Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

A Macroergonomics Approach Examining The Relationship Between Work-Family Conflict And Employee Safety, Lauren Ann Murphy

Dissertations and Theses

In 2008, there were more than 5,200 workplace fatalities in the United States. During the same time period, U.S. employees missed almost 1.1 million days from work. Accidents are unexpected outcomes that result not only from individuals' behaviors, but from contextual factors. Therefore, unsafe behaviors have to be interpreted according to a combination of what is occurring in the environment and what the individual is doing in that environment. The present study sought to create a more comprehensive model of safety by means of macroergonomics. Macroergonomics utilizes sociotechnical systems theory to posit that a work system is composed of a …

Coupled Pedagogy: A Study Of Sustainability Education And Community-Based Learning In The Senior Capstone Program At Portland State University, Emily Erin Bowling

Dissertations and Theses

Sustainability has emerged in mainstream higher education over the last few years, and the fields of community-based learning and sustainability education are closely linked through their emphases on active, experiential learning in place-based contexts. In order to create ecologically literate citizens to more adequately address environmental problems, there is a logical connection between teaching about sustainability and engaging students in the community, which can serve as a relevant forum to address sustainability issues. However, there is a problem in that educational programs and courses dealing directly with sustainability topics across the higher education landscape often do not emphasize or include …

Pedagogical Catalysts Of Civic Competence: The Development Of A Critical Epistemological Model For Community-Based Learning, Stephanie Taylor Stokamer

Dissertations and Theses

Civic competence is critical to the successful functioning of pluralistic democracies. Developing the knowledge, skills, and motivations for effective democratic participation is a national and global imperative that many higher education institutions have embraced through the teaching strategies of community-based learning and service-learning. Yet, scant research literature has focused on the relationship between pedagogical approaches and civic competence outcomes. This five-year longitudinal study of 11,000 students in 700 senior-level capstone courses at an urban research university empirically tested a new theoretically constructed model of civic competence development in order to identify epistemological and pedagogical elements that enhance civic competence. Eight …

Riparian Wetland Response To Livestock Exclusion In The Lower Columbia River Basin, Sarah Ann Holmen

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine the characteristics of riparian plant communities along a succession gradient of livestock exclusion in the Lower Columbia River Basin (LCRB). Livestock exclusion is an example of a passive restoration practice throughout the region. However, few studies have focused on the effects of livestock or livestock exclusion on riparian wetland ecosystems in this area. Two passive restoration sites, 3 and 13 years since livestock exclusion, and a control site with a continued livestock grazing presence were examined. It was hypothesized that native plant species richness would be lower in the excluded wetlands than …

The Prevalence And Predictive Nature Of Victimization, Substance Abuse & Mental Health On Recidivism: A Comparative Longitudinal Examination Of Male And Female Oregon Department Of Corrections Inmates, Anastacia Konstantinos Papadopulos

Dissertations and Theses

As a consequence of increased awareness and the current scholarly debate regarding women's differential predictors of recidivism, criminal justice agencies are working with researchers in the field to expand their knowledge in this area. In 2007, Portland State University researchers in collaboration with the Oregon Department of Corrections conducted an investigation of factors emerging in the pathways and gender responsive literature as predictive of women's recidivism in a randomly selected sample of female (n=150) and male (n=150) inmates. This study used information gathered from that investigation for two purposes: (1) to assess the prevalence rates of victimization experiences (childhood, adolescent …

Beyul Khumbu: Sherpa Constructions Of A Sacred Landscape, Lindsay Ann Skog

Dissertations and Theses

Khumbu, part of Sagarmatha (Mt. Everest) National Park in eastern Nepal and an UNESCO World Heritage site, is home to the Sherpa people, ethnic Tibetan Buddhists who migrated to the region more than 500 years ago. Sherpas animate the landscape with localized water, tree, rock, and land spirits, identify sacred mountains, mainly associated with the Bönpo and Tibetan yullha traditions, and some view the landscape as a beyul, a sacred place and hidden valley protecting Buddhist people and beliefs in times of turmoil and need. These beliefs protect the natural environment through religious practices and taboos against environmentally harmful …

