Digital Commons Network^™

Investigating Sexual Fantasy And Sexual Behavior In Adolescent Offenders, Hayley Lauren Tews

Dissertations and Theses

Juvenile sexual offenders (SOs) have been found to account for a significant proportion of sexual offenses. A critical gap has been identified in our knowledge regarding the role of sexual fantasy and sexual behavior in juvenile sexual offending, even though these variables have been identified as an important treatment target for this population. Specifically, it is not clear if SOs differ significantly from juvenile non-sexual offenders (NSOs) in their sexual fantasies and sexual behavior and as such, if reports of fantasies and past sexual behaviors should be used as a target for sex offender specific treatment. This study explored differences …

Sense Of Belonging From A Distance: How Online Students Describe, Perceive, And Experience Belonging To The Institution, Marleigh Luster Perez

Dissertations and Theses

The availability and ease of access to online bachelor's degree programs has led to a dynamic shift in the world of higher education. While overall, there has been a decrease in student enrollments, distance student enrollment has been growing. According to a report by the Babson Survey Research Group, between the fall of 2012 and the fall of 2016 students pursuing higher education at all levels across degree-granting institutions fell by 3.8%. During the same four-year period, the percentage of those students choosing to take all or some of their courses at a distance increased from 25.9% to 29.7%. Among …

Hearing The Voices Of Bicultural And Bilingual Teachers: Using A Case Study Approach To Explain The Professional Identity Development Of Early Career Native Chinese Mandarin Teachers, Jing Chen

Dissertations and Theses

Increasingly, Native Chinese Mandarin teachers have been migrating to the United States and taking positions as Mandarin teachers in U.S. schools. Many have needed support for professional identity development as bicultural and bilingual teachers given their new social cultural context. The purpose of this study was to describe and explain the experiences and professional identity development of early-career Native Chinese Mandarin teachers in one Northwest Pacific city. Using a theoretical framework of social cultural theory in education and the bicultural identity integration construct, I conducted a multiple case study of four early-career Native Chinese Mandarin teachers in four different school …

Perceptions Of Students Of Color About Their Experience In An Alternative High School: A Phenomenological Inquiry, Massene Mboup

Dissertations and Theses

Public schools in Oregon have been struggling to include students of color and teachers of color for so long. Students of color represent more than one third of the school population, yet remain underserved, underrepresented, and over disciplined. Most of their teachers and support staff are White; the teachers of color represent less than 8% of the teaching staff. The students of color attend comprehensive high schools that generally ignore them--or push them out. Some students of color end up in alternative schools.

My problem of practice was the oppression of students of color in urban schools. Specifically, my research …

Residence Life As Learning Organizations: An Inquiry Into Organizational Elements That Support Integration Of The Residential Curriculum, Heather Kropf

Dissertations and Theses

Student learning and success is tied to the learning goals and mission of each institution, including environments outside of the classroom. Students are more diverse than ever in terms of their lived experience and their culture, identity, and how they engage in learning. Research has indicated that students spend the majority of their time outside the classroom, where they are learning through informal and formal environments. This has significance and opportunities for student affairs practitioners who desire to create student learning environments. In fact, residence life curricular approaches have demonstrated positive learning experiences for students.

However, implementing a learning-based curricular …

Organizational Risk In Multi-Sector Health Partnerships: A Case Study Of Oregon's Accountable Health Communities, Shauna Jean Nicole Petchel

Dissertations and Theses

The literature on collective action has documented that the perception of organizational risk -- both the uncertainty of potential outcomes and the meaning attached to them -- is an important factor in whether and how organizations engage in cross-sector collaborations. Yet there are few examples to date that document how health and social service leaders perceive organizational risks in cross-sector health partnerships focused on social determinants of health, or how their perceptions influence organizational commitment and willingness to engage in these partnerships over time.

