Digital Commons Network^™

Social And Human Capital: Contributing Effects Of Incarceration On Neighborhoods, Jacqueline Victoria Swofford

Dissertations and Theses

Interest in human and social capital's contribution to the desistence of crime is increasingly popular amongst criminologists, economists and policy makers. However, little attention has been drawn to the influence human and social capital indicators contribute towards the relationship between the re-entry process and juvenile crime at the neighborhood level. The current study hypothesizes the existence of a mediating relationship between human and social capital indicators (2000) and the rates of receiving formerly incarcerated persons (1997-2002) and juvenile arrest (2006-08) in 92 Portland, Oregon neighborhoods. Portland, Oregon receives more formerly incarcerated persons from Oregon's state correctional facilities than any other …

Information Processing In Two-Dimensional Cellular Automata, Martin Cenek

Dissertations and Theses

Cellular automata (CA) have been widely used as idealized models of spatially-extended dynamical systems and as models of massively parallel distributed computation devices. Despite their wide range of applications and the fact that CA are capable of universal computation (under particular constraints), the full potential of these models is unrealized to-date. This is for two reasons: (1) the absence of a programming paradigm to control these models to solve a given problem and (2) the lack of understanding of how these models compute a given task. This work addresses the notion of computation in two-dimensional cellular automata. Solutions using a …

Puppet Theater In The German-Speaking World, Connor Bartlett Doe

Dissertations and Theses

This work begins with a brief history of puppet theater in Germany. A look at important social aspects, pertinent philosophical discussions and the significance of puppet theater in the German literary tradition follow. The final chapter looks at Peter Schumann, a German puppeteer and artist who lives in America. In Germanistik, German puppet theater deserves a devoted place in the field of legitimate study in terms of its history, content and influence.

Puppet theater's historical development in Germany represents the larger evolution of Germany. From ancient times up to the present day, this artistic form of representation has enjoyed …

Investing And Vesting International Students' Expressive Resources In Social Capital At Portland State University, Mami Kikuchi

Dissertations and Theses

The study expands the conceptual and methodological precepts of social capital by examining how international students receive social capital from their friends and how students provide social capital to their friends in a North American university setting. The author examines the degree of emotional support that the participants provide ("Investing" social capital) and the support they receive from their friends ("Vesting" social capital), and the relationships between the two social capital variables. In addition, the study examines the influence of demographics and social interaction on social capital, and the influence of social capital on satisfaction. The study suggests that vesting …

The Pulpit At The End Of The Rainbow: How Queer Clergy Enter Into And Maintain Religious Occupations, Brian Gregory Gerow

Dissertations and Theses

This study is a description of the ways queer clergy identify with and navigate their position in a traditionally heteronormative culture. Through twelve in-depth interviews, a set of codes and categories helped to assess the major barriers to access in contemporary Protestant clergy occupations in the United States. This research was conducted in Portland, Oregon, where a thriving queer religious community made it possible to access various different Protestant faiths and compare minister's experiences as professional clergy.

Hombres En Accion (Men In Action): A Community Defined Domestic Violence Intervention With Mexican, Immigrant, Men, Rosemary Carmela Celaya-Alston

Dissertations and Theses

Studies suggest that knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about domestic violence influence the behaviors of Mexican men. However, few interventions have targeted men in efforts to provide domestic violence awareness and health education to a relevant at-risk community that is also challenged by low literacy. Mexican immigrant men, particularly those less acculturated to the dominant U.S. culture, are significantly less likely to access services and more likely to remain isolated and removed from their communities and, more importantly, from their families. The purpose of this study was to explore and examine how cultural beliefs and behaviors influence the potential of domestic …

Do Parents Matter? Parental Attachment And Its Effect On Becoming Independent In Emerging Adulthood, Cara Joy Copeland

Dissertations and Theses

Data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health Waves I and III are used to estimate the effect of parental attachment on independence in emerging adults ages 18 to 27. The nature of independence focused on living in a place of their own and not receiving financial support from parents, which described about half of the sample. The study finds that emerging adults who, in their youth, expressed high attachments to their parents, were slightly less likely to become independent as emerging adults. Rather, age and gender are greater positive predictors of independence.

Re-Engagement As A Process Of Everyday Resilience, Jennifer Rose Pitzer

Dissertations and Theses

Grounded in previous research on academic engagement and resilience, this study presents a clear conceptualization of re-engagement, defined as students' ability to bounce back from everyday academic challenges and setbacks, as a process of everyday resilience in school, and examines how teacher support can promote it. Data from 1018 third through sixth grade students and their 53 teachers were used to examine the extent to which teacher autonomy support and involvement (individually and in combination) predicted changes from fall to spring of the same school year in students' re-engagement (behavioral and emotional).

