Digital Commons Network^™

Macroinvertebrates And Excessive Fine Sediment Conditions In Oregon Coastal Streams, Patrick M. Edwards

Dissertations and Theses

The Pacific Coastal ecoregion contains large tracts of economically important forest lands that also serve as critical stream habitat for endangered Salmonids. Excessive fine sediment deposition in streams of this region is a major environmental concern in the region but difficult to measure directly. The use of stream invertebrates to monitor fine sediment conditions in streams requires careful consideration of several important factors that complicate their use as bioindicators including high spatial and temporal variability and covariance with other environmental variables.

To evaluate the use of stream invertebrates as bioindicators of excessive fine sediment, three hypotheses were tested. The first …

Participation, Information, Values, And Community Interests Within Health Impact Assessments, Nicole Iroz-Elardo

Dissertations and Theses

Health impact assessment (HIA) has emerged in the U.S. as one promising process to increase social and environmental justice through addressing health equity issues within planning. HIA practice is guided by values such as democracy and equity and grounded in broad social determinants of health. The most readily applied definition of democracy is problematic because it implies an element of direct, participatory engagement with the public. This is at odds with HIA practice that largely relies on stakeholder engagement strategies.

This dissertation critically examines the engagement strategies of three transportation planning HIA cases to more fully understand how the HIA …

Characterization Of Methylene Diphenyl Diisocyanate Protein Conjugates, Morgen Mhike

Dissertations and Theses

Diisocyanates (dNCO) such as methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) are used primarily as cross-linking agents in the production of polyurethane products such as paints, elastomers, coatings and adhesives, and are the most frequently reported cause of chemically induced immunologic sensitization and occupational asthma (OA). Immune mediated hypersensitivity reactions to dNCOs include allergic rhinitis, asthma, hypersensitivity pneumonitis and allergic contact dermatitis.

There is currently no simple diagnosis for the identification of dNCO asthma due to the variability of symptoms and uncertainty regarding the underlying mechanisms. Immunological sensitization due to dNCO exposure is traditionally thought to require initial conjugation of the dNCO to …

How Do Youth And Adults At A Rural High School Conceptualize The Role Of Student? An Investigation Of The Student Role Identity Standard At The Intersection Of Student And Teacher Perspectives, Joseph M. Zenisek

Dissertations and Theses

Over the past decade, engaging student voice has emerged as an approach to increasing meaningful student involvement in schools towards meeting adolescents' developmental needs for agency, efficacy, and sense of belonging. Central to student voice work is the re-creation of student-teacher and student-organization relationships, generating student identity roles that are fundamentally different from the roles traditionally allocated to students. Conventional concepts of student roles by both adults and youth can act as barriers to increasing student voice. The goal of this study was to develop a better understanding of student role identity. Applying a critical ethnography approach in the context …

Ranked Similarity Search Of Scientific Datasets: An Information Retrieval Approach, Veronika Margaret Megler

Dissertations and Theses

In the past decade, the amount of scientific data collected and generated by scientists has grown dramatically. This growth has intensified an existing problem: in large archives consisting of datasets stored in many files, formats and locations, how can scientists find data relevant to their research interests? We approach this problem in a new way: by adapting Information Retrieval techniques, developed for searching text documents, into the world of (primarily numeric) scientific data. We propose an approach that uses a blend of automated and curated methods to extract metadata from large repositories of scientific data. We then perform searches over …

Stories Of Success: Understanding Academic Achievement Of Hispanic Students In Science, Amanda Harris

Dissertations and Theses

A review of the literature shows that there is much evidence to suggest the challenges facing Hispanic students in American public schools. Hispanic enrollment in K-12 public schools has increased from 6 to 19% in the last thirty years, yet schools have not made adequate adjustments to accommodate this changing population. Issues such as remedial tracking and cultural differences have led to low high school graduate rates for Hispanic students and inequities in schooling experiences (Gay, 2000). Particularly in the area of science, Hispanic students struggle with academic success (Cole & Espinoza, 2008). Despite these obstacles, some Hispanic students are …