Examining The Effects Of Climate Change And Urban Development On Water Demand: A Multi-Scale Analysis Of Future Water Demand In Hillsboro, Oregon, Lily Arielle House-Peters

Dissertations and Theses

In the Portland, Oregon, metropolitan area, suburban cities such as Hillsboro are projected to grow as people seek affordable housing near a rapidly growing metropolis. This thesis examines the combined impact of climate change and urban development on both neighborhood and municipal scale residential water demand in Hillsboro, Oregon. I use two models, a surface energy balance model, Local-scale Urban Meteorological Parameterization Scheme (LUMPS), and a system dynamics model, CCDomestic, to investigate changes in residential water demand in the 2040s at two distinct spatial scales, the neighborhood and the municipality. I calibrate and validate each model to the reference period …

Sour Grapes While You're Down And Out: Self-Serving Bias And Applicant Attributions For Test Performance, Kyle Garret Mack

Dissertations and Theses

Recent research has shown that outcome favorability (Ryan & Ployhart, 2000) and perceived performance (Chan, Schmitt, Jennings, Clause, & Delbridge, 1998a) are key determinates of justice judgments, suggesting that self-serving bias is a critical mechanism in the formation of applicant reactions. However, organizational justice theory continues to be the dominant paradigm for understanding applicant reactions. Chan and Schmitt (2004) have suggested a far ranging agenda for research into reactions, which includes considering reactions in a longitudinal framework and considering the natural effect of time on reactions. The current study incorporates these theoretical approaches and addresses these gaps in the research …

A Beer Party And Watermelon: The Archaeology Of Community And Resistance At Ccc Camp Zigzag, Company 928, Zigzag, Oregon, 1933-1942, Janna Beth Tuck

Dissertations and Theses

In March 1933, the administration of United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt initiated a national relief program aimed at alleviating the disastrous effects ofthe Great Depression. The Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) began as one of these programs designed to employ young men from all over the country and put them "back to work". The CCC provided these young men with training, a monthly stipend, and basic supplies such as food, clothing, and accommodations. After 1942, CCC camps were closed and many of these sites were abandoned or destroyed, leaving little historical documentation as to the experiences ofthe people involved. This …

Evaluating The Deterrent Effect Of Capital Punishment On Crime, Permiterio Leocadio

Dissertations and Theses

Many researchers, academics or philosophers see capital punishment as a deterrent to crime. Several states in the United States apply the death penalty to try to reduce crime. Other states do not agree with the application of this repressive law arguing that a crime should not be solved with another crime. From a theoretical view, the principal point of analysis about capital punishment in this present work is to state that capital punishment can reduce crime. Here also it will be examined some of the collateral consequences of the application of capital punishment, and its implications for the Criminal Justice …

The Transnational Networks Of Cultural Commodities: Peruvian Food In San Francisco, Kelsey Ann Brain

Dissertations and Theses

In a setting of increased movement, communication, and flows across space, commodity chain networks bring valued cultural commodities to transnational communities. This research examines the networks bringing foreign cuisine ingredients to Peruvian transnational communities in San Francisco, California. It seeks to answer three inter-related questions: 1) What are the origins and transportation networks bringing Peruvian food items to San Francisco; 2) Who controls and benefits from the movement of this food and resulting capital; and 3) How do networks vary for different classes of end consumers?