This research aimed to fill this gap through a mixed methods case study of health and …

Leveraging Model Flexibility And Deep Structure: Non-Parametric And Deep Models For Computer Vision Processes With Applications To Deep Model Compression, Anthony D. Rhodes

Dissertations and Theses

My dissertation presents several new algorithms incorporating non-parametric and deep learning approaches for computer vision and related tasks, including object localization, object tracking and model compression. With respect to object localization, I introduce a method to perform active localization by modeling spatial and other relationships between objects in a coherent "visual situation" using a set of probability distributions. I further refine this approach with the Multipole Density Estimation with Importance Clustering (MIC-Situate) algorithm. Next, I formulate active, "situation" object search as a Bayesian optimization problem using Gaussian Processes. Using my Gaussian Process Context Situation Learning (GP-CL) algorithm, I demonstrate improved …

Optimized Xanthene-Based Probes For Pancreatic Cancer Imaging, Ian Ruramai Munhenzva

Dissertations and Theses

Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the deadliest human malignancies with an extremely poor 5-year survival rate of below 5%. Surgical resection is the most effective treatment of choice because chemotherapy and radiation therapy do not improve life expectancy. Residual tumor after PDAC surgery is common due to a lack of PDAC targeted intraoperative contrast agents to confirm clear margins.

Fluorescence imaging has the potential to improve surgery outcome and PDAC patients' survival rate via the use of highly PDAC-specific molecular probes to facilitate tumor identification. This thesis describes the application of a focused library of benzoxanthene fluorophores for …

Smart Contract Vulnerabilities On The Ethereum Blockchain: A Current Perspective, Daniel Steven Connelly

Dissertations and Theses

Ethereum is a unique offshoot of blockchain technologies that incorporates the use of what are called smart contracts or DApps -- small-sized programs that orchestrate financial transactions on the Ethereum blockchain. With this fairly new paradigm in blockchain, however, comes a host of security concerns and a track record that reveals a history of losses in the range of millions of dollars. Since Ethereum is a decentralized entity, these concerns are not allayed as they are in typical financial institutions. For example, there is no Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to back the investors of these contracts from financial loss …

An Examination Of Daily Family-Supportive Supervisor Behaviors, Perceived Supervisor Responsiveness And Job Satisfaction, Luke Daniel Mahoney

Dissertations and Theses

Balancing both work and non-work life is increasingly recognized as a challenge for employees, and supervisors are in a position to support employees in their efforts to do so. Supervisors who exhibit family-supportive behaviors in support of employees who juggle work and family roles show benefits for employees in terms of well-being and job outcomes. The purpose of this study was to take a more fine-grained look at family-supportive supervisor behaviors (FSSB) using daily surveys in order to advance understanding of how family-supportive behaviors work within-person. Another aim of the study was to examine perceived supervisor responsiveness (PSR) for the …

Chehalis River And Tributary Water Quality And Hydrodynamic Modeling: Model Setup, Calibration Analysis For 2013-2015, Tel Jensen

Dissertations and Theses

The Chehalis River is located in southwest Washington State. Its headwaters are in the Willapa Hills, and it drains parts of the Doty Hills, the western foothills of the Cascade Mountains, and the southern Olympic Mountains. The Chehalis River is over 125 miles long and its basin is over 2000 square miles spanning parts of seven counties and diverse land uses.

CE-QUAL-W2 is a widely used two-dimensional (vertical and longitudinal) hydrodynamic and water quality model developed by the US Army Corp of Engineers and the Water Quality Research Group at Portland State University. Version 4.2 includes the ability to run …

The Rise Of Mono-Ethnic Religious Nationalism In Myanmar And Its Impacts On The Security Situation Of The South Asian Region, S M Anisuz Zaman

Dissertations and Theses

In spite of the technological advancement and progress of liberalism, religion has remained an essential aspect of individual and national life in many countries. In many societies, religion has manifested elements of extremism, which ultimately perpetuates violence and destruction. This radical religious phenomenon is much predominant in the Southeast and South Asian region, including the country known as Myanmar. Myanmar has become a classic example of the religious fusion of politics and social life. The hybrid form of emerging democratic tenets, albeit under military sponsorship in Myanmar, provides a breeding ground for religious nationalism, with dire consequences for religious minorities. …

