Digital Commons Network^™

Fecal Cortisol Metabolites: A Non-Invasive Method For Monitoring The Long-Term Health Of Free Ranging Brown Bears, Justin A. Pinero

All NMU Master's Theses

Ecotourism is a rapidly growing industry worldwide and has been used as a tool that can promote conservation. While ecotourism can serve as a mechanism to help conserve natural areas, increases in visitors present challenges for managers tasked with balancing conservation goals while ensuring positive visitor experiences. As such, managers and ecologists are increasingly using fecal cortisol metabolites (FCMs) to index stress associated with ecotourism. In this study, I sought to (1) quantify the relationship between blood cortisol levels and FCM concentrations in brown bears (Ursus arctos), and (2) evaluate whether ecotourism elicits a measurable stress response in …

Sue, Heath Joseph Wooten

All NMU Master's Theses

Sue is a collection of poetry investigating the cyclical nature of grief through the lens of Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick’s schemas of paranoid and reparative readings. The poems employ motifs such as hunting, disease, and human remains to capture the temporal disorientation experienced in the wake of loss. Via an extensive use of metaphor and recurring poem titles, Sue exploits the multivalence of language to conjure a dense field of meaning, meant to capture the undecidability of language noted by philosopher Jacques Derrida. This collection also employs several vectors of derivation, including erasure of text lifted from the 2002 strategy video …

Reason And Rationality In The Post-Pandemic Era, Jordan David Schwanke

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

This paper investigates human reason’s proper function and role in the post-pandemic era. Sections 1 and 2 analyze recent literature on Kahneman’s dual processing theory and Hugo Mercier’s and Dan Sperber’s (M&S) interactionalist approach toward human reason. Kahneman’s theory cannot explain how System 2 is still prone to make serious mistakes, and M&S provide a more plausible alternative: reasoning is all intuitive. Humans can intuit reasons for their beliefs and intuitions. But more importantly, reason is the metarepresentational ability to evaluate the strengths or weaknesses of reasons and arguments. Reason, through the process of evolution, is fundamentally used for justification …

A Phenomelogical Inquiry Of The Applicability Of Neurologic Music Therapy For A Student Music Therapist, Katie Fairbourn

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Neurologic Music Therapy (NMT) is a standardized training offered to many different clinical disciplines including music therapy. NMT specializes in research, techniques, and principles regarding the brain’s relationship with music. Despite what the name may suggest, NMT is not affiliated with the music therapy profession, and may be often overlooked by music therapy programs across the country, as was the experience of the principal investigator (PI). There is a lot of research and studies available showing the benefits of NMT for specific clinical populations, but there is no research that examines the effect and value NMT training has when combined …

Speech Intelligibility Assessment: Predicting “Noncompliant” Listener Behavior, Briggs Kroff

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Purpose: When researching speech intelligibility among people with dysarthria, convenience sampling has typically been used to recruit listeners. A new online crowdsourcing method, Mechanical Turk (MTurk), results in ecologically valid results, but outlier results are often removed from the analysis and considered "noncompliant". This study aims to examine whether there is a relationship between age, gender, speech/language/hearing impairment, and whether someone is "noncompliant".

Methods: 16 speakers, both with and without dysarthria, were recorded while they read prewritten sentences. Research participants found through MTurk then listened to the sentences and transcribed them. They also were asked questions including their …

Creating Jo, Jenna Olson

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

With the rise of technology, physical invitations have largely been replaced by digital invitations and e-cards. This change in invitation culture has led to less time and energy being spent on celebrating important life events. I created JO to help individuals elevate the important moments in their lives through intentional communication and beautiful designs. JO products seek to display effective, aesthetically pleasing, and meaningful messaging. This project documents my business, JO, through a written business plan and website.

