Traditional public health bacterial indicators of water quality and the Biolog�� system were evaluated to compare their response to other indicators of stream condition with the state of Oregon and between ecoregions (Coast Range, Willamette Valley, Cascades, and Eastern Oregon). Forty-three randomly selected Oregon rivers were sampled during the summer low flow period in 1997 and 1998. Testing included heterotrophic plate counts (HPC), total coliforms, fecal coliforms, E. coli, and Biolog�� GN plates. Statewide, HPC correlated strongly with physical habitat and chemistry indicators while fecal coliforms and E. coli were highly correlated only with the river chemistry indicators. Total coliform bacteria did not correlate with either of the above environmental indicators. Dividing the sites by ecoregion, Eastern Oregon was characterized by high HPC, fecal coliforms, E. coli, nutrient loads, and indices of human disturbance, whereas the Cascades ecoregion had correspondingly low counts of these indicators. The Coast Range reflected statewide results and the Willamette Valley presented no consistent indicator pattern. Attempts to separate ecoregions with the Biolog system were not successful nor did a statistical pattern emerge between the first five principle components and the other environmental indicators. Our research has shown that traditional public health microbial indicators may, however, be useful in measuring the effects of anthropogenic stress over large spatial scales. / Graduation date: 2000

The structuring of canopy arthropod communities was reviewed and investigated in relation to tree species diversity and its component factors, interspersion of different species and density of each tree species. Fifteen treatments of Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) and red alder (Alnus rubra) (various densities and proportions of each) were randomly assigned to 0.073 ha plots, replicated three-fold at each of two locations in Western Oregon: the Cascade Head Experimental Forest and the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest. The six treatments used in this study were two densities of Douglas-fir and red alder monoculture (1000 trees/ha and 500 trees/ha), and mixtures of Douglas-fir and red alder (500 trees/ha of each) planted simultaneously or red alder planted 6 years after the Douglas-fir. Trees were initially planted in 1985-1986. The arthropod communities were sampled in the summer of 1998 by bagging and pruning branches from the mid-canopy of both tree species. Multivariate analyses distinguished the arthropod communities found on each tree species and geographical location, but not among the different diversity and density treatments. Many arthropod taxa and functional groups residing on a single tree species had significantly different abundances between locations. The most commonly encountered taxon, Adelges cooleyi Gillette (Homoptera: Adelgidae), was most abundant on Douglas-firs in the 500 trees/ha monoculture and the mixture with younger red alder, and least abundant in the mixture with both species planted simultaneously (the 1000 trees/ha Douglas-fir monoculture was intermediate). Adelgids showed no significant response to location, but did respond to combinations of location x treatment. The functional group of sap-feeders was dominated by adelgids, and showed similar treatment differences on Douglas-fir. Defoliators on red alder responded in abundance to location, treatment (most abundant in the 500 trees/ha monoculture and even-aged mixture, least abundant in the 1000 trees/ha monoculture), and location x treatment. This study demonstrated that tree species and geographical location are the primary determinants of forest arthropod community composition at this spatial scale. However, tree species diversity and density can affect the abundance of certain arthropod taxa, apparently through some combination of resource quality and plant apparency. / Graduation date: 2000

