Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Two-Generation Classroom: Learning Together In The Gen Ed Core, Autumn Green

National Student Parent Success Symposium: Lifting Generations Together

This workshop presents a new approach to post-secondary pedagogy referred to as, The Two Generation Classroom. The Two-Generation Classroom offers curricula for the general education core that facilitate parent/child inter-generational learning. Using hybrid online/in-person strategies, and a learning-buddy approach to integrated arts teaching/learning activities, the Two-Generation Classroom approach aims to address and reduce inequity in college access and success for student parents, while ensuring academic excellence and rigor.

Dr. Autumn R. Green is Founding Director of the National Center for Student Parent Programs, and is currently transitioning from Endicott College to join Wellesley Centers for Women as a Visiting Scholar …

European Union Defense Integration: The Quixotic Legacy Of The Early Treaties, Amanda Von Trapp

Political Science Honors Theses

European defense integration is encumbered by historic disagreement over two questions--what integration model should be used to develop a common defense and who should be included? The outcome the European Union’s earliest and foremost influential security arrangements of the 1940s and 1950s instigated a complex legacy of fault lines and friction. This paper looks at the history of the 1947 Dunkirk Treaty, the 1948 Brussels Treaty, and the failed 1954 European Defense Community to illustrate the emergence of two sets of tensions, Atlanticism versus Europeanism and Supranationalism versus Intergovernmentalism. The tensions between these positions explain Europe’s inability to reach consensus …

Understanding Asean : An Alternative Approach To International Relations Theory In Asia, Ryan Grimstad Driver

Dissertations and Theses

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was originally formed in 1967 by five members as a means to promote peaceful relations and prevent the spread of communist influence within their sovereign states. Since then the regional organization has doubled in size and now includes communist states amongst its membership as it seeks to establish itself as a strong economic and political hub for the greater region as two large military powers, China and the United States, vie for hegemonic influence. The American presence in the region must be governed by a firm understanding of ASEAN's unique nature and goals. …

An Analysis Of The Bizx Commercial Trade Exchange: The Attitudes And Motivations Behind Its Use, Ján André Montoya

Dissertations and Theses

The Global Financial Crisis underscored both the complexity and brittleness of the global financial system, especially for small to medium enterprises dependent on the current banking regime for credit. More than ever, we have also begun to see the disentanglement of small businesses from traditional banks at the local and regional level in the form of CDFIs, fintech alternative lending, and now complementary currencies. Through interviews with the management and members of the BizX complementary currency this study asks what the attitudes and motivations are behind its offering and use. In addition, it inquires into the economic and psychological benefits …

Facets: Drivers Of Discovery, Kimberly Willson-St. Clair

Library Faculty and Staff Publications and Presentations

This presentation covers how facets can drive user discovery in Primo whether students have library instruction or not. At the Portland State University Library, the new Primo UI was launched August 2016. The design team decided which facets to turn on, their order, and which ones should be open or closed. The pedagogical perspective addressed the student user who does not receive formal library instruction face to face or online. This presentation covers the decision-making process, statistical analysis, and how enhancements informed subsequent changes to the facets.

Reconciling The Opportunities And Obstacles Of Motherhood Following Corrections Involvement, Summer Brooke Newell

Dissertations and Theses

This mixed methods dissertation is comprised of three papers that consider interrelated ways in which social bonds, within the context of parenting, are experienced by women recently involved with the corrections system. Types of social bonds considered include agency professionals, romantic partners, and children--all previously theorized to play a role during the reentry period. These social bonds are considered within the context of the challenges experienced during this period, and how and why these social bonds may--or may not--support women as they transition back into the community.