Archaeological Feature Identification Through Geochemical Analysis Of Arctic Sediments From The Cape Krusenstern National Monument, Northwest Alaska, Patrick William Reed

Dissertations and Theses

Identification and interpretation of archaeological phenomena is typically based on visual cues and the physical presence of "something archaeological," such as a diagnostic artifact, landscape modification, or structural element. Yet many archaeological features, i.e. the discrete archaeological deposits related to past human behavior, lack clear indicators of human activity that provides clues to the feature's origin. At the Cape Krusenstern beach ridge complex, located in northwest Alaska, ambiguous features, that could be natural or anthropogenic (vegetation anomalies), or are of unknown cultural function (indeterminate), comprise 60% of the identified features at the complex. These ambiguous features represent a large gap …

Cultural Wealth And The Racialized Experiences Of Persisting Latinx Business Students In A Predominantly White Institution: A Study On Sense Of Belonging, Rebecca Sue Sanchez

Dissertations and Theses

The changing landscape of higher education calls for a shift in approach to ensure that all students are given not just the opportunity but also the environment in which to succeed. In order to facilitate the growing demand for a diverse workforce, universities must work to retain students and support them sufficiently as they move toward graduation. Student persistence rates from year one to year two show markedly different rates based on race and ethnicity with the lowest persistence rates associated with Latinx and Black students. National projections of college attendance by race and ethnicity predict that Latinx students will …

Ecosystem Engineering In The Backwater Wetlands Of The Lower Columbia: Feature Specific Testing Of The Virginia Lake Stake Alignment, Michelle Noel North

Dissertations and Theses

There is a growing interest in anthropology towards identifying and documenting the ways in which people have modified landscapes and ecosystems through time. Previous research has focused predominantly on terrestrial modification, whereas recently, research has turned towards aquatic environments. Examples range from the tidal fish pens of Hawai'i to fish weir complexes and clam gardens on the Northwest Coast. Scholars are beginning to apply the term human ecosystem engineering to the practices linked to wetland landscape modifications. Evidence of these practices can contribute to understanding optimization, cultivation, and modification of aquatic environments on a landscape level. However, some regions have …

A Numerical Investigation Of Microgravity Evaporation, Daniel Peter Ringle

Dissertations and Theses

Evaporation is important to myriad engineering processes such as cooling, distillation, thin film deposition, and others. In fact, NASA has renewed interest in using cabin air pressure evaporation as a means to recycle waste water in space. As one example, NASA recently conducted experiments aboard the International Space Station (ISS) to measure evaporation rates in microgravity and to determine the impacts of porous structure on the process. It has long been assumed that differences in evaporation rates between 1-g₀ and microgravity are small. However, discrepancies by as much as 40% have been observed in practice. The assumption now …

"It Puts A Face To All The Knowledge We've Gotten" : A Program Of Research On Intimate Partner Violence Surrogate Impact Panels, Kate Louise Sackett Kerrigan

Dissertations and Theses

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is one of the most pressing and consequential social problems facing the United States. The current response to IPV in the U.S. is most often a form of tertiary prevention, targeted at individuals directly responsible for (referred to here as "justice involved individuals" or JIIs) and harmed by IPV (referred to here as "survivors"). U.S. institutional responses to IPV are implemented through the criminal justice system. The inherent contradiction in grounding IPV intervention approaches such as BIPs within a social system that itself uses coercion, threat of punishment, and retribution to maintain order and control over …

Amplifying Latinx Voice Through Interview Study: Highlighting Mathematics Identity As A Pathway To Student Self-Empowerment And Academic Agency, Brea Justine Cohen

