Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Examining The Spatial Characteristics Of Pluvial Flooding Through Citizen Science In Portland, Oregon, Katelyn Rachel Michelson

Dissertations and Theses

Pluvial flooding is caused by rainfall events that overwhelm drainage systems and do not allow excess water to be absorbed by soils or water infrastructure. This type of flooding occurs frequently in urban systems and leads to public inconveniences and infrastructure deterioration, which could cost more than fluvial flooding over time. Increased rainfall intensity, which is projected to increase with climate change, could result in increased pluvial flooding. This study aims to examine the vulnerability of pluvial flooding in Portland, OR (2010-2017) by incorporating an interdisciplinary framework that examines the physical and socioeconomic vulnerability of flooding through citizen-reported flooding data. …

The Impact Of Leader Race And Gender On Perceptions Of Organizations In Response To Corporate Error, Nicolas Derek Brown

Dissertations and Theses

Prior research has demonstrated that CEO behavior influences how people perceive corporations and that CEOs associated with controversy can damage corporate reputations. Research also illustrates that attitudes based on prescribed racial and gender characteristics render Black and female CEOs as incongruent with leadership positions. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of two different corporate errors as justification factors leading to prejudicial evaluations of leaders with stigmatized identities (e.g., race and gender), with a particular emphasis on the intersection of race and gender on leader- and organization-based evaluations. Participants were randomly assigned to one of 12 corporate …

Our Town: Articulating Place Meanings And Attachments In St. Johns Using Resident-Employed Photography, Lauren Elizabeth Morrow Everett

Dissertations and Theses

The St. Johns neighborhood of North Portland is known for its strong regional identity, working class character, and diversity. Portland as a whole has experienced a major socioeconomic shift in the last ten years, and these changes are hitting St. Johns particularly hard. My research seeks to identify the place meanings that underpin sense of place, place attachment, and processes of attachment formation, among residents of the neighborhood. My research questions are: What are the objects of attachment? Why (the place meanings that underpin attachment)? And how (through what processes are attachments formed)? In what ways are the "why" and …

Assessing Spatiotemporal Stream Temperature Trends And Drivers Through Integrated Longitudinal Thermal Profiling And Stationary Data Logger Methodology On The Upper Chehalis River, Wa, Whitney Vonada

Dissertations and Theses

This study encompasses 25 kilometers of the Chehalis River in Washington, USA that currently has sections under a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) plan for stream temperature impairments that exceed 18°C, a regulatory standard set at the time of the listing to protect salmonid spawning, rearing, and migration. Using information integrated from stationary data loggers (n=22) that collected stream temperature information from August 4-September 10, 2017, and longitudinal thermal profiling performed on July 29-30, August 4-5, and September 9-10, 2017, this study aimed to quantify the spatial distribution of stream temperature, evaluate relative consistencies of the riverine thermal regime over …

Removing Dams, Constructing Science: Watershed Restoration Through A Socio-Eco-Technical Systems Lens, Zbigniew Jakub Grabowski

Dissertations and Theses

Ecological conservation and restoration in the anthropocene must struggle with overlapping drivers of biodiversity and cultural loss; ruptures of the ecological environment mirror ruptures of human relationships with nature. And yet technology cannot remove humans from nature; technological and infrastructural reconfigurations of nature create new vulnerabilities and risks for humans and ecosystems alike. How can conservation and restoration science productively grapple with complex infrastructure systems and decision-making processes as biophysical and social drivers of ecosystem change?

Using dam removals in the USA and in the Mid Columbia River region of the Pacific Northwest, this dissertation develops a conceptual framework for …

Developing A Mixed-Methods Method To Model Elderly Health Technology Adoption With Fuzzy Cognitive Map, And Its Application In Adoption Of Remote Health Monitoring Technologies By Elderly Women, Noshad Rahimi

Dissertations and Theses

Providing healthcare to the ever-rising elderly population has become a severe challenge and a top priority. Emerging innovations in healthcare, such as remote health monitoring technologies, promise to provide a better quality of care and reduce the cost of healthcare. However, many elderly people reject healthcare innovations. This lack of adoption constitutes a big practical problem because it keeps the elderly from benefiting from technology advances. The phenomenon is even more pronounced among elderly women, who represent the majority of the elderly population.

