Digital Commons Network^™

Recurring Ankle Injuries In Dancers, Alexis Jawny

Honors Theses

The purpose of this research, obtained from various Journals of Dance Medicine and Science, is to identify the cause of recurring ankle injuries in the dance community. Ankle injuries are the most common type of injury making up 50% of injuries in dancers. The main cause of recurring ankle injuries is improper diagnosing and then leading to the wrong treatment plan. The research focusses on how to prevent these improper diagnoses and what the dancer and specialty care professional (orthopedics, physical therapists, and rehabilitative medicine) can do to decrease the number of ankle injuries occurring and reoccurring in the dance …

An Analysis Of Preflight Inspection Practices In The Collegiate Training Environment, Seth Laws

Honors Theses

Preflight inspections are a crucial part of flight operations and are required by the Federal Aviation Administration prior to flight. A properly performed preflight by an educated and experienced pilot follows a standard procedure and permits detection of conditions that render an aircraft un-airworthy. A study at Western Michigan University was conducted to determine the effectiveness of this normal procedure in the collegiate training environment. Results indicate the standard procedures for preflight inspections and good supporting habits are in place, but some complacency and a lack of understanding of the standard procedure prevents it from being totally effective among less …

The Effect Of Bedside Handoffs On Patients’ Perceived Fears, Maija Paldan

Honors Theses

Background and Significance: Fear, anxiety, and apprehension can have a profound effect upon patient outcomes, possibly leading to a worsened health condition or delay in recovery. Current literature finds that communication and social support by the nursing staff may foster patients’ understanding of their care and their experiences of feeling safe. The bedside handoff is one way of enhancing communication and providing support within nurse patient interactions. The purpose of this study is to explore the effect of bedside handoffs on patients’ perceived fear, anxiety, and apprehension.

Methods: A secondary analysis was performed upon a larger quantitative data set from …

Relationship Between Ambulation And Position Changes During Labor And Hormonal Physiology Of Childbearing, Zoe Nokomis

Honors Theses

The birthing process for many women is a complex period of time that involves many changes in the mother’s body as well as the baby’s preparation to enter the world. Medical advances and technology have improved care for at-risk women but the increased number of unnecessary interventions during labor currently may actually hinder a healthy mother from having the best possible birth experience and outcomes for her and her child. Mothers can use many different, non-medical, non-pharmacological strategies to cope with the stress of labor. These strategies may include ambulating or position changes during the first stage of labor, massage …

The Barriers And Facilitators To Becoming A Baby-Friendly Hospital, Bohn Emily

Honors Theses

The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative is a designation hospitals can achieve that states the facility encourages breastfeeding and mother-baby bonding. The Initiative involves changing over hospital protocols, employee training, and implementing the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding. Although the designation is positive, there have been identified facilitators and barriers that influence the implementation process which can influence whether a hospital will choose to or not to achieve designation. A literature review was performed. Facilitators included: certificate as a marketing tool, project management involvement, the 4-D Pathway, and support. Barriers included: adherence, staffing insufficiencies, provider-level issues, and financial and facility support. Interviews …

Assessing Functional Impairment In Individuals With Mild Cognitive Impairment, Patricia Da Cunha Belchior, Taranpreet Bains, Jennifer Hargadon, Sofia Tran, Courtney Uphoff, Jade Chiu W. Kwok, Navaldeep Kaur, Isabelle Gelinas

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

To date, there is no consensus on how to assess functional impairment in individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and this lack of consensus is reflected in the clinical practice. Since the criterion used in the literature is very vague, clinicians are still left without much guidance in this area. Thus, the main goal of this study was to examine how functional impairment in individuals with MCI has been assessed in the literature.

An electronic database search strategy was developed in consultation with an experienced librarian. Four databases (CINAHL, PsycINFO, PubMed, and MEDLINE) were searched from 2000 to May 2014 …

Exploring The Relationship Between Entry-Level Master’S Program Class Size And The Number Of Graduate Credits Offered And Aggregate Nbcot Pass Rates, Scott Truskowski

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

The AOTA and ACOTE have discussed a transition to a mandated entry-level clinical doctorate degree (Harvison, 2013). Following the move to the entry-level master’s degree in 2007, the overall national pass rate on the national certification examination fell from 88% in 2006 to 77% by 2009 (Harvison, 2011; Harvison, 2012). This study sought to determine if the number of graduate credits offered or the class size of an entry-level master’s program impacts student outcomes on the national certification examination. Publicly available data was mined from all accredited entry-level master’s programs. Data were imported into the SPSS for statistical analysis. The …

Feasibility Of A Research Protocol To Investigate The Effect Of The Therapressuretm Program Using Salivary Cortisol, Scott Weeks, Kobie Boshoff, Hugh Stewart, Shona Kelly, Chris B. Della Vedova

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

Background: There is an absence of high quality research to support the use of the Therapressure Program^TM. This pilot study aimed at developing appropriate research protocols to investigate the effectiveness of the Therapressure Program^TM on the stress response in children with sensory overresponsivity.