Dissertations and Theses

Nationally, the percentage of high school students taking higher-level mathematics courses (beyond Algebra 2) has increased from the late 20th century to the present. However, as compared to White high school students enrolled in advanced math classes, the rate is lower among students of color, specifically students who identify as Latinx, African American, or Native American. My school district (a suburban district in the Northwestern United States) is working to address this problem by implementing several district-wide initiatives that focus on increasing students' engagement in mathematics, which focuses teacher pedagogy on leveraging mathematics communities to support collaborative mathematics dialogue. The …

Aggregated Water Heater System (Awhs) Optimization For Ancillary Services, Manasseh Obi

Dissertations and Theses

In this dissertation, I present a two-stage optimization routine that schedules an Aggregated Water Heater System (AWHS) to concurrently provide three utility ancillary services, namely, frequency regulation, frequency response, and peak demand mitigation.

Water heaters can be controlled to manage their energy take, the amount of energy a water heater can absorb upon command. The AWHS is a model aggregation of thousands of water heaters, the energy take and power characteristics of which are based on U.S Census household data and usage behavior patterns. The aggregate energy take available in the AWHS may be dispatched en masse for participation in …

Re-Engaging Individual Capacities In Service Of Civic Capacity: A Model Of Holistic Civic Engagement Education For The University, Jane Gerald Carr

Dissertations and Theses

A healthy democracy requires active civic engagement. Effective civic involvement can be encouraged by education that helps students learn to respect diverging viewpoints and build skills such as critical thinking about policy frameworks. In higher education, we have seen progress in teaching for civic engagement despite pressures to focus narrowly on career preparation. However, it is important to build on this work in two ways. First, the noncognitive and holistic dimensions of civic engagement have not been thoroughly considered in designing civic education. Second, the field could reach its goals more effectively by adopting teaching strategies that directly help students …

Unpacking The Process And Outcomes Of Ethical Markets: A Focus On Certified B Corporations, Renée Bogin Curtis

Dissertations and Theses

The growth in conscious consumption presents an opportunity to 1) better understand the potential outcomes of ethical market practices as a community-advocacy tool and 2) to consider potential policy considerations. The marketplace has increasingly become an arena for social action. This leads to the question of how can markets facilitate ethical business practices and community benefits? The recent rise of social benefit corporations warrants an evaluation of the outcomes of ethically-driven markets. Using a comparative research design and qualitative interview methods, this study examines certified Benefit Corporations (B Corps) in two selected cities: Philadelphia and Portland. Through interviews with B …

Towards Wide Implementation Of Dance Therapy In Mental Health, Pin-Wen Chou

Dissertations and Theses

In recent years, Dance Movement Therapy (DMT) has been increasingly mentioned in the field of mental health counseling. Despite the progress of DMT in terms of studies showing its efficiency for various forms of mental health conditions such as depression and trauma, the implementation of DMT amongst mental health therapists is still not as widespread as other forms of therapies such as verbal and art therapies. In this project, we aim to determine the underlying causes of its low implementation by surveying a set of populations, specifically mental health patients, mental health therapists that do not specialize in dance/movement therapy, …

Warmer Conditions Favor Conifer Tree Establishment At The Muddy River Lahar In Mt. St. Helens, Washington, Ignacio D. Falcon-Dvorsky

Dissertations and Theses

Climate variability impacts on Pacific Northwest forests are of great concern, especially on evergreen coniferous ecosystems which dominate a large portion of the landscape. Understanding the effect of climate variability and its potential impacts on forest regeneration is crucial, as this is a foundational process with long-lasting consequences on structure and composition of future ecosystems. The objective of this study was to uncover the possible influences of natural climate variability on conifer tree establishments on the Muddy Rivers Lahar following the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens, WA. We hypothesized that tree establishment increased gradually over time, tree establishments was …

Workflow Critical Path: A Data-Oriented Path Metric For Holistic Hpc Workflows, Daniel D. Nguyen

