Digital Commons Network^™

Local Planning And High-Speed Rail: Responses And Perceptions In A Developing Amtrak Corridor, John-Luke D'Ambrosio

Masters Theses

Incremental speed increases have been a main focus of Amtrak in recent years. Now operating at 110 mph within three different service lines in the United States, Amtrak is making progress toward achieving maximum speeds within rail corridors. This study focuses on Amtrak’s Wolverine service line which operates daily passenger rail service between Chicago, Illinois and Detroit/Pontiac, Michigan. Specifically, this study will look at six cities connected by this service that are east of Chicago. The six cities examined in this research are Hammond, Indiana, Michigan City, Indiana, New Buffalo, Michigan, Niles, Michigan, Dowagiac, Michigan, and Kalamazoo, Michigan. This segment …

A “Great Balancing Act:” Becoming Dexterous And Deft With New Literacies Pedagogy, Jill Mcclay, Shelley Stagg Peterson, Christine Portier

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

In response to recent mandates in literacy curricula, literacy teachers must integrate Web 2.0 and new literacies perspectives into their writing instruction. Such transitions in their pedagogy, however, are often accomplished without adequate support or opportunities for professional development. How do teachers approach the difficult task of changing their perspectives to take new literacies practices into account? This article traces the learning and pedagogical practices of five teachers who worked with the authors in a dual-sited action research study (one in a large urban district, one in a small rural district) for more than two years. We present two themes …

College Of Arts And Sciences E-News Issue 19: November 2014, College Of Arts And Sciences

College of Arts and Sciences news

• University to honor its top four staffers for 2013-14 • WMU wins $779,072 grant, partners with Oxford in Web project • Constitution Day at WMU • Donald Southwell, 2014 Distinguished Alumnus • WMU taps alum, former K'zoo Public Safety officer as next police chief • Student Feature: Ted Carter • Student Recalls French Semester Abroad

Nine Tips From The Grantmakers, Jane C. Geever

Research and Dessert

Jane Geever, author of Foundation Center's Guide to Proposal Writing, provided a synthesis of information on developing external funding proposals for foundations and corporations. A quick overview of the proposal elements that make a difference to grantmakers.

Updates In Academic Affairs - 10/27/14, Office Of The Provost And Vice President For Academic Affairs

Updates in Academic Affairs

This edition highlights the benefits of the recent affiliation between WMU and Cooley Law School. Also read about other key advancements, including Phase II of Degree Works, a system that helps students stay on track for graduation.

Welcome To East Lakes Region Association Of American Geographers, John M. Dunn

WMU President John Dunn

No abstract provided.

State Of The University (October 2014), John M. Dunn

WMU President John Dunn

This is the transcript from the annual academic convocation where we gather to review accomplishments and focus on the new academic year.

State Of The University 2014 Academic Convocation, John M. Dunn

WMU President John Dunn

No abstract provided.

Updates In Academic Affairs - 09/29/14, Office Of The Provost And Vice President For Academic Affairs

Updates in Academic Affairs

This edition highlights a number of news items, including a yearlong series to discuss potential revisions to WMU’s general education program, the upcoming Academic Convocation, money-management training for students and more.

Western News, Sept. 4, 2014, Western Michigan University

Western News (1972-2018)

Story highlights: Cooley Law, WMU affiliation finalized; Six to receive one of two Universitywide awards; All WMU campuses are now tobacco free; Faculty Senate announces leadership for 2014-16; On Campus with Dale Hagens.

Discovery, September 2014, Office Of Vice President For Research

Research and Discovery News

• Discovery advances
• Contaminants industry, agriculture
• September 30 funding awards deadline: MDOT
• $1.23 MSNSF grant on STEM and URM
• National journal launched online
• Discover discovery
• Facilities & administrative cost rates

Governance And Private Investment In Africa, Idrissa Ouedraogo, Pascal Kouman

International Conference on African Development

Africa is one of the world regions whose development potentials are particularly important. But despite this situation, Africa is one of the continents where poverty exists on a large scale. More than 44 % of the African population lives below the poverty line. Yet, various forms of development strategies have been designed and implemented in the African countries. In 1992, in its publication Governance and Development, the World Bank refers to the quality of government as the cause of the failure of several of these strategies. Attention is henceforth focused on how governments organize the management of state and govern …

The Fall Of American Soft Diplomacy In Ethiopia: A Victim Of Its Own Success, Assefa Mehretu

International Journal of African Development

Ethiopia’s soft diplomatic history with the United States goes back to the dawn of the twentieth century when King Menelik in 1905 responded favorably to the overtures by the United States for official relations between the two countries when Ethiopia was the only independent country in Africa. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the benchmarks of a successful engagement that had lasted for over seventy years only to suffer reversals from critical events both internal and external. A brief historical analysis will be rendered to highlight the role of the United States in the modernization of Ethiopia and …

