The state gravity maps of Oregon and Washington show a gravity high centered south of Portland, Oregon and a gravity low in the Tualatin Valley to the west disrupting the regional gravity gradient which is controlled by crustal thickening. Detailed gravity surveys done in the Portland area are consistent with the state gravity maps but show considerably more detail. Quantitative interpretation of this data has provided new information on the subsurface structure in this area; recent work has yielded corroborative evidence for a fault zone bounding the east side of the Portland Hills, and has indicated the presence of faults under the Portland Basin to the east which were previously unknown.

Recently federal policy aimed at halting decline in urban neighborhoods has included a major focus on housing rehabilitation efforts. In the case of Portland, Oregon, federally funded improvement loans for owner-occupied housing units resulted in the rehabilitation of almost four thousand homes from 1975 until 1978, over twice the number of homes rehabilitated in any other city in the nation. The purpose of the present study was to examine and analyze the city's rehabilitation loan program in two ways. First, the loan process itself was examined to ascertain whether there were any deficiencies in the loan program which should be corrected. The second, and primary, focal point was the specific neighborhoods where rehabilitation loans have been funneled. The impact of the loan programs on the neighborhoods as communicated by their residents determined how successful Portland has been in dealing with urban decline through its loan programs. Prior to gathering primary data on the neighborhoods, several secondary sources of information were used. The Portland Development Commission's in-house evaluations of the loan process demonstrated strong recipient support for the program. A survey of loan recipient files showed loans going to low income families with few assets. Although half of the loans went to married couples, a substantial number of loans went to divorced women and widows. The majority of rehabilitated homes were over fifty years old, and their median assessed value was $16,500. Secondary data was also used to look at outside perceptions of changes taking place in loan neighborhoods. Real estate trends and mortgage and home improvement loan activities suggested that the impact of the government loan programs has not yet been substantial enough to trigger changes in private policies related to the neighborhoods. Primary data for the study came from a random sample survey of four hundred persons in four Portland neighborhoods. Two neighborhoods, one in the north section of the city and one in southeast, where loans have been given, were paired with two control neighborhoods where loans were not available. The survey instrument used contained 72 variables chosen as capable of determining what the impact of the loan program has been on loan recipients, their neighbors, and their neighborhoods. Four outcomes could have stemmed from the loan programs. The first possibility was that people living in the neighborhoods where Housing and Community Development loans have been granted should feel more positive about their neighborhood than those not living in HCD neighborhoods. A second consequence could have been that HCD neighborhoods are upgrading socio-economically. Third, HCD neighborhood residents simply may not have perceived improvements in their neighborhoods, or fourth, even if they perceive improvements, they do not show significantly higher levels of satisfaction with their neighborhoods than holds true for respondents living in the control neighborhoods. The data indicated that although residents in HCD neighborhoods do perceive improvements taking place in their neighborhoods, their levels of satisfaction with their neighborhoods are not significantly higher than satisfaction levels in non-loan neighborhoods. Socio-economic changes may be taking place in the Southeast HCD neighborhood. As for the loan process, the program was rated highly by the recipients of the loans, both in in-house evaluations done for the Portland Development Commission and as reported in the neighborhood survey. The study concludes that the city's efforts provided a solid first step in developing a strong commitment to strengthening inner city neighborhoods, but it is only a first step. A stronger commitment, particularly on the part of private industry, is needed to end urban neighborhood decline.

Over the last several years, the number of international students attending colleges and universities in the United States has increased substantially. While considerable time, effort, and university resources are often devoted to the recruitment of international students, it is unclear how well institutions are meeting the needs of these students. This growing number of international students requires foreign exchange professionals and university administrators to better understand the reasons why international students pursue higher education in the United States and the challenges they face. This exploratory case study is to examine the challenges international graduate students encounter in adjusting to their new status as graduate students. Six research questions framed this study: What difficulties do international students face in their first year in graduate school? What adjustments do they need to make in their first year in graduate school? What challenges do continuing international graduate students face? In what ways are perspectives of continuing international graduate students similar to perspectives of beginning international graduate students? What university support resources do international graduate students say are helpful? What PSU support resources are needed, but missing? The relevant literature addresses academic, social, psychological, cultural, financial, and housing adjustment challenges. The data for this research were collected by interviewing and surveying international graduate students at PSU. Data were analyzed using standard methods of qualitative data analysis. Consistent with the results from other research, this study reveals the following adjustment challenges: unsatisfactory accommodation; inadequate financial resources; lack of culturally specific programs that are intentional, flexible and accessible; unfamiliarity with the new educational system; limited English proficiency; undeveloped infrastructure for on-going orientation; insufficient health services information; and unavailability of international student mentoring programs. The findings of this study have the potential to inform both researchers and practitioners as institutions attempt to create sufficient international student support services.