Overall, correlational results provided consistent support for study …

Identity, Nostalgia And Leisure: Technology Use In Second Homes, Françoise Bourdonnec

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis, based on two years of ethnographic fieldwork in the US, Russia, France and Australia, focuses on technology use in second homes and its implications for technology design. I highlight the unexpectedly strong sense of nostalgia, for place as well as for richer relationships, felt in second homes around the world, and the ways in which second home residents use technology to shape space and behavior to reinforce this link to an imagined past. I show that the transition between main and second homes, with its rituals of preparation and transition between physical locations, allows residents to assume different …

American Scientists, Americanist Archaeology: The Committee On Radioactive Carbon 14, Keith David Baich

Dissertations and Theses

Willard Libby's development of carbon-14 dating at the University of Chicago immediately following World War II provided an unprecedented opportunity for the collaboration of archaeologists with a physical chemist. Libby's need for archaeological samples to test the dating process (1947-1951) meant that he relied upon the Committee on Radioactive Carbon 14, formed by the American Anthropological Association, for datable materials, as well as for assistance in all other archaeologically related aspects of the testing phase. The committee, under the leadership of archaeologist Frederick Johnson, served the mandated function of providing assistance to Libby, but simultaneously endeavored to utilize the new …

Evaluating The Deterrent Effect Of Capital Punishment On Crime, Permiterio Leocadio

Dissertations and Theses

Many researchers, academics or philosophers see capital punishment as a deterrent to crime. Several states in the United States apply the death penalty to try to reduce crime. Other states do not agree with the application of this repressive law arguing that a crime should not be solved with another crime. From a theoretical view, the principal point of analysis about capital punishment in this present work is to state that capital punishment can reduce crime. Here also it will be examined some of the collateral consequences of the application of capital punishment, and its implications for the Criminal Justice …

War, Peace, And Principled Action: A Study Of Veterans And The Peace Movement, Laura Kay Wegener

Dissertations and Theses

Throughout the history of the United States (U.S.), there have been service members who, upon leaving the service, have spoken out against U.S. involvement in wars. The current conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, and their increasing unpopularity, have contributed to this trend. Recently veterans have begun to come forward in larger numbers to speak out against the current wars and have self-identified as members of peace movements. The purpose of this research project was to explore veterans' understandings of the peace movement and their involvement in veterans' peace movement organizations. This study hoped to answer the following questions: 1) How …

Globalization; But Under What Conditions? -- The Case Of The E.U., Michaelangelo Anastasiou

Dissertations and Theses

The present study explores the relationship between trust placed in national institutions and opinion of globalization. A secondary data analysis is conducted using data collected by the European Commission in a 2004 Eurobarometer survey of European Union (EU) citizens on various issues regarding the EU, globalization and national challenges. A prominent theme in the literature is that, in recent times, globalization has had the effect of compromising the sovereignty of nation-states. This has generated a backlash of nationalistic attitudes wherein globalization is posited in opposition to the nation-state. This surge in nationalism has reinforced a culture wherein any external force …

Music And Conflict Resolution: Exploring The Utilization Of Music In Community Engagement, Mindy Kay Johnston

Dissertations and Theses

This study is based on interviews conducted with twenty-two musician-activists in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States in 2009 to explore perspectives about the role of music in community engagement with the aim of considering how music might be used in the field of conflict resolution. The study followed the qualitative approach of constructivist grounded theory as designed by Charmaz (2000, 2002). Two themes, "Music for Self," and "Music for Society" emerged from interviews and comprise the internal and external meanings of music to the research informants. The results of the study indicate that the relationships people have …

Exploring School Engagement As A Protective Factor For Youth At Risk Of Joining Gangs, Lorraine M. Escribano

Dissertations and Theses

Research on gangs has traditionally focused on identifying the risk factors associated with youth gang membership in multiple developmental domains with limited attention on examining the protective factors that may buffer youth from joining gangs (Howell & Egley, 2005). Educational and psychological research have found robust evidence that school engagement protects youth from a host of risky activities and negative outcomes (e.g., substance use, dropping out of school) and may hold promise in also protecting youth from gang involvement. Therefore, the purpose of the present study is three-fold: (1) to identify students who are at risk for gangs; (2) to …

Policy Responses To The Closure Of Manufactured Home Parks In Oregon, Andrée Tremoulet

Dissertations and Theses

This is a case study about policy responses to a specific form of gentrification at the urban fringe: the closure of manufactured home parks in Oregon.