Anti-Lgb Hate Crimes: Political Threat Or Political Legitimization?, Johanna R. Shreve

Dissertations and Theses

While activists and others have argued that the legitimization of biased attitudes and stereotypes by political leaders foments violence against minority groups, criminological research in the U.S. has focused more on "threat" hypotheses that view hate crime as a retaliatory response to perceived gains or encroachment of targeted groups. Another view suggests that heightened public visibility of hate crimes or other bias issues, usually in the form of media coverage, increases hate crimes. This study compares the effect on anti-LGB crimes of events representing political threat (a court decision legalizing marriage equality) and political legitimization of bias (passage of a …

Latinas And Sexual Health: Correlates Of Sexual Satisfaction, Christine Marie Velez

Dissertations and Theses

Latinas/os are one of the fastest growing and most heterogeneous minority ethnic groups in the US. One in 5 women in the US are Latina; by 2060, it is projected that Latinas will compose 1/3 of the female population. Latinas continue to experience disparities in sexual and reproductive health outcomes compared to non-Hispanic whites. While factors impacting undesirable consequences of sexual activity for Latinas have been well documented, Latinas' experiences with sexual satisfaction in the broader context of sexual health remains understudied, despite sexual satisfaction having been identified as an integral component of sexual health. A focus on positive sexual …

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Justice Reinvestment Legislation In Oregon: Analyses Of State And County Implementation, Christopher Wade Dollar

Dissertations and Theses

Sentencing reform and "tough on crime" policies have assisted in the inflation of the United States' prison population by nearly 400% over the last 50 years. In 2003, justice reinvestment was conceptualized as a way to decrease recidivism and remedy the exorbitant correctional spending by reinvesting funds on rehabilitation and reentry assistance to those leaving custodial institutions. Early implementations of justice reinvestment in Connecticut and Texas achieved both savings and reductions in prison populations. This led to the creation of the Justice Reinvestment Initiative by the U.S. Bureau of Justice Assistance in 2010. Officials of the Justice Reinvestment Initiative sought …

Role Of Spouse/Partner In Fertility Preservation Decision Making By Young Women With Cancer, Aakrati Mathur

Dissertations and Theses

Partners play a critical role in making decisions about fertility preservation among young patients with cancer, yet little is known about these dyadic decisions when planning cancer treatment. Fertility preservation entails helping cancer patients preserve fertility after cancer treatment. This qualitative study investigated: 1) Heterosexual couples' responses to potential fertility loss; 2) their process in making fertility preservation decisions; 3) their ethical and legal concerns, and 4) recommendations for other couples undergoing similar treatment.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 heterosexual couples whose female partners were diagnosed with cancer and had received fertility preservation consultations within the past 5 years. …

The Dispute Over The Commons: Seed And Food Sovereignty As Decommodification In Chiapas, Mexico, Carol Frances HernáNdez RodríGuez

Dissertations and Theses

Seeds have become one of the most contested resources in our society. Control over seeds has intensified under neoliberalism, and today four large multinational corporations control approximately 70 percent of the global seed market. In response to this concentration of corporate power, an international social movement has emerged around the concept of seed sovereignty, which reclaims seeds and biodiversity as commons and public goods. This study examines the relationship between the global dynamics of commodification and enclosure of seeds, and the seed sovereignty countermovement for decommodification. I approach this analysis through an ethnographic case study of one local seed sovereignty …

News Work: The Impact Of Corporate Newsroom Culture On News Workers & Community Reporting, Carey Lynne Higgins-Dobney

Dissertations and Theses

By virtue of their broadcast licenses, local television stations in the United States are bound to serve in the public interest of their community audiences. As federal regulations of those stations loosen and fewer owners increase their holdings across the country, however, local community needs are subjugated by corporate fiduciary responsibilities. Business practices reveal rampant consolidation of ownership, newsroom job description convergence, skilled human labor replaced by computer automation, and economically-driven downsizings, all in the name of profit. Even so, the people laboring under these conditions are expected to keep their communities informed with democracy- and citizenship-enhancing information.

