annie Dillard revisit in their historical novels …

Faculty Senate Monthly Packet April 2012, Portland State University Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Monthly Packets

The April 2012 Monthly packet includes the April agenda and appendices and the Faculty Senate minutes and attachments from the meeting held March 2012

The Role Of Habitat Restoration And Conservation In The Changing Socio-Economic Conditions Of Grant County, Oregon, Kristen Lauren Senkyr

Dissertations and Theses

Habitat restoration has socio-economic as well as biophysical impacts. In Grant County, Oregon a recent influx of funding and technical resources for habitat restoration has led to focused monitoring efforts there to better understand the impacts. This study explores how local land use and land management practices are changing in Grant County as a result of restoration and other drivers. In-depth interviews were conducted with 17 landowners, land managers, and long time residents to document the change they have observed and identify how they are adapting. The results suggest that many interconnected social, economic, and ecological changes have taken place …

The Portland Spectator, March 2012, Portland State University. Student Publications Board

Portland Spectator

Editor: Sasha Chedygov

Articles in this issue include: PEP up your education: Portland State students gather in the Park Blocks to protest the ever-increasing cost of education; Social justice through hip hop: A one-day conference in the Multicultural Center explores the true meaning of hip hop; ASPSU grade book: See what your student government has been up to lately, and whether they’re meeting their expectations; Food carts and liquor: Food carts fight for their right to purchase annual liquor licenses, but the OLCC has some concerns; Artist profile: Adventure galley: This energetic, world-renowned indie rock sensation has moved to Portland, …

Faculty Senate Monthly Packet March 2012, Portland State University Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Monthly Packets

The March 2012 Monthly packet includes the March agenda and appendices and the Faculty Senate minutes and attachments from the meeting held February 2012

6 Students, 6 Ipads, 60 Photographs: A Qualitative Study Of Undergraduate Information Practices In The Mobile Landscape, Anne-Marie Deitering, Margaret Mellinger

Online Northwest

We know students use mobile technologies. We expect they will want to use them more. The mobile landscape is changing fast. But what does this actually mean? How does having constant access affect the ways students use information? This is one of the questions librarians at Oregon State University are examining. In the summer of 2011, 2 OSU librarians recruited 6 undergraduate students engaged in research on many levels: in the library, in the lab and in the field. Each student was given an iPad tablet computer at the start of the 2011-2012 school year. In this exploratory study, we …

Old Habits Are Hard To Break: Lessons Learned From A Qualitative Research Study, Stefanie Buck, Anne-Marie Deitering, Hannah Gascho Rempel

Online Northwest

Librarians listened and observed as undergraduate students tackled a typical research-based assignment using broad-based discovery tools, including Google Scholar, Web of Science and Summon. We will discuss what we learned about the research processes our users have developed, how they fit unfamiliar tools into those processes, how they carry early experiences from high school and public libraries into their college searching, and the implications for effectively introducing new tools into our users' research processes.

Weak Coffee: Certification And Co-Optation In The Fair Trade Movement, Daniel Jaffee

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The sociological literature on social movement organizations (SMOs) has come to recognize that under neoliberal globalization many SMOs have moved from an emphasis on the state as the locus of change toward a focus on corporations as targets. This shift has led some SMOs to turn to forms of market-based private regulatory action. The use of one such tactic—voluntary, third-party product certification—has grown substantially, as SMOs seek ways to hold stateless firms accountable. This article explores the case of the international fair trade movement, which aims to change the inequitable terms of global trade in commodities for small farmers, artisans, …

Home Forward’S Aging In Place Initiative: Planning For Current And Future Residents, Paula C. Carder, Jenny Weinstein, Jacklyn Nicole Kohon

Institute on Aging Publications

This report was prepared on behalf of the Aging in Place Initiative of Home Forward. The Initiative sought to gather information about older persons currently residing in Home Forward’s public housing properties, from persons age 55 and older on the waitlist for housing, and from older adults in the Portland area. While local data were unavailable at the time of this report, we know that nationally, more than one-third (37 percent) of the approximately 5 million households receiving housing assistance from HUD are headed by persons age 62 and older. With this in mind, Home Forward must make decisions now …

Complexity Theory And Political Change: Talcott Parsons Occupies Wall Street, Martin Zwick

Systems Science Friday Noon Seminar Series

Complexity theory can assist our understanding of social systems and social phenomena. This paper illustrates this assertion by linking Talcott Parsons' model of societal structure to the Occupy Wall Street movement. Parsons' model is used to organize ideas about the underlying causes of the recession that currently afflicts the US. While being too abstract to depict the immediate factors that precipitated this crisis, the model is employed to articulate the argument that vulnerability to this type of event results from flaws in societal structure. This implies that such crises can be avoided only if, in Parsons' terms, structural change occurs …