Chefs of ten Peruvian restaurants and ten Peruvian migrants in the San Francisco area …

Guild's Lake Courts : An Impermanent Housing Project, Tanya Lyn March

Dissertations and Theses

Guild's Lake Courts was built as temporary worker housing for the steel and shipyard industries during World War II. The massive housing development in Northwest Portland consisted of 2,432 units of housing, five community buildings, five childcare centers, a grade school and a fire station. Guild's Lake Courts was the eighth largest housing project built at that time in the United States. The peak population in January 1945 was approximately 10,000 individuals. Archival research, face-to-face oral histories, and resident reunions were used to explore the social, architectural and political history of Guild's Lake Courts. The lens for understanding how the …

A Library And Its Community: Exploring Perceptions Of Collaboration, Phoebe Vincenza Daurio

Dissertations and Theses

This study explores perceptions of interorganizational collaboration through an investigation of the opinions and actions of a public library and three community-based organizations. Interorganizational collaboration is often viewed as an effective strategy for accomplishing objectives that would not otherwise be possible with a single organization. Particularly for complex societal issues such as adult literacy, researchers and practitioners believe collaboration between organizations is necessary in order to achieve desired outcomes. Public libraries are engaging in collaborations also to extend their reach, establish the library’s relevance, increase community involvement, and advocate for their position as a community asset.

This thesis is a …

A Structural And Functional Analysis Of Codeswitching In Mi Vida Gitana 'My Gypsy Life,' A Bilingual Play, Gustavo Javier Fernandez

Dissertations and Theses

The present study analyzed the language in the script of the bilingual play Mi Vida Gitana 'My Gypsy Life' (Malán, 2006) in order to better understand issues relating to codeswitching (CS). The analysis was done from a structural and a functional perspective and utilized various models developed by renowned CS scholars.

For the structural analysis, I utilized concepts and ideas put forth in the three-tiered typology created by Muysken (2000) and the Matrix Language Frame model developed by Myers-Scotton (1993). The results of this portion of the study showed that some form of CS, whether occurring between turns or within …

Rashomon Comes To The Courtroom: The Adoption Of The Lay Judge System In Japan, Its Impact On Jurisprudence, And The Implications For Civic Engagement, Bryan Matthew Thompson

Dissertations and Theses

In May of 2009, Japan began formal operations of the "saiban-in seido" or "lay judge system," a quasi-jury means of criminal trial adjudication that represents the first occasion since 1943 that average Japanese citizens will be required to fulfill a role in the criminal jurisprudential process. While the lay judge system promises to affect the methods and procedures of criminal trials in Japan, recent scholarship in the United States has raised an interesting question: to what degree can the lay participatory adjudication process facilitate greater levels of civic engagement in past citizen jurists once their service has completed?

It …

Public Opinion And Public Engagement With Genetically Modified Foods : A Qualitative Study, Celeste Laurana Moser

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of the current study was to understand public opinion formation by determining what factors influence opinion leaders in the organic food community to engage in the genetically modified food debate, and how opinion leaders describe American lay publics' engagement in the debate.

Climatic And Spatial Variations Of Mount Rainier's Glaciers For The Last 12,000 Years, Michael Leslie Hekkers

Dissertations and Theses

Regional paleoclimatic proxies and current local climate variables and were analyzed to reconstruct paleoglaciers in an effort to assess glacier change On Mount Rainier. Despite the dry and generally warm conditions (sea surface temperatures (SST) -0.15°C to +1.8°C relative to current temperatures), the previously documented McNeeley II advance (10,900 - 9,950 cal yr B.P.) was likely produced by air temperature fluctuations. The average SST record and the terrestrial climate proxies show cooling temperatures with continued dryness between McNeeley II and the Burroughs Mountain advance (3,442 - 2,153 cal yr B.P.). The paleoclimate during the Burroughs Mountain advance was both cool …

City Management Theory And Practice: A Foundation For Educating The Next Generation Of Local Government Administrators, Scott Douglas Lazenby

Dissertations and Theses

Due to the retirement of the baby boom generation, many individuals, in a relatively short period of time, will need to be trained and educated to step into local government senior leadership positions. Ideally, the education and training of this new leadership cadre should be guided by a well known and proven body of theory that helps us understand the competencies the next generation of public service need to possess in order to be effective in their work. The purpose of this research is to assess whether such a body of work exists and, if so, whether it is successfully …