This study …

Sustaining Institutional Repositories: Breaking The Mold To Add Value, Karen Bjork, Ryan Otto, Rebel Cummings-Sauls

Library Faculty and Staff Publications and Presentations

Librarians at Kansas State University and Portland State University recognized a need to document and showcase a more complete view of the digital scholarship from their institution’s faculty, staff, and students; giving each library the ability to elevate the academic research and creative output being produced by their community. The proposed expansion of representation would be accomplished through the addition of metadata only (non full text) records in their institutional repositories (IR), the inclusion of which may run counter to the archetype of open access (OA) IR. The need to provide a more comprehensive view of scholarly activity has been …

The Dynamic Returns Of Descriptive Representation: A Study Of Race, Politics And Policy In Urban Governments, Stephanie Taylor Hawke

Dissertations and Theses

In 2015, 78% of Detroit's city council was African American--the highest percentage in the country. For decades, there had been an assumption in the academic and activist fields that a legislative body with such a high percentage of minority presence would produce incredible policy gains for that group (i.e. African American Detroiters). Instead, the council passed no Black racial policy. In a city where there were ostensibly no barriers for passing racial policy -- there were no subsequent policy gains. Though running contrary to existing scholarship, Detroit is not an anomaly; it is an indicator of the larger trend.

Using …

Building Climate Empire: Power, Authority, And Knowledge Within Pacific Islands Climate Change Diplomacy And Governance Networks, Ashlie Denée Denton

Dissertations and Theses

Transnational networks are growing in prevalence and importance as states, nongovernmental, and intergovernmental organizations seek to meet climate change goals; yet, the organizations in these networks struggle between the global, technical and local, contextual sources of power, authority, and knowledge used to influence decision-making and governance. This dissertation analyzes these contestations in Pacific Islands climate change diplomacy and governance efforts by asking: i) What do power relations look like among the Pacific Islands' networked organizations? ii) To what authority do organizations appeal to access sources of power? iii) What sources of knowledge are produced and reproduced by these organizations? and …

Exiters Of Religious Fundamentalism: Reconstruction Of Identity, Social Relationships And Support, And Meaning Related To Well-Being, Andreea Alexandra Nica

Dissertations and Theses

Over the past decade, researchers have documented the steady growth of religious "nones," those who do not affiliate with any organized religion. There is, however, limited research examining religious disaffiliation on health outcomes--that is, how the process of religious disaffiliation or exiting contributes to mental well-being. These trends and gap in the literature make it timely and it is important to consider the impact of leaving religion on the well-being of individuals experiencing this life transition. This qualitative study investigates a particularly understudied subgroup of exiters -- individuals who have exited Christian fundamentalist religious groups.

Drawing on 24 in-depth, individual …

Impact Of Protected Areas On The Incidence Of Infectious Diseases - June 2019, Rodrigo A. Arriagada

Forest Collaborative Research

Research objective: To estimate the impact of the Chilean National System of Protected Areas on the incidence of infectious diseases, considering socioeconomic, demographic, biophysical and land use factors.

Resilient Infrastructure Planning Exercise Summary Of Findings, Portland State Univeristy. Institute For Sustainable Solutions

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

According to NOAA (2018), the U.S. spent a record $306 billion on weather and climate disasters in 2017, up nearly $100 billion from the previous record in 2005 following Hurricane Katrina. From unprecedented rainfall and flooding from Hurricane Harvey in Houston, Texas, to ravaging wildfires and devastating mudslides near Santa Barbara, California, cities across the U.S. are grappling with how to better prepare for and recover from catastrophic natural disasters. These events bring into focus the need to prepare for similarly unprecedented events in Portland.