A business plan aims to demonstrate a well-developed idea to gain support and investment. My business plan includes an executive summary, company …

Soil Water Use Efficiency Under Integrated Soil Management Practices In The Drylands Of Kenya, Nathan O. Oduor, Monicah Mucheru-Muna, Jayne Njeri Mugwe, Isaya Sijali, George Nyabuga, Daniel Njiru Mugendi

Graduate School of Media and Communications

Soil moisture scarcity and soil fertility decline in the drylands contribute to declining crop productivity. The possible synergistic effects of integrating soil & water conservation, and soil fertility management practices on soil moisture, and hence water use efficiency (WUE) in the drylands of Tharaka-Nithi County in Kenya was assessed. The experiment was laid in a three by three split plot arrangement, with four replications, for four cropping seasons. Minimum tillagewith mulch, tied ridges, and conventional tillage formed the main plot factors. The sub-plot factors included animal manure plus fertilizer at 120, 60, and 30 N kg ha−1. There was significant …

Trends In The Incidence Of Head And Neck Cancer: A Nationwide Population-Based Study, Tzong-Hann Yang, Sudha Xirasagar Mbbs., Ph.D., Yen-Fu Cheng, Chin-Shyan Chen, Wei-Pin Chang, Herng-Ching Lin

Publications

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to demonstrate the temporal trend in incidence of head and neck cancer (HNC) in Taiwan. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients with a HNC were retrieved from the Taiwan's Health Insurance Database. We identified 16,894 patients aged ≥20 years who had received a first-time diagnosis of cancer of the oral cavity, oropharynx, larynx, hypopharynx, nasopharynx, sinonasal, salivary gland or thyroid gland between 2010 and 2018. We calculated the annual incidence rate per 100,000 population, overall, and classified by gender and cancer type. We also used the annual percent change (APC) to characterize trends in head and neck cancer …

Racialized Experiences Of Covid-19: Help-Seeking Patterns In Response To Racial Discrimination Among Asian American College Students, Jeeyun Lee

Student Theses

In the United States, reported anti-Asian hate crimes increased by 164% from 2020 to 2021, with New York demonstrating a difference of 223% (Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism, 2021). Ample evidence suggested its deleterious emotional impact; COVID-19-associated racial discrimination was found to be significantly associated with increased levels of mental distress, such as anxiety, depression, and PTSD symptoms (e.g., Hahm et al. 2021). With an aim of addressing the significant dearth of research on Asian Americans’ help-seeking behaviors in response to COVID-19-associated racism and distress, this study employed grounded theory to explore the experiences of 10 self-identified …

Public Perceptions And Punishment Of Sex Offenders, Emily R. Ives

Student Theses

Previous research has examined negative public perceptions and attitudes towards sex offenders and, in turn, how sex offenders are punished. The present study aims to build on previous research by examining whether perceptions of sex offenders are impacted by the offender’s relationship to the victim, and how victim perpetrator relationship may impact sentencing. Survey data from n=119 participants was examined. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three relationship conditions (i.e., stranger, acquaintance, or spouse) which was manipulated within a mock article vignette describing a rape incident. Subsequently, participants completed questionaries regarding sentencing of the described perpetrator, as well …

The Association Between Mental Health Diagnoses And Trial Competency Assessments In Defendants: A Meta-Analysis, Danielle C. Severe

Student Theses

In the realm of trial competency evaluations, there are a variety of methods used to evaluate whether an individual is fit to stand trial. Presently, forensic psychologists conduct trial competency evaluations in order to assess one’s ability to stand trial, but for persons with a mental health diagnosis, the generic competency measures are not the most effective means to assess one’s ability to stand trial, as mental health diagnoses impair cognitive functions that are required in judicial proceedings. Forensic psychologists have opted to utilize other assessment methods such as the MacArthur Competence Assessment Tool – Criminal Adjudication [MacCAT-CA] and Fitness …

The Effect Of Henna And Bleach Treatments On Cocaine Hair External Contamination, Alexandra Dombroski

Student Theses

Hair external contamination is a challenging phenomenon that may compromise hair testing interpretation. Previous research has found that cosmetic hair treatments can decrease concentrations of drugs that are already present in the hair shaft, however little is known about the impact of these treatments on the hair when the drugs are deposited externally. The aims of the present study were to explore how henna and bleach treatments influence cocaine external contamination. Sixteen authentic hair samples were collected from volunteers with varying hair colors and shapes and were confirmed negative for cocaine and benzoylecgonine by a fully validated LC-MS/MS method. Each …

Book Review Of, The Nature Of The Game: Links Golf At Bandon Dunes And Far Beyond By Mike Keiser With Stephen Goodwin (Review), William Lang