Building Community And Bridging Cultures: The Role Of Volunteer Tutors In Oregon’S Latino Serving Community-Based Organizations, Troy Vaughn Hickman

Dissertations and Theses

Literature for and about successful volunteer literacy programs highlight and advocate for practices that inform administrators and trainers of the needs and expectations of volunteer tutors. Applications of this knowledge can affect the type of policies that administrators implement in their programs and the type of support that they provide for their tutors. This project was an opportunity for the researcher to reflect on his experiences as a consultant and trainer with community-based programs and to increase his understanding of the volunteers in order to assist in future administration and training work.

Community-based volunteer literacy programs across Oregon are unique …

Operationalizing The Antecedents Of Work-Family Positive Spillover: A Longitudinal Study, Kristi Lynn Zimmerman

Dissertations and Theses

The primary goal of the current study was to examine the antecedents of work-to-family and family-to-work positive spillover. This dissertation examined the relationship between work, family, and personal domain resources with the outcomes of work-to-family and family-to-work positive spillover. Specifically, five types of resources were tested as predictors of positive spillover as proposed by Greenhaus and Powell's (2006) theory of work-family enrichment. To test these relationships, constructs from the work and family domains were used to operationalize each of the proposed resources, and a longitudinal research design was applied in order to establish these resources as predictors of positive spillover. …

The Genesis Of Portland's Forest Park: Evolution Of An Urban Wilderness, Elizabeth M. Provost

Dissertations and Theses

Portland, Oregon, is steward to a 5,126 acre wilderness park called Forest Park. The park's size and proximity to downtown make it a dominate feature of Portland's skyline. Despite its urban location the park provides respite from city life with its seventy miles of trails, which wind through stands of Douglas fir, western red cedar, and western hemlock. Portland citizens enjoy this easy access to nature as well as the park's health and environmental benefits.

However, few people know of the park's history and how its journey toward parkhood reflects the changing values of Portland's citizens over time. Starting with …

The Incorporation Of Direct Democracy : Populism And Initiative Practices As Contested Terrain, Larry Galizio

Dissertations and Theses

What are the democratic implications of the increasing professionalization of direct democracy?

The dissertation takes a critical approach to the "initiative-industrial complex" and offers a counter-thesis to prevailing scholarly research on the substantial growth in the use of political consultants in initiative campaigns. The political economic analysis approaches direct legislation campaigns and elections as constituent parts of a system of legitimation for the existing set of social relations.

An historical analysis reveals that the contemporary era of initiative activity rivals that of its frequent use during the populist and progressive eras; and that in the early 21st century direct legislation …

Working For The "Working River": Willamette River Water Pollution, 1926 To 1962, James Vincent Hillegas

Dissertations and Theses

Efforts to abate Willamette River pollution between 1926 and 1962 centered on a struggle between abatement advocates and the two primary polluters in the watershed, the City of Portland and the pulp and paper industry. Throughout the twentieth century, the Willamette was by far the most heavily populated and industrialized watershed in Oregon. Like many other of the world's rivers, the Willamette was an integral part of municipal and industrial waste removal systems. As such, the main stem of the river carried the combined wastes from sewage outfalls serving hundreds of thousands of people and millions of gallons daily of …

Primary Care, Males, Masculinity, And Suicide : A Grounded Theory Study, John Thomas Casey

Dissertations and Theses

Suicide completion in the United States is a public health problem that claims over 30,000 lives annually. Most of these suicide victims are white males who die by firearm, and who typically are not taking antidepressant medication and are not involved in mental health treatment at the time of death. Depression is closely linked to suicide death, and treatment for depression is provided mainly within primary health care settings where most suicide decedents have been seen at some point in the year prior to their death. The rate of male depression is likely under-reported, partly due to gender-bias within primary …

Impacts Of Climate Change And Urban Development On Water Resources In The Tualatin River Basin, Sarah Praskievicz

