Commercial corridors in neighborhoods experiencing change have been relegated to a footnote in research on residential phenomena. It is taken for granted that the process of change experience by businesses within these neighborhoods mirrors that of the residential change. This assumption is often predicated on the underlying model of invasion succession, suggesting that inmovers displace native populations, whether they are residents or businesses. Analyzing time series data on neighborhood commercial corridor change, research attempted to first test data against the invasion succession model to see if it is an effective framework for analysis. Second, through comparison of case study areas and data along the aggregated corridor, insights are advanced to spur development of a valid model for examining neighborhood commercial corridor change as a unique process with regular spatio-temporal patterns. This framework, it is suggested, is the first step towards understanding the impact of external forces, including social actors, on the neighborhood commercial landscape.

Particles mobilized by stormwater negatively affect receiving surface waters. Stormwater best management practices (BMPs) can reduce solids along with associated pollutants in runoff but engineers and environmental managers have been long vexed by the problem of choosing the optimal BMP for a given situation. A common BMP process for solids removal is sedimentation. This thesis addresses the question of whether the effectiveness (and thus choice) of a sedimentation device can be estimated (and thus optimized) from the particle size properties of runoff, which, in turn, could be associated with specific runoff zones or land uses. Presented here is a series of experiments to determine the solids-removal capabilities of a manufactured oil-water separator that also removes solids via sedimentation. A statistical model developed from the experimental data shows that, under normal operating conditions, influent particle size can be used to accurately estimate effluent total suspended solids (TSS) for BMPs of this type. Relationships between particle size and particle-bound metal concentrations for Cu, Zn and Pb were then obtained from the literature and incorporated into the model to allow estimates of metal removal efficiencies based on TSS and PSD. The model can be used with an arbitrary particle size distribution (PSD); this allows effluent quality predictions to be made considering that particle sizes entering stormwater BMPs could vary due to anthropogenic, hydraulic or hydrologic factors. To place these experimental and modeling results in the context of an urban environment, samples of deposited stormwater solids were collected from residential areas, commercial areas and an industrial zone in Portland, Oregon, and the PSD of each sample was determined using light obstruction particle sizing. PSDs ranging over sizes from 3μm to 200μm vary among these locations. Areas with high anthropogenic impact were found to have PSDs skewed toward the smallest particle sizes. The statistical model developed here was then used to show that the effluent quality of the BMP tested would differ depending on the locations where solids were collected. The evidence presented in this thesis thus indicates that device performance will correlate with geographic locations or land use zone and validates further investigation into delineating the City of Portland's characteristic runoff zones and using the runoff characteristics of each zone to map it to the most desirable treatment practices.

In this study marital status and the alcoholism or non-alcoholism of the spouse are hypothesized to be important factors affecting the female alcoholic's personality and treatability.

Six general hypotheses guided the development of the study: The older person experiences progressive disengagement from society resulting in feelings of isolation, depression, frustration, and despair; the aging person is dissatisfied with the degree of this process of social disengagement; the aging person gains satisfaction by participating in activities which lead to individual growth and/or benefit to others; the aging person lacks capacity and/or desire to participate in many activities or to continue the full-time roles of parent, job holder, and citizen; the aging person would like to choose his activities according to his desires and needs; and the aging person will more likely participate in activities if he is able to obtain adequate health care and has financial security. Descriptive and statistical inferential tests were used to analyze the data. A relatively small percentage of possible disengagement in the recreational, occupational, and family life areas occurred during the individual's life span from age 40 to age 70. The percentage of possible disengagement in these areas increased dramatically in the life span from age 70. Most of the respondents rejected loneliness and depression and felt in good spirits most of the time. A tendency toward less and less contact with others was seen. Statistically significant differences were found between activities which were presently enjoyed which were basically individual and passive in nature; and activities respondents would plan for themselves, which were of a significantly more social nature involving them in rewarding activity with others. Statistically significant differences were found between interest in the activity program available at Northwest Tower, basically recreation and entertainment; and the activities respondents would include in their program, mainly designed for self-enhancement or benefit to others. Statistically significant differences were also found between the number of activities available and the smaller number desired. The findings suggested that the preponderance of the respondents desired to withdraw from major responsibilities outside their household. Of those who desired responsibilities such as occupation, family or civic, they were prevented from assuming them most of the time because of their increasing age, deteriorating health, and lack of money. These were also the main factors operant in restricting their activity and preventing them from enjoying satisfactory ways of living. The majority of opinions as to society's responsibility to the aging suggested that intervention was necessary to provide financial security, health care, and better and cheaper methods of transportation. The findings of the study suggested the importance of more intensive research in planning programs directly related to meeting the individual needs of elderly people.