A plethora of studies in the field of technology adoption resulted in sound, but highly generalized theories …

Inclusion And Assimilation: Including Change In The Workplace, Marisa Jean Miller

Dissertations and Theses

Organizational assimilation is an ongoing and dynamic relationship between organization and individual member, where employees learn the expected norms of the organization and feel that they are able to attempt to make a change to the organization. Organizational members rely on social interactions within the organization to acquire the necessary knowledge they need to perform their roles, as well as support to attempt changes within the organization. This study proposes that feelings of inclusion, or the perception that an employee both belongs to and is unique within an organization, may be an influential construct associated with organizational assimilation and beneficial …

Soft Skills Influence In Project Managers In The Cloud Space, Katherine Silva

Dissertations and Theses

In technology companies, Project Managers (PM) are being required to develop a set of soft skills, in addition to their technical expertise, in order to positively influence project’s outcomes and succeed in their professional careers. New technologies known as “Cloud”, “Cloud computing”, and “Cloud technology” are being adopted by companies to organize their projects with top technology, and their people with the skills required to work with them. The present work examines academic research and available literature associated to the soft skills related to project management and project managers in the Cloud space in order to identify the top soft …

Applying The Agile Mechanism In The Clinical Trails Domain For Drug Development, Jitendrakumar Narola

Dissertations and Theses

The current speed of economic growth has greatly affected the means of pharmaceutical organizational operations in the establishment of clinical trials. Pharmaceutical organizations are looking for ways to increase customer experience and reduce costs of production in the process. The customer experiences can be increased by creating a forum for active participation during the processes of the establishment. Equally, the costs of production and conducting research study can be ensured through the reduction of reworking chances. Through the creation of this experience, the effectiveness of the clinical trials needs to be properly created. Traditionally, organizations used waterfall methodology in the …

Risk Management In Telemedicine Projects In Healthcare, Shalini Sakinala

Dissertations and Theses

Telemedicine could fundamentally change health care in the United States by delivering treatments using telecommunications platform. The primary purpose of the proposed study is to identify the various risks involved in Telemedicine projects in healthcare, find out their causes and explore the ways in which the risks can be mitigated. This approach has been a striking evolution in the current healthcare sector. Telemedicine is hugely successful in the operations of the organization. Inspite of the huge success ratio, there are certain risks associated with Telemedicine which needs to be managed. The Literature review on Telemedicine was conducted in three core …

Internet Of Things (Iot) And Changing Face Of Project Management, Vikram Singh Prasher

Dissertations and Theses

Internet of Things (IoT) or Industrial Internet is a modern day catchword, which over the past few years has tremendously impacted numerous aspects of almost-all the advanced technology fields. IoT framework envisions transforming the everyday objects into intelligent systems, while working under a common infrastructure and by connecting the global network of devices and machines over the internet. Based on many underlying interdisciplinary ecosystems, like sensor network, embedded systems, big data platforms, cloud computing and service-oriented architecture; IoT projects are non-traditional in many ways. Such projects involve research and development phase, more technical work, are lengthy, require advanced skill sets …

Bim And Project Management In Aec Industry, Nazanin Kamyab

Dissertations and Theses

Building Information Modeling has altered project managers’ role in architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry. In theory Building Information Modeling (BIM) has promised the project managers to enhance communication and collaboration aspect of managing their projects, thus increasing the efficiency and success rate of the AEC industry projects. However, in real world application, project managers had challenges and barriers with BIM implementation into their processes. This study intends to highlight the main characteristics of the BIM, its benefits, barriers and risk management capabilities to elaborate on why BIM adoption has been slower than anticipated. Based on quantitative data collection through …

Study On Recovery Of Bad Social Media Reviews In The Hospitality Industry Using Project Management Principles, Franck Legrand

