Digital Commons Network^™

Integrating A Variety Of Cultures And Diversity Into The Upper Elementary Curriculum, Tammy Joy Hamlin

Masters Theses

Research has overwhelmingly shown that something needs to be done to combat the increasing problem of high minority drop-out rates. Many people still do not acknowledge that schools need to do anything differently. Instead the problem is blamed on the home life and economics. Some teachers feel that low-income inner city, minority students, simply are not capable of being successful academically. Society often does not realize how poor the minority drop out rates are in their school districts. Some administrations have chosen to hide the statistics. For instance one New York school district in this research promoted that almost all …

A Possible Positive Feedback Modulation Of Acetylcholine Release Through The Stimulation Of Alpha-7 Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors On Bipolar Neurons In Pig Retina, Viralkumar M. Patel

Masters Theses

Glaucoma is associated with excitotoxicity in which increased glutamate release leads to apoptotic death of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs). Acetylcholine (ACh) has shown neuroprotection of RGCs through the stimulation of RGCs’ nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs). The cholinergic amacrine cells are the only cells in retina which synthesize and release ACh. They get excitatory inputs from bipolar cells. The presence of α7nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (α7nAChRs) on the cholinergic amacrines, bipolar cells and RGCs is documented. Recently, stimulation of presynaptic nAChRs of cholinergic cells was shown to enhance ACh release in the rat superior cervical ganglion. Therefore, we hypothesized that α7nAChRs stimulation …

A Study Of The Effect Of Splinting On Pain During Tip Pinch For Osteoarthritis Of The First Carpometacarpal Joint, Leana Tank

Masters Theses

The following research project focused on the effect of a prefabricated neoprene first carpometacarpal splint on osteoarthritis pain with tip-pinch, strength measurements of tip-pinch and functional performance. The following questions were explored throughout this study:

1. There will be a significant decrease in mean pain levels when the subject’s hand is splinted as compared to mean pain levels when the hand is not splinted.

2. There will be a significant decrease in mean pain levels for the second session as compared to the first.

3. There will be a significant increase in mean tip pinch strength measurements when the subject’s …

Fish Assemblages In Manistee River Tributaries: Longitudinal Distribution Analysis, Seasonal Variation, And Riparian Improvement Evaluation, Nicholas J. Gressick

Masters Theses

Sedimentation affects both stream physical and biological integrity. Improperly designed stream passage accompanied with sedimentation and altered hydrology can impede fish passage and reduce fish assemblage integrity. The purpose of this study was to: 1) quantify impacts of poorly constructed road stream crossings and eroding banks on fish assemblages, and 2) assess these sites as sediment sources and connectivity breaks on entire fish assemblages and individual fish species. Electrofishing was conducted during spring and fall 2004 and 2005. A total of 29 electrofishing reaches were sampled which included 5 road-stream and streambank restoration sites. Sickle Creek (1st order) had reduced …

A Community Ecology And Stable Isotope Study Of Plankton, Macroinvertebrate, And Fish Communities Surrounding Groundwater Vents In Lake Huron, Michigan, Thomas Garrison Sanders Jr.

Masters Theses

Extreme environments can create ecotones with uncharacteristic physicochemical conditions and ecological communities. Recently, several submerged sinkholes were discovered in Lake Huron where hypoxic groundwater that is rich with dissolved ions intrudes into surrounding lake water. Researchers have documented large growths of cyanobacteria and chemosynthetic bacteria surrounding these groundwater vents, but little is known if this production is utilized by upper trophic level organisms and how the environmental conditions affect local community density and diversity. My objectives were threefold: (1) I wanted to confirm the presence and describe the nature and extent of chemical and physical gradients in the sublacustrine sinkhole …

From In-Vitro To In-Vivo: Corporate Development And Efficacy Of A Topical Hair Growth Agent Derived From Natural Extracts, Kelly Michael Glynn

Masters Theses

Androgenetic alopecia (male pattern baldness) affects up to 50% of the world’s population, propelling the development for a possible treatment. The hair follicle is influenced by several genetic and physiologic factors, which, when gone awry, lead to androgenetic alopecia. Vascular endothelial and keratinocyte growth factors are believed to be promoters of hair growth, as is inhibition of the proteasome complex. The cytokine IL-1α is also known to regulate follicle dynamics. The research objective described herein was an attempt to develop a botanical blend, which could mediate the above biomarkers, be successfully incorporated into a safe topical product and be evaluated …

Creating The Tradition Of Honoring The Older Population, Catherine Weisbeck

Masters Theses

This qualitative research study explored what it would take to create the tradition of honoring the older population in American culture. In this exploratory study, 15 participants were interviewed in person using a series of ten open ended questions. The participants were selected according to the criteria of being an older adult, working with or volunteering for older adults, or having been involved in a project which considered the older population as a subgroup within the total population. The participants were personally invited by the researcher to be interviewed and the interview took approximately 40 minutes. Results indicated that creating …