Exploring Colonization And Ethnogenesis Through An Analysis Of The Flaked Glass Tools Of The Lower Columbia Chinookans And Fur Traders, Stephanie Catherine Simmons

Dissertations and Theses

At the end of the 18th century, Anglo Americans and Europeans entered the mouth of the Columbia River for the first time. There they encountered large villages of Chinookan and other Native Americans. Soon afterwards, the Chinookan People became involved in the global fur trade. Pelts, supplies, and native made goods were exchanged with fur traders, who in return provided Chinookans with a number of trade goods. Over the next 40 years, life changed greatly for the Chinookans; new trade and political alliances were created, foreign goods were introduced, and diseases killed large portions of the population (Hajda 1984; Gibson …

A Girl Power Study: Looking And Listening To The Role Of Emotions And Relationality In Developing Critical Consciousness, Jennifer Wallin-Ruschman

Dissertations and Theses

The concept of critical consciousness centers on the capacity for involvement in social change efforts. Its development has been the aim of many recent social movements (e.g., the consciousness raising groups of the women's movement). In this work, critical consciousness is defined as the highest level of socio-political-cultural (SPC) consciousness development. SPC consciousness is characterized by the linking of the personal and the political so that structures and discourses of oppression are not only understood but also lead to critical action and transforming relations of domination. Additionally, critical consciousness includes the ability to tolerate ambivalence and conflict as well as …

The Values, Beliefs, And Attitudes Of Elites In Jordan Towards Political, Social, And Economic Development, Laila Huneidi

Dissertations and Theses

This mixed-method study is focused on the values, beliefs, and attitudes of Jordanian elites towards liberalization, democratization and development. The study aims to describe elites' political culture and centers of influence, as well as Jordan's viability of achieving higher developmental levels. Survey results are presented. The study argues that the Jordanian regime remains congruent with elites' political culture and other patterns of authority within the elite strata. However, until this "cautious liberal" political culture of Jordanian elites changes, a transitional movement cannot arise that would lead Jordan towards greater liberalism, constitutionalism and development. The study concludes with implications for transitional …

Understanding Biliteracy: Exploring The Lived Experiences Of Bilingual Reading Specialists, Tatiana Margarita Cevallos

Dissertations and Theses

Over the past 20 years, the United States has seen a rapid increase in school age students entering PK-12 schools for whom English is not their primary home language. These students are known as English learners (ELs). In Oregon, 77% of ELs speak Spanish and constitute the largest minority group, 21% of the total K-12 student enrollment in 2011-2012. With such potential for bilingualism in schools, bilingual teachers should be prepared to teach biliteracy effectively, especially in the early school years when students learn to read. There is an increasing demand for bilingual teachers in Oregon each year to teach …

Analyses Of Bus Travel Time Reliability And Transit Signal Priority At The Stop-To-Stop Segment Level, Wei Feng

Dissertations and Theses

Transit travel time is affected by many factors including traffic signals and traffic condition. Transit agencies have implemented strategies such as transit signal priority (TSP) to reduce transit travel time and improve service reliability. However, due to the lack of empirical data, the joint impact of these factors and improvement strategies on bus travel time has not been studied at the stop-to-stop segment level.

This study utilizes and integrates three databases available along an urban arterial corridor in Portland, Oregon. Data sources include stop-level bus automatic vehicle location (AVL) and automatic passenger count (APC) data provided by the Tri-County Metropolitan …

The Impact Of School-Level Factors On Minority Students' Performance In Ap Calculus, Phillip Bruce Pearson

Dissertations and Theses

In recent years, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Technology (STEM) talent pool has re-emerged as a national priority. Certain racial and ethnic groups are dramatically underrepresented in STEM careers and STEM educational programs, an especially serious concern given demographic transitions underway in the United States. The College Board's Advanced Placement (AP) Calculus program provides one way in which students can gain exposure to college-level mathematics while still in high school. This study analyzed factors that contribute to the success of minority students in AP Calculus using a large, longitudinal (2007-2012), geographically distributed dataset which included important school-level variables and AP scores …