Dissertations and Theses

Potential impacts of climate change on the water resources of the Pacific Northwest of the United States include earlier peak runoff, reduced summer flows, and increased winter flooding. An increase in impervious surfaces, accompanied by urban development, is known to decrease infiltration and increase surface runoff. Alterations of flow amount and pathways can alter water quality through dilution or flushing effects. I used the United States Environmental Protection Agency's Better Assessment Science Integrating Point and Nonpoint Sources (BASINS) modeling system to investigate the relative importance of future climate change and land use change in determining the quantity and quality of …

A Positive Development View Of Risk-Taking : Attachment, Mental Health, Internal Control, And Life Engagement, Lauren Michelle Denneson

Dissertations and Theses

Previous research has primarily focused on potential negative outcomes of risk-taking (e.g., Byrnes, Miller, & Schafer, 1999). However, risk-taking may be beneficial for our mental health. Currently, the United States (U.S.) is seeing an increase in the prevalence and incidence of anxiety and depressive symptoms (N1MH, 2002, 2003, 2006; WHO, 2001). At the same time, individuals in the U.S. spend a large percentage of time in low-energy, "time wasting" activities, such as watching television (United States Department of Labor, 2007), which is in discord with how our stress response functions optimally (Sapolsky, 1998; Dhabhar, 2002). Furthermore, attachment theory posits a …

Developing One's Self: Adoption And Identity Formation Through The Eyes Of Transracially Adopted Native American Adults, Jody Becker-Green

Dissertations and Theses

Life story methods were used to explore the contextual factors that influenced the experiences and identity formation of seven Native American adults who were transracially adopted prior to the passage of the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978. These methods provided a deeper understanding of how these individuals have integrated their adoption experiences into their evolving sense of self. The life story methodology offered a way to acknowledge and validate participants' life experiences and allowed for the collection of rich information from the perspectives of the adoptees.

The life story interviews were structured to gather information on the influence of …

Dependent Care And Work-Life Outcomes : Comparing Exceptional Care And Typical Care Responsibilities, Lisa Maureen Stewart

Dissertations and Theses

Exceptional care responsibilities describe the experiences of caring for a dependent with a chronic illness or disability (Roundtree & Lynch, 2006). To date research on exceptional care responsibilities has occurred outside of the traditional work-life field. This study positions exceptional care responsibilities as a type of dependent care that goes beyond that of typical care responsibilities and argues efforts are needed both within the workplace and the community to address the challenges faced by employees with disability-related dependent care responsibilities.

The influence of supports within the workplace on the work-life barriers and related outcomes of employees with typical care and …

Ethnic Place Making: Thirty Years Of Brazilian Immigration To South Framingham, Massachusetts, Laura Aldea Skorczeski

Dissertations and Theses

Over the past thirty years, Massachusetts has become a hub of Brazilian immigration. Within Massachusetts, the town of Framingham has the highest concentration of Brazilian residents; one census tract in the southern part of this Boston suburb is an astounding 57.4 percent Brazilian. The presence of the Brazilian population in downtown Framingham, also referred to as South Framingham, has transformed the area into a landscape of Brazilian ethnicity.

When Brazilians began arriving in South Framingham in the early 1980s, the downtown Central Business District was a blighted landscape. This thesis analyzes how Brazilian identities have become imprinted on the landscape …

'Conflict Analysis:' Exploring The Role Of Kuwait In Mediation In The Middle East, Abdullah R. Al Saleh

Dissertations and Theses

The Middle East is a large geographical area, and while people think of it as a homogeneous area in terms of language and culture, the region IS actually more of a melting pot of ethnic, religious, racial and linguistic groups. Understanding the distinctions between these groups is of paramount importance to understanding the region. Historical rivalries between some groups, for example, Sunni and Shia Muslims, go back hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years. Yet, people continue with life. How do countries continue to deal with each other when there are open, unsettled questions, such as boundaries or control of islands? Is …