Method: A one-group pre-test/post-test repeated measures design was conducted using a convenience sample. Six children (6-8 years of age) with sensory overresponsivity received 14 consecutive days of the Therapressure Program^TM by their parents at home. Parents concurrently collected salivary cortisol samples from their children.

Results: Children with sensory overresponsivity displayed …

A Comparison Of Print And Cursive Handwriting In Fifth And Sixth Grade Students: A Pilot Study, Anne H. Zachry, Allison P. Doan, Stephanie B. Lancaster, Brittany Simmons, Cary Smith, Jaclyn N. Wicker

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

Background: Handwriting is an important skill to master because handwriting demands take up a significant portion of the school day. Pediatric occupational therapists evaluate and treat children who are experiencing challenges with handwriting; therefore, it is important for practitioners to understand the performance of children using both of these writing styles.

Method: A convenience sample of 36 fifth and sixth grade students participated in the study. Print and cursive handwriting samples were collected on two separate occasions, and a Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test was used to examine speed and legibility differences in these writing styles.

Results: Speed in print writing did not …

Assessing Students Rule-Bound Writing Development, Kim Ballard

Assessment Grants

Kim Ballard, from the Writing Center at Western Michigan University, shared this poster at the Assessment in Action Conference 2016 on April 8. She was the recipient of one of the 2015-2016 WMU Assessment Fellows Grants to conduct research on assessment of student learning outcomes. The focus of her project was to help WMU students learn to incorporate rule-bound Lower Order Concerns into their personal writing style. This poster provided information regarding her assessment project.

Evaluation Of The Master Of Arts Hybrid Program In Psychology, Denise Ross, Cynthia Pietras

Assessment Grants

Denise Ross and Cynthia Pietras, from the Department of Psychology at Western Michigan University, shared this poster at the Assessment in Action Conference 2016 on April 8. They were the recipients of one of the 2015-2016 WMU Assessment Fellows Grants to conduct research on assessment of student learning outcomes. The focus of their project was to measure the effectiveness of the Master of Arts Hybrid Program in Psychology including program satisfaction, content knowledge and professionalism. This poster provided information regarding their assessment project.

The Socializer-Spring 2016, Department Of Sociology

The Socializer

Spring 2016 Sociology departmental newsletter.

Exploration Of Experiences And Perceptions Of Saudi Arabian Students Within A Team Project Setting At An U.S. University, Ronald A. Mckean

Dissertations

Cultural differences between Saudi and American students produce immense challenges to a successful integrative acculturation. Positive experiences can not only enhance the education of international students, but also effect understandings and attitudes of local students, administrators, faculty, and staff. A greater implication of these experiences may be their influence on long term international relationships. Few qualitative studies have been conducted that examine the dynamics of the cultural integration of Saudi students with American students during the acculturation process.

The purpose of this qualitative research, therefore, is to describe and interpret the experiences and perceptions of Saudi Arabian students as they …

Increasing Vocal Behavior And Establishing Echoic Stimulus Control In Children With Autism, Joseph Shane

Dissertations

Many children with autism fail to demonstrate vocal-verbal behavior, including echoic behavior, as early as their typically developing peers. Some also make very limited vocal sounds in general, remaining mostly mute aside from crying or engaging in stereotypy. Echoic behavior involves auditory discrimination and matching, and functions as a beneficial, if not necessary, prerequisite for many other vocal-verbal skills. The purpose of this study was to develop and implement an echoic training procedure for primarily non-vocal children who did not demonstrate auditory discrimination in baseline. The intervention consisted initially of sessions in which any vocal sounds were reinforced. Then differential …

Teaching Children Who Have Difficulty Mastering Auditory Discriminations, Sarah Lichtenberger

Dissertations

Simple and conditional visual and auditory discrimination repertoires are critical components of many skills necessary for daily functioning, including communication, academic, and daily-living skills (Green, 2001). When auditory discrimination is not under instructional stimulus control, it can result in delayed acquisition of new skills and limit academic progress. The purpose of this study was to teach auditory discrimination to children with autism who had little to no progress on classroom procedures that required auditory discrimination, such as selecting an object from an array when given the name of the object as the direction. Auditory discrimination was taught starting with teaching …

The Germans And Their Nazi Past: To What Extent Have They Accepted Responsibility?, Martin Hille

Center for the Study of Ethics in Society Papers

No abstract provided.

