The purpose of this cross-sectional population study was to provide an assessment of weight status of a county's preschool population utilizing the new growth charts and expressed as Body Mass Index, or BMI, -for- age percentile. This study was conducted in conjunction with an annual health screen for incoming kindergartners and consisted of two phases. The first phase involved assisting in the collection of, and statistically analyzing preschoolers' data collected during the Tillamook Health Screen on May 23-25th, 2001. Height, weight, blood pressure, hemoglobin, and blood lead levels were measured. Also, the preschoolers' parents completed a 24-hour food intake record and answered questions on mealtime habits. Phase Two consisted of a mailed questionnaire that was sent to parents of preschoolers who were screened in May, 2001, to investigate dairy food consumption, where meals are eaten, and physical activity habits of their preschoolers. Four significant findings were documented in this research. Foremost, Tillamook County preschoolers had a lower prevalence of healthy weight and a higher prevalence of at risk of overweight and overweight levels than children their age nationwide. Also, both systolic and diastolic blood pressure increased with increasing BMI-for-age percentiles for males and females. Third, hours spent viewing television—sedentary behavior—was positively related to BMI-for-age percentiles. The combination of more hours of physical activity with less television viewing time was inversely related to BMI-for-age percentiles. Last, Tillamook County preschoolers who were above the healthy weight range ate more Food Guide Pyramid servings of concentrated fats/sweets than children in the healthy weight range. Data that were not strong enough to reach conclusions about weight status related to dairy product consumption, fat content of dairy products, mealtime habits, meals eaten away from home, blood hemoglobin, and blood lead. Also, no significant associations were found between dairy food intake and blood hemoglobin, blood lead, or blood pressure. Even at preschool ages, physical activity and diet are important to assess when increasing rates of overweight levels and associated increases in blood pressure are being investigated. / Graduation date: 2003

Pacific salmon populations in Johnson Creek, Portland, Oregon have been adversely impacted by urbanization, and by residential and agricultural land development. f Ecological impacts include loss or depletion of riparian vegetation features which directly influence stream and associated salmonid ecology. This research examines the nearstream riparian zone's contribution to instream habitat complexity for anadromous salmonids in Johnson Creek. Visual surveys were conducted on over half the stream length. Five features were assessed to determine the extent of riparian influenced stream habitat including, overhead enclosure, overhanging vegetation, undercut banks, and large and small woody debris and root wads. The stream survey showed that areas of riparian-influenced habitat are spatially intermittent and present in areas of the least stream disturbance. Suitable riparian habitat is limited to locations where there is minimal riparian disturbance, property management, and channelization. I Although salmonid populations have been reduced, insufficient riparian influenced salmonid habitat features are not the primary limiting factor on salmon populations. Other factors such as pollution, sedimentation, hatchery fish introduction, low flows, inadequate food supplies, high stream temperatures, repress wild salmon populations.

The study of food and foodways is a field that has until quite recently mostly been neglected as a field of history despite the importance that food plays in culture and as a necessity for life. The study of immigrant foodways and the mixing of and hybridization of foods and foodways that result has been studied even less, although one person has done extensive research on Western influences on the foodways of Japan since 1853. This paper is an attempt to study the how and in what forms the foodways of America-and in particular of Oregon-changed with the arrival of Japanese immigrants beginning in the late-nineteenth century, and how the foodways of the first generation immigrant Japanese-the Issei-did and did not change after their arrival. In a broad sense, this is a study of globalization during an era when globalization was still a slow and uneven process and there were still significant differences between the foodways of America and Japan.

This study examined factors related to the teaching effectiveness of adjunct faculty in higher education. Specifically, it explored the relationship between personality, as defined by the Five-Factor Model, occupation, and student ratings of teaching effectiveness. Results indicate that personality is correlated to an instructor's classroom behavior and education goals, which in turn are related to teaching effectiveness. In addition, instructors with occupations in social services and education had significantly higher mean teaching effectiveness scores than those from other occupations. Finally, there was an inverse relationship between age and teaching effectiveness in this study, and a positive relationship between teaching experience and teaching effectiveness. Although instructors may not be able to change their personality, they can modify their behavior and teaching practices to increase their effectiveness as educators.

Many French-speaking people came to the Pacific Northwest. Although most came from Quebec, some traveled from as far away as France, Belgium and Switzerland. When they arrived in Oregon Territory, a juxtaposition of three cultures merged to form a unique French-speaking community governed by a dominant Western Anglo-American character and a living Indian culture for daily subsistence. Most importantly, the French brought their own traditions from Quebec and France. Also, French individuality became altered upon their arrival and through their necessity to adapt to the strange, unknown wilderness of the Pacific Northwest. Some changes came through the need for convenience, such as learning to maneuver a canoe across a quiet lake or down a swift moving stream. Such skills enabled them to cover large distances quickly. Other adaptations developed through a need for survival, such as learning the ways of unknown Indian cultures and living amongst them, or the methods to hunt and eat different types of game for their dinner.

