Lookouts follows Matt and Joann, two fire tower lookouts for the United States Forest Service, as they discuss their happiness living in seclusion as well as the decline of fire towers due to technological advances.

The purpose of this study was to compare the differences in abundance of Nematoda, Gastrotricha, and Harpacticoida between depths in the sediment at various tide levels and between depths at various sites with increasing time of exposure. It also examines the relationship between the abundances of meiofaunal groups and the mean grain size of the sediment. This study was also a part of the continual baseline-data gathering program for the South Slough Estuarine Sanctuary, Delane A. Munson, Manager.

Intermountain West bison abundance and chronology is much debated, but little work addressing these debates has occurred in eastern Oregon. Historic records indicate bison were absent from eastern Oregon at Euro-American contact. However, during explorations in eastern Oregon in 1826 Ogden reported bison skeletons in a dry lake bed, suggesting bison once lived in the area. This study reviews archaeological and paleontological records, and ethnohistoric accounts of early 19th century explorers, to synthesize the Holocene history of bison eastern Oregon. Bison NISP (number of identified specimens) was documented from site reports when available, and overall abundance was measured by number of sites and number of dated components containing bison. Optimal foraging theory suggests archaeofaunal assemblages can be used to determine abundance of high-ranked prey such as bison in the paleoenvironment. To determine bison chronology for undated archaeological and paleontological contexts, 15 bison bone samples were selected for AMS dating. In total, 136 archaeological site reports were reviewed, 102 include discussions of faunal analysis, and 20 provide evidence of bison. Two paleontological records provided sufficient data to include in this study. Bison NISP values were relatively small and in reports offering quantitative faunal data, bison represented a minimal percentage of the total mammalian assemblage. Of the AMS results, five were problematic and excluded from the study, and ten provided unambiguous ages ranging from 800-160 BP. Previously published dates in conjunction with new AMS dates support a late Holocene presence of bison in eastern Oregon. Bison are present, yet scarce, in the early Holocene and altogether absent between 7,000-3,000 BP. Research results for this study are similar to those from other Intermountain West regions. Research suggests large ungulates such as bison were never abundant in the Intermountain West due to environmental constraints. Grassland degradation caused by the introduction of cattle provides proof that the region is inappropriate for large grazing herds. Understanding the prehistory of bison in the region has implications for management of modern herds as well as grassland conservation issues.

Portland has a rich, active, and fluid music culture which is constantly being (re)created and (re)defined by a loose network of local musicians who write, record, produce, promote, distribute, and perform their music locally (and sometimes regionally, nationally, and internationally) and local residents, or audiences, who engage in local musical practices. Independent ("indie") local music making in Portland, which is embedded in DIY (do it yourself) values, creates alternative cultural places and landscapes in the city and is one medium through which some people represent themselves in the community. These residents not only perform, consume, promote, and distribute local music, they also (re)create places to host musical expressions. They have built alternative and democratic cultural landscapes, or culturescapes, in the city. Involved Portlanders strive to make live music performances accessible and affordable to all people, demonstrating through musical practices that the city is a shared space and represents a diversity of people, thoughts, values, and cultural preferences. Using theoretical tools from critical research about the economic, spatial, and social role of cultures in cities, particularly music, and ethnographic research of the Portland music scene, including participant observations and in-depth interviews with Portland musicians and other involved residents, this research takes a critical approach to examining ways in which manifestations of independent music are democratic cultural experiences that influence the city's cultural identity and are a medium through which a loosely defined group of Portlanders represent their cultural values and right to the city. In particular, it focuses on how local musical practices, especially live performances, (re)create alternative spaces within the city for musical expressions and influence the city's cultural landscapes, as well as differences between DIY independent music in Portland and its commodified forms and musicians and products produced by global music industry.

The following question was investigated for each of several biographical variables: Are there significant differences in the work values, as measured by the Ohio Work Values Inventory (OWVI), and personal values (terminal and instrumental), as measured by the Rokeach Value Survey (RVS), of instructors in Oregon community colleges? Comparisons were made by job status (part-time/full-time), teaching assignment, sex, number of years teaching, age, degree held, other employment of instructor, geographic location of college, and vocational certificate held. A multivariate ANOVA (followed by univariate ANOVAs and Modified LSDs as needed) was performed separately on the OWVI scales, the RVS Terminal Values, and the RVS Instrumental Values. The initial sample included 984 Oregon community college instructors, partitioned by teaching status, teaching assignment, and geographic location. The responding sample included 212 full-time and 288 part-time faculty. The rank order of the OWVI means for instructors was: Task Satisfaction; Self Realization; Ideas/Data; Altruism; Independence; Security; Money; Control; Object Orientation; Prestige and Solitude. The rank order for RVS Terminal Values for instructors was: Health, Self Respect, Family Security; Freedom; Inner Harmony; A Sense of Accomplishment; Wisdom, Mature Love; True Friendship; A World at Peace, An Exciting Life; Equality; A World of Beauty; A Comfortable Life; Salvation; Pleasure; National Security and Social Recognition. The rank order for RVS Instrumental Values for instructors was: Honest, Responsible; Loving; Capable; Independent; Intellectual; Helpful; Broadminded; Courageous; Forgiving; Loyal (tied with Forgiving); Logical; Ambitious; Self Controlled; Polite; Clean and Obedient. When sex, teaching experience, age, highest degree held, other employment/no other employment, and college location were used as independent variables, statistically significant differences were found in each set of dependent variables, with the exception of instrumental values for teaching experience and college location, and terminal values for college location. Of 396 correlations between the OWVI scales and the RVS values, 162 were significant at the .05 level (41%). The signs of the correlations indicated a logical relation between the two instruments.

