The purpose of this study was to describe women's outdoor garments worn in Oregon from 1880 to 1920 to determine whether there were garment differences between the Willamette Valley and Eastern Oregon. The question addressed was: can garment differences be explained by the different Oregon climates, geographic locations, and availability...
New technology may have negative, as well as positive, effects on a sociocultural system. Biodiesel is growing in popularity as a fuel alternative that addresses global warming and reduces dependency on petroleum. The biodiesel innovation fits well into the existing behavioral infrastructure of Linn and Benton Counties, Oregon. The introduction...
This thesis explores the complexity of relationships between communities and the ecosystems in which they live through a focus on forest restoration and fuels reduction on private land. As a case study, research took place in the Klamath-Siskiyou region of rural Northern California, in Humboldt and Siskiyou counties. The research...
This thesis examines the motivations of ecological restoration volunteers with the Oregon chapter of The Nature Conservancy. This study helps fill in voids left by a lack of research on the motivations of ecological restoration volunteers. Studies that have explored restoration volunteer motivation relied largely on surveys that revealed altruistic...
This study examines the utilization of health care by Korean American women in Pierce County, Washington. Pierce County, with its large population of Asian Americans, offers a variety of health care options, everything from biomedicine to acupuncture and herbal remedies. Regarding the multitude of options available, I asked the question...
In this thesis, I argue that using principles of restorative justice as a guide in the resolution of sexual harassment claims is more efficacious than a traditional retributive approach. I support this claim by synthesizing the work of Phillip Hallie, Josiah Royce and Martin Buber in order to come to...
My goal is to demonstrate that a coevolutionary relationship exists between decentralized networks over which digital media are used and the control mechanisms placed on those networks and digital media. The resisting digital media and the control mechanisms placed on them push each other toward further decentralization. The aspects of...
Walt Whitman looked to the natural world, which he considered an original example of divine creation, for insights into the methods and patterns of the Creative Force; the poet then intuited connections between these divine natural patterns and human existence and spirituality. Convinced of the divinity of the human body,...
This paper explores the language theories of Gary Snyder, an important modern environmental author whose early work was associated with the Beat movement of the early 1950's. I am particularly interested in Snyder's thoughts on how language relates to nature. I focus primarily on Snyder's prose in attempts to understand...
The perplexing condition of chronic pain, particularly low back pain, is the catalyst for interest in this research project. It is specifically focused on treatment trajectories of individuals experiencing chronic low back pain. The predominant interest is the utilization of alternative treatments and that of mainstream medicine (also referred to...