Digital Commons Network^™

The Learning Gardens Laboratory: Teaching Sustainability And Developing Sustainable Food Systems Through Unique Partnerships, Heather Burns, Weston Miller

Educational Leadership and Policy Faculty Publications and Presentations

Garden-based education programs at the Learning Gardens Laboratory (LGL) in Portland, Oregon, have been developed in a partnership between Portland State University and Oregon State University in order to advance the development of sustainable food systems and sustainability education. Learning gardens serve as rich sustainability learning sites due to their ecological and sociocultural benefits, and provide a hands-on way for students to engage in interconnected issues and begin to participate in solving complex problems. At LGL there is an understanding that developing sustainable food systems also requires teaching and learning practices that reflect the goals of sustainability education. Our primary …

Faculty Senate Monthly Packet May 2012, Portland State University Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Monthly Packets

The May 2012 Monthly packet includes the May agenda and appendices and the Faculty Senate minutes and attachments from the meeting held April 2012.

Host Plant Use By Competing Acacia-Ants: Mutualists Monopolize While Parasites Share Hosts, Stefanie Kautz, Daniel J. Ballhorn, Johannes Kroiss, Steffen U. Pauls, Corrie S. Moreau, Sascha Eilmus, Erhard Strohm, Martin Heil

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Protective ant-plant mutualisms that are exploited by non-defending parasitic ants represent prominent model systems for ecology and evolutionary biology. The mutualist Pseudomyrmex ferrugineus is an obligate plant-ant and fully depends on acacias for nesting space and food. The parasite Pseudomyrmex gracilis facultatively nests on acacias and uses host-derived food rewards but also external food sources. Integrative analyses of genetic microsatellite data, cuticular hydrocarbons and behavioral assays showed that an individual acacia might be inhabited by the workers of several P. gracilis queens, whereas one P. ferrugineus colony monopolizes one or more host trees. Despite these differences in social organization, neither …

Raps Sheet, May 2012, Retirement Association Of Portland State

RAPS Sheet: Monthly Newsletter

No abstract provided.

The Case For Graphic Novels, Steven Hoover

Communications in Information Literacy

Many libraries and librarians have embraced graphic novels. A number of books, articles, and presentations have focused on the history of the medium and offered advice on building and maintaining collections, but very little attention has been given the question of how integrate graphic novels into a library's instructional efforts. This paper will explore the characteristics of graphic novels that make them a valuable resource for librarians who focus on research and information literacy instruction, identify skills and competencies that can be taught by the study of graphic novels, and will provide specific examples of how to incorporate graphic novels …

Faculty Senate Monthly Packet April 2012, Portland State University Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Monthly Packets

The April 2012 Monthly packet includes the April agenda and appendices and the Faculty Senate minutes and attachments from the meeting held March 2012

Content-Based Instruction Website For Course Modules, Pelin Basci

World Languages and Literatures Faculty Publications and Presentations

This presentations focuses on content-based instruction for course modules - a Turkish sample.

Associations Between The Quality Of The Residential Built Environment And Pregnancy Outcomes Among Women In North Carolina, Marie Lynn Miranda, Lynne C. Messer, Gretchen L. Kroeger

Community Health Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background: The built environment, a key component of environmental health, may be an important contributor to health disparities, particularly for reproductive health outcomes.Objective: In this study we investigated the relationship between seven indices of residential built environment quality and adverse reproductive outcomes for the City of Durham, North Carolina (USA).

Methods: We surveyed approximately 17,000 residential tax parcels in central Durham, assessing > 50 individual variables on each. These data, collected using direct observation, were combined with tax assessor, public safety, and U.S. Census data to construct seven indices representing impor­tant domains of the residential built environment: housing damage, property disorder, …

Urban Ecology & Conservation Symposium 2012: 10th Annual (Abstracts), Urban Ecosystem Research Consortium Of Portland/Vancouver

Urban Ecosystem Research Consortium of Portland/Vancouver

The UERC is a consortium of people from various universities and colleges, state and federal agencies, local governments, non-profit organizations and independent professionals interested in supporting urban ecosystem research and creating an information-sharing network of people that collect and use ecological data in the Portland/Vancouver area.

UERC Mission Statement:

To advance the state of the science of urban ecosystems and improve our understanding of them, with a focus on the Portland/Vancouver metropolitan region, by fostering communication and collaboration among researchers, managers and citizens at academic institutions, public agencies, local governments, non-profit organizations, and other interested groups.