Dissertations and Theses

This research is about hotel guest recovery on social media. Whenever a guest has a bad experience during their stay, they share their opinion on social media. Negative reviews can damage hotel’s performance. This research seeks to gather information on the expectations of guest based on their personal experiences. Answering guests’ complaints on social media is a difficult task, as it requires an understanding of each guest personality traits. This thesis develops a methodology in order to understand the personality of guests, provide a clear response to answer the guests feedback on social media, help hotel managers to regain trust …

Selling Protest In The News? Movement-Media Framing Of Occupations: An Exploratory Study, Andrew David Butz

Dissertations and Theses

Using quantitative content analysis, this study explores social movement (SM) framing in commercial news media -- by comparing how leading newspapers covered prominent protest occupations in 2011 and 2016. More than other SMs, anti-systemic protests like the 2011 Occupy Wall Street (OWS) and the 2016 Malheur Refuge Occupation (MRO) only have partial frame-setting agency, raising a broad theory question (to inform the research questions below): If SMs and media relate as interacting systems, are protest news frames more movement- or more media- driven; and do media not just enable but also constrain SMs?

With the movement-media theory question above, the …

Environmental Justice In Natural Disaster Mitigation Policy And Planning: A Case Study Of Flood Risk Management In Johnson Creek, Portland, Oregon, Seong Yun Cho

Dissertations and Theses

This study aims to explore the possibility of environmental justice as social consensus and an institutional framework to reduce socioeconomic differences in natural disaster vulnerability through a case study of flood risk management in Johnson Creek, Portland, Oregon. First, by analyzing institutions, policies, and currently ongoing flood mitigation projects, this study investigates how federal and local governments are addressing and responding to current flood problems. Second, through flood expert surveys and GIS spatial analysis, this study examines various factors that contribute to communities' susceptibility to flood risks, and whether there exist spatial differences between physically and socioeconomically vulnerable communities within …

Bystander Intervention To Prevent Campus Sexual Violence: The Role Of Sense Of Community, Peer Norms, And Administrative Responding, Erin Christine Mcconnell

Dissertations and Theses

In recent years, the use of bystander intervention training to address campus sexual violence has risen rapidly. More research is critically needed to guide the ongoing development and implementation of prevention efforts by campuses utilizing this relatively new approach. This investigation examined associations between college students' bystander intervention behavior and three key factors: (1) perceived peer norms supportive of sexual violence; (2) perceived campus administrative response to sexual violence; and (3) sense of campus community. Data from a sample of 2370 college students was analyzed using hierarchical linear regression to test both direct and moderated effects. Findings revealed that both …

White Space, Black Space: Community Gardens In Portland, Oregon, David Ross Billings Jr.

Dissertations and Theses

Community gardens have been the focus of social science research in the United States for several decades and the benefits associated with these alternative food spaces has been well documented. More recently, scholars have begun to argue that these benefits are inequitably distributed across society. Largely as a result of the whiteness of these spaces, people of color are less represented in community and benefit less from their presence. Portland, Oregon is recognized as a leader in sustainability, with its abundance of community gardens and urban agriculture. It is also one of the whitest urban cities in the United States. …

Grammatical Errors By Arabic Esl Students: An Investigation Of L1 Transfer Through Error Analysis, Aisha Saud Alasfour

Dissertations and Theses

This study investigated the effect of first language (L1) transfer on Arabic ESL learners' acquisition of the relative clauses, the passive voice and the definite article. I used Contrastive Analysis (CA) and Error Analysis (EA) to analyze 50 papers written by Arabic ESL students at the ACTFL Advanced Mid proficiency level. The analysis was paired with interviews with five advanced students to help determine whether L1 transfer was, in fact, influencing students' errors predicted by CA.

