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Assessing Inter-Professional Teamwork Through Low-Fidelity Simulation, Lisa Singleterry, Sally Vliem, Kristine Gibson, Scott Gaynor

Assessment Grants

In 2003, it was determined that health-related education needed to shift from discipline-specific silos and into the arena of inter-professional teams. Given this goal, teamwork – which includes communication and the opportunity to learn about, with, and from multiple health disciplines – is the focus of this assessment grant. A sub-group of the faculty in training team of WMU professionals accelerating clinical education redesign (PACER) chose to utilize a low-fidelity simulation (one which uses verbal descriptions, case studies, discussion and role play to explore a particular topic, engaging all simulation participants in an active learning atmosphere) for medical students, clinical …

School Of Social Work, April 2017, College Of Health And Human Services

Social Work Newsletter

• WMU Fostering Success program saluted as a 'beacon' for college access
• Dr. Ineke Way will be retiring at the end of the spring semester, after teaching in the School of Social Work since 1991
• Considering a study abroad opportunity? There are openings in the Social Justice and Sustainability in India program, scheduled for fall 2017
• Congratulations
• Upcoming Events

The Socializer-Spring 2017, Department Of Sociology

The Socializer

Spring 2017 Sociology departmental newsletter.

Inspire E-News 4 2017, College Of Engineering And Applied Sciences

College of Engineering and Applied Sciences News

• Concrete canoe team hopes it has a “Blueprint” for success
• Steel bridge team builds momentum before competition
• Engineering student named University Innovation Fellow by Stanford
• Saeed receives $418,000 grant from National Institutes of Health
• Top engineering seniors honored as 2017 Presidential Scholars

Emeriti News, April 2017, Emeriti Council

Emeriti News

• Contents from Volume XXVI Number 2:
• Emeriti Council
• Message from the Chair: Andy Brogowicz
• Announcements and General News
• Emeriti Council Scholarships

Special Elements Of Excellence: Spring 2017, Department Of Chemistry

Chemistry News

• Chair's Welcome
• The Science Behind Crafting Beer
• 10 Year Chemistry Building Celebration 8th Annual Research Chemistry Research Day & Spring 2017 Awards
• KALSEC Tour - An Insider's Look
• New Faculty Specialist!
• 2017 Million Dollar Club
• Frontiers in Chemistry Lectureship
• Recent Awards received by Students and Faculty of the WMU Department of Chemistry
• Examples of Published Research from the Faculty of WMU Department of Chemistry

April 2017, Global News, Haenicke Institute

Global News

• Governor, honorary degree recipient highlight WMU commencement
• Screening, performance set for world premiere of 'Spirit Moves'
• WMU, K College grant to bolster Asian language and culture classes
• U.C.-Davis prof to focus on economic impact of immigration in Sichel talk
• Take advantage of global engagement opportunities in May
• Experience Chinese culture by taking a class this summer

The Unifying Power Of Education, Keagan Potts, Jenji Learn

Center for the Study of Ethics in Society Papers

• Without Expertise or Experience: Philosophizing When Your Students Know You Know Nothing
• Segregated Students — Segregated Society: The Primacy of Education in Ending Hate
• Combatting Emerging Resegregation: Teaching Those in Power to Empower

Are The Leadership Behaviors Of K–12 Leaders In Mid-Western Urban School Districts Influenced By Their Beliefs And Attitudes Regarding Spirituality?, Ericka M. Taylor

Dissertations

Working in a stressful and chaotic environment can be difficult for building principals in urban school districts (DeNisco, 2013; Stokley, 2002; Thompson, 2004). Presumably, the job is only expected to get more arduous with the increasing demands to improve student achievement (Allison, 2012; Kimball & Sirotnik, 2000; Queen & Schumacher, 2006). What is quite apparent today is that the role and responsibilities of the principal have changed dramatically over the past twenty years (Carlson, 2012; Hill-Yeverton, 2003) shifting from a factory model of management of learning to one in which teachers and principals have to create more student-centered and project-based …

Expanding A Path Analytic Model Of Quality Management To Include The Management Of Safety, Bruce J. Ladewski

Dissertations

The Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) reports that every year 4.1 million American workers are seriously injured from workplace accidents at an annual direct and indirect cost estimated at hundreds of billions (OSHA, 2012). At the public level, actions to reduce the workplace deaths, injuries, and associated costs in the form legislation. At the private level, actions taken include implementing behavior based safety programs focused on various ways of encouraging employee behaviors to reduce reported injuries. The most recent move to drive down worker injuries focuses on the implementation of management systems by adopting principles used to prevent product …