In view of the current diversity of public opinion concerning the legalization of abortion in this country, it appears timely that a study of the pragmatic issues faced in obtaining an abortion be undertaken. The researchers see this as a step toward narrowing the lag between the enactment of the abortion law and the delivery of services that allow the right of abortion to be an accessible choice for women. There has been a change in public opinion, regarding the right of abortion, only recently. In 1960, a public opinion poll showed that fewer than 15 percent of the population believed that women have the right to have an abortion if they so choose. In 1969, that figure rose to 40 percent and in 1971 over 50 percent of the population polled believed abortion to be a legal right for women, as stated by Nancy Brown in Abortion; Women's Fight for the Right to Choose. This study has been designed to ascertain which problems, if any, a woman has in arranging for and financing a legal abortion once she has decided to terminate a pregnancy.

This purpose of this study is to incorporate women into the history of homelessness. Women's experience is missing from the narrative of industrial era homelessness, which causes researchers to make a distinction between the modem day homeless population and its predecessors. This distinction prevents researchers from examining the long term structural causes of homelessness and analyzing the role homelessness plays in U.S. society. This study explores the population characteristics and living conditions of three groups of women who were considered homeless during the early decades of the twentieth century in Portland. These groups include single working women who lived away from their family, prostitutes, and single mothers. This study also traces the development of charitable institutions and social welfare programs that arose to meet the needs of homeless women during this era and examines the relationships between homeless women and the reformers and charities that took up their cause. The inclusion of women's experience into the history of early twentieth century homelessness necessitates a broadened definition of the homeless phenomenon. Women's homelessness during this era was both defined and determined by their family situation. Women who lived outside of the patriarchal family were considered homeless and suffered economic hardship because of their non-traditional living arrangements. Incorporating an analysis of home back into homelessness will result in non-gendered policy implications. Labor market remedies and affordable housing solutions are still needed, but changes to the structure of the household economy are also called for. The unpaid labor women traditionally perform must be socially and economically valued and the sexual division of labor within the home needs to be challenged.

This dissertation examines unequal outcomes of urban transportation policies in the neoliberal era. It focuses on inequalities in the Portland, Oregon metro area between 1994 and 2011 as measured in three key areas: 1) access to public transit; 2) the journey-to-work; and 3) "household-serving" trips. Growing concern over the harmful impacts from an increasing dependence on cars has led planners in the U.S. to encourage a modal shift from private car to public transit, bicycling, and walking. The required policies to make this modal shift possible, however, might inadvertently be benefiting "choice" riders at the cost of transport disadvantaged groups. Other contributing factors to this unequal benefit appear to be the suburbanization of poverty, an ongoing gentrification of central areas, and market forces that make it difficult for low income groups to afford housing in transit-rich neighborhoods. The Oregon Household Activity and Travel surveys are used to answer the three major research questions in this dissertation: what has been the effect of neoliberalism on access to public transit?, how do gender, race/ethnicity, and income inequality affect the journey-to-work in Portland?, and how do household-serving trips vary by gender in Portland? Six hypothesis are tested in answering these questions. Those related to access to transit draw on Fred Block's theory of the capitalist state and the "urban growth machine" concept, both of which predict spatially unequal outcomes from neoliberal ideology. Hypotheses about the journey to work draw on a rich body of literature around social relations in the household and the job market, as well as residential location. The final question, about household-serving trips, draws on theories of gender socialization. Findings showed that: (i) individuals in the Portland metro area had less access overall to bus public transit in 2011 than in 1994; (ii) impoverished dependent riders have lost access to transit service over time, whereas choice dependent riders increased their access to public transit; (iii) low income groups have been "forced" into greater car-ownership, in part due to the lower access to public transit; (iv) women in Portland have shorter journey-to-work trips than men; (v) Blacks have longer journey-to-work trips than Whites and Latinos; (vi) low-income individuals have shorter journey-to-work trips than higher income individuals; and (vii) women with children make more household-serving trips than men in similar family structures.