The Resilient Infrastructure Planning Exercise (RIPE) began in early 2017 as an effort to better …

Conspiracy Theories And The Zika Epidemic, Shawn Smallman

International & Global Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

After a Zika outbreak began in Brazil in April 2015, narratives blamed the virus on a variety of international actors, including chemical companies and the Gates Foundation. Many of these narratives drew upon older conspiracy theories that had circulated in Latin America during the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic. Whether these narratives denounced transgenic mosquitoes or pesticides, they reflected not only the fear created by a mysterious wave of birth defects but also a profound mistrust of health authorities and transnational corporations. This paper will examine the narratives that circulated on YouTube, blogs, podcasts, and other alternative media sources, which typically …

Accessory Dwelling Units In Portland, Oregon, Matthew Gebhardt, Beth Gilden, Yael Kidron

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

The Institute for Sustainable Solutions is spearheading an initiative to make it easier and more affordable for Portland homeowners to construct a second house on their property—increasing housing options in a city with some of the fastest rising rents and lowest vacancy rates in the nation.

Called “accessory dwelling units” or ADUs, these small backyard homes can be used by family members or rented out to others in the community. They provide more affordable housing options while reducing pollutants that cause climate change.

In 2018, Matthew Gebhardt, assistant professor of Urban Studies and Planning, and Yael Kidron, Ph.D. candidate in …

The Use Of Mt. Mazama Volcanic Ash As Natural Pozzolans For Sustainable Soil And Unpaved Road Improvement, Matthew D. Sleep, Morgan B. Masley

TREC Final Reports

Natural pozzolans can be a replacement for portland cement in many applications. Some natural pozzolans are byproducts of industrial processes. Other natural pozzolans, such as volcanic ash, occur naturally. This study determined the suitability of Mt. Mazama volcanic ash as a natural pozzolan and explored innovative uses of the material for roadway improvement. Requirements of natural pozzolans are specified in ASTM C618 – coal fly ash and raw or calcined natural pozzolan for use in concrete. This study concluded that volcanic ash from Mt. Mazama meets chemical requirements of a natural pozzolan. In its unprocessed, natural form, Mt. Mazama volcanic …

Pedestrian Observation And Data Collection Curriculum Guide, Jennifer Dill, Tara Beth Goddard

TREC Final Reports

This guidebook provides a comprehensive set of class exercises suitable for students in courses related to travel behavior, traffic safety, urban planning and design, community health, or civil engineering. Exercises include activities developed through this project as well as an extensive set of educational materials drawn from online resources. The exercises developed as part of this project focus on pedestrians. They include elements of both traditional traffic counts and behavioral components, the latter of which are often lacking from current data collections efforts. By encouraging students to consider behavioral interactions of roadway users, these exercises can provide students with field …

Let's Speak Bolom! The First Sherbro Primer: A Graphic Introduction To The Sherbro Language Of Sierra Leone, George Tucker Childs, Abdulai Bendu

The Sherbro Language and Culture of Sierra Leone

The Sherbro wring system uses a number of non‐English symbols that are explained in Appendix A at the end of the book. They are the standard symbols used in wring all other Sierra Leone languages (including Krio). The first obvious difference from English is that the symbols used to represent Sherbro vowels have quite different pronunciations from the leers used to represent vowel sounds in English. Other differences are relatively minor.

The book is organized as follows. After these prefatory remarks appears the text itself, which is divided into three sections and a set of appendices.

The first section, “The …

Garden Pollinators And The Potential For Ecosystem Service Flow To Urban And Peri-Urban Agriculture, Gail A. Langellotto, Andony Melathopoulos, Isabella Messer, Aaron Anderson, Nathan Mcclintock, Lucas Costner

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

Hedgerows, flowering strips, and natural areas that are adjacent to agricultural land have been shown to benefit crop production, via the provision of insect pollinators that pollinate crops. However, we do not yet know the extent to which bee habitat in the form of urban gardens might contribute to pollination services in surrounding crops. We explored whether gardens might provision pollinators to adjacent agricultural areas by sampling bees from gardens in the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area, and estimating typical foraging distances in the context of commercialand residential-scale pollination-dependent crops up to 1000 m from garden study sites. We estimate that …