Bridging The Future To Postsecondary Readiness, Brian Patrick Sien

Dissertations and Theses

Continuing education advances society. For every student, our educational system should provide a seamless transition from one level to the next until a degree or certificate is earned that reflects a mastery of skills needed to secure employment. This helps prepare each individual for a successful life after exiting the educational system and greatly benefit our society. Today, however, many students graduating from high schools are not ready for a postsecondary education. Transitioning students from high school to college is a complex process that requires many different approaches. Students making this transition are finding it more difficult to enter and …

A Case Study Of Collaborative Governance: Oregon Health Reform And Coordinated Care Organizations, Oliver John Droppers V

Dissertations and Theses

The complexity of issues in health care in the United States--specifically insurance coverage, access, affordability, quality of care, and financing--requires effective new models for governing, in which governmental and non-governmental organizations seek to solve problems collaboratively rather than independently. This research explores collaborative governance as a model to form new partnerships among for-profit, nonprofit, and public organizations in an effort to create community-based, locally governed health care entities in Oregon through coordinated care organizations (CCOs). A key question is whether collaboration, through CCOs, brings together government and non-governmental organizations to solve "intractable problems" by establishing new public-private partnerships in Medicaid. …

The Antimalarial Activity Of Pl74: A Pyridine-Based Drug Candidate, Cheryl Anne Hodson Shirley

Dissertations and Theses

In spite of great effort aimed at eradication, the malaria epidemic still claims over 600,000 lives each year, and 50% of the world is at risk of contracting the disease. The most deadly form of malaria is caused by Plasmodium falciparum, which is spread from human to human via the female Anopheles mosquito. P. falciparum's lifecycle, which includes both sexual and asexual reproduction, facilitates rapid evolution in response to drug pressure, resulting in the emergence of resistant strains against every antimalarial medication that has been deployed. There is a great need for new antimalarial drugs.

Chloroquine (CQ), an aminoquinoline …

An Assessment Model For Energy Efficiency Program Planning In Electric Utilities: Case Of The Pacific Of Northwest U.S.A., Ibrahim Iskin

Dissertations and Theses

Energy efficiency stands out with its potential to address a number of challenges that today's electric utilities face, including increasing and changing electricity demand, shrinking operating capacity, and decreasing system reliability and flexibility. Being the least cost and least risky alternative, the share of energy efficiency programs in utilities' energy portfolios has been on the rise since the 1980s, and their increasing importance is expected to continue in the future. Despite holding great promise, the ability to determine and invest in only the most promising program alternatives plays a key role in the successful use of energy efficiency as a …

The Effects Of Organizational Justice And Exercise On The Relationship Between Job Stressors And Employee Health, Ana Cristina B. Costa

Dissertations and Theses

Recent decades have seen an explosion of research centered on understanding the influential impact that job stressors have on employees' subjective well-being, and now more recently, on objective assessments of physical health. Utilizing baseline data from a larger study funded by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), I conducted a field study on blue-collar employees from two organizations in the construction industry, with the goal of exploring the impact of job stressors on job satisfaction (subjective well-being) and body mass index (objective health), as well as the influence of organizational justice as a moderator and exercise as …

Does Voluntary Reading Matter? The Influences Of Voluntary Reading On Student Achievement, Maika J. Yeigh

Dissertations and Theses

Does voluntary reading matter? While there is much known about the benefits to children who engage in sustained silent reading, commercial reading programs implemented as a result of No Child Left Behind often displace time for children to silently read (NCLB, 2002). An increase in the amount of time children spend with a commercial reading program has meant a decrease in time provided for in-school voluntary reading during the elementary literacy block (Brenner & Hiebert, 2010). This quantitative study used the 2011 restricted-use National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) data to determine whether opportunities provided to children for in-school voluntary …

Seasonal And Sex Differences In The Effects Of Melatonin On Brain Arginine Vasotocin In Green Treefrogs (Hyla Cinerea): Relationship To Melatonin Receptor 1a, Christina Marie Howard