The study analyzes the following research questions: (a) What factors affected the quantity and distribution of manufactured home parks? (b) Why did parks close? (c) How did the state legislature respond and why? (d) What are the likely impacts of the state response? A wide variety of sources (e.g., key informant interviews, observations of meetings and public hearings, focus groups of park residents, archival materials and secondary data about manufactured home parks) are employed …

Performance Measures For Managerial Decision Making: Performance Measurement Synergies In Multi-Attribute Performance Measurement Systems, Robert Andrew Fowke

Dissertations and Theses

This research tests for correlation between corporate performance and use of financial measures, nonfinancial measures, and number of balanced scorecard categories used. Literature notes a preference for managing by nonfinancial measures because financial measures are lagging indicators, but little empirical evidence is available on the relationship between nonfinancial measures and financial performance, and few companies are found to realize the benefits of nonfinancial measurements. The balanced scorecard has been studied to find the impact of diversity of performance measures, and anecdotal improvements have been reported, but there is a paucity of empirical evidence regarding how the use of a balanced …

Community Development For A White City: Race Making, Improvementism, And The Cincinnati Race Riots And Anti-Abolition Riots Of 1829, 1836, And 1841, Silas Niobeh Crowfoot

Dissertations and Theses

This project is an historical ethnography and a cultural history of the anti-black race riots and anti-abolition riots in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1829, 1836, and 1841. It is also a case history in an urban and commercial/early industrial context of the idea that violent social practices such as riots, as well as law and the customary practices of everyday living, are deployed as race making technologies, actually constructing racial categories. By extending this constructivist concept to the conversion of space to place through the human ascription of meaning, this study also examines racial violence as a strategy for place making …

American Belly Dance And The Invention Of The New Exotic: Orientalism, Feminism, And Popular Culture, Jennifer Lynn Haynes-Clark

Dissertations and Theses

Belly dance classes have become increasingly popular in recent decades in the United States. Many of the predominantly white, middle-class American women who belly dance proclaim that it is a source of feminist identity and empowerment that brings deeper meaning to their lives. American practitioners of this art form commonly explain that it originated from ritual-based dances of ancient Middle Eastern cultures and regard their participation as a link in a continuous lineage of female dancers. In contrast to the stigmatization and marginalization of public dance performers in the Middle East today, the favorable meaning that American dancers attribute to …

Beyond The "Stalled Revolution": Stay-At-Home Fathers, Gender Identity And The Division Of Household Labor, Aundrea Janae Snitker

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to explore how stay-at-home fathers view their role as the primary caregiver, and how they encounter opposing masculinity issues. This is explored through discussion about daily life, the decision to stay home, and household labor, a particularly interesting reflection of gender roles and equality. The two research questions used to explore this included: How do stay-at-home fathers understand their masculinity and social role? How does talk about the negotiation of household labor in stay-at-home father/career mother families illustrate masculinity issues? Through an analysis of interviews of eight present or past stay-at-home fathers, I capture …

Negotiating Meaning With Educational Practice: Alignment Of Preservice Teachers' Mission, Identity, And Beliefs With The Practice Of Collaborative Action Research, Jan Marie Carpenter

Dissertations and Theses

The case study examined how three preservice teachers within a Master of Arts in Teaching program at a small, private university negotiated meaning around an educational practice--collaborative action research. Preservice teachers must negotiate multiple, and often competing, internal and external discourses as they sort out what educational practices, policies, organizational structures to accept or reject as presented in the teacher education program. This negotiation is a dynamic, contextual, unique meaning-making process that extends, redirects, dismisses, reinterprets, modifies, or confirms prior beliefs (Wenger, 1998).

Korthagen's (2004) model for facilitating understanding and reflection was used to explore the process of negotiating meaning. …

City Management Theory And Practice: A Foundation For Educating The Next Generation Of Local Government Administrators, Scott Douglas Lazenby

Dissertations and Theses

Due to the retirement of the baby boom generation, many individuals, in a relatively short period of time, will need to be trained and educated to step into local government senior leadership positions. Ideally, the education and training of this new leadership cadre should be guided by a well known and proven body of theory that helps us understand the competencies the next generation of public service need to possess in order to be effective in their work. The purpose of this research is to assess whether such a body of work exists and, if so, whether it is successfully …

Hardiness, Well-Being, And Health: A Meta-Analytic Summary Of Three Decades Of Research, Celina Marie Oliver

Dissertations and Theses

In recent decades, as scientific understanding regarding the effects of stress on health and well-being has grown, researchers have shown increasing interest in personal factors such as hardiness that may enhance one's ability to remain resilient under stressful conditions. Hardiness is a complex trait composed of three components (commitment, control, and challenge) that combine synergistically to increase stress tolerance. Over time, a large and complex body of research has accumulated, and while many qualitative reviews have been conducted, quantitative summaries remain rare. This study provides an empirical synthesis of research findings examining the relationships between hardiness and correlates related to …