The Influence Of Training Procedures On Generalization Performance In Scent-Detection Rats, Erin Watkins

Dissertations

The global illicit trade in tobacco products leads to an overall increase in the availability of tobacco, and this increase in tobacco availability and consumption undermines effective health, safety, and taxation policies in place to protect current and future populations. Dogs working at ports and customs have been trained to detect tobacco products and research has shown rats can detect tobacco-soaked filters (Mahoney et al., 2014). Cigarette smoking is the most common form of tobacco use, and cigarettes are the most commonly trafficked product in the illicit tobacco trade. In the current study, rats were trained to respond to filter …

Dominican College Students’ Experiences Of Distress, Help-Seeking And Stigma, Laura Alicia Pacheco Del Castillo

Dissertations

The Dominican Republic has a population of over 10 million, from which an estimated 20% fall within the age range of 10 to 19 years old (OECD, 2012). The provision of education, particularly for Dominican youth, has been established as a long-term social and economic priority at the government level (OECD, 2012; Pimentel, 2002). Nevertheless, research suggests that education and health management in the Dominican Republic have been historically inadequate and insufficient (Schumacher, 2010; Vargas-Lundius, 1991). Further research is warranted to better understand Dominican students’ mental health experiences as they attempt to succeed in formal learning environments (Schumacher, 2010).

Furthermore, …

Interpersonal Dependency And Self-Efficacy On Intention To Return To A Domestically Violent Relationship Among Low-Income Women, Erin N. Jenkins

Dissertations

An interesting and often puzzling aspect of violent relationships is its cyclical nature. Despite the high probability of future victimization, many victims of domestic violence often leave and return multiple times. A considerable amount of research reports that although a woman might leave her abusive partner with the intention of not returning, after some time, she returns (Aizer, & Dal Bo, 2009; Anderson, 2003; Choice & Lamke, 1999; Drigotas & Rusbult, 1992; Gordon et al., 2004; Lerner, & Kennedy, 2000; Pape & Arias, 2000; Rhatigan, Street, & Axsom, 2006; Rusbult, & Martz, 1995; Strube, 1988; Strube & Barbour, 1983, 1984; …

Justice Involved Veterans’ Post-Release Employment-Related Experiences, James L. Dawson

Dissertations

In 2010, the cost to U.S. taxpayers was $39 billion to incarcerate individuals in State and Federal Correctional facilities. A sub-population of these prisoners is those that have served in the U.S. military, or “Justice Involved Veterans” (JIVs). Many Veterans are eligible for federal and state funds for Career Tech. Education to assist them with obtaining employment, which research shows often contributes to keeping them from re-offending. However, recent studies of employment after prison have all been quantitative investigations that do not incorporate the voices of JIVs describing their experiences in depth. Bush’s (2011), and Bolman and Deal’s (2008) theories …

Western Michigan University Magazine, Spring 2017, Western Michigan University

Western Michigan University Magazine (1997-present)

• A Students’ Prez. A Big-idea Leader. A Dunn Deal. Because of President John M. Dunn, WMU moves into the future with an international reputation for student success, valuable partnerships, innovation and sustainability. His July retirement marks the culmination of a productive presidency.
• Welcome, Dr. Montgomery: Noted public policy expert is WMU’s ninth leader
• Degreed to Succeed: Our latest postgraduate success rate: 92 percent
• Can Biologists Cure What’s Ailing Bats?: A seemingly unstoppable fungus has killed millions
• Archaeological Aspirations: Unearthed Scholarship winner digs into her ambitions
• Foiling Fake News: Catch the untrue before it catches you
• Public Health Defenders: New public …

Revisiting The One-Sided Ewma Control Chart Design, Duy Anh Duong-Tran

Masters Theses

Over the past half-century, Exponential Weighted Moving Average (EWMA) control charts have been widely used in Statistical Process Control to detect small and persistent process shifts. In theory, EWMA control limits monotonically increase over time to account for the continual growth of the EWMA statistic’s variance. These control limits are often assumed constant and are set to their respective asymptotic limits. While not theoretically correct, this simplifies the process of applying and analyzing the EWMA control chart while having little effect on the chart’s performance. One-Sided EWMA charts are often implemented when it is only desirable to detect shifts in …

A Corporate Model: Aligning National Nonprofit Expectations With Regional/Local Efforts To Serve The Mission, Emma A. Powell

Dissertations

This study seeks to provide a body of knowledge and application of research to the national nonprofit audience. The focus is to study conditions that could lead to better alignment between regional staff understanding and implementation of the national expectations, by identifying alignment behaviors in five indicator areas. These indicators are fundraising, mission delivery, volunteer engagement, HR/operations, and PR/external communications.