Effectiveness Of Problem-Based Learning Strategies Within Police Training Academies And Correlates With Licensing Exam Outcomes, Cecil R. Queen

Dissertations

The training and education of police officers has recently come into question by many facets of the American general public and the mass media as well. Empirical research into the effects of police academy teaching methods is minimal. This study sought to assess the perceived effectiveness of problem-based learning (PBL) teaching strategies within police training academies in Michigan and sought to measure the effects of PBL strategies on the MCOLES Police Officer Licensing Examination mean scores in Michigan. A quantitative approach was utilized to compare the Michigan Police Officer Licensing Examination mean test scores between academies that formally adopted Problem-Based …

On Myrtle: A Novel, Laurie Ann Cedilnik

Dissertations

For nearly a century, readers have known the story of Myrtle Wilson, infamous literary mistress of F. Scott Fitzgerald's THE GREAT GATSBY. Fitzgerald's Tom Buchanan is married to a woman who is the picture of wealth and elegance, and yet he is drawn to this woman about whom readers know very little, and about whom we hear only in a retrospective vantage of the partial observer Nick Carraway. Mrs. Wilson puts on airs and takes blows, an her death is as graphic as any of literature's fallen women. And like Myrtle, Fitzgerald casts his fictionalized Flushing as symbolic of a …

3d Printed Bone Supplement Materials, Azem Khalifa Yahamed

Dissertations

Three-dimensional (3D) printing is an advanced rapid technology that can be used to make human bone substitutes with exact shape and designed structures, based on models created from actual individual bone medical Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) images. Biocompatible polymers have been selected for 3D printing of human bone structures. The thermoplastics were 3D printed with Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) are Acrylate Butadiene Styrene (ABS), Polylactic Acid (PLA) and ULTEM 9085 (a polyetherimide). The polyamide PA 2200 was 3D printed using Selective Laser Sintering (SLS). Digital ABS (a crosslinked acrylic polymer) was 3D printed using PolyJet Technology. These …

Crowd Sourced Product Reviews: A Study Of Evaluation Standards Used, Alexander W. Manga

Dissertations

People are using online product reviews and evaluations more and more (Chandler et al., 2013). As the usage of online reviews persists and more smart phone applications are created, the demand for online product review continues to increase; yet, there is no indication of the quality of these reviews. In fact, some online reviews have been found to be fraudulent and misleading. Many online product reviews come from Internet-based crowdsource organizations. Few studies have explored evaluation practices among these organizations, and as a result, it is unclear what, if any, evaluation standards are used by crowdsource reviewers, particularly those found …

Bayesian Rank Based Methods For Linear And Generalized Linear Models, James Kodzo Dzikunu

Dissertations

A Bayesian Rank Based Method for linear models is developed in this research. The estimation of the regression coefficients is based on the full conditional distributions utilizing a rank based initial fit. The data likelihood is based on the asymptotic distribution of the gradient function and the asymptotic linearity of this rank-based procedure. Prior distributions are put on regression coefficient(s) and scale parameter(s). The effects of different priors on this scale parameter(s) are studied. Using these full conditional distributions, the estimates are obtained by a Markov Chain Monte-Carlo (MCMC) procedure. The results of our simulation studies show that these Bayesian …

Is Preoperative Functional Status A Predictor Of Postoperative Mortality, Morbidity And Quality Of Life In Open Heart Patients?, A. Kate Macphedran

Dissertations

The very nature of mortality and morbidity surrounding cardiac surgery is complex with numerous risk factors involved and researchers have found functional status to be a stronger predictor of outcomes than the admitting diagnosis. Preoperative functional status, however, is not measured by any of the cardiac risk scores. Functional status can be objectively measured using validated outcome tools such as the Late-Life Function and Disability Instrument (LLFDI). In 3 studies, the impact and association of functional status changes over time was explored in patients who have undergone elective open heart surgery. Analyses in Study 1 demonstrated significantly improved functional status …

Assessing The Impact Of Historical Story Telling On Student Learning Of Natural Selection, Janice Marie Fulford