Dissertations and Theses

Critical life history events such as breeding, migration and hibernation must take place in the correct environmental context to minimize deleterious consequences on survival and reproductive fitness. Neuroendocrine mechanisms synchronizing internal physiological states with extrinsic environmental cues are vital to timing life history events appropriately. Secretion of the pineal hormone melatonin is sensitive to light and temperature cues, which provides a physiological indicator of time of day and time of year for organisms. Melatonin influences seasonal reproduction in a variety of vertebrates, likely by altering the synthesis and/or release of reproductive neuropeptides in the brain. The neuropeptides arginine vasotocin and …

Mediating Academic Success: Race, Class, Gender And Community College Persistence, Schaylee Marie Esparza

Dissertations and Theses

Over the last forty years, the U.S. community college system has expanded, allowing disadvantaged groups greater access to higher education. With that expansion, a body of research has emerged examining community college students' educational outcomes. However, the research is limited in understanding the academic persistence of low-income students and community college student in particular. The purpose of this comparative, qualitative study is to explore some of the unanswered questions about how low income white and Latino students' experience academic persistence similarly and differently and understand how gender influences the challenges students may face during college.

This study draws from interviews …

Informal Trails And The Spread Of Invasive Species In Urban Natural Areas: Spatial Analysis Of Informal Trails And Their Effects On Understory Plant Communities In Forest Park, Portland, Oregon, Jill Elise Van Winkle

Dissertations and Theses

The risk of spread and establishment of invasive species to interior habitat within urban parks is of great concern to park managers and ecologists. Informal trails as a vector for this transmission are not well understood. To characterize effects of informal trails on understory plant communities, I conducted a study of the informal trail network in Forest Park, Portland, Oregon. The system of 382 informal trails was mapped and evaluated qualitatively, and from this population a systematic sample was selected for analysis. To identify hotspots of informal trail activity, showing the relationship of informal trails to formal trails, other park …

Keeping Equity In Mind: Strategies For Continuing Equity Work Once Formal Training Has Ended, Teri Lynn Tilley

Dissertations and Theses

Fifty years after Brown v. Board of Education, there remain large gaps in academic achievement between children of color and White students (Darling-Hammond, 2007). It is estimated that by 2050, the population of the United States will increase by 50%; 90% of which will be accounted for by minorities (Vanneman, Hamilton, Anderson, & Rahman, 2009). In less than 50 years, our citizenry will be comprised of "groups that are over represented among low achievers, and under represented among high achievers" (Ferguson, 2005, p. 4). Nationwide, districts are addressing the issue of the achievement gap through implementing formal equity professional development …

School District Bond Campaigns: Strategies That Ensure Successful Outcomes, Linda L. Florence

Dissertations and Theses

When the polls close and the ballots are counted, the best sound is the roar of ecstatic cheering from delighted but exhausted campaign committee members. A bond campaign takes an inordinate amount of work, but the results are worth the effort when the campaign is managed in a systematic way. Districts can be successful bond recipients when they effectively market their schools to gain the support of their constituents.

Public schools across the U.S. are in dire need of major repairs, remodeling, and rebuilding to meet the educational needs of students. Unfortunately, passing a school bond election is entrusted to …

Temperature Dependent Transcription Initiation In Archaea: Interplay Between Transcription Factor B And Promoter Sequence, Ming-Hsiao Wu

Dissertations and Theses

In Pyrococcus furiosus (Pfu), a hyperthermophile archaeon, two transcription factor Bs, TFB1 and TFB2 are encoded in the genomic DNA. TFB1 is the primary TFB in Pfu, and is homologous to transcription factor IIB (TFIIB) in eukaryotes. TFB2 is proposed to be a secondary TFB that is compared to TFB1, TFB2 lacks the conserved B-finger / B-reader / B-linker regions which assist RNA polymerase in transcription start site selection and promoter opening functions respectively. P. furiosus, like all Archaea, encodes a single transcription factor E (TFE), that is homologous to the N-terminus of transcription factor II …

Supply Chain Risk Management In India: An Empirical Study Of Sourcing And Operations Disruptions, Their Frequency, Severity, Mitigation Methods, And Expectations, Andreas Udbye