Students in this study made L1 errors along with other errors. Although no statistical difference was found between the frequency of transfer and other …

Gendered Partner-Ideals, Relationship Satisfaction, And Intimate Partner Violence, Sylvia Marie Ferguson Kidder

Dissertations and Theses

This dissertation identified and developed indicators of a new potential predictor of relationship satisfaction and intimate partner violence (IPV): discrepancies between the ideal and perceived gendered characteristics of romantic partners. Past research has overlooked the implicitly gendered nature of these "partner-ideals." Two pilot studies were conducted to develop measures of gendered partner-ideals and -perceptions based on existing measures of gender ideology.

The main study examined survey data collected online from adults (n = 643) living in the U.S. who were in a heterosexual romantic relationship for at least six months. Three main hypotheses were tested regarding the associations among gender …

A Foucaultian Discourse Analysis Of Person-Centered Practice Using A Genealogical Framework Of Intellectual Disability, Nick Winges-Yanez

Dissertations and Theses

A genealogical framework highlights the important role sexuality has played in constructing the current label of intellectual disability (ID). The genealogical framework is meant to replace the social, medical, and/or rights-based model(s) that have dominated social work and social services working in the disability field. With this framework, or perspective, I use a Foucaultian discourse analysis to read through seminal texts regarding person-centered practice.

Person-centered practice is the foremost intervention used in social work, and other disciplines, to work with people labeled with intellectual disability. My research questions focus on what is revealed about ID in PCP through a genealogical …

The Intersections Of Good Intentions, Criminality, And Anti-Carceral Feminist Logic: A Qualitative Study That Explores Sex Trades Content In Social Work Education, Meg Rose Panichelli

Dissertations and Theses

This study uses anti-carceral feminist logic to explore the cultural meanings, criminal implications, and neoliberal influence that shape the landscape of social work education about the sex trades in the United States and transnationally. "What are social work instructors teaching students about the sex trades in coursework?" is the question that directs the study, which uses a feminist qualitative methodology inclusive of intersectional feminist epistemology as well as direct content analysis. To answer this question, I analyzed 20 social work course syllabi from sex trade related courses across the contiguous United States and interviewed 20 social work instructors from 14 …

Intrapersonal And Social-Contextual Factors Related To Psychological Well-Being Among Youth Experiencing Homelessness, Katricia Stewart

Dissertations and Theses

Homeless youth are typically defined as a group of adolescents and young adults (ages 12-24) who do not have stable dwellings, but instead live on the streets, in shelters or abandoned buildings, or in other unstable situations (e.g., doubling up with friends). Given the myriad of hardships, stressors, and marginalization faced by youth as they navigate life on the streets, it is encouraging that researchers have begun examining well-being among youth experiencing homelessness. However, the few studies examining well-being among homeless youth have produced inconsistent results. Furthermore, little is known about the components of well-being that are both relevant to …

Between A Rock And A Hot Place: Economic Development And Climate Change Adaptation In Vietnam, Khanh Katherine Pham

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis explores 1) the ways that three Vietnamese infrastructure development projects undermine their cities' climate change adaptation goals and 2) the political and economic forces driving these developments. In-depth interviews highlight four main perspectives of planners and decision makers, which explain why these infrastructure projects often undermine cities' climate resilience goals. I describe how the mainstream climate change adaptation planning approach, with its emphasis on participatory planning, good governance and green growth, implicitly reinforces the neoliberal growth model, even as it seeks to ameliorate the inequality and ecological destruction that such a growth model creates. My research reveals how …

Stance-Taking: Jfl Learners And Benefactive Verbs, Kumiko Takizawa

Dissertations and Theses

This study explores how JFL learners take a benefactive stance in Japanese. As Jaffe (2009) observes, stance-taking "plays a complex role with respect to the naturalization of social and linguistic ideologies and the social structures they legitimate." The way in which language is used to take a stance always concerns the social context in which a speaker finds her/himself. In Japanese, benefactive verbs (kureru, ageru, morau and their honorific and humble equivalents) are indispensable stance indicators for showing gratitude or indebtedness. Such expressions do not really exist in English and their grammar is complex. It is assumed that JFL learners …

Finding Common Ground: Relationship Building And Communication Between Po And Client Within A Community Supervision Setting, Carl Eugene Appleton