History Faculty Publications and Presentations

In 1999, Mike Keiser and his associates welcomed golfers to a new and remarkable links golf course on the southern Oregon coast near the town of Bandon. At the mouth of the Coquille River and small bay some thirty miles south of Coos Bay, Bandon had begun as a mining camp in the 1850s and developed an economy in the late nineteenth century based on fishing, logging, dairying, and cranberry cultivation. The area’s spectacular coastline brought tourists, but nothing quite prepared the town for the advent of world-class golf courses — six in total at Bandon Dunes — and an …

Vanishing Flies And The Lady Entomologist, Catherine Mcneur

History Faculty Publications and Presentations

The flies began emerging from the wheat around dusk, giving Margaretta Hare Morris little more than half an hour to observe the tiny, delicate creatures as they flitted from stalk to stalk. Requiring a magnifying glass to see them in any detail, Morris had first observed the flies as flaxseed-like pupa sleepily clinging to the young wheat plants in her neighbour’s field a few days prior, but now that they had fully transformed, there were too many and they were too quick to count. The swarms hovered over the wheat field, laying their eggs in the grain to secure a …

Incidence And Risk Factors For Clinically Confirmed Secondary Bacterial Infections In Patients Hospitalized For Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19), Hiromichi S. Park, Caitlin M. Mccracken, Noah Lininger, Cara D. Varley, Multiple Additional Authors

OHSU-PSU School of Public Health Faculty Publications and Presentations

Objective: The true incidence and risk factors for secondary bacterial infections in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) remains poorly understood. Knowledge of risk factors for secondary infections in hospitalized patients with COVID-19 is necessary to optimally guide selective use of empiric antimicrobial therapy. Design: Single-center retrospective cohort study of symptomatic inpatients admitted for COVID-19 from April 15, 2020, through June 30, 2021. Setting: Academic quaternary-care referral center in Portland, Oregon. Patients: The study included patients who were 18 years or older with a positive severe acute respiratory coronavirus virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) PCR test up to 10 days prior to admission. Methods: …

Expanding On The Solutions To Reduce Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Morbidity And Mortality For Extremely Premature Infants—Looking Out The Hospital Window And Into The Neighborhoods, Christina Jäderholm, Lynne C. Messer

OHSU-PSU School of Public Health Faculty Publications and Presentations

The study from Sullivan et al1 is a valuable contribution to the literature that aims to improve health equity among very preterm infants (and their families). It is to be lauded for its attention to nonclinical factors such as area-level deprivation and racial disparities. By examining communitylevel factors such as area deprivation, this study engages both the medical and public health communities and places infant outcomes directly within the context of housing policy and lack of neighborhood investment. However, it is important that we articulate the connections between area deprivation and adverse outcomes for very preterm infants to even conceive …

Maternal Adverse Childhood Experiences, Child Mental Health, And The Mediating Effect Of Maternal Depression: A Cross-Sectional, Population-Based Study In Rural, Southwestern Uganda, Christine E. Cooper-Vince, Bernard Kakuhikire, Charles Baguma, Justin D. Rasmussen, David Bangsberg, Multiple Additional Authors

OHSU-PSU School of Public Health Faculty Publications and Presentations

Objectives

This study aimed to examine the intergenerational effects of maternal adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and child mental health outcomes in rural Uganda, as well as the potentially mediating role of maternal depression in this pathway. Additionally, we sought to test the extent to which maternal social group membership attenuated the mediating effect of maternal depression on child mental health.

Methods

Data come from a population-based cohort of families living in the Nyakabare Parish, a rural district in southwestern Uganda. Between 2016 and 2018, mothers completed surveys about childhood adversity, depressive symptoms, social group membership, and their children's mental health. …

The Hate U Give As Counternarrative: A Rhetorical Site Of Competing Frames & The Disruption Of Dominant Narratives Through Counter-Storytelling & Homing, Jackeline Camacho

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Angie Thomas’s novel, The Hate U Give, is an African American Young Adult novel (AAYA) that captures the violence and devastating effects of police brutality and the gruesome rhetorical strategies that the dominant public sphere uses to criminalize, regulate, and dehumanize Black Americans. In this paper, I use the theoretical framework of counter-storytelling, the theoretical concept of homing, and the rhetorical strategy of framing, to analyze how Thomas exposes the ways in which the dominant public sphere silences, excludes, and discredits the voices and experiences of Black people to give readers access to the dominant public sphere in order …