The ways in which sex workers have been studied and represented historically, socio-politically and academically do not take into account their voices, subjective experiences and participation in the process. Women working in the sex industry are seldom heard and their needs are consistently defined and represented by others. This contributes to the stereotyping and stigmatization of sex workers, while academic research is consistently being done on sex workers instead of with them. This study uses the arts-based research method of photovoice with individuals working in the sex industry in Portland, Oregon to understand their needs and aspirations through their own artistic self-representation. Understanding sex workers’ needs from their own point of view provides the opportunity for collaborative knowledge creation of important issues in order to enhance social service design and delivery, and advocate for social change. Valuing sex workers’ aspirations supports the acknowledgement of individual strengths, skills, and visions. Drawing from techniques of interpretive phenomenological analysis methods, the themes that emerge to illustrate the participants’ needs and aspirations include: sustainability of the body; nourishment of the heart; fostering of the mind and soul; social justice and activism; dreams and desires; and self-empowerment and identity. The participants create meaning from their photographs through the use of self, performance, bodies, emotions, imagination, intellect, humor and story-telling. The role of intersectionality informs the sex workers’ diverse experiences and their unique ways of self-expression. The researcher uses collage as reflexivity to illustrate, contextualize and reflect her physical, emotional, and mental experiences throughout the study. The multiple art exhibits that ensue from this study allow for the artists’ visions and voices to travel to a broad audience beyond academia, in order to reach influential community advocates and challenge stigma and stereotypes. This arts-based study presents the richness and complexity of alternative forms of data, invites new levels of engagement that are both cognitive and emotional, and provides creative ways through which to explore and understand the experiences of sex workers.

This study examines the relationship between social class and adolescents conceptions of work. Four major areas of the adolescent's work experience are examined: (1) tasks and training, (2) relations with co-workers and managers, (3) organizational structure and change, and (4) family life and work. Forty female adolescent, nonmanagerial employees who worked part time at McDonald's franchise stores were interviewed.

The author employs research skills from law, history and religion in order to present an account of the relations of law and religion in Oregon's history from its earliest days to the present.

One hundred and eighty-six soil samples from Northwest Oregon were tested for arsenic content. The highest values measured were 13.9 ppm in the A horizon (site C4) and 20.4 ppm in the B horizon (Site P4). Arsenic was not detected in 28 A horizon samples and 23 B horizon samples. Data are grouped based on the age and rock type of underlying bedrock. Lithologic groups with six or more data points were compared statistically to ascertain if groups are distinct. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) multiple comparison tests indicate that the arsenic content of the Marine Sediments and Sedimentary Rocks group samples is distinguishable from the Quaternary Basalts group in the A horizon and all other groups in the B horizon. Kruskal-Wallis multiple comparison tests indicate that the arsenic content of the Marine Sediments and Sedimentary Rocks group is distinguishable from the Quaternary Basalts, Quaternary/ Tertiary Sediments and Sedimentary Rocks and Volcanic Sediments groups in both the A and B soil horizons. The ANOVA and Kruskal-Wallis tests compared A and B horizon data by lithologic group. The ANOVA shows the Marine Sediments and Sedimentary Rocks group in the A horizon is distinct from the Quaternary Basalts in the A and B horizon. The Kruskal-Wallis test yielded the same result. Per the ANOVA, the Marine Sediments and Sedimentary Rocks in the B horizon are distinct from all other tested groups. The Kruskal-Wallis test shows the Marine Sediments and Sedimentary Rocks group in the B horizon as distinct from the Quaternary Basalts, Quaternary/ Tertiary Sediments, and Volcanic Sediments groups in the A and B horizon. A K-means cluster analysis was used to group all available data independent of underlying bedrock. Three, four, and five group analyses were conducted, and the results of these tests were compared to the data grouped by underlying rock type. No correlation between the groups resulting from the K-means cluster analysis and groups based on underlying lithology was found. This analysis supports the creation of a map distinguishing arsenic content in the soils above Marine Sediments and Sedimentary Rocks group units from arsenic content in all other tested lithologic groups. The mean and standard deviations of these groups (in ppm) are: A horizon: Marine Sediments (6.09 ±2.66); other groups (3.10 ±3.19); B horizon: Marine Sediments (10.26 ±4.65); other groups (3.13, ±2.52). This analysis indicates that geologic context must be taken into account when determining background levels of naturally occurring arsenic in soils.

Invasive species degrade ecosystems by altering natural processes and decreasing the abundance and diversity of native flora. Communities with major fluctuations in resource supply allow invasive species to exploit limiting resources making the community prone to invasion. In the Pacific Northwest, urban forests characterized with limited light and seasonally limited soil moisture are being dominated by nonnative English ivy (Hedera spp). Three observational studies were conducted in the Southern end of Forest Park within the Balch Creek Subwatershed in Portland, Oregon in order to understand 1) how English ivy changes over three growing seasons, 2) how the native understory composition responds to English ivy, 3) if the dominance of English ivy reduces soil moisture to neighboring plants, 4) how English ivy and two co-occurring native herbs (Hydrophyllum tenuipes and Vancouveria hexandra) physiologically respond to seasonal changes in soil moisture. Percent cover of the understory community was collected in both 2010 and 2013 growing seasons in 54 plots in order to understand the change in cover over time. Community response and the relationship with soil moisture was analyzed using percent cover of the understory community and associated environmental variables including soil moisture collected in 128 plots during the 2013 field season. Finally, 15 plots with co-occurring Hedera spp, H. tenuipes and V. hexandra were sampled for stomatal conductance, leaf water potential, and associated environmental variables. Results show ivy cover increases on average 14% between 2010 and 2013 while native understory cover increased on average < 1%. Once ivy forms dense cover over 44% there is a reduction of native richness, diversity and herb cover while also an increase in available soil moisture and deciduous canopy cover. There were disparate impacts to different functional groups and between species. As functional group, the herbaceous community was the most impacted by ivy invasion. The shrubs and fern community had a variable response to ivy invasion. Many of the fern and shrub species least impacted by ivy also had associations with high soil moisture and deciduous canopy cover. Finally, data suggests that ivy does not take advantage of seasonally limiting soil moisture to invade the understory community. This study indicates that English ivy is both efficient at water use and may have the ability to obtain water from distant locations throughout the forest. Once established, ivy has the ability to alter the community composition. Ivy removal and habitat restoration are essential in order to maintain and enhance biodiversity in Forest Park.