Dissertations and Theses

Previous research on the community supervision model entitled Effective Practices in Community Supervision (EPICS) focuses on the increased attention trained probation officers (POs), as opposed to non-trained POs, pay to using core correctional practices (Smith et al. 2012). While studies like this present a picture of what POs do during face-to-face interactions, there is little focus on PO perceptions of these day-to-day practices. Furthermore, still less studies center the clients on supervision in order to better understand topics such as ideal PO, ideal relationship, and perceptions of common community supervision strategies. To address these gaps, this study uses 30 semi-structured …

Insufficient Effort Responding On Mturk Surveys: Evidence-Based Quality Control For Organizational Research, Lee Cyr

Dissertations and Theses

Each year, crowdsourcing organizational research grows increasingly popular. However, this source of sampling receives much scrutiny focused on data quality and related research methods. Specific to the present research, survey attentiveness poses a unique dilemma. Research on updated conceptualizations of attentiveness--insufficient effort responding (IER)--shows that it carries substantial concerns for data quality beyond random noise, which further warrants deleting inattentive participants. However, personal characteristics predict IER, so deleting data may cause sampling bias. Therefore, preventing IER becomes paramount, but research seems to ignore whether IER prevention itself may create systematic error. This study examines the detection and prevention of IER …

An Assessment Of Sentencing Disparities Among American Indians Within The Eighth, Ninth, And Tenth Federal Circuit Courts, Makenzie Laron Aaby

Dissertations and Theses

Assessing the effect of race on crime is an important topic of criminology and criminal justice research. Prior investigations have sought to uncover if racial disparities exist within certain aspects of the criminal justice system, such as arrests, trials, and sentencing. The existing scholarship, however, has largely focused on assessing differences between Black and Hispanic offenders in relation to White offenders. There has been little academic exploration to examine if racial disparities exist among American Indian offenders during criminal justice processing. To address this gap in knowledge, this study analyzes data collected from the United States Sentencing Commission to assess …

Utilitarian Skateboarding: Insight Into An Emergent Mode Of Mobility, Michael Joseph Harpool

Dissertations and Theses

In recent years research and planning efforts to enhance the conditions and opportunities for active transportation modes have increased significantly; however, these efforts have primarily focused on pedestrians and bicyclists. Skateboarding and other alternative modes of mobility remain an untapped potential for healthy and sustainable travel. This research addresses numerous knowledge gaps in the literature on utilitarian skateboarding under the larger umbrella of active transportation. Analysis of online survey results and semi-structured interviews with skateboarders in Portland, OR provides insight into the motivations and barriers of traveling by skateboard and the demographics and perceptions of skateboard commuters. Like bicyclists and …

Politics In The Social Media Era: The Relationship Between Social Media Use And Political Participation During The 2016 United States Presidential Election, Kevin Everett Curry

Dissertations and Theses

The growth of social media use raises significant questions related to political information and its effect on political knowledge and participation. One issue is whether social media delivers news and political information in a similar manner as traditional news media sources, like newspapers, TV, and radio, by contributing to political knowledge, which is linked to voter turnout. This dissertation examines the relationship between an individual's social media use, their use of traditional news media sources, and whether they turn out to vote. It utilizes American National Election Survey data from the 2016 U.S. Presidential election to complete three studies. First, …

Who Am I? Criminal Social Identity As A Mediator In The Relationship Between Criminal Peers And Criminal Attitudes Within A Sample Of Probationers/Parolees, Quinton Thomas Alexander

Dissertations and Theses

Previous research has shown there to be a relationship between criminal peers and an individual's antisocial behavior and attitudes. Social literature lacks however empirical support for social identity theory, which suggests social identity serves as a mediator in the development of attitudes. Rather than a direct relationship where criminal peers influences the presence of criminal attitudes, this research suggests that criminal peers actually influences a mediator (i.e. an individual's social identity), which in turn influences their criminal attitudes. Thus, this mediation serves to clarify the nature of the seemingly apparent relationship between peers and attitudes. The current study, then, attempts …