Digital Commons Network^™

Pdxscholar Annual Report 2015, Karen Bjork, Sherry Buchanan, David Coate, Bertrand Robinson, Stacey Schlatter

Library Faculty and Staff Publications and Presentations

This report details the fifth year of operation for PDXScholar, Portland State University's institutional repository. The report covers the period between January 1, 2015 and December 31, 2015.

Building An Equipment Checkout System From Scratch, Bronwyn Dorhofer, Molly Gunderson

Library Faculty and Staff Publications and Presentations

This article will examine the practical methods the Portland State University (PSU) Library and University of Oregon Portland Library and Learning Commons implemented when developing equipment checkout systems to serve their patrons. Due to the inherent complexity of technology items and their unique lending rules, creating sound circulation policies which benefited patrons and worked well with the limitations of our integrated library systems (ILS) was of primary concern. In this document, we will describe our basic equipment lending workflows as well as highlight the basic factors to consider if launching a similar project.

The PSU Library’s focus will relate to …

Introduction, Stefan Deines, Mario Wenning

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

No abstract provided.

"Can The Audience Want?" On The Artistic Status Of Contemporary Tv-Series, Angela Keppler

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

This paper takes up a question that Theodor W. Adorno posed in 1963 relating to television. The aim is to situate the new TV series, which are part of so-called Quality TV, against the backdrop of the tradition, and to analyze the forms in which the medium is being used. An inspection of pertinent sequences leads to the conclusion that the enjoyment we experience when watching these series stems from the very type of active-passive involvement that Adorno described as being essential only for objects of high culture.

Arts: Fiction And Fiction Writers: The Americas, Rachel Norman

Faculty Publications

This essay by Rachel Norman, which originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Women & Islamic Cultures, discusses contemporary Muslim fiction published in the United States with a particular focus on three novels: Mojha Kahf's The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf, Laila Halaby's Once in a Promised Land, and Randa Jarrar's A Map of Home.

"A Bastard Jargon”: Language Politics And Identity In The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao, Rachel Norman

Faculty Publications

This essay explores Junot Díaz's only full-length novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, through the theoretical lens of sociolinguistics and examines the ways in which Díaz has attempted to overcome the publishing industry's complicity in maintaining the nation's ethnocentric expectations in regards to English as the only acceptable language of publication. By introducing the work of several sociolinguists into the discussion, examining the use of African American Vernacular and “nerdish” alongside the Spanish, and reviewing Díaz’s relationship with his editors, I provide a more nuanced reading of the ubiquitous code-switching throughout Oscar Wao and suggest that beyond …

First Do No Harm: Protecting Patients Through Immunizing Health Care Workers, Dorit R. Reiss, Rene F. Najera

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Judicial Ethical Integrity: Challenges And Solutions, Morris A. Ratner

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Startups And Unmet Legal Needs, Alice Armitage, Evan Frondorf, Christopher Williams, Robin Feldman

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Tools For Change: Boosting The Retention Of Women In The Stem Pipeline, Joan C. Williams, Katherine W. Phillips, Erika V. Hall

Faculty Scholarship

This study details how gender bias plays out in everyday workplace interactions in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). It is based on in-depth interviews with 60 women scientists of color (chiefly professors), and a survey of 557 women scientists (of all races). Different types of gender bias were reported at different rates. Prescriptive gender bias was most common (76.3% of women interviewed reported it), followed by descriptive gender bias (66.7%) and gender bias triggered by motherhood (64.0%); just over half of the women interviewed (55.3%) reported situations in which gender bias against women fueled conflicts among women. The survey …

Cross-Cultural Challenges, Consensus, And Opportunities For Advancing The Professional Ethical Integrity Of Legal System Actors, Rory Little

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Greenroof Study: Final Report, An Assessment Of Greenroof Design And Maintenance In Portland, Oregon: 2011 – 2013, Windy Carney Beck

Environmental Science and Management Professional Master's Project Reports

In 1999 the City of Portland (City) began to require that stormwater management facilities (SMF) be built when private property is newly developed or redeveloped (City Code Chapter 17.38). Proper maintenance and upkeep of SMFs is essential to ensuring they function appropriately. The City's Maintenance Inspection Program (MIP) is tasked with inspecting stormwater management facilities on private properties in order to ensure that they are being properly operated and maintained and to meet provisions of the City's NPDES Municipal Separated Storm Sewer System (MS4) permit.