Growing concern over earthquakes in the Pacific Northwest has prompted the mapping and location of near surface faults in the Portland area, Oregon. Visible evidence of faults is poor, requiring the use of geophysical methods to assist in mapping and defining structures in the basin. Gravity maps and models may help in addressing this problem.

The present thesis describes the connection between political corruption and vice crime in Portland as it was portrayed by media and public institutions and agencies in the 1940s and 1950s. The main body of the thesis discusses attempts to rid Portland of its vice problem through the City Club's crusade against crime and crooked politicians in the late 1940s and early 1950s and Mayor Dorothy McCullough Lee's subsequent reform movements against gambling and prostitution. The thesis will analyze The Oregonian's expose' on bootlegging, gambling, prostitution and links drawn by the newspaper to the Teamster's Union and Oregon politicians. From there, the study focuses on Washington D. C. and the McClellan Committee's 1950s hearings on the mismanagement and corruption of Teamster leaders in local and national chapters. Finally, the thesis analyzes the role of Portland's two daily newspapers and their contributions to the controversies and mixed messages over vice and crime in the city between World War II and 1957.

Evidence of physical decline due in part to the rapid encroachment of commercial and industrial activity into some of Portland's residential areas in the mid-1960s and efforts to combat the forces of time and change through neighborhood revitalization provide the basis for this study. Additionally, some of the characteristics often employed in explaining the phenomenon in cities are manifested in the city of Portland. For example, Portland is endowed with a distinctive and well established downtown area that provides opportunities for the establishment of businesses as well as white-collar job opportunities. By the standards of the U.S. Bureau of the Census, Portland has a relatively large population and several older neighborhoods. The city provides its residents the feel for inner-city living, such as its beautiful waterfront scenery, its high-rise and park block apartments, its cultural facilities and unique transit mall. These criteria underscore the selection of Portland as the geographical area of this research. The purpose of this research itself is to assess the urban structural changes that occurred in Portland between 1970 and 1980. The research used a sample of inner-city neighborhoods from the city to explain these structural changes over time. Additionally, two samples of neighborhoods (Northeast and Southeast) within the city were selected as the basis for comparing the structural changes. The data developed from the 1970 and 1980 census of population and housing characteristics comprised the change in the median household income ratio, the change in the home value ratio, and the change in the median rent ratio designated as dependent variables. Nine independent variables representing the pre-existing conditions in the city at the start of the decade were selected from locational, demographic, and housing factors. The research hypotheses were tested by regresslng the three dependent variables against the nine independent variables resulting in three regression models for each sample. The a priori expectations as reflected by the signs of the coefficients show mixed support for the hypotheses in each sample in predicted direction, and in level of significance. In the city sample the neighborhood housing quality factor was observed to have a strong positive causal relationship with neighborhood revitalization. The outcome confirmed the contention that a significant and systematic reverse revival trend occurred in Portland at the start of the 1970 decade. This finding contradicts the conventional invasion-succession theory associated with Burgess (1925). Similar reverse revival trends were observed in the Northeast and Southeast samples. But unlike the city sample the race factor had a strong positive causal relationship with revitalization. The outcome may be a reflection of the rental squeeze in terms of housing affordability faced by black renters in both subareas because their incomes could not keep pace with housing costs. Consequently their demand for rental housing may have grown faster than the supply of the rental housing stock in a segregated rental market. The chow tests show significant structural differences between the two submodels, but the impact of the race factor as reflected by the measures of relative variability was greater in Northeast Portland than in Southeast Portland. In light of the research findings, this study concludes that Portland may undoubtedly be the only city in the nation that experienced a significant and systematic revival trend between 1970 and 1980. However, this trend did not extend to the predominantly black areas of the city as reflected by the strong negative outcome of the race factor. In addition, the functional significance of the systematic revival trend in Portland may not be substantial when compared to larger and older cities like St. Louis and New Orleans that received media attention for a similar trend.