Since the early 1990s Oregon has witnessed an economic and politically based influx of immigrants and refugees. Most refugees resettled in Oregon initially settled in the greater Portland metro area, and Portland currently ranks eleventh among cities around the country that resettle international refugees. This research focuses on the reception and resettlement experiences of one sub-group of refugees and immigrants: those from Somalia. In the Portland area, Somalis are a largely marginalized social group. They live on the peripheries of society and are often segregated (physically as well as culturally) in what is historically a racially and culturally homogenous state. To date, limited research has focused on the reception experiences and adjustment challenges of the local Somali community. The intent of this descriptive case study is to explore and record the arrival and adjustment experiences and perspectives of Somali refugees and immigrants, so as to understand their journey of displacement and resettlement holistically. It investigates the context of their acclimatization into US society via the Portland urban area. It, more specifically, explores the nature of the arrival and adjustment experiences of the community, as well as the factors influencing them. It attempts to understand how these factors and the overall experience of adjustment influence the negotiation and construction of individual and collective identity of the local Somalis. In understanding the overall experience of resettlement within the community, the study also explores how well the needs of the community are met when it comes to support services and other resources for adaptation. Seventeen participants were interviewed from the community, and they indicated that the journey of adjustment is an on-going one that needs to be understood holistically while incorporating all the stages of exile: from displacement to resettlement. Identity formation and negotiation is a key process that emerged within the narratives, through which the experience of resettlement is maneuvered. Within the local community, identity informs the participation of Somalis within social networks, as well as the myriad social roles they take on as individuals, family members, and community members. This study finds some important similarities and differences in the experiences of the local Somalis with other local and national immigrant and refugee groups.

This thesis aims to investigate local conditions of high-tech industry development in the Portland/Vancouver CMSA. To do so, the research proceeds in four major stages. First, it is analyzed how historical factors contributed to the rise of high-tech industries in the CMSA. The second part consists of mapping the distribution pattern of hightech establishments. The U.S. Bureau of Census' County Business Patterns statistics are used to calculate the number of high-tech establishments and employees by branch (SIC code) and county; two high-tech directories help to identify the exact firm locations. Thirdly, an explanatory set of locational factors is established, based on interviews with various regional and local economic development agencies and on a review of relevant economic theories. Finally, the impact of state and local policies on high-tech firm locational decisions is elaborated. The development of high-tech industries in the Portland/Vancouver CMSA can be divided up into three phases. While the first phase (1945 to 1974) is mainly distinguished by local entrepreneurship, the second phase (1975 to 1984) is characterized by an in-migration of high-tech firms headquartered outside the Pacific Northwest. Beginning in 1985 (phase III), Japanese high-tech investment became the most significant growth factor. High-tech establishments are not evenly distributed over the metropolitan area, but their locations are rather marked by distinctive clusters. Recent high-tech industry development is largely a suburban phenomenon, avoiding inner-city areas and the CMSA's eastside with its traditional metalworking industry base. Most Californian and foreign-owned high-tech companies have established only standardized branch production and assembly facilities in the Portland/Vancouver CMSA to take advantage of low business costs. Although the high quality of life enables high-tech firms to recruit easily scientific, engineering, and technical personnel to the CMSA, the majority of companies has not yet set up R&D centers. Main reason is the missing link to a prominent research university nearby. Therefore, state and local policies have shifted their focus from attracting foreign branch plants to improving the quality of educational institutions.

The greatest appreciation is extended to all who contributed valuable time to assist with this project. In particular, Barry Messer, from the Recycling Education Project at Portland State University, who recommended study ideas and provided integral information; Bruce Walker, from the City of Portland, who granted many interviews and was always willing to answer questions; Steve Apotheker, from Resource Recycling, who invited me to use the office library and spent time discussing current recycling issues; Deborah Adams, from Metro, who furnished me with essential data; and Wess Brenner, from the Academic Computing Center, who contributed substantial time to help in the analysis of the data. Additionally, Mara Tableman, from the Mathematical Sciences Department and Dr. Robert Fountain, from the Statistics Consulting Laboratory provided considerable advise about statistical procedures. I also deeply thank my parents, Rob Allerman, Jennifer Wheelan, and other friends and family who supported me throughout the completion of this document. Joel Freedman particularly, provided continual encouragement, unending patience and sound counsel. From the Geography department, I extend my sincere gratitude to Carolyn Perry and my committee, Joseph Porascky, Thomas Harvey and most importantly, my advisor, Dr. Teresa Bulman.