Digital Commons Network^™

Curriculum Change 2013-2014, Portland State University

Bulletin & Curriculum Change Documents

No abstract provided.

The School Neighborhood Environment For Childhood Obesity In A Rural Texas Community, Jin Young Choi, David Pate

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

This paper examines the school neighborhood environments related to childhood obesity in a rural community in Texas, focusing on the assessment of three aspects: socioeconomic characteristics, food environment, and physical activity environment. Different methodological approaches were employed to characterize the aspects of the school neighborhood environments. Most public schools in the community were located in low-income neighborhoods. There were disproportionately high concentrations of fast food restaurants and convenience stores within the active travel-to-school zone. Most of the students who lived in the active travel-to-school zone did not walk or bike to school, and student safety was identified as the predominant …

163rd Commencement, Fall

Commencement Programs

No abstract provided.

On The Right Track: A Framework For Evaluating Commercial Corridor Revitalization In New Orleans, Alena Anderson

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis is to provide leaders with a clear explanation of commercial corridor revitalization, standard for evaluation, and justification for the support of existing and future commercial corridor revitalization districts in New Orleans, LA. This thesis begins with a definition of commercial corridor revitalization and discussion of how it has been applied in New Orleans, LA. A standard framework for commercial corridor revitalization development and assessment is also established with several steps for implementation included. To test the feasibility, significance and relevance of the proposed framework, all of the steps mentioned were implemented in the New Orleans …

Share Of Tax Filers Claiming Eitc Increases Across States And Place Types Between 2007 And 2010, Marybeth J. Mattingly, Elizabeth Kneebone

Carsey Publications

In this brief, Authors Beth Mattingly and Elizabeth Kneebone use Internal Revenue Service tax filing data to show that the share of tax returns claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) increased between 2007 and 2010, as did the size of the average credit claimed and the number of EITC filers benefitting from the refundable portion of the Child Tax Credit (the Additional Child Tax Credit, or ACTC). They report that one in five federal income tax filers claimed the EITC in tax year 2010, which represents a 4 percentage point increase since 2007, when just over one in six …

More Americans Claiming Earned Income Tax Credit, Lori Wright

Media Relations

No abstract provided.

Agrarian Reform And Rural Reconstruction In The Philippines = 菲律宾土地改革与农村重建, Isagani R. Serrano

South South Forum 南南論壇

Agrarian reform is at the heart of rural reconstruction and both are essential to achieving sustainable development. It includes not only land redistribution but also empowerment of peasants as key actors in building the rural economy. Land is not only an asset to be owned and accessed but also as a natural resource with multiple uses for both economic development and protection of ecosystems. Land ownership has hitherto been a centerpiece question in Philippine development, indeed, in nation building. Land monopoly on one side and landlessness on the other have defined to a large extent the history and political economy …

Appalachian Farmers: Building Value From Values, Natalie Shubert, Amy Taylor-Blanco, Ana L. Rosado Feger

The Journal of Values-Based Leadership

This trio of authors has presented a microcosm of values-based shared business practices, involving local food production and distribution in a small, rural Appalachian region in the United States. They focus upon the collective activities of a group committed to advancing local business practices while eliminating unnecessary transportation costs, boosting the region’s economic infrastructure, and most importantly, bringing people together to share experiences and pass along knowledge designed to benefit their communities and generate a sustainable agricultural-based economy.

Climate Change: Hope, Despair, And Planning, Ethan Seltzer

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

The purpose for this paper: How can I engage students in thinking about climate change as a planning issue without glossing over or disregarding their growing skepticism about their own futures? This paper is not so much about how I teach, or how I could teach. Rather, it is more conceptual with respect to planning itself. More to the point: how does planning fit into this emerging, and dark, worldview? Planning, after all, is a discipline steeped in hope, and climate change seems to be bringing forth, at least for some, a palpable wave of despair. This is a direct …

Fundamental Moral Orientations: Implications For Values-Based Leadership, Michael K. Mccuddy

The Journal of Values-Based Leadership

The true values-based leader seeks to produce an equitable balance between pursuing self-interest and serving the broader community. Values-based leaders recognize that they must take care of themselves to have the capacity and energy to take care of others.

Recessions Accelerate Trend Of Wives As Breadwinners, Kristin Smith

Carsey Publications

This brief investigates the increased role employed wives played in family economic stability prior to, during, and in the two years after the Great Recession, and makes comparisons to the 1990-1991 and 2001 recessions. Author Kristin Smith reports that employed wives’ contribution to total family earnings jumped to 47 percent in 2009 from 45 percent in 2008—the largest single-year increase during the past twenty-three years—and has held steady at 47 percent in 2010 and 2011. Recessions substantially accelerate the trend of increased reliance on wives’ earnings. In all three recessions since 1988, annual increases in wives’ share of total family …

Despite End Of Recession, Family Reliance On Wives’ Income Remains At Record Level, Kristin Smith

Media Relations

No abstract provided.