The principal organizers span …

Lines That Don’T Divide, City Club Of Portland (Portland, Or.)

City Club of Portland

No abstract provided.

Developing An Integrated History And Future Of People On Earth (Ihope), Robert Costanza, Ida Kubiszewski, Scott Heckbert, Kathy A. Hibbard, Sander Van Der Leeuw, Steve Aulenbach, Simon Brewer, Michael Burek, Sarah Cornell, Carole L. Crumley, Lisa J. Graumlich, Michelle Hegmon, Stephen T. Jackson, Paul Sinclair, Sverker Sörlin, W. L. Steffen, Carl Folke, J. A. Dearing, Vernon Scarborough

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

The Integrated History and future of People of Earth (IHOPE) initiative is a global network of researchers and research projects with its International Program Office (IPO) now based at the Stockholm Resilience Center (SRC), Upsalla University, Arizona State University, Portland State University, and the Australian National University. Research linked to IHOPE demonstrates that Earth system changes in the past have been strongly associated with changes in the coupled human-environment system. IHOPE supports integrating knowledge and resources from the biophysical and the social sciences and the humanities to address analytical and interpretive issues associated with coupled human-earth system dynamics. This integration …

Artificial Modifications Of The Coast In Response To The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: Quick Solutions Or Long-Term Liabilities?, M. Luisa Martinez, Rusty A. Feagin, Kevin M. Yeager, John W. Day, Robert Costanza, Jim A. Harris, Richard J. Hobbs, Jorge López-Portillo, Ian J. Walker, Eric Higgs, Patricia Moreno-Casasola, Julio Sheinbaum, Alejandro Yáñez-Arancibia

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill threatened many coastal ecosystems in the Gulf of Mexico during the spring and summer of 2010. Mitigation strategies included the construction of barrier sand berms, the restriction or blocking of inlets, and the diversion of freshwater from rivers to the coastal marshes and into the ocean, in order to flush away the oil, on the premise that these measures could reduce the quantity of oil reaching sensitive coastal environments such as wetlands or estuaries. These projects result in changes to the ecosystems that they were intended to protect. Long-term effects include alterations of the hydrological …

A Cross-Sectional Study Of Us Rural Adults’ Consumption Of Fruits And Vegetables: Do They Consume At Least Five Servings Daily?, M. Nawal Lutfiyya, Linda F. Chang, Martin S. Lipsky

Community Health Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background: Rural residents are increasingly identified as being at greater risk for health disparities. These inequities may be related to health behaviors such as adequate fruits and vegetable consumption. There is little national-level population-based research about the prevalence of fruit and vegetable consumption by US rural population adults. The objective of this study was to examine the prevalence differences between US rural and non-rural adults in consuming at least five daily servings of combined fruits and vegetables.

Methods: Cross-sectional analysis of weighted 2009 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey (BRFSS) data using bivariate and multivariate techniques. 52,259,789 US adults were identified …

A Novel Tool For Assessing And Summarizing The Built Environment, Gretchen L. Kroeger, Lynne C. Messer, Sharon E. Edwards, Marie Lynn Miranda

Community Health Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background: A growing corpus of research focuses on assessing the quality of the local built environment and also examining the relationship between the built environment and health outcomes and indicators in communities. However, there is a lack of research presenting a highly resolved, systematic, and comprehensive spatial approach to assessing the built environment over a large geographic extent. In this paper, we contribute to the built environment literature by describing a tool used to assess the residential built environment at the tax parcel-level, as well as a methodology for summarizing the data into meaningful indices for linkages with health data. …

Sustainable Activism: The Hanford Nuclear Reservation, Laura Feldman

Leadership for Sustainability Education Comprehensive Papers

This is a proposal for a community/university partnership which would integrate education and activism, "Sustainable Activism" into the PSU sustainability curriculum. This collaboration would provide students and community members with the opportunity to share expertise and resources in addressing the dangerous transportation and storage of nuclear wastes in our bio-region. Through place-based, participatory learning activities, such as a nuclear pilgrimage to Hanford, we will renew and celebrate our relationship with the ecosystems and communities along the Columbia River, and begin to heal the sacrificial landscape that is Hanford.

Annual Faculty Senate Minutes October 2012 - June 2013, Portland State University Faculty Senate

Annual Compilations of the Faculty Senate Minutes (Minutes Only)

Minutes of the Faculty Senate for October 2012 to June 2013.

