Digital Commons Network^™

First World War Central Power Prison Camps, Kenneth Steuer

History Faculty Publications

This is an introduction to the First World War Central Power POW Camps photo gallery that is a companion work to Steuer's e-book, Pursuit of an "Unparalleled Opportunity": The American YMCA and Prisoner-of-War Diplomacy among the Central Power Nations during World War I, 1914-1923. The images include a wide range of photographs, drawings, paintings, maps, and other images from Austrian, Hungarian, Bulgarian, German, and Turkish prison camps during the First World War which illustrate the daily life of Allied war prisoners in and outside of prison facilities. The text and database images show the activities in these camps and …

Using Box-Jenkins Modeling Techniques To Forecast Future Disease Burden And Identify Disease Aberrations In Public Health Surveillance Report, Larry C. Garrett

Dissertations

The analysis of public health surveillance data to identify departures from historical patterns of disease is required to facilitate the timely identification of potential outbreaks. Using the Box-Jenkins forecasting model, this study examines the potential to predict future disease burden based upon the historical record within local public health jurisdictions. Box-Jenkins forecasting was developed as a direct result of forecast problems in the business, economic, and control-engineering applications, yet it has not been systematically examined for use with public heath surveillance data.

Box-Jenkins forecast models are constructed by stratifying 84,029 disease reports from the State of Utah by year (n …

Interdisciplinary Approaches To Climate Change Research And Training: Possible Funding Opportunities, Kathryn