Social worker stress and burnout are pervasive problems that harm workers, organizations, and clients. Past research has identified burnout, a psychological response to work stress, as an important predictor of intent to leave and ultimate turnover. An emerging body of research has examined work engagement, considered to be the opposite of burnout, as a predictor of retention. The problem of burnout and turnover within organizations employing social workers has been addressed in the literature for many years. This dissertation responded to a call in the literature for a greater emphasis on burnout prevention and enhancement of workforce engagement and retention. The three goals of the study were: (1) to measure levels of work engagement; (2) to examine the psychometric properties of two new instruments that measure burnout and engagement; and (3) to use the Job Demands-Resources model to test a hypothesized model of the unique relationships between job demands, resources, burnout, engagement and intent to leave. Survey data were collected from 243 public child welfare workers employed with Oregon's Department of Human Services, Children, Adult and Families Division, Service Delivery Area 2 serving Multnomah County. Findings revealed that half of the workers were highly engaged and that engagement explained 18% of the variance of intent to remain employed. An alternative measure of burnout, the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory, demonstrated good internal consistency, convergent validity with the MBI, and explained 26% of the variance of intent to leave. A series of path analyses indicated support for a partially-mediated model. The findings demonstrate that burnout and engagement mediate the effects that demands and resources have on intent to leave. Supervisor support exerted both direct and indirect effects on intent to leave. The results support the inclusion of work engagement in burnout research, demonstrate the psychometric soundness of two new instruments to measure engagement and burnout, and support the applicability of the Job Demands Resources Model to a sample of social service workers employed in public child welfare. The findings indicate that job demands and resources play an important role in worker intent to leave. Research, education, policy, and practice implications are addressed.

Research on juvenile offender treatment and intervention has called for a shift from a deficits-based to a strengths-based approach (Marshall, Ward, Mann, Moulden, Fernandez, Serran, & Marshall, 2005; Wormith, Althouse, Simpson, Reitzel, Fagan, & Morgan, 2007; Zeldin, 2004). One potential approach to treatment fosters a sense of psychological empowerment in youth. Although research has yet to explore the experience of psychological empowerment within incarcerated youth, theory on empowerment suggests that it could help youth to create both cognitive (e.g., increased self-esteem, increased confidence) and behavioral (e.g., improving quality of life, social integration) changes in their lives (Cargo, Grams, Ottoson, Ward, & Green, 2003; Holden, Crankshaw, Nimsch, Hinnant, & Hund, 2004a). Empowerment-based programming may also help youth develop specific psychosocial capacities, such as competence, confidence, and self-efficacy, which are necessary skills for future success and community reintegration. The purpose of the current study was to establish a measure of psychological empowerment (PE) and explore potential behavioral correlates of PE for young men within Oregon Youth Authority (OYA) correctional and re-entry facilities. Using a cross-sectional, non-experimental design, quantitative data from self-report surveys of incarcerated youth on PE in three settings within correctional facilities as well as OYA staff ratings of behavioral success in five skill areas was collected. Confirmatory factor analyses did not support the three-factor structure of PE. A single-factor structure of Intrapersonal PE was found to fit the data in three correctional settings. The present study has implications for the reconceptualization and reoperationalization of psychological empowerment in this unique context. Using the confirmed sub-scale, results of hierarchical linear models indicated that Intrapersonal PE was a significant predictor of behavioral success in two of the five OYA domains. Even with an imperfect operationalization of PE, there was partial evidence for the predictive ability of Intrapersonal PE.