Research in the areas of nonprofit structure design, motivation, and mission alignment continue to be significant to the sectors maturity and distinction. Corporate model nonprofit organizations structure is unique to other nonprofits within a local community. Understanding the corporate model …

A House Divided Cannot Stand: The Case For Latino-Black Coalitions, Sarah Perez

Dissertations

Ethnic and racial groups are increasingly challenging the African-American-White dichotomy that has historically characterized race relations in the United States. In an increasingly multiracial/multiethnic society, the question of racial and/or ethnic cooperation is an important aspect of the larger American political process. This study examines what attitudes will lead to increased support for coalition building between African-Americans and Latinos. The research questions are: what are the attitudes that are likely to produce strong coalitions between Latinos and African-Americans? Conversely, what attitudinal barriers stand in the way of potential multiethnic coalitions? There are four sets of limitations that could affect support …

Investigating Personality Traits Of Registered Nurses: Implications For Personnel Evaluation, Stephanie N. Means

Dissertations

The United States is currently facing a registered nurse (RN) shortage that is expected to reach the millions in the next few years. Since the beginning of the century, healthcare professionals and administrators have strived to develop and implement ways to increase recruitment and retention in the nursing field. It has been recognized that the key to recruitment and retention is to get the right nurse in the right place, which means focusing on clinical proficiencies as well as personality qualities and characteristics. Personality assessment has long been used to evaluate person-job (P-J) fit of applicants for positions across the …

Biosorption Of Pharmaceuticals And Noble Metals Nanoparticles By Algal Turf Communities, Haider Abid Faraj

Dissertations

Pharmaceuticals and nanoparticles are increasingly released into the aquatic ecosystem, while removing these contaminants from waters can be challenging. This study explores the use of periphytic algal turf communities to remove these contaminants. Initially algal turfs from different locations and aquatic systems were analyzed for pharmaceuticals commonly observed in wastewater outflows. Lab-grown turfs were exposed to a mixture of six representative pharmaceuticals of different functionality (acid, base, neutral and steroidal). Analysis of water column and the algal biomass showed pharmaceutical removal rates varied, specific to each pharmaceutical. Caffeine and estradiol had the highest removal rates while carbamazepine was not removed. …

Networked: An Investigation Into The Economic Contribution Of Manuel Castells, Darrick Brake

Dissertations

The central focus of this dissertation is contemporary network theory as discussed by Manuel Castells with an emphasis on his theoretical discussion on economic theory. This research centers on critically evaluating the works of Manuel Castells and discuss how his ideas on the theory of networks and the “network society” in relation to changes in the economic structure and information capitalism have made significant contributions to not only information society theory but also economic and sociological theory. This research was done as a two-part process in which there is a comparative analysis of the unique and underlying contributions contained within …

Subgroup Analysis And Growth Curve Models For Longitudinal Data, Nichole Andrews

Dissertations

In clinical trials and biomedical studies, treatments are compared to determine which one is effective against illness. Growth curve analysis can be beneficial in longitudinal biomedical studies, as we can evaluate the treatment effect on the response over time. The generalized growth curve model using polynomial regression is proposed for longitudinal data. An optimal degree for the polynomial is obtained using the BIQIF, an adaptation of the Bayesian information criterion. Quadratic inference functions are used to estimate the parameters of the model, which takes into account the fact that repeated measurements from the same subject are more likely to be …

Protecting Sensitive Data In Clouds Using Active Data Bundles And Agent-Based Secure Multi-Party Computation, Akram Y. Sarhan

Dissertations

Protection of data in cloud computing including distributed environments is a critical concern for many enterprises. This study proposes a solution that protects sensitive data outsourced to a cloud throughout their entire life cycle—both in the cloud as well as outside of the cloud (e.g., during transmission to or from the cloud). The solution enhances the existing data protection approach known as Active Bundle scheme, which uses a Trusted Third Party (ABTTP).