Meta-Method Analysis On Therapists’ Experiences: An Inquiry Into Qualitative Psychotherapy Research Methodology, Javier L. Rizo

Graduate Masters Theses

I conducted a meta-method study to explore the methodological and reporting characteristics of qualitative studies on therapists’ experiences conducting psychotherapy. Articles were identified through a PsycINFO search, and through a review of article text their methodological and reporting features were coded and quantitatively analyzed. Consideration was given to standards of qualitative research in psychology, especially methodological integrity. Results showed increases in the number of these qualitative studies from the 2000s onwards. This rise seems to be above that in psychology, but comparable to other psychotherapy literature. Publication characteristics of this body of literature, namely journal discipline and impact score, showed …

A Comparative Study Between A Faith-Based Psychoeducational Intervention And Psychological Well-Being, Elizabeth Lamberson

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the difference in participants’ perceived psychological well-being/distress and perceived faith maturity over time based on participation in Walking Worthy a Journey to Freedom (WWJ). The research was designed as a fully mixed sequential equal status design with the quantitative portion conducted as an ex post facto comparative study followed by a focus group. Participants completed the CORE-OM, the FMS and RPWB at the beginning and the conclusion of the program. Statistically significant negative (suggests improvement) correlations were found for overall well-being (p < .001, d = .381), subjective well-being ( p < .001, d = 0.672), problems/symptoms (p < .001, d = .549), life-functioning (p < .001, d = .506), and risk (p < .001, d = .169). Differences in participants’ perceived overall faith maturity (p < .039, d = .352), perceived view of God (p < .001, d = .620), and perceived view of others (p < .022, d = .593) reflected a statistically significant increases. Differences in perceived overall psychological well-being (p < .001, d = .401), autonomy (p < .003, d = .540), environmental mastery (p < .001, d = .637), personal growth (p < .001, d = .451), positive relations (p < .001, d = .451), purpose in life (p < .003, d = .415), and self-acceptance (p < .001, d = .642), showed statistically significant mean increases. Through the focus group, participants contrasted negative themes including perfectionism, shame, living in lies, and codependency with positive themes of living in truth, freedom, making sense of life, and facilitating change. Spiritual themes included improved relationships, seeing others through God’s eyes, experiencing God’s love, and seeing self through God’s eyes. The mental health and spiritual constructs and themes explored through this study revealed movement away from pathology and toward wellness over the time spent in Walking Worthy. These findings provide mental health and faith-based practitioners a research base from which to evaluate the use of the program in practice.

An Evaluation Of The Robustness Of The Natural-Adversarial Mutual Information-Based Defense And Malware Classification Against Adversarial Attacks For Deep Learning, David Schwab

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

In today’s technology driven world, the use of Machine Learning (ML) systems is becoming ubiquitous, albeit often in the background, in many areas of daily life. ML systems are being used to detect malware, control autonomous vehicles, classify images, assist with medical diagnosis, and block internet ads with high precision. Although the use of these ML systems has become widespread in our society, there is the potential for systems used in high-stakes situations to make faulty predictions that can have serious consequences. Recently researchers have shown that even deep neural networks (DNNs) can be “fooled” into misclassifying an input sample …

A Study Of Burnout In Certified Public Accountants In The Southeast Region Of The United States, Jamie Connors

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine if there are relationships between years of employment, age, size of organization, work environment, salary level, engagement, gender, and burnout levels in certified public accountants in the southeast United States. Two survey instruments were used to administer the questions to participants including Maslach’s Burnout Inventory- General Study (MBI – GS) and Moos’ Work Environment Scale (WES). The MBI – GS measures respondents’ relationships with their work on a scale from engagement to burnout and the WES measures the stressful effects of the work environment on personal functioning and family social resources. The …

The Relationship Between Temperature, Rainfall, And Tree Swallow Fledging Times, Caleb Gruber

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Weather effects such as temperature and precipitation are known to affect reproductive success of many avian species. Weather variables can directly or indirectly influence the fledging success of nestlings. I investigated the effect of minimum temperature, maximum temperature, average temperature, maximum rainfall experienced in one day during a fledging period, and average daily rainfall on how long it takes tree swallow nestlings in Tennessee to fledge using multi-linear regression and linear mixed-effects modeling. I found that minimum temperatures, maximum temperatures, maximum rain experienced in a one-day period, and total rain all had a significant relationship on the time it takes …