Dissertations

Research suggests that because of its historical nature, the learning of evolutionary biology is problematic compared to that of other science disciplines. While explanations used in historical sciences often employ historical narratives, which are distinct from narratives in other contexts, such as stories, the two types of narratives have structural similarities that suggest the potential role of stories based in the history of science for the teaching of evolutionary biology. Stephen Klassen, a prominent science educator, has studied how stories from the history of physics can promote the learning of and attitudes towards science. Klassen’s pioneering work identifies structural components …

Comparison Of The Effectiveness Of Different Observation Methods And An Exploratory Analysis Of The Importance Of Accuracy Of Various Observations On Safety Performance, Marlies Hagge

Dissertations

Behavior Based Safety (BBS) applies various types of safety observation to improve occupational safety in business. The purpose of the following study was to examine and compare different observation foci: peer-observation, self-observation and a combination of both options as well as supervisor observations and observations of employee behavior obtained by research assistants (RA). Participants were unionized employees of the facilities management department at a Midwestern university. Target behaviors included safe lifting and vacuuming. The dependent variables were safety performance and the discrepancy between the different observation types. Incident data were also reported. The different observational methods were investigated via a …

The Experience Of Teachers And Deans In An Intensive Weekly Observation/Feedback Model, Kathleen A. Grinwis

Dissertations

This phenomenological study looked at the lived experiences of 12 teachers and deans participating in an intensive weekly observation/feedback model in several charter school academies. In this model, teachers and deans work to grow as educators and to reach their professional development goals. While we know that a major factor in increasing the proficiency rate of our students is improving teacher effectiveness, not as much is known about how to provide the necessary guidance for teachers’ professional growth and efficacy development. The challenge for leaders is to develop effective systems of supervision that support teachers and administrators as they work …

Interaction Between Human Experience, Landscape , And Coffee Production In The Blue Mountain Region Of Jamaica, Shohei Yoshida

Masters Theses

In today's coffee industry, individual farmers’ identities are hardly visible from the products we buy. Each coffee farmer has different lifestyles and methods of coffee farming. Such information about farmers can make each cups of coffee potentially unique in consumers’ experience. However, there are barriers which make consumers blind from the identities of the farmers making their coffee. I will explain about the barriers, and introduce the way to make consumers associate individual farmers' identities with each cup of coffee they drink. This thesis mainly consists of two parts: a theoretical part and a poetry part. There is a small …

Paris Burn, Iliana Rocha

Dissertations

First and foremost, Paris Burn- interrogates language as a rebel heteroglot in its relation to power and to identity, focusing on liminality and marginality. The speakers in these poems constantly (re)enact, generate, disassemble, and revise their lyric selves, either reaffirming or challenging dominant discourses and ideologies. Drag queens figure prominently throughout the manuscript because they are the physical embodiment of constructs that challenge an essential identity—race, ethnicity, sexuality, and gender. The title, an abbreviated form of Paris is Burning, an influential 1980s documentary profiling drag culture in New York City, invokes a physical body that figures in metaphorical relation to …

Principals’ Perspectives On The Professional Development Process And Its Outcomes, Sara Kathleen Moore

Dissertations

This study examined principals’ perspectives on the professional development process and its outcomes. Principals are in the best position to ensure a connection between research-based best practices and what actually happens in the classroom, but there is little research on how principals actually select professional development for their staff in the field. This study was conducted in a Midwestern state using data gathered from public elementary school principals in the form of a survey. The sample included all K-5 and K-8 elementary principals on record with the state department of education, with 242 principals responding. It examined how much control …

Compressive Sensing Framework For Mass Spectrometry Data Analysis, Khalfalla Ahmad Kh. Awedat

Dissertations

Mass Spectrometry (MS) data is ideal for identifying unique bio-signatures of diseases. However, the high dimensionality of MS data hinders any promising MS-based proteomics development. The goal of this dissertation is to develop an accurate classification tool by employing compressive sensing (CS). Not only can CS significantly reduce MS data dimensionality, but it also will allow for full reconstruction of original data. The framework developed in this work is based on using L2 and a mixed L2-L1 norms, allowing an overdetermined system to be resolved. The results show that the L2- based algorithm with regularization terms has a better performance …

Strengthening Tier 1 Elementary Reading Within A Multi-Tiered System Of Support, Carla N. Osborn

Masters Theses

Training teachers about the foundational reading skills is an important step in creating students who are proficient readers. However, training is not enough. Teachers need support through instructional coaching. Even with coaching support, sustainability of these practices will be a challenge if systems are not in place throughout the district to support ongoing implementation. By combining the processes of creating a Multi-Tiered System of Support, reading training, and instructional coaching, sustainability of practices can be possible. Research does not currently exist as to whether the combination of these efforts has increased student achievement in reading at the elementary level. This …