Greenroofs are one type of SMF that are installed to satisfy this requirement. Understanding the …

Full State Revivals In Linearly Coupled Chains With Commensurate Eigenspectra, J. J. P. Veerman, Jovan Petrovic

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Coherent state transfer is an important requirement in the construction of quantum computer hardware. The state transfer can be realized by linear next-neighbour-coupled finite chains. Starting from the commensurability of chain eigenvalues as the general condition of periodic dynamics, we find chains that support full periodic state revivals. For short chains, exact solutions are found analytically by solving the inverse eigenvalue problem to obtain the coupling coefficients between chain elements. We apply the solutions to design optical waveguide arrays and perform numerical simulations of light propagation thorough realistic waveguide structures. Applications of the presented method to the realization of a …

Signal Velocity In Oscillator Arrays, Carlos E. Cantos, David K. Hammond, J. J. P. Veerman

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications and Presentations

We investigate a system of coupled oscillators on the circle, which arises from a simple model for behavior of large numbers of autonomous vehicles. The model considers asymmetric, linear, decentralized dynamics, where the acceleration of each vehicle depends on the relative positions and velocities between itself and a set of local neighbors. We first derive necessary and sufficient conditions for asymptotic stability, then derive expressions for the phase velocity of propagation of disturbances in velocity through this system. We show that the high frequencies exhibit damping, which implies existence of well-defined signal velocities c+>0 and c−f(x−c+t) in the direction …

Notices, Editorial Office

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

No abstract provided.

Report On The Xxth International Congress Of Aesthetics " Aesthetics And Mass Culture" Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea, 24-29 July 2016, Michael Ranta, Jale N. Erzen

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

Photos of the Congress.

Macabre Fascination And Moral Propriety: The Attraction Of Horror, Marius A. Pascale

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

Why does the horror genre serve as a source of pleasure, given its aim to induce fear in the audience? I examine two general solutions to this phenomenon, referred to as the paradox of horror, which differ based upon their position regarding the possibility of deriving pleasure from fear. Each of the possible solutions contains significant flaws. I argue that, by adjusting a meta-theory originally proposed by Susan Feagin, it is possible to craft a solution that addresses the paradox while preserving the idea that, at times, fear can be enjoyed. The article concludes by considering the moral status of …

Recent Publications, Editorial Office

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

No abstract provided.

Positioning And Discernment: A Comment On Monique Roelofs's The Cultural Promise Of The Aesthetic, Kathleen M. Higgins

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

This essay offers replies to the critical commentaries on The Cultural Promise of the Aesthetic presented by Kathleen M. Higgins, Carolyn Korsmeyer, and Mariana Ortega. The essay shows how the probing questions and criticisms that the three commentators raise bring out details in the framework of relationality, address, and promises through which the book theorizes the aesthetic.

Carotid Intima Media Thickness Evaluation By Ultrasound Comparison Amongst Healthy, Diabetic And Hypertensive Pakistani Patients, Waseem Mirza, Vaqar Bari, Mirza Kazim, Kainat Fatima, Zafar Sajjad, Aziz Jiwani, Nadeem Ahmad, Mubashir Arain, Arif Ali

Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Objective: To compare carotid Intima media thickness and atherosclerosis burden amongst healthy, diabetic and hypertensive Pakistani patients.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out at the Department of radiology and family medicine, Aga Khan University Hospital Karachi from April 2014 to July 2015. Bilateral carotid ultrasound was done in 133 healthy adults, 65 hypertensive, 31 type-2 diabetic and 37 hypertensive with type-2 diabetes patients. Normal adults were matched for age and gender. Mean intimal media thickness was measured for common and internal carotid arteries. Presence or absence of atherosclerotic plaque was also identified. Height, weight, ethnicity, socioeconomic status and other …

Influence Of Silicon On The Development Of Anthracnose Of Grain Sorghum, Sanjay Pokhrel

LSU Master's Theses

To study the effect of Silicon (Si) with and without a fungicide on anthracnose development of sorghum, several experiments were conducted in the greenhouse and field. In the initial study, different Si rates [0 (control), 0 (lime control), 200, 400, 600, 800 kg Si/ha] were used in a low-Si Alfisol to determine if inoculum densities were affected by Si levels. No differences were observed between inoculum densities of 1*105 and 1*106 conidia/ml in affecting anthracnose development in the greenhouse. Anthracnose severity was found to be lowest in plants treated with 800 kg Si/ha, regardless of inoculum density. In another study, …

Contemporary Perspectives On Wrongful Conviction: An Introduction To The 2016 Innocence Network Conference, San Antonio, Texas, Gwen Jordan, Aliza B. Kaplan, Valena Beety, Keith A. Findley

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Innocent people have been convicted of crimes they did not commit throughout history. The exact number of wrongful convictions is unknowable. In 2014, however, the National Academy of Sciences (“NAS”) released a study of the cases of criminal defendants who were convicted and sentenced to death and concluded that 4.1% were wrongfully convicted. The researchers explained that “this is a conservative estimate of the proportion of false conviction among death sentences in the United States.” According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1,561,500 adults were incarcerated in federal prisons, state prisons, and county jails in 2014, …