Challenges And Opportunities In Transportation Data, Kristin A. Tufte, Kushal Datta, Alekh Jindal, David Maier, Robert L. Bertini

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

From the time and money lost sitting in congestion and waiting for traffic signals to change, to the many people injured and killed in traffic crashes each year, to the emissions and energy consumption from our vehicles, the effects of transportation on our daily lives are immense. A wealth of transportation data is available to help address these problems; from data from sensors installed to monitor and operate the roadways and traffic signals to data from cell phone apps and -- just over the horizon -- data from connected vehicles and infrastructure. However, this wealth of data has yet to …

Posttraumatic Growth Moderates The Effect Of Posttraumatic Stress On Quality Of Life In U.S. Military Veterans With Life-Threatening Illness Or Injury, Erin Martz, Hanoch Livneh, Steven M. Southwick, Robert H. Pietrzak

Counselor Education Faculty Publications and Presentations

• Facilitating PTG among U.S. Veterans who experienced life-threatening illness or injury can help to bolster quality of life of those individuals.

• It is particularly important to facilitate PTG for those Veterans who, in addition to experiencing life-threatening illness or injury, have experienced PTSD during their service.

• It should not be expected that PTG will eliminate co-occurring distress, such as posttraumatic symptoms.

• This study indicated that across the five interactions that were studied, the participants who reported higher levels of PTG actually experienced higher QoL under increased levels of PTSD.

How Green Is Our Valley?: Five-Year Study Of Selected Lis Journals From Taylor & Francis For Green Deposit Of Articles, Jill Emery

Library Faculty and Staff Publications and Presentations

This study reviews content from five different library and information science journals: Behavioral & Social Sciences Librarian, Collection Management, College & Undergraduate Libraries, Journal of Electronic Resources Librarianship and Journal of Library Administration over a five-year period from 2012–2016 to investigate the green deposit rate. Starting in 2011, Taylor & Francis, the publisher of these journals, waived the green deposit embargo for library and information science, heritage and archival content, which allows for immediate deposit of articles in these fields. The review looks at research articles and standing columns over the five years from these five journals to see if …

More Than The Sum Of Its Parts: How Disturbance Interactions Shape Forest Dynamics Under Climate Change, Melissa S. Lucash, Robert M. Scheller, Brian R. Sturtevant, Eric J. Gustafson, Alec M. Kretchun, Jane R. Foster

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

Interactions among disturbances are seldom quantified, and how they will be affected by climate change is even more uncertain. In this study, we sought to better understand how interactions among disturbances shift under climate change by applying a process-based landscape disturbance and succession model (LANDIS-II) to project disturbance regimes under climate change in north-central Minnesota, USA. Specifically, we (1) contrasted mortality rates and the extent of disturbance for four individual (single) disturbance regimes (fire, insects, wind, or forest management) vs. all four disturbance regimes operating simultaneously (concurrent) under multiple climate change scenarios and (2) determined how climate change interacts with …

Making Sustainable Roadways From 7,000 Year-Old Volcanic Ash, Matthew D. Sleep, Morgan B. Masley

TREC Project Briefs

Volcanic ash from Mt. Mazama, prevalent in Southern Oregon, could be used as a natural pozzolan for unpaved roadway improvements. Sustainability benefits would include reduced carbon emissions.

Nationwide Worker Database To Analyze Transit Outcomes Using An Economic And Demographic Lens, Robert Hibberd, Arthur C. Nelson

TREC Datasets and Databases

This extensive database project provides demographic data for workers, both in terms of where they live and where they work, for 39 U.S. Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs). Planners and researchers can use this database to assess the extent to which transit stations and station areas are associated with economic and demographic change, and to forecast similar magnitudes of change through proposed new or expanded transit systems. Specific data elements include job numbers based on job sector, earnings, race, education, sex, and distance of census blocks to transit separated by mode type. Data were extracted as part of a larger project …