Maternal Education, Linkages And Child Nutrition In The Long And Short-Run: Evidence From The Ethiopia Demographic And Health Surveys, Ambel Alemayehu Azeze, Wei-Chiao Huang

International Journal of African Development

We used the 2000 and 2005 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Surveys to analyze the effect of maternal education and its pathways on chronic (long-run) and acute (short-run) malnutrition inEthiopia. The pathways examined in this study are socioeconomic status, maternal health-seeking behavior, maternal knowledge of health and family planning and reproductive behavior. We find that maternal education works through all except health-seeking behavior. We also find that maternal education and its pathways are more relevant and robust in explaining chronic than acute malnutrition. Socioeconomic status is the most important factor linking maternal education and child nutritional status. Although girls’ education is …

International Journal Of African Development, Vol. 1, Issue 2

International Journal of African Development

Complete issue of International Journal of African Development, Volume 1, Issue 2.

Using Gis To Facilitate Data Driven Decision Making, Jason Glatz

University Libraries Faculty & Staff Presentations

This poster presents two methods for using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to assist in data driven facilities management, with a primary focus on space planning and use. One method focuses on using GIS to analyze new book additions to the collection and their relationship to existing storage capacity. By treating each shelving range like a street, and each book like an address, the added books can be plotted on the range. This allows for a convenient visual analysis of the spatial growth of new books. GIS is also used to represent the remaining storage capacity of each section within a …

Michigan's Clay Bluffs: The Description And Comparison Of An Erosion-Dependent Natural Community, Nathaniel G. Fuller

Masters Theses

The clay bluffs of Michigan are a natural community found along the shores of the Great Lakes. Groundwater is found to be critical to sustaining the alkaline wetlands on the face of the bluff as well as the source of most erosion events. The clay bluffs are unusual in their vegetation, disturbance regime and geographical context. This thesis focuses primarily on describing seeping clay bluffs and exploring the comparison to other natural communities. The purpose of this is twofold, to better understand the ways in which natural communities are described as distinct from one another, and to assess the distinctness …

Integrating Art Education And Literacy Education: A Curriculum For The Secondary Level, Erin Moody-Zoet

Masters Theses

The purpose of this paper is to examine, through the design of a new curriculum, how the integration of reading and writing literacy into a visual arts curriculum can strengthen literacy skills as well as foster creative thinking at the middle school level. There is a growing demand for the integration of literacy in all core, and non-core curricula. By developing a curriculum that integrates literacy strategies in a visual arts program, as well as touches on the disconnect that I see between individuals and their own creative outlets, a curriculum is established that fosters and engages students in creative …

Integrated (Remote Sensing, Gis, And Modeling) Hydrological Investigation And Landslide Susceptibility Studies In The Arabian Shield, Talal Ghazi Alharbi

Dissertations

An integrated approach (remote sensing, geographical information systems [GIS], and modeling) was applied to conduct a number of hydrologic and environmental investigations in the Arabian Peninsula (AP) aimed at: (1) identifying the spatial and temporal climate change–related variations in precipitation over the AP using readily available, remotely acquired global precipitation data sets; (2) investigating the nature of the factors controlling the observed climatic variations; (3) estimating the partitioning of precipitation over the Red Sea Hills watersheds into runoff , recharge, and initial losses using calibrated continuous rainfall runoff models (Soil Water Assessment Tool [SWAT]); (4) identifying landslide (largely caused by …

Rhetoric Of Revolt In Thirteenth-Century Castile And England, Jillian M. Bjerke

Masters Theses

This thesis studies the rhetoric of revolt in the thirteenth century by comparing documents and chronicles from the Barons War against Henry III of England (1258-1265) and the revolt of the Castilian nobles against Alfonso X of Castile (1271-1273). By undertaking close readings of these Latin and Castilian texts, I uncover many similar approaches to writing revolt in two roughly contemporary and little-compared rebellions. The first comparison of the two briefs submitted by the rebelling English barons to Louis IX of France for arbitration in 1264 with the purported agreement between the Castilian nobles and Alfonso X presented to Enrique …

Governance And Private Investment In Sub-Saharan Africa, Idrissa Mohamed Ouedraogo, Pascal Tegawinde Kouaman

International Conference on African Development

Africa is one of the world regions whose development potentials are particularly important. But despite this situation, Africa is one of the continents where poverty exists on a large scale. More than 44 % of the African population lives below the poverty line. Yet, various forms of development strategies have been designed and implemented in the African countries. In 1992, in its publication Governance and Development, the World Bank refers to the quality of government as the cause of the failure of several of these strategies. Attention is henceforth focused on how governments organize the management of state and …