Crime Emergence And Simulation Modeling: Modeling Crime Space, Patricia Brantingham, Kathryn Wuschke, Richard Frank, Paul J. Brantingham

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications and Presentations

This chapter explores several new modeling approaches and research findings, showing how they may be used to explore and enhance theory. There is a special emphasis on Target Choice Selection, focusing on Crime Pattern Theory and the Geometry of Crime (Brantingham and Brantingham, 1978a, 1984, 1991; Brantingham and Brantingham, 1981, 1993a, 2008). This exploration is described through a series of research examples and a case study of the target choice behavior of high repeat offenders. The goal is to explore the emergence of patterns better understood against the urban backcloths for high repeat offenders. Emphasis is in this case study …

Bulletin: General Catalog Issue 2012-2013, Portland State University

Bulletin & Curriculum Change Documents

No abstract provided.

Long Trails Project: Identifying Opportunities, Solving Problems, And Exploring Implementation, Portland State University

Regional Planning and Metropolitan Growth Management Research Projects

This document presents the final report of the Long Trails Project, a partnership with the Oregon Parks Department and USP 549: Regional Planning and Metropolitan Growth Management, a course offered to graduate planning students in the Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning at Portland State University. It is divided into 5 sections: (1.) History of Long Trails and Regional Trail Networks (2.) Long Trails in Northwestern Oregon (3.) The Demand for Long Trails-based Recreation (4.) Long Trails and Community Economic Development (5.) Long Trails Implementation.

This technical report is edited by Dr. Ethan Seltzer

Conceptualizing Neighborhood Space: Consistency And Variation Of Associations For Neighborhood Factors And Pregnancy Health Across Multiple Neighborhood Units, Lynne C. Messer, Lisa C. Vinikoor-Imler, Barbara A. Laraia

Community Health Faculty Publications and Presentations

The purpose of this research was to assess the consistency of associations between neighborhood characteristics and pregnancy-related behaviors and outcomes across four nested neighborhood boundaries using race-stratified fixed-slope random-intercept multilevel logistic models. High incivilities was associated with increased smoking, inadequate weight gain and pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH), while walkability was associated with decreased smoking and PIH for white women across all neighborhood definitions. For African American women, high incivilities was associated with increased smoking and inadequate gestational weight gain, while more walkable neighborhoods appeared protective against smoking and inadequate weight gain in all but the smallest neighborhoods. Associations with neighborhood attributes …

Lifestyles, Buildings And Technologies: What Matters Most?, Loren Lutzenhiser, Huafen Hu, Mithra Moezzi, Anthony Michael Levenda, James Woods

Center for Urban Studies Publications and Reports

There is considerable variation across households in energy use, even within similar climates and housing styles. There is also considerable variation in energy savings following upgrades of housing and appliances. We combine empirical data on household consumption with advanced simulation modeling techniques to investigate just how much behavior matters in determining consumption levels. compared to weather, technology and building characteristics. We explore several new concepts, including the BETA (building, environment, technology, activity) Model of household energy use, a habitation zone approach that can be used to differentiate BETA effects, and a hybrid (simulation/ statistical) end-use consumption analysis approach. For illustrative …

Imagine Holgate: Transit-Oriented Community Vision Plan, Tara Sulzen, Chad Armstrong, Joshua Shaklee, Alex Steinberger, Michael Weidmann

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Workshop Projects

The Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail (PMLR) line will open in 2015 and bring change to the Brooklyn neighborhood of Portland, Oregon. The Imagine Holgate project engaged the public in a visioning process to learn the community aspirations for future transit-oriented development in the Station Area around the southeast 17th Avenue and Holgate Boulevard Station on the PMLR line. This Transit-Oriented Community Vision Plan provides an overview of existing conditions in the Station Area, including a brief history of the Brooklyn neighborhood, a snapshot of Station Area demographics and the regulatory environment and market conditions for development in the area. Please visit …

The Efficacy Of Inquiry-Based Learning In Undergraduate Physiology, James Depaepe, Tracy Campion

Northwest Journal of Teacher Education

Lecture, where learning is passive, remains a prevalent instructional method of teaching content. Contextualized approaches like Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL) where students are more actively engaged remains less common. For 25 years the literature has supported contextualized approaches. Nevertheless, recent papers have claimed IBL to be an unguided approach that has produced content knowledge deficits. Therefore, we tested whether undergraduate physiology content could be learned using IBL. Four groups of undergraduates (mean ages=23, N=60) took a ten-week physiology course using IBL. A content valid pretest and posttest measured content knowledge. A one-way ANOVA indicated no significant differences within or between groups …