Recent Pacific Island Publications: Selected Acquisitions, July 2011-December 2011, Riley Moffat

Pacific Studies

THIS LIST of significant publications relating to the Pacific Islands was selected from new acquisitions lists received from Brigham Young U niversity-Hawai'i, University of Hawai'i at Manoa, University of Auckland, University of the South Pacific, Center for Pacific and Asian Studies, University of Nijmegen, and Macmillan Brown Library at University of Canterbury. Other libraries are invited to send contributions to the Books Noted editor for future issues . Listings reflect the extent of information provided by each institution.

Quantifying Vulnerability After The Storm: Hurricane Katrina Case Study, Jennifer Lori Bonin

Dissertations

We can predict social and physical vulnerability with relatively accurate modeling. There are, however, very few consistent models to predict economic vulnerability outside of loss estimation models designed by economists. The index in this dissertation predicts which areas are most economically vulnerable in terms of job loss. Communities rely on their ability to work and contribute to the tax base. Without that base, a community will take longer to recover after a disaster. Which industries, professions, and environmental factors most influence a community’s economic vulnerability in the wake of a disaster? This dissertation presents an index for measuring economic vulnerability …

Watering The Seed: A Model For Change In Jinotepe, Nicaragua And Beyond, Andy Douglas

City and Regional Planning

No abstract provided.

Establishing A Student Organic Farm At The University Of Nebraska–Lincoln: Collected Ideas From Student Organic Farms At Other Midwestern Universities, Daniel Martin

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate and discover what is necessary to establish a Student Organic Farm (SOF) at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln (UNL). A case study evaluated student farms at three different Midwestern Universities: University of Wisconsin (UW), University of Minnesota (UM), and Iowa State University (ISU). The study consisted of an investigation into the establishment of each university’s SOF and the factors contributing to each SOF’s success. The investigation was conducted over the course of a six day field study in August 2012 at the three universities. Prior contacts with key players from the …

The United Hayward Bicycle Proposal, Maurice Mcclure

City and Regional Planning

No abstract provided.

Dealing With The Past In A Post-Conflict Society: Does The Participation Of Women Matter? Insights From Northern Ireland, Catherine O'Rourke

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Procuring And Tracing Produce From Small- And Medium- Scale Farmers For Use In Institutional Foodservice Operations In Nc, Sc And Ga, Anita Nunnelley

All Theses

In response to concerns about an increasingly globalized food system in the United States, and increasing interest in the connections between small- and medium-scale (SMS) farms and institutional foodservice operations (IFO), the U.S. has recently developed legislation to link farmers to institutional markets (Joshi, Azuma, & Feenstra, 2008; Poulton, Dorward, & Kydd, 2010; USDA, 2010; Wootan, 2012). The purpose of this study is to determine if these connections are viable, sustainable and ultimately if the food is safe for consumption in the IFO. There are significant logistical, contractual and food safety concerns when sourcing food for IFOs from SMS farms. …

When It Rains, It Pours: The Violence Against Women Act's Failure To Provide Shelter From The Storm Of Domestic Violence., Alyse Faye Haugen

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

The threat of abuse affects women of all socioeconomic levels, educations, and zip codes. For centuries, women were second-class citizens in the eyes of society and the government. Women could not access resources to prevent violence and subsequently were denied essential victim services. The passage of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) in 1994 expressed the government’s commitment to ending domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, and other gender-based violent crimes. Although VAWA exists, violence against women continues to be pervasive, devastating women’s lives daily. Victims of domestic violence face several issues. These include protecting children from abuse, finding and securing …

What Were School Officials Thinking: The Abandonment Of Historic Schools In Rhode Island, Carolyn Jane Reid

Historic Preservation Theses

This thesis, What were School Officials Thinking: The Abandonment of Historic Schools in Rhode Island, addresses the problem that historic schools are being abandoned in favor of new construction because based on the literature there is the perceived relationship between school facilities design and pedagogical outcomes, there are state and local policies that discourage the use of older or historic schools, and there is uninformed decision making. The purpose of this research was to determine the issues and policies that are most given as to why historic schools are abandoned in Rhode Island through a survey research methodology. This was …

The Utah Model: Lessons For Regional Planning, Brenda C. Scheer

Brookings Mountain West Publications

Utah has become an unlikely leader in regional planning through a voluntary partnership of key leaders, agencies, local government, and the general public. Given that regional planning efforts around the nation have generally evoked strong reactions from residents concerned about losing local control, the success of Envision Utah—the organization that emerged as a key driver of regional planning in Utah—in building a consensus around regional growth management holds lessons for other regions.