Discovery, July 2014, Office Of Vice President For Research

Research and Discovery News

• Discovery communities
• Discovery experts, July 31 deadline
• $1.4 million HHMI grant
• Sustainability award from second nature
• Diversity change initiative grant RFP
• $4 million for autism
• Facilities & administrative cost rates

Business Magazine (2014)

Haworth College of Business News

• Greetings from the Dean’s Office • Relationships Matter • Perspectives • In the Spotlight • Imagine the Possibilities • Valuable Partnerships • Focus on Faculty and Staff • Connectivity • Celebrating Alumni and Friends • Alumni and Businesses to Watch • Class Notes

College Of Arts And Sciences E-News Issue 15: July 2014, College Of Arts And Sciences

College of Arts and Sciences news

• WMU to receive $4 million to boost autism research and training
• Dr. Keith Hearit named new CAS associate dean
• Twenty-two CAS faculty celebrated during Board of Trustees luncheon
• Sean Laraway '03 wins Teaching Excellence Award from San Jose State University
• Bob Hercules '79 producing and co-directoring documentary on Maya Angelou
• Koty Neelis '11 goes viral with her top ten lists
• PhD student, Becky Straples named editor of The Hilltop Review
• Mallinson Institute for Science Education international students share their experiences

Ceas E-News 06.20.2014, College Of Engineering And Applied Sciences

College of Engineering and Applied Sciences News

• Transportation Research Center receives second $1.4 million installment of funding for research
• Civil and construction engineering students investigate sensing technologies
• Geomatics summer course offers fundamentals in surveying and advanced technologies
• Summer commencement
• ·

Western News, June 19, 2014, Western Michigan University

Western News (1972-2018)

Story highlights: New trustee named to governing board; Zhang Center earns certification as 'green' building; Snyder announces Kellogg Foundation's Woodrow Wilson Fellows; On Campus with Jennifer Halseth.

Predictive Modeling In The Search For Vertebrate Fossils: Geographic Object Based Image Analysis (Geobia) In The Eocene Of Wyoming, Bryan Bommersbach

Masters Theses

The development and testing of predictive models for identifying productive fossil localities represents a promising interdisciplinary endeavor among geographic information scientists, paleoanthropologists, and vertebrate paleontologists. This thesis analyzed high resolution (2m spatial resolution) commercial satellite imagery from the Worldview-2 satellite of five areas of the Great Divide Basin using a GEographic Object-Based Image Analysis (GEOBIA) technique, which segments the image into spectrally homogeneous, multi-pixel image objects. In addition to allowing statistical analysis of the spectral characteristics of the image objects, GEOBIA techniques also let analysts incorporate expert knowledge and contextual information to improve classification accuracy. The spectral characteristics of the …

Like Oil And Water: How Federalism Muddies The Waters Of Interest Group Decision-Making, Melissa Shaffer-O’Connell

Dissertations

Federalism often creates additional decisions for interest groups in determining how best to advocate for their policy recommendations in the legislative process. Should they focus their advocacy at the local, state, or national level of government? What activities should they use at each level of government? This dissertation examines interest group behaviors in water quality policy in the Great Lakes region from 1940 to 2000, in oil policy in the Beaufort Sea region from 1970 to 2000, and in both policy areas in 2010-2013. I evaluate the reasons for interest group decisions in choice of tactics and targeted level of …

Owning Our Food System: Urban Community Gardening And Local Food Movements, Paige A. Edwards

Masters Theses

Food is a means of examining culture, including identity, autonomy and power. It creates relationships and memories between people via shared connections. Through food, I explore local food movements and urban community gardening.

We both ingest and produce garden-grown foods. This movement is often described as simple nostalgia. I suggest that it is a response against heavily processed foods within a system reliant on mass produced food. This desire for ownership pushes community gardens and other counter-hegemonic spaces forward in their goals of using social practice to challenge the established food industry and take control within their own lives.

The Monastery Of Saint-Michel Du Tréport And The Borderlands Of Northeast Normandy, 1059-1270, Eric Callender

Masters Theses

This thesis examines the Benedictine monastery of Saint-Michel du Tréport, situated in the county of Eu in Normandy’s northeast corner, from its foundation in 1059 until the death of Louis IX of France in 1270. Utilizing as its main source base the charters in the Cartulaire de L’abbaye de Saint-Michel du Tréport of P. Laffleur de Kermaingant, this project seeks to situate the monks of Saint-Michel du Tréport within their ecclesiastical context, to understand the monastery’s lay patronage, and to examine the secular and ecclesiastical borders of northeast Normandy and the lands surrounding them, particularly the relationship of the Norman …