This study draws on census data and geographic information systems (GIS) to investigate the relationship between light rail transit (LRT) infrastructure development and gentrification in Portland, Oregon. While recent research using comprehensive measures of neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES) supports a potentially causal link between transit development and gentrification, research into the effects of transit on property values alone tends to dominate the discourse. This study therefore seeks to build on previous research to develop an index measure of neighborhood SES and SES change based on measures of education, occupation, and income, using census data from 1980-2010. This multifaceted measure of neighborhood SES is analyzed in relation to LRT access using correlation, OLS regression, and GIS hot spot and choropleth mapping. Findings: Throughout the study period, low SES neighborhoods largely disappeared from the City of Portland, while low-income households were gradually priced out. Simultaneously, the easternmost suburb of Gresham became more highly concentrated in low SES neighborhoods. No definitive relationship between LRT and SES is found along the Eastside Blue or Westside Blue Lines, but strong evidence is found supporting a positive effect of Yellow Line MAX development on the rapid gentrification of North Portland from 2000-2010. Regressions run on neighborhoods along the Yellow Line indicate that SES change was greatest for those that began the decade with large Black populations, low rents, and close proximity to stations. Findings are discussed through the theoretical framework of the urban growth machine, which suggests the differential relationship between LRT and neighborhood SES relates to the distinct values of different parts of the region for the pursuit of general growth goals.

From the dumpster-diving spiky haired dykes of the 1990s to the land-loving political lesbian folkies of the 1970s, queer women in Portland, OR have a long history of non-consumer-driven culture making, separatism and guitars. Remember Who You Are: The Story of Portland Dykecore explores the roots of the all-ages dyke-made music scene that exploded between 1990 and 2000.

In the Portland Metropolitan area, a wide range of programs and facilities, including informal arrangements, are used for the care of children outside their homes during some part of the day. These programs and facilities include those whose primary purpose is child development, education, or recreation (Headstart, Parent and Child Centers, Nursery Schools, Kindergartens, Extended School Services, and Play School). They also include day care provided by non-profit organizations such as churches and hospitals by private proprietory day care operators and independent family day care homes, and by employers and labor unions in addition to cooperatives. These programs involve a large number of personnel of diversified backgrounds and training. They include professionals, paraprofessionals and nonprofessionals. These programs need to be classified in order to facilitate sound planning and development of training programs to meet the needs of such manpower. For purposes of this study, they were viewed as constituting a social system. The emphasis was on the staff working directly with children. In addition to the operators or directors in charge of most facilities, day care centers have at least one other staff member who works directly with children. These include teachers and social workers. The objectives of the study were to describe the manpower elements in the day care centers and to ascertain training needs and present modes of agency training activities. It was expected to develop a training proposal to meet the needs of the manpower elements identified in the day care centers; if it was so determined by the results of the survey

Urban water use arises from a mix of scale-dependent biophysical and socioeconomic factors. In Portland, Oregon, single-family residential water use exhibits a tightly coupled relationship with summertime weather, although this relationship varies with land use patterns across households and neighborhoods. This thesis developed a multilevel regression model to evaluate the relative importance of weather variability, parcel land use characteristics, and neighborhood geographic context in explaining single-family residential water demand patterns in the Portland metropolitan area. The model drew on a high-resolution panel dataset of weekly mean summer water use over five years (2001-2005) for a sample of 460 single-family households spanning an urban-to-suburban gradient. Water use was found to be most elastic with respect to parcel-scale building size. Building age was negatively related to water use at both the parcel and neighborhood scale. Half the variation in water use can be attributed to between-household factors. Between-neighborhood variation exerted a modest but statistically significant effect. The analysis decomposed household temperature sensitivity into four components: a fixed effect common to all households, a household-specific deviation from the fixed effect, a separate extreme heat effect, and a land use effect, where lot size exaggerated the effect of temperature on water use. Results suggested that land use planning may be an effective non-price mechanism for long-range management of peak demand, as land use decisions have water use implications. The combined effects of population growth, urbanization, and climate change expose water providers to risk of water stress. Modeling fine-grain relationships among heat, land use, and water use across scales plays a role in long-range climate change planning and adaptation.