Envision Utah adopted several strategies that have distinguished Utah’s regional planning efforts from other regions and given rise to what can be called the “Utah model” of collaborative …

Motivation For Consumers Participating In A Sustainable Food System, Brittney Albin

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

Currently there are trends for consumers to start choosing more sustainable options in every aspect of their life, including food. There are many negative consequences for both the environment and human health due to conventional industrial agricultural practices (Horrigan et al., 2002; Leitzman and Cannon, 2005). Sustainable agricultural practices are being promoted as part of a larger sustainable food system. As Leo Horrigan et al. describe it, “sustainable agriculture is not merely a package of prescribed methods. More important, it is a change in mindset whereby agriculture acknowledges its dependence on a finite natural resource base” (Horrigan et al., 2002: …

Divided We Stand: Defying Hegemony In Theory And Practice, Anne Gregory, Gregor Halff

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The last decade has seen the world becoming increasingly complex. One way of dealing with complexity, according to Schwab (2010a), is to look for certainties or solutions that impose order by simplifying. The authors contend that this is also happening in public relations practice and the academy. They criticise attempts to produce global models which lead to hegemony and argue for maintaining a diversity that reflects reality. They take the cases of the UK and Singapore as respective exemplars where hegemony has succeeded and where it needs to be resisted. They call for a professional and epistemological stand against hegemony.

Determining The Individual, Organizational, And Community Level Outcomes Of A Community Leadership Development Program As Perceived By The Program Alumni, Susan Johnston Bush

Dissertations

The need for community leaders is increasing while the supply of community leaders is decreasing, leaving a gap in community leadership. Community leadership development programs (CLDP) are the most common approach to leadership development, yet the effects of CLDPs are rarely determined. In order to sustain programs that develop potential community leaders, program outcomes at the individual, organizational, and community levels must be identified.

This exploratory, non-experimental quantitative study used Black’s (2006) Leadership Program Outcomes Measure (LPOM) to determine CLDP alumni’s perceptions of the individual, organizational, and community level outcomes associated with participation in the CLDP; to describe the socio-demographic …

Civic Ecology: Living Community Systems For Sustainability, Tim Smith

Systems Science Friday Noon Seminar Series

Civic Ecology is a stakeholder-driven, whole systems framework for creating sustainable communities. The framework focuses on empowering citizens of all ages, cultures, and abilities to envision, create, and manage their community’s unique “software” -- the integrated energy, nutrient, water, waste, material, and food systems, as well as economic flows and cultural interactions that animate their place. Exploring and supporting these flows allows communities to enhance their local wealth (environmental, economic, and social), resilience, and competitiveness, and help them take control of designing and managing their future through collaboration and innovation. The Civic Ecology framework can be the foundation upon which …

Cellphone Diaries: Mobile Technology And Self-Authored Digital Videos In Asset Mapping, Kofi Boone

PRISM: A Journal of Regional Engagement

The Cellphone diaries project engaged African-American residents of historic South Park East Raleigh, North Carolina in the use of “smartphones” to document places that had meaning for them in Chavis Park. Chavis Park is the green heart of their community, and is undergoing rapid change. The project was a component of an effort by NC State University investigators to support a neighborhood revitalization framework organized around a community vision plan. Cellphone diaries attempted to 1) train residents in the use of “smartphone” digital videos for individual on-site asset mapping, and 2) compare the results of individual on-site “smartphone” based approaches …

Equity In International Experiential Learning: Assessing Benefits To Students And Host Communities, Erika D. Nelson, Thomas Klak

PRISM: A Journal of Regional Engagement

This research uses participant observation and other qualitative methods to evaluate whether faculty-led short-term study abroad programs can successfully carry out responsible ‘fair trade’, and thereby substantially benefit not only students but also the host communities. The research draws insights by comparing two experiential learning courses taught in South Africa and Dominica. Results suggest that students benefit in various transformative ways in both courses, by applying sustainability and development studies concepts to real-life service and hands-on learning in cross-cultural situations. The Dominica course yields more host community benefits, however, because of the instructors’ long-term commitments to reciprocal partnerships and equitable …

The Fierce Green Fire: Vol. 3 Issue 10, Wofford College Environmental Studies Program

The Fierce Green Fire

No abstract provided.

Scis News 11/15/2012, Slutzker Center For International Services

Newsletters from Slutzker Center for International Services - SCIS News

A noble way to celebrate and enjoy Thanksgiving.