The Future Of Agriculture And Society In Iowa: Four Scenarios, Meghann E. Jarchow, G. L. Drake Larsen, Robert Costanza, Gretchen Zdorkowski, Stefans R. Gailans, Nicholaus Ohde, Ranae Dietzel, Sara Kaplan, Jeri Neal, Mae Rose Petrehn, Theodore Gunther, Stephanie N. D’Adamo, Nicholas Mccann, Andrew Larson, Phillip Damery, Lee Gross, Marc Merriman, Ida Kubiszewski, Julian Post, Meghan Sheradin, Matt Liebman

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

Iowa is a leader in crop and livestock production, but its high productivity has had concomitant negative environmental and societal impacts and large requirements for fossil-fuel-derived inputs. Maintaining agricultural productivity, economic prosperity and environmental integrity will become ever more challenging as the global demand for agricultural products increases and the resources needed become increasingly limited. Here we present four scenarios for Iowa in 2100, based on combinations of differing goals for the economy and differing energy availability. In scenarios focused on high material throughput, environmental degradation and social unrest will increase. In scenarios with a focus on human and environmental …

Crime Emergence And Simulation Modeling: Modeling Crime Space, Patricia Brantingham, Kathryn Wuschke, Richard Frank, Paul J. Brantingham

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications and Presentations

This chapter explores several new modeling approaches and research findings, showing how they may be used to explore and enhance theory. There is a special emphasis on Target Choice Selection, focusing on Crime Pattern Theory and the Geometry of Crime (Brantingham and Brantingham, 1978a, 1984, 1991; Brantingham and Brantingham, 1981, 1993a, 2008). This exploration is described through a series of research examples and a case study of the target choice behavior of high repeat offenders. The goal is to explore the emergence of patterns better understood against the urban backcloths for high repeat offenders. Emphasis is in this case study …

Curriculum Change 2012-2013, Portland State University

Bulletin & Curriculum Change Documents

No abstract provided.

Bulletin: General Catalog Issue 2012-2013, Portland State University

Bulletin & Curriculum Change Documents

No abstract provided.

Humor-Related Social Exchanges And Mental Health In Assisted Living Residents, Ann Elizabeth Mcqueen

Dissertations and Theses

Social contact is known to be vital for older adults' mental and physical health, but few studies of social interactions have taken place in long-term care settings. The current study investigated whether the psychological well-being of assisted living residents was influenced by factors associated with residents' social interactions involving humor. Specific aims of the present study were to develop and test a measure related to humor-related social exchanges, to examine how humor-related social exchanges affect residents' mental health, and to explore whether humor-related social exchanges mediated the effects of resident and facility characteristics on indices of mental health. One hundred …

Short Stories, Alisa Eve Welch

Dissertations and Theses

In these six intertwining fictional short stories, one fateful decision ripples through the lives of multiple generations. Annie is an unmarried young mother during World War II when she leaves her young daughter in the care of a childless couple. When Annie fails to return for the child after days and then years, a new and fragile family is formed only to be tested by Annie's eventual return. The other stories in this collection follow the daughters and granddaughters who have to navigate their own lives in the shadow of this abandonment. Spanning multiple decades, Annie's decision remains a pivotal …

Conceptualizing Neighborhood Space: Consistency And Variation Of Associations For Neighborhood Factors And Pregnancy Health Across Multiple Neighborhood Units, Lynne C. Messer, Lisa C. Vinikoor-Imler, Barbara A. Laraia

Community Health Faculty Publications and Presentations

The purpose of this research was to assess the consistency of associations between neighborhood characteristics and pregnancy-related behaviors and outcomes across four nested neighborhood boundaries using race-stratified fixed-slope random-intercept multilevel logistic models. High incivilities was associated with increased smoking, inadequate weight gain and pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH), while walkability was associated with decreased smoking and PIH for white women across all neighborhood definitions. For African American women, high incivilities was associated with increased smoking and inadequate gestational weight gain, while more walkable neighborhoods appeared protective against smoking and inadequate weight gain in all but the smallest neighborhoods. Associations with neighborhood attributes …

Cooperation, College Knowledge, And Strong Parent Communities In The L.A. Concrete Jungle: The Case For Family-Centered Outreach, Michael J. Smith

Education Faculty Publications and Presentations

Urban African American teens are unprepared to compete for jobs in the global marketplace, but higher education professionals could partner with parents to reverse this trend. After reviewing parent involvement literature, this paper shares findings from a study of urban African American parents involved in their children's outreach programs. It found that outreach programs empowered parents by creating "community" and strengthened cultural capital while providing social capital that made parents partners in their children's college choice process.