Dissertations and Theses

With an annual growth of almost 20% since the year 2000, Indian merchandise exports exceeded 300 billion U.S. dollars in 2012. The country is becoming a major supplier to the world. However, companies sourcing products and operating in India are experiencing a variety of supply chain disruptions that impede their operations and finances. The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate the frequency, impact and severity of supply chain risks experienced by companies in India, as well as assess the usefulness of mitigation methods and enquire about future expected disruptions. It is hoped that the results will prepare managers to …

Exploring Connections Between Efforts To Restrict Same-Sex Marriage And Surging Public Opinion Support For Same-Sex Marriage Rights: Could Efforts To Restrict Gay Rights Help To Explain Increases In Public Opinion Support For Same-Sex Marriage?, Samuel Everett Christian Dunlop

Dissertations and Theses

Scholarly research on the subject of the swift pace of change in support for same-sex marriage has evolved significantly over the last ten years. The shift has gone beyond the scholarship's initial description amongst demographic groups on how opinion has changed on gay rights issues, like same-sex marriage, to an examination of why the change has occurred. A great deal of the initial research on the topic seemed to focus on demographic traits that suggested a greater propensity toward support for same-sex marriage as time went on. Is the existent literature sufficient to explain why such a dramatic change in …

Black And Blue And Read All Over: News Framing And The Coverage Of Crime, Kalistah Quilla Cosand

Dissertations and Theses

This study explores the representation of crime in the news in relation to expressed emotion and intention for future action. Episodic and thematic framing (Iyengar, 1991) and narrative processing (Singer & Bluck, 2001) served as the theoretical foundations of this study and helped examine how scripted news stories involving crime influence levels of fear, anger, and empathy in individuals, and how these emotions subsequently affect behaviors. To measure these framing effects, an experimental manipulation was employed using three conceptually different news stories all involving gun-related crimes. One news story utilized an episodic format, while the other two stories used a …

Health And Well-Being Of Young Adults With Cerebral Palsy, Susan Elizabeth Sienko

Dissertations and Theses

Health is a multidimensional, holistic, concept integrating physical and mental health. In childhood, the most common cause of physical disability is Cerebral Palsy (CP). For individuals with CP, health and well-being is impacted by the complex interactions among their physical impairments, activity, participation and environmental barriers. Although CP is considered non-progressive, secondary conditions (pain and fatigue) and their functional consequences have been found to worsen as the individual with CP ages. While preliminary evidence shows that many of the physical impairments (pain, fatigue, depression) reported in adults with CP begin during late adolescence, there is little information about the role …

Quantifying The Impacts Of Initial Condition And Model Uncertainty On Hydrological Forecasts, Caleb Matthew Dechant

Dissertations and Theses

Forecasts of hydrological information are vital for many of society's functions. Availability of water is a requirement for any civilization, and this necessitates quantitative estimates of water for effective resource management. The research in this dissertation will focus on the forecasting of hydrological quantities, with emphasis on times of anomalously low water availability, commonly referred to as droughts. Of particular focus is the quantification of uncertainty in hydrological forecasts, and the factors that affect that uncertainty. With this focus, Bayesian methods, including ensemble data assimilation and multi-model combinations, are utilized to develop a probabilistic forecasting system. This system is applied …

Exploring Reggio-Inspired Documentation: Lived Experiences Of Elementary Teachers And Children, Jenifer Marie Millan

Dissertations and Theses

In this interpretive phenomenological research study, making meaning of teachers and children's experiences of Reggio-inspired documentation takes center stage. Reggio-inspired documentation is a way of visually stabilizing and bringing meaning to experiences, ideas, thoughts and the daily interactions of children and adults (Bonilauri & Rubizzi, 2010; Filippini, Trancossi & Vecchi, 2009; Guidici et al, 2001; Rinaldi, 2006). Collecting research in The School of Inspiration elementary program brings to light the many experiences and possible meanings of Reggio-inspired documentation. The study's participants consist of 2 teachers, 45 children, and me, as a participant researcher, all developing the meaning over time.

Utilizing …