Sediment Remediation Impacts On Macroinvertebrate Community Structure: Assessing The Success Of Urban Stream Restoration, Laurie Beth Nederveld

Masters Theses

Land use practices altering the natural landscape have resulted in the widespread degradation of stream ecosystems and the need for urban stream restorations. While a number of studies have evaluated the success of these stream restoration efforts, few have assessed the recovery of macroinvertebrate communities following the remediation of contaminated sediments. The purpose of my study was to evaluate the impact of sediment remediation activities on macroinvertebate abundance, diversity, and richness to determine the success of stream restoration in Ruddiman Creek, a small stream in the Muskegon Lake watershed. During my investigation, macroinvertebrate samples were collected from all available habitat …

Factors Affecting Occupational Therapists’ Decisions To Join Their State Association, Shawn Thomas Ross

Masters Theses

The following research focused on the factors affecting occupational therapists’ decisions to join, withdraw from, or never join their state association. Data was collected using a mixed methods design consisting of a survey that included quantitative questions and a qualitative question. The survey was sent to 1,908 occupational therapists in Michigan and 497 (26%) were returned and usable. Occupational therapists consistently reported dissatisfaction with their state association. Three themes developed regarding reasons occupational therapists’ decisions about membership: prioritization, interpersonal and group communication, and benefits. State and national association memberships were found to be associated. The greatest predictor of membership was …

An Examination Of The Effectiveness Of Differing Types Of Feedback Across Controlled Written Assignment Scenarios, Lisa Dopke

Masters Theses

The development of effective writing skills is widely acknowledged as a primary goal in higher education. For this reason, instructors have devised several ways to help students develop and improve their writing proficiency. Within this repertoire of strategies, the most common and often most practical method is providing feedback, particularly written feedback, on student’s writing assignments. Because feedback is commonly recognized as advantageous in this respect, and because there continues to be a keen “interest in how to provide more effective, relevant feedback to students” (Wiltse, 2002, p. 127), various aspects of the feedback communication and related processes have been …

Transcending Tragedy: The Power Of The Green World In Renaissance Drama, Sheridan Lynn Steelman

Masters Theses

Hospitals in the twenty-first century are using healing gardens to help patients heal their minds, bodies, and souls by offering views of lush flora from their rooms and calming pathways for their walks. Recent studies have shown that patients who are able to witness nature’s beauty request less pain medication and report shorter stays. Today’s use of gardens as part of a total wellness package may have found its roots in the work of John Gerard (1597) who was the first to study and catalog over 300 varieties of plants and herbs, many of which had common medicinal uses. Gerard’s …

Codes Of Conduct: Didacticism In The Works Of Maria Edgeworth, Megan Lockard

Masters Theses

To encounter the novels of Maria Edgeworth is to encounter an author who is not always politically correct. She did not write as a feminist to better the world for women. She did not write in the name of equality between nations or classes. She did not write to promote racial tolerance. In fact, based on her treatment of these issues within her novels, Edgeworth could arguably be accused of anti-feminism, imperialism, and racism. Instead, what this late eighteenth-century, early nineteenth-century writer centered her novels around was a rigid set of moral guidelines. Maria Edgeworth used the novel genre as …

The Search For Wholeness In J.M. Coetzee's In The Heart Of The Country, Waiting For The Barbarians, And Disgrace, Joanna Buboltz

Masters Theses

Literary critics of South African writer J.M. Coetzee’s novels have examined multiple aspects of the writer’s works, including his linguistic strategies, allegorical features, and depictions of native characters. This thesis attempts to fill a hole in the literary discussion by examining the identities of the main white characters of three of Coetzee’s novels: In the Heart of the Country, Waiting for the Barbarians, and Disgrace. In these novels, all three protagonists are inherently incomplete because of their status as members of the hegemony, and all three struggle to redefine themselves through relationships with those their power group has …

'Til We Meet Again: The Soul's Alchemy In John Donne's Songs And Sonnets, Ann Hayward

Masters Theses

Alchemy, in his Songs and Sonnets, offers John Donne a realm devoted to the paradoxical, one from which he selects material to be artistically altered by his trademark "metaphysical wit." It also provides him - in the intensely-prescribed process of coniunctio - with a paradigm for passion, for the irresistible conjunction and inevitable separation of lovers. Drawing upon the writings of Twentieth-century psychologist, C.G. Jung, whose study of alchemy informed much of his own work, it is possible to uncover both within and among nine diverse selections from the Songs and Sonnets a poetic opus circulatorium. A circular …