Gateway Center For Domestic Violence Evaluation Report, Portland State University. Hatfield School Of Government. Center For Public Service, Masami Nishishiba, Mathew Jones, Jillian Girard

Center for Public Service Publications and Reports

The Gateway Center for Domestic Violence, which opened in September 2010, is governed by the terms of an intergovernmental agreement between the City of Portland and Multnomah County, Oregon. The intergovernmental agreement established an Advisory Council. It also requires a formal evaluation of the Center. This report assesses the Gateway Center’s operation based on the success measures identified by the Gateway Center Advisory Council.

First-Generation Student Success After Academic Warning: An Exploratory Analysis Of Academic Integration, Personal Adjustment, Family And Social Adjustment And Psychological Factors, Gabrielle Shoshana Zeisman

Dissertations and Theses

As many as a quarter of undergraduate college students are placed on academic probation at least once during their college career. In addition, first-generation college students are even more at-risk for stopping out or dropping out due to being less academically prepared than their non-first-generation peers. In order to examine factors that influence first generation student academic risk and success, this exploratory study examined the intersection of academic standing and four primary conceptual contributors: academic integration, personal adjustment, family and social adjustment, and psychological factors. Survey data were collected from first generation undergraduate students at an urban research university who …

Child Welfare And Delinquency: Examining Differences In First-Time Referrals Of Crossover Youth Within The Juvenile Justice System, Courtney Nicole Shrifter

Dissertations and Theses

The link between child welfare and juvenile justice is well established, with over forty years of research that focuses on the increased risk of delinquency associated with child maltreatment. However, with over 700,000 children in the United States being victims of abuse and/or neglect in 2010 (DHHS, 2011), it is important to continue investigating this connection. Few studies are able to identify the same youth in both systems, therefore this study provides the unique opportunity using child welfare and juvenile justice administrative data from Oregon, to compare juvenile offenders that have been in the child welfare system, otherwise known as …

Street Art, Ideology, And Public Space, Tiffany Renée Conklin

Dissertations and Theses

The concept of the city has come to play a central role in the practices of a new generation of artists for whom the city is their canvas. Street art is a complex social issue. For decades, its presence has fueled intense debate among residents of modern cities. Street art is considered by some to be a natural expression that exercises a collective right to the city, and by others, it is seen as a destructive attack upon an otherwise clean and orderly society. This research focuses on various forms of street art from the perspective of the urban audience. …

An Ethnohistorical Overview Of Groups With Ties To Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, Douglas Deur

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

This document summarizes the outcomes of an effort to identify the diverse human populations associated with Fort Vancouver. Through a review of ethnographic, historical, and ethnohistorical information found in various research libraries and archives, this research has sought to illuminate the many reasons that Native Americans converged at the fort and to reconstruct the paths taken by these people after their departure. In the process, we are able to identify those modern communities that are significantly linked to the history of Fort Vancouver – in turn, this will allow the NPS to better engage these contemporary groups in the protection …

Drinking With Friends: A Cellular Automata Approach To Modeling Peer Influence On Binge Drinking Behavior, Piper Jackson, Andrew Reid, Niki Huitson, Kathryn Wuschke, Vahid Dabbaghian

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications and Presentations

In this project, we adopt Cellular Automata (CA) modeling as a means to focus solely on the elements of concern: individual state (binging) and local interactions (peer pressure). CA models are well suited for exploring the dynamics that occur within a population, and are useful for visualizing the clustering behaviour of communities. With this more abstract approach, it is possible to simulate large populations with reasonable computational requirements.

Assessing Environmental Inequality In Portland, Oregon: An Exploration Of Local Environmental Justice Struggles, Jordan Douglas Folks

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis explores patterns of environmental inequality in Portland, Oregon; both the existence of spatial environmental inequalities and the structural and local forces which contribute to them. Research on environmental inequality, or inequitable exposure to toxins, has shown that minority and low-income populations experience the bulk of the exposure to environmental hazards. Although Portland is often cited as the archetype of a sustainable city, environmental inequality is a pervasive issue. This thesis examines the health inequalities that characterize underserved communities in Portland. Utilizing a mixed methods approach, the researcher uses 1) logistic regression to statistically assess the relationship between race, …