The Perils And Promise Of Personalized Learning, Allyson Fleming

Northwest Journal of Teacher Education

In this article I explore the concept of personalized learning, a relatively new concept being promoted by the British Columbia (BC) Ministry of Education as the “new” approach to effective learning through the lens of a practicing professional. I begin by tracing my own emerging understanding of personalized learning as a discourse in BC education and then follow this with a discussion about the dominance of neoliberalism as an ideological frame for thinking about education and schooling. In particular, I consider how the role of the teacher shifts from professional to functionary, and how this shift is reified through two …

Public Policy And Sexual Geography In Portland, Oregon, 1970-2010, Elizabeth Morehead

Dissertations and Theses

Drawing on the concept of sexual geography, this study examines the social and political meanings of sexualized spaces in the urban geography of Portland, Oregon between 1970 and 2010. This includes an examination of the sexual geography of urban spaces as a deliberate construct resulting from official and unofficial public policy and urban planning decisions. Sexual geographies, the collective and individual constructions of sexuality, are not static. Nor are definitions of deviant sexual practices fixed in the collective consciousness. Both are continuously being reshaped and reconstructed in response to changing economic structures and beliefs about sex, race and class. Primary …

Engaging Global Service: Organizational Motivations For And Perceived Benefits Of Hosting International Volunteers, Erin Leslie Barnhart

Dissertations and Theses

An increasingly popular way for global citizens to contribute to communities around the world is through international volunteering. In tandem with this growing trend, academic research in the field has increased to explore the goals, motivations, and impacts of international service on volunteers, host communities, and volunteer-sending organizations. One of the larger gaps in our understanding of global civic engagement though is the specifics of how and why, as well as the overall impact of international service on, host organizations that seek and/or accept international volunteers. Using an exploratory research design to collect and analyze survey data and open-ended email …

Built Environment And Its Influences On Walking Among Older Women: Use Of Standardized Geographic Units To Define Urban Forms, Vivian Siu, William E. Lambert, Rongwei Fu, Teresa A. Hillier, Mark Bosworth, Yvonne L. Michael

Institute of Metropolitan Studies Publications

Consensus is lacking on specific and policy-relevant measures of neighborhood attributes that may affect health outcomes. To address this limitation, we created small standardized geographic units measuring the transit, commercial, and park area access, intersection, and population density for the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area. Cluster analysis was used to identify six unique urban forms: central city, city periphery, suburb, urban fringe with poor commercial access, urban fringe with pool park access, and satellite city. The urban form information was linkable to the detailed physical activity, health, and socio-demographic data of 2,005 older women without the use of administrative boundaries. Evaluation …

The Sunset District, Bryant Cheong, Matthew Craigie, Khoa Le, Jeff Sakamoto, Michael Weidmann, Kent Wu

Real Estate Development Workshop Projects

Students in the PSU Real Estate Development Workshop produce a development plan for a property site in Washington County, Oregon known as the Sunset District. Their task was to produce an original development plan, including the development concept, market analysis, conceptual design, economic analysis, capital and operations budget, and management plan.

Institutions For Managing Ecosystem Services, Jennifer H. Allen, Jenny Duvander, Ida Kubiszewski, Elinor Ostrom

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

Two decades of research into the management of what economists call common-pool resources suggests that, under the right conditions, local communities can manage shared resources sustainably and successfully. These revolutionary findings challenge the long-held belief in the "tragedy of the commons." Instead, we have found that tragedy is not inevitable when a shared resource is at stake, provided that people communicate. In many places—from Swiss pastures to Japanese forests—communities have come together for the sake of the environment and their own long-term well-being. Common-pool resources have two features: first, they are shared resources whose use by one person makes them …

Site Fidelity, Associations And Long-Term Bonds Of Short-Finned Pilot Whales Off The Island Of Hawai`I, Sabre D. Mahaffy

Dissertations and Theses

Short-finned pilot whales (Globicephala macrorhynchus) are the most frequently sighted odontocete in a long-term study in Hawaiʹi (representing 23.8% of all odontocete sightings from directed research efforts), yet little has been published on this species in Hawaiian waters. Studies elsewhere have suggested that short-finned pilot whales travel in stable mixed-sex groups composed of strongly associated individuals; however temporal analyses of social structure are lacking. To examine site fidelity, association patterns and temporal relationships, I analyzed data from 267 directed research and opportunistic encounters of short-finned pilot whales off the island of Hawai`i from 2003 through 2007. Sightings occurred year-round. Analysis …