The European hazelnut, Corylus avellana L., was imported into the U.S. in the late 1800's and is now grown throughout the Willamette Valley in Oregon. A native species of hazelnut, C. cornuta Marshall, is a common shrub found in forested areas of the Pacific Northwest. Foliage of both C. avellana and C. cornuta was sampled using beating sheets. The objectives of the study were as follows: 1. To compile a complete list of the Coleoptera and Heteroptera fauna of both species of hazelnut. 2. To determine the amount of overlap across host plants. 3. To measure arthropod abundance and species diversity within functional groups across a forest-edge-orchard gradient. 4. To use ordination techniques to determine where peak abundance of individual taxa occur along the forest-edge-orchard gradient. One hundred and thirty-two species of Coleoptera and forty-nine species of Heteroptera were identified on Hazelnut foliage. The most abundant Heteroptera in the orchards studied is a newly introduced mirid predator, Malacocoris chlorizans (Panzer). There is a great deal of overlap between the two hazelnut species. Most differences are attributed to rare species. Diversity and abundance of predaceous Coleoptera and Heteroptera were severely hindered by IPM management practices, involving insecticide usage, within the orchards. However, the organic orchards retained high levels of diversity and abundance of predaceous Coleoptera and Heteroptera in the centers of the orchards. The organic orchards had higher diversity of phytophagous Coleoptera and Heteroptera as compared to IPM orchards, but the abundance of those insects was not different between the IPM and organic orchards. The ordinations of the Coloeptera data show that the peak abundances of individual species often shift along the forest-edge-orchard gradient over time and that the organic orchards retain peak abundances of predaceous Coleoptera even in late season. The ordinations of the Heteroptera data show that several mirid predators are at their peak abundances within the orchards of both IPM and organic orchards. / Graduation date: 2000

This study compared the effect of two sources of instruction and verbal encouragement on the participation of individuals with mental retardation (MR) in a 10-week physical activity program. Participants were 17 adult employees of a sheltered workshop (5 females, 12 males) ranging in age from 30 to 65 years. The program was offered at work 3 days per week and involved aerobic dance activities. Group engagement in moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA) was systematically observed and was compared using a reversal design. Condition A involved an exercise leader plus an exercise video to deliver instructional cues and verbal promotion of participation. Condition B used an exercise video as the only source of instruction and verbal promotion. The exercise videos were designed specifically for the participant group to address the low fitness levels and limited ability to make activity transitions. Data indicated that, on average, a higher percentage of the group was engaged in MVPA when the leader-plus-video condition (A) was applied. However, the difference was not practically meaningful when the administrative ease and cost-effectiveness of videos are considered. Further, a considerable overlap of data points in the graphical analyses indicated that withdrawing the leader did not control exercise behavior. Program attendance was variable but remained high over the course of the study. Group engagement levels were higher during the sessions with fewer participants, which suggested that a small group of highly compliant participants were more consistently on-task. Work performance was not negatively impacted when employees took time out of their workday to participate in physical activity. It is of importance that several participants continued to participate in the exercise program over the 4-week maintenance phase. This study provided a convenient, inexpensive method for adults with MR to independently participate in physical activity. / Graduation date: 1999

Purpose: The Purpose of this research was to design, implement and evaluate a patient centered asthma intervention pilot program directed by physicians and administered by community pharmacists to a group of Managed Care contracted Oregon Health Plan asthmatics. The evaluation was to determine if the proposed intervention could improve the enrolled asthma patient's related education and quality of life while simultaneously creating economic benefit for the sponsoring health plan. Methods: The study was designed to be a prospective, six month pre and posttest quasi-experimental evaluation combined with a Solomon-like two-control group comparison. All patients in the sponsoring health plan twelve years of age and older who had six months of continuous enrollment were eligible. Enrollment of the target patients was voluntary and the time period of the evaluation (November, 1997 to May, 1998) was purposely conducted to capture the notoriously difficult asthma trigger cold and allergy seasons. Information regarding the cost and frequency of pre and post emergency room visits, hospitalizations, physician's office and medications use and Health Related Quality of Life (HRQL) was collected for the intervention group and control group. Satisfaction information for the major actors was collected and analyzed at posttest. Within group comparisons were conducted using the paired T-test and the unpaired T-test was used for between group comparison. Results: Patients in the intervention group who had their physician and pharmacist fully participate in respectively directing and administering the study protocol showed associated improvements in their quality of life measures. Economic benefit to the health plan is suggested by a cost benefit ratio of 1:5.71 resulting from favorable decreases in health care related resources and improved asthma related medication utilization. Analysis of the satisfaction measures suggests that all the major participants were very satisfied with the intervention. Conclusion: Even though the sample size in this pilot study was relatively small, the resulting information should not be immediately discounted. The evidence suggests that in those cases where the study protocol was followed, favorable economic, HRQL and satisfaction is comparable to larger, previously conducted studies. / Graduation date: 2000