The Active Data Bundle (ADB) was formerly called an Active Bundle (AB). It is a software construct that encapsulates data, metadata, and a virtual machine (VM). The metadata …

Assessing A Punching Bag Feedback Performance Device, Neil Deochand

Dissertations

Physical exercise has been integrated into treatment efforts in reversing the number of overweight and obese individuals. Furthermore, exercise extends mortality, enhances general quality of life, and it is a protective health factor for preventing the progression some mental health disorders. Electronic athletic training equipment easily allows monitoring of real-time physical activity, and enables tracking of progress made toward individualized performance goals. There are limitations to only using visual feedback (e.g., visual depictions of heart rate, speed, distance traveled, or calories burned etc.) to track and improve exercise and athletic performance, especially for some sports, such as boxing. This issue …

Development Of An Effective Portable And Flexible Glove For Hand Tremor Suppression, Abdulrahem Turkistani

Masters Theses

This paper presents the work carried out in designing and developing a prototype for a tremor suppression system that reduces hand tremor by counteracting vibrations initiated from a patient’s shaking hand. This system includes a glove with a built-in vibration simulation module that oscillates and mimics the hand vibration. The oscillation is generated by a DC motor mounted on the top of the glove, and can vary in degree of vibration. The glove is also equipped with an accelerometer-gyroscope based micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) and vibrating coin motors mounted on each finger, both interfaced with a microcontroller. The microcontroller used in …

The Impact Of Mindfulness Training In A Division I Gymnastics Team: A Pilot Study, Nicholas Cherup

Masters Theses

The physical and psychological demands of sports can place an athlete under a variety of stressors. Subsequently, the way in which athletes deal with such stressors can positively or negatively affect their performance (Mellalieu, Hanton, & Fletcher, 2009). Flow is defined as a type of experience where one is completely engaged in an activity and optimally functioning. Recently, an increase in mindfulness and acceptance based approaches have been utilized as a means to augment negative emotions in sport and many have suggested a link between mindfulness and flow (Birrer, Röthlin, & Morgan, 2012; Kaufman, Glass, & Arnkoff, 2009; Gardner & …

Veterans’ Satisfaction With Veterans’ Administration Healthcare Systems, Dale Arnold

Masters Theses

There are currently over 600,000 veterans in the State of Michigan served by only five Veterans’ Administration Medical Centers. These medical centers are not evenly distributed throughout the state with the majority located in the southernmost portion of the state. There necessarily will be a number of veterans for which it is unreasonable to travel to these medical centers to receive care to which they are entitled. This research will investigate the number of veterans that are currently required to drive excessive distances to receive adequate care under the present system, and to possibly suggest solutions to the current situation.

Alaska Native Artifacts; Eskimos And Aleuts Of The Bering Sea Rhythm Of The Sea Collection, Marcia Sue Taylor

Masters Theses

“Only his artifacts provide his earthly testimony” (Thiry 1977, p. 5). The purpose of the research is to catalogue Eskimo and Aleut artifacts that comprise an unprovenienced (anonymous) collection in the Anthropology Department at Western Michigan University, and provide a corresponding ethnography. This will be accomplished in two ways: (1) a museum curation project, and (2) an ethnographic study that will focus on cultural synthesis within the parameters of artistic styles of harpoon head artifacts and geography as these pertain to the artifacts and their distribution. Analysis of the collection’s harpoon heads will provide both artistic and inventive evidence of …

Cultivating The Concrete Jungle: Examining Urban Agriculture In The Motor City - Detroit, Mi, Sultan Muhammad

Masters Theses

The maintenance and development of sustainable food systems is becoming an essential aspect of maintaining an efficient urban environment. Likewise, addressing food and job security within America for the entirety of the population has proven difficult in the face of increasing poverty, particularly in urban areas. Urban agriculture has become a favored system of producing local fresh quality food, increasing employment opportunities, beautifying brown spaces and improving environmental conditions through the benefits of increased vegetation. UA exists in America, but as of yet have not sufficiently addressed the prevailing conditions of food insecurity, particularly within poor communities. This study will …

Modeling Channel Response To Dam Removal In Lansing, Michigan, Using Swat, Ryan Filbin

Masters Theses

The removal of dams has increased in recent decades in the United States, largely resulting from decaying infrastructure and greater efforts to restore rivers to a more natural, free-flowing state. Dam removal presents the opportunity for increased public safety, improved environmental prosperity, and improved economic prosperity in conjunction with riverfront revitalization projects. The City of Lansing, Michigan, contains two moderate-to high-risk dams along the Grand River that pose a significant risk to the surrounding area in the event of structural failure.

The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) is applied to model the impacts of the Moores Park Dam and …