The Effects Of Participation In Portland State University’S Mcnair Scholars Program On Undergraduates, Tyanne R. Conner

Dissertations and Theses

Compared with their multi-generation counterparts, first-generation college students face many challenges in the field of higher education. These students experience relatively lower levels of access to college, demonstrate lower rates of persistence through college, and exhibit lower bachelor's degree completion rates than multi-generation students. The results of these cumulative disadvantages are that, compared to multigeneration students, first-generation students do not complete Ph.D.'s at the same rates, have lower subsequent earnings, and are underrepresented as faculty at colleges and universities.

A review of the literature reveals that most studies on McNair programs focus on the instrumental effects of participation, such as …

Primary Care, Males, Masculinity, And Suicide : A Grounded Theory Study, John Thomas Casey

Dissertations and Theses

Suicide completion in the United States is a public health problem that claims over 30,000 lives annually. Most of these suicide victims are white males who die by firearm, and who typically are not taking antidepressant medication and are not involved in mental health treatment at the time of death. Depression is closely linked to suicide death, and treatment for depression is provided mainly within primary health care settings where most suicide decedents have been seen at some point in the year prior to their death. The rate of male depression is likely under-reported, partly due to gender-bias within primary …

Modeling Subprime Mortgage Delinquency, Default, Prepayment And Loss, Olgay Cangur

Dissertations and Theses

The current financial environment presents significant challenges for the mortgage industry. Declining house prices have surfaced the importance of delinquency, loan default and loss predictions. Simple models of prepayment behavior are no longer applicable. Investors, originators, servicers and regulators are in need of more accurate predictions for their portfolios of interest.

This dissertation focuses on two topics relevant to modeling residential mortgages. The first topic provides a framework for modeling delinquencies, prepayments, defaults and losses that represents an enhancement over previous studies. A total of nine loan payment statuses are used (current, thirty-days delinquent, sixty-days delinquent, ninety-days delinquent, early foreclosure, …

Quaternions, Octonions, And The Quantization Of Games, Aden Omar Ahmed

Dissertations and Theses

We present an effect on classical games that is obtained by replacing the notion of probability distribution with the notions of quantum superposition and measurement. Our particular focus will be on two and three player games where each player has precisely two pure strategic choices. Games in normal form are represented as "payoff" functions.

Game quantization requires the extension of these functions to much larger domains. The main result of this work is the co-ordinatization of these extended functions by either the quaternions or octonions in order to obtain computationally friendly versions of these functions. This computational capability is then …

Ethnic Place Making: Thirty Years Of Brazilian Immigration To South Framingham, Massachusetts, Laura Aldea Skorczeski

Dissertations and Theses

Over the past thirty years, Massachusetts has become a hub of Brazilian immigration. Within Massachusetts, the town of Framingham has the highest concentration of Brazilian residents; one census tract in the southern part of this Boston suburb is an astounding 57.4 percent Brazilian. The presence of the Brazilian population in downtown Framingham, also referred to as South Framingham, has transformed the area into a landscape of Brazilian ethnicity.

When Brazilians began arriving in South Framingham in the early 1980s, the downtown Central Business District was a blighted landscape. This thesis analyzes how Brazilian identities have become imprinted on the landscape …

Students Who Are Moms: How Do They Do It?, Rhianna Marie Derscheid

Dissertations and Theses

Women with children are the fastest growing population of students within higher education. Women with children attempt to obtain a college degree for varied reasons, including self-development, social mobility, and to be a good role model for their children. Student moms face several obstacles in their attempts to obtain a college degree including financial constraints, childcare issues, marginalization, time constraints, and isolation. There is a paucity of research on student moms and the factors that contribute to their successful completion of a college degree. More research is needed to understand student moms’ experiences and to develop effective support programs within …

Sex Work And Moral Conflict: Enhancing The Quality Of Public Discourse Using Photovoice Method, Crystal Renee Tenty

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis uses an advocacy/participatory framework and moral conflict theory to examine the opposing ideas: and interests of parties involved in the issue of prostitution on 82^nd Avenue in Portland, Oregon. It locates areas of contention within the larger dominant feminist discourse, which views sex work as either a form of violence and exploitation or as a form of legitimate free-contract labor. The thesis shows how the intractable moral conflict between these differing feminist theories and values can be mediated using participatory data collection techniques.

Ethnographic data was collected and analyzed from 11 women working in the sex industry …