In recent years interorganizational collaboration has increasingly been emphasized as an important step for addressing inefficiencies in the delivery of human services. Among the many benefits of collaboration described by human service authors are the creation of a more consumer-friendly service system, more efficient use of available resources, and avoiding service duplication. During the Spring and Summer of 1996, six focus groups were conducted in Oregon to assess the quality of collaboration between local social service providers and Even Start, a federally funded family literacy program. The federal Even Start legislation required that all Even Start programs collaborate with social service providers in their local communities to improve services for families and avoid duplication of services. This study examined data from the Even Start focus groups using a three-level hierarchical model to determine the approximate level of collaboration that existed in each of six Even Start communities. Results of the analysis indicated that collaboration in three of the six Even Start communities was at or near coordination, the middle level of the three-level model. Collaboration in the other three communities appeared to be somewhere below the lowest level of the model, cooperation. Although agencies at such a minimal level of collaboration may consider each other partners, they are likely to have limited knowledge about each other's operations and clients. Because three of six Even Start communities fit below the lowest level of the model, the model had limited utility for this analysis. However, for interagency relationships at higher levels, the model was effective in helping to find the approximate intensity of collaboration. Although the primary focus of the model used in this analysis was on collaboration intensity, a comprehensive evaluation of collaboration would include numerous additional variables, especially outcomes related to the purposes of the interagency relationship. Several lessons learned during the course of this study have implications for future research. First, by creating data sets that are amenable to examination from multiple perspectives, qualitative methods offer unique flexibility for data collection in secondary circumstances such as the present study. Second, it is likely that collaboration in occurs in varied patterns, few of which resemble the highest levels of collaboration advocated by authors in the field. Finally, rather than broadly encouraging human service organizations to move toward the highest levels of collaboration, researchers need to provide answers to basic questions about what forms of collaboration are most helpful, in which circumstances, and why. / Graduation date: 1999

As increasing numbers of poor children enter child care programs due to changes in work requirements under the Welfare Reform Act, there is a critical need to examine factors that may affect the quality of care that these children receive. One factor that has received limited attention in the literature is how preservice teachers' perceptions of young children may vary according to characteristics of the child and the context in which the child exists. The current study employed an ecological person-process-context model to examine differences in preservice teachers' perceptions of children's social and cognitive competence. The sample for this study consisted of 68 children and 28 preservice teachers enrolled at a university-based preschool in Oregon. The preschool was the only site in the state featuring an integrated program in which Head Start children were enrolled with non-Head Start children under an Oregon Prekindergarten Program (OPP) grant. Hierarchical regression was used to determine if the contextual factor of enrollment in OPP would be a more significant contributor to preservice teachers' perceptions of children's social and cognitive competence than the person factors of child age, sex, race/ethnicity, temperament and actual child competence. Qualitative data was also collected through focus group discussions with preservice teachers. Sex was the most important contributor to preservice teachers' perceptions of children's social competence, followed by enrollment in OPP, actual social competence, and age. For preservice teachers' perceptions of children's cognitive competence, age was the most significant contributor, followed by actual cognitive competence, enrollment in OPP, and sex. While enrollment in OPP was not the most significant contributor to preservice teachers' perceptions of children's social and cognitive competence, it was still a significant contributor, beyond other person variables. For both social and cognitive competence, preservice teachers rated children enrolled in OPP lower than their non-OPP peers, girls higher than boys, and older children higher than younger children, even when the unique contribution of children's actual competence was included. Qualitative data generally supported these findings. Implications for research, policy, and practice are discussed. / Graduation date: 1999

The Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP) site selection protocol was used to generate a random sample of streams throughout the state of Oregon. One hundred and forty-six selected streams were sampled during the summer, low-flow period of 1997. Traditional microbial public health indicators, including heterotrophic plate counts (HPC), total coliforms (TC), fecal coliforms (FC) and E. coli, were enumerated using the membrane filtration technique. Nearly 17% (3.4-23.6%, 95% C.I.) of streams exceeded the current state of Oregon standard for water-contact recreation. Levels of bacteria were also shown to differ significantly by ecoregion. The Cascades ecoregion had low levels of all types of bacteria. The Willamette Valley, Columbia Plateau and Snake River Basin had high levels of one or more groups of bacteria measured. Twenty-six sites were resampled and FC and E. coli estimates were not significantly different for the different sampling dates. Biolog GN plates were used to provide a measure of the functional diversity of microbial communities for the same streams as above. Two groups were formed based on inoculum density and Biolog GN plates were analyzed using principal component analysis (PCA). The first few principal components explained nearly half of the variation of the data in both groups. Principal components were correlated with the average carbon source utilization, levels of coliform bacteria, and ecoregions. These results indicate that patterns produced by Biolog GN plates may be useful in the assessment of ecological condition of freshwater streams. Subsequent publications will explore the relationships between the pattern of substrate utilization of Biolog GN plates with other indicators of ecological function. / Graduation date: 1999

A random sample of Oregon motor carriers was selected to determine the effectiveness of the Accident Countermeasures (ACM), a process created to address the factors involved in truck accidents and recommendations a motor carrier may utilize to prevent future similar accidents from occurring. Two groups of fifty motor carriers were selected, one group with a record of no accidents in a 12 month period and a group of 50 carriers who had accidents in a 12 month period. All 100 carriers were interviewed. Half of the accident groups records were reviewed and the recommendations of the ACM were supplied to the carrier, the other half was utilized as the control group. Follow up data was collected for the following year and analysis was completed to measure the effectiveness. A total of 82 Oregon based carriers remained in the study throughout its completion. The method of multiple linear regression was utilized to determine whether any variables in the set of explanatory variables considered in this study are related to the accident rate of a company. Data indicates the effect of the Miles Per Vehicle Driven in 1994, Percent of Miles Driven in Urban and the Total Out of Service are statistically significant for the Accident Rate in 1995 for the control group and the study group. It appears however, the estimated difference is only practically significant for the Miles Per Vehicle Driven in 1994 (F=20.31, p=.0001). There is no evidence of a relationship between a trucking companies accident rate in 1995 and the Accident Counter Measures intervention program. (F=.18, p=.67) The difference between the mean accident rates for a company which received the accident counter measure intervention and a company that did not receive the accident counter measure intervention ranges from -.98 to .75 (95% Confidence Interval for the difference of means). / Graduation date: 1999

The purpose of this study was to determine new international students' perceptions of United States professors upon entrance into the university and after two months in class, and if differences in expectations exist between groups of students based on demographic variables. A survey designed to assess these expectations was administered to 81 new international students during the fall 1997 international student orientation sessions. The survey was readministered to respondents of the pre-test after two months to evaluate changes in their perceptions of U.S. professors. During winter term 1998 follow-up interviews were conducted with several students to confirm and expand upon the statistical data. Student responses to 12 of the 25 items changed significantly over time. Significant change occurred on items related to the value of international exchange, cultural adaptation, academic adaptation, and on some non-clustering items. In general, new international students held positive views of professors in the United States on both the pre- and post-tests. Of the demographic variables considered in the research, region of origin yielded the greatest number of significantly different responses between groups. European students generally held more positive views of professors in the United States than did Southeast Asian or East Asian students. Graduate status and prior experience in the United States also affected student response rates to certain items. Gender did not significantly affect response rates. Changes in pre- and post-test response rates indicate that students enter the university with expectations for U.S. professors that somewhat inaccurate. The findings also indicate that demographic variables significantly affect the expectations which new international students have upon arrival. The most effective manner to address these issues is to expand upon the information currently presented to new international students during orientation on topics such as classroom and academic expectations and student-faculty interaction. Addressing different perceptions based on demographic variables would require either multiple sessions to meet the needs of diverse student groups, or sessions which cover the above topics expansively. / Graduation date: 1998