The research problem in this thesis can be briefly stated as a study of a general population to test certain demographic variables, in particular those of income, age and education, which may or may not have a significant relationship to an expressed willingness to care for foster children; and to further examine whether certain special characteristics of a child, in particular those of increased age, physical handicap, minor emotional problems or mental retardation, further increase unwillingness to care for foster children. The sample was selected by a two- stage cluster sampling taken from the Southeast catchment area of metropolitan Portland, Oregon. From this sample of 787individuals, the survey was conducted by trained interviewers, using a questionnaire and personal interview. The data used in this research project were then extracted from the larger survey, and computed to determine the relationship of age, income and education to willingness to care for foster children. The data were extracted on the basis of the chosen variables of income, age and education and five questions relating specifically to willingness to care for foster children. As had been anticipated, the findings showed that the general population is not willing to care for foster children. However, certain significant findings were related to willingness to care for foster children. A significant relationship was found between income and willingness to care for foster children in that those respondents with incomes between $4,000-$20,000 expressed the most willingness to care for foster children while there was significant underrepresentation in both the highest and lowest income groupings to express a willingness to care for foster children with an almost lineal relationship of decreasing age with increasing willingness to care for foster children. There is no significant relationship, it was found, between education of the respondent and willingness to care for foster children. There is a lineal relationship of increasing willingness to care for foster children with increasing age of the foster child. Of those individuals expressing a willingness to care for foster children, there is no significant decrease in willingness because of physical disability, minor emotional problems or mental retardation. The results of this study have certain implication for recruitment and selection of foster parents. The findings indicate the need for further research to explore why more individuals in the population do not express a willingness to care for foster children, how such an interest can be encouraged and what criteria can be used in recruitment and selection.

Two adjacent caldera systems, the Mahogany Mountain and the Three Fingers caldera constitute voluminous rhyolitic volcanic deposits on the eastern margin of the Oregon-Idaho graben during the middle-Miocene. Both calderas are part of the Lake Owyhee volcanic field that in turn is part of widespread rhyolite deposits associated with the Columbia River Basalt province. We focus on establishing relationships between intracaldera units of Three Fingers caldera and caldera-forming tuff of Spring Creek and surveying the distribution of entrained mafic clasts which often display anomalous concentrations of rare earth elements. Previous mapping identified two intra-caldera facies and one outflow facies of the tuff of Spring Creek, in addition to a younger rhyolite within the caldera (Trp). New 40Ar/39Ar dates show these units are nearly time equivalent at 15.64 ± 0.08 Ma for Trp and 15.64 ± 0.09 Ma for tuff of Spring Creek. Field evidence shows extensive coverage of Trp and associated facies emplaced after a period of sedimentation within the caldera. The main reinterpretations are: i) the mostly devitrified units of Trp are time equivalent to flows and domes of glassy, vesicular, or brecciated rhyolite previously mapped as intra-caldera tuff of Spring Creek; and ii) mafic clasts present in dense glass and porous rhyolite are fragments of mafic lava flows entrained by the subsequent eruptions. New geochemical and mineralogical evidence clearly distinguish the outflow tuff of Spring Creek and intracaldera rhyolites. Compared to the outflow tuff, intracaldera rhyolite flows are less Fe-rich, (2 vs. 3 wt.% FeO), and higher silica (77 vs. 74 wt.% SiO2) rhyolites that lack vitrophyric texture. I interpret the investigated area as a rhyolite dome field, erupted subsequent to caldera collapse. The proximity of vents resulted in a complex stratigraphic overlap of rhyolite flows and clastic debris issued from coalescing domes. The predominance of high-standing dome interiors reflects the more resistant nature of dense devitrified rhyolite as compared to pumiceous, glassy, or brecciated facies of intra-caldera rhyolite. Enrichment of REE in mafic clasts is highly variable, and does not correlate with their entrainment in a specific facies of intra-caldera rhyolite. Individual clasts contain up to 2400 ppm Nd, 1800 ppm Ce, and 1400 ppm La in the most enriched samples. Linear regression shows these highly anomalous concentrations are not correlated with variations in major element chemistry between enriched and un-enriched clasts. The geographic extent of mafic clast-bearing units is limited to less than 5 percent of the area mapped, and their distribution within these units is typically volumetrically insignificant, limiting their economic potential. Mechanisms for enrichment of REE within these rocks is however significant to our understanding of a yet unexplained phenomenon and may lead to further discoveries with greater economic potential.

An area of unmapped intrusions lies within the Bull-of-the-Woods Roadless Area of Mount Hood National Forest. A variety of andesites, dacites,and diorites intruding units of tuff and andesite lava flows crop out over.an area of 52 sq km. These intrusions do not appear on the Geologic Map of Oregon West of the 121st Meridian (Hells and Peck, 1961). The purpose of this investigation is to map and describe these intrusions, with attention to the following questions: What is the petrographic and geochemical nature of these intrusions? What is the order of emplacement of these intrusions? What is the probable mechanism of intrusion? What relation do these intrusions bear to a possible underlying batholith? Contact relations in the field, petrographic studies, and major and trace element trends were used to address these questions.