Design, Modeling, And Simulation Of Secure X.509 Certificate Revocation, Sai Medury

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

TLS communication over the internet has risen rapidly in the last seven years (2015--2022), and there were over 156M active SSL certificates in 2022. The state-of-the-art Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), encompassing protocols, computational resources, and digital certificates, has evolved for 24 years to become the de-facto choice for encrypted communication over the Internet even on newer platforms such as mobile devices and Internet-of-Things (IoT) (despite being low powered with computational constraints). However, certificate revocation is one sub-protocol in TLS communication that fails to meet the rising scalability demands and remains open to exploitation. In this dissertation, the standard for X.509 …

Utilizing Google Trends Data For Effective Modeling Of Covid-19 Outcomes: A Vector Auto Regression (Var) Approach, Gertrude Osei

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Over the past decade, especially during the three-year COVID-19 epidemic, infodemiology, which uses web-based data for public health issues, has helped assess and anticipate human behavior. Google's real-time population data can indicate popular interest during a pandemic. This study analyzes Google Trends (GT) data of COVID-19-related search phrases and CDC information to forecast US daily new cases, cumulative cases, and deaths. Seasonality and trends are removed from trend data using an Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) test. Using an eight-week forecast horizon, Granger Causality tests and Vector Auto Regression (VAR) models predict COVID-19 cases and deaths. GT's relative search volume of COVID-19 …

Who's Being Transcended?: The Role Of Belief Of Other As Self In Mediating The Relationship Between Mystical Experience And Mental Health, Christian Ishak

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Throughout history humans have experienced instances where the boundary between self and other dissolved, and the ordinary sense of “I” was replaced with a unity to all of existence or a higher power. These are commonly referred to as mystical experiences, and although the relationship between mystical experiences and positive mental health outcomes has largely been supported, the psychological mechanisms underlying it are unknown. This study develops a scale to test the theory that Belief of Other as Self (BOS) mediates the relationship between mystical experience and mental health. This study also hypothesizes spiritual practice and time elapsed since one’s …

An Examination Of The Disparate Impact Of Neighborhood Characteristics On Routine And Gang-Involved Gun Violence, Dana Stripling

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

An extensive body of literature has described the influence of neighborhood characteristics, including socio-economic deprivation, residential turnover, and racial/ethnic composition on gun crime. There have been limited efforts, however, to examine the extent to which these effects might vary based on the nature of gun crime—particularly in communities outside of major cities like Chicago or St. Louis. This study attempts to address this issue through application of negative binomial regression and equality of coefficients tests to data obtained from the crime logs and American Community Survey data of a medium-sized city in the Southeastern U.S. Specifically, this study examines (in)equality …

Closed Neutrosophic Dominating Set In Neutrosophic Graphs, Amir Majeed, Nabeel Arif

Neutrosophic Sets and Systems

No abstract provided.

Understanding Covid-19 Vaccine Hesitancy In Underserved Populations, Kenecia Dones

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Vaccination remains one of the most effective ways to limit the spread of infectious diseases and reduce mortality and morbidity in the United States, especially in underserved populations. African Americans and Latinos are eight times more likely to die than White Non-Hispanic populations of COVID-19-related complications. Although vaccines are currently offered and approved to anyone over 5 years old in the United States, there continues to be vaccine hesitancy in the underserved population. The purpose of this project was to understand vaccine hesitancy in underserved populations to promote vaccine confidence and build trust in patients to the point where they …

Enhancing Communication Pathways Between Care Environments To Improve Patient Outcomes, Heather Tucker

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Conducting hand-off communication among healthcare providers can impact patient outcomes. Lack of communication between healthcare entities at the time of care transition can produce patient harm and lead to adverse events such as medication errors, hospital readmission, and unnecessary emergency department visits. The project goal was to evaluate the impact of communication between acute care and primary practice nurses using a standardized, electronic communication tool within the EHR upon patient discharge from a community-hospital based setting. During implementation, forty-two patients were included in the project based on primary practice follow-up location. Of the 42 eligible patients, the acute care nurses …