Can A Little Representation Be A Dangerous Thing?, Colleen F. Shanahan, Anna E. Carpenter, Alyx Mark

Articles, Chapters in Books and Other Contributions to Scholarly Works

Access to justice interventions that provide a little representation, including nonlawyer representation and various forms of limited legal services, may be valuable solutions for low- and middle-income Americans. However, a thoughtful approach to improving access to justice efforts should recognize that a little representation may have risks. In particular, one potential risk of a little representation is that while it provides assistance with a discrete legal need in a specific moment, the nature of the assistance is incompatible with challenging the law. As a result, individual litigants do not have the benefit of legal challenges in their own cases, and …

The Counter-Clerks Of Justice Scalia, Ian Samuel

Articles by Maurer Faculty

“So, what are you going to do when you’re done here?”

That’s what he asked me first. I had just sat down in his chambers, on a big, overstuffed leather couch. It was a day in early April, and I’d spent my last few minutes sitting across the street in a park, shuffling through the index cards I’d been using for weeks to prepare. The cards were organized by topic, each with a few bullet points to remind me of what the man across from me thought about every subject on which he’d had an opinion over the last quarter-century. …

Vitrification Of Immature And Mature Bovine Oocytes, Paige T. Hardin

LSU Master's Theses

Vitrification is the latest technique used in cryopreservation, the ability to utilize this method with oocytes and embryos has become a valuable system. Vitrification has been successful with bovine embryos and oocytes but is far from optimal. Following cryopreservation storage discarding embryos can cause ethical issues, and mature oocytes have fragile organelles that can be detrimentally affected by ice crystal formation during freezing. Immature oocytes have not formed some of these temperature sensitive microfilaments and can circumvent these detrimental effects. The common intracellular cryoprotective agents are dimethyl sulfoxide, glycerol and ethylene glycol. Different combination of these agents have been reported …

Development Of A Biosensor System To Detect Bacteria In Food Systems, Luis Alonso Alfaro Sanabria

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The development of biosensors may assist for the on-site detection of foodborne pathogens. The overall goal of this study was to develop a biosensor system for detecting Listeria innocua (non-pathogenic surrogate bacteria used as a model for pathogenic Listeria monocytogenes) in food systems. The study was divided into three main parts: (1) development of a sample collection and interface system for Listeria innocua from food samples, (2) development of a sample concentration system for the collected bacteria prior detection, and (3) development of a detection system based on a carbon nanotube potentiometric biosensor for a quantitative detection of Listeria innocua. …

The Multidimensional Bullying Victimization Scale: Development And Validation, Shannon Marie Harbin

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

One in three middle and high school students are victims of bullying (National Educational Association, 2012). The prevalence of bullying has increased over the past 10 years by approximately 25% (Nation Center of Education Statistics, 2013) and is now considered a public health concern. Published measures of bullying lack breadth and/or psychometric support. The present study created a psychometrically sound measure assessing bully victimization in adolescents. This measure examines three dimensions of bullying: direct, indirect, and evaluative. Items were generated based on information collected from student focus groups, as well as previously published measures and themes within recently published literature. …

Design, Synthesis And Biological Applications Of Polypeptoids And Boron Dipyrromethenes, Sunting Xuan

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The dissertation is about the design, synthesis and biological applications of polypeptoids and boron dipyrromethenes (BODIPYs). The dissertation is divided into seven chapters reporting various aspects of the background to my field of study and the results obtained during my PhD program. Chapter 1 is a concise overview of the fundamental concepts of polypeptoids and hydrogels, as well as their recent developments on synthetic strategies, property investigations, and biological applications in different fields. Chapter 2 presents the design, synthesis and potential application as tissue engineering scaffold of thermoreversible ABC polypeptoid hydrogels. A series of ABC copolypeptoids were synthesized and their …

Spiritual Violence, Gender, And Sexuality: Implications For Seeking And Dwelling Among Some Catholic Women And Lgbt Catholics, Theresa W. Tobin

Philosophy Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Improvisational Unionism, Michael M. Oswalt

Faculty Articles, Papers, and Other Scholarship

Recent fights for a $15-an-hour minimum wage at Walmart and in the fast-food industry have interested academics, captivated the press, and energized the public. For good reason. The campaigns upend conventional wisdom about what unions do (help workers win collective bargaining rights) and why they do it (build the membership). Scattered flash strikes for seemingly impossible or idiosyncratic goals on no obvious timeline have shattered that mold. Though much has already been said about these developments, scholarship has yet to provide a rigorous theoretical frame to categorize and explain the new form of activism. This Article argues that improvisation — …