Dissertations and Theses

Optimizing scientific application performance in HPC environments is a complicated task which has motivated the development of many performance analysis tools over the past decades. These tools were designed to analyze the performance of a single parallel code using common approaches such as message passing (MPI), multithreading (OpenMP), acceleration (CUDA), or a hybrid approach. However, current trends in HPC such as the push to exascale, convergence with Big Data, and growing complexity of HPC applications and scientific workflows, have created gaps that these performance tools do not cover, particularly involving end-to-end data movement through an end-to-end HPC workflow comprising multiple …

Multiple Diagram Navigation, Hisham Benotman

Dissertations and Theses

Domain novices learning about a new subject can struggle to find their way in large collections. Typical searching and browsing tools are better utilized if users know what to search for or browse to. In this dissertation, we present Multiple Diagram Navigation (MDN) to assist domain novices by providing multiple overviews of the content matter using multiple diagrams. Rather than relying on specific types of visualizations, MDN superimposes any type of diagram or map over a collection of documents, allowing content providers to reveal interesting perspectives of their content. Domain novices can navigate through the content in an exploratory way …

Extensible Performance-Aware Runtime Integrity Measurement, Brian G. Delgado

Dissertations and Theses

Today's interconnected world consists of a broad set of online activities including banking, shopping, managing health records, and social media while relying heavily on servers to manage extensive sets of data. However, stealthy rootkit attacks on this infrastructure have placed these servers at risk. Security researchers have proposed using an existing x86 CPU mode called System Management Mode (SMM) to search for rootkits from a hardware-protected, isolated, and privileged location. SMM has broad visibility into operating system resources including memory regions and CPU registers. However, the use of SMM for runtime integrity measurement mechanisms (SMM-RIMMs) would significantly expand the amount …

The Impacts Of The Bicycle Network On Bicycling Activity: A Longitudinal Multi-City Approach, Wei Shi

Dissertations and Theses

Bicycling is a promising approach to improve health, environment, and economic development of urban places. Theoretically, a bicycle network's component goes beyond lanes and paths, and would generate greater impacts than the sum of its parts. However, most previous research focused on how individual types of bicycle-related infrastructure could promote bicycling. Few empirical studies investigated how bicycle networks impact bicycling activity. This project attempts to address this question. Specifically, how to properly measure bicycle networks, and what impacts bicycle networks have on bicycling activity, e.g. bike ridership and bike mode choice, across different cities and longitudinally.

To address the first …

Tending The Fire: Wildfire Risk Management At The Interface, Cody R. Evers

Dissertations and Theses

Escalating loss from wildfire in the American West has made clear the need to rethink wildfire risk, including how such risks result from the unique interaction of social and natural dynamics within the wildland urban interface. Unfortunately, techniques for studying these interactions remain limited. The intent of this research is to address this gap. In each of four chapters, I examine different aspects of wildfire risk management through a coupled human-natural lens. I document how wildfire activity has shifted over three decades across forest and shrubland systems in the western US and connect these changes to the simultaneous growth in …

Untangling The Factors That Affect Student Retention: A Quantitative Study Of The Relationships Among First-Year Seminar Program Characteristics And Instructor Type (Full-Time And Part-Time), Christina Marie Shafer

Dissertations and Theses

Each fall first-year college students have met and overcome many challenges and transitions. However, one-third of first-year students who enter college in the U.S. do not return for their second-year. Making the first-year a critical juncture for students, administrators, and institutions. First-Year Seminars were created to help assist students with their transition to college and have been identified as an effective initiative to aid in first-year retention.

What role do institutions play in addressing the issue of retention? Some say that those who teach the Seminars matter. The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship among Seminar characteristics …

Absorptive Reflectionless Filters, Guy Barry Lemire

Dissertations and Theses

For many applications requiring some sort of signal filtering or signal conditioning, the filter requirements are usually approached with a single purpose in mind, which is to maximize both passband signal amplitude and stop band signal attenuation to the load with little to no thought given to what happens to the stop band signal energy. Many conventional filters have very poor impedance matching in the stopband resulting in reflected energy or large return loss (S₁₁). This reflected energy can then cause interactions with adjoining system components which do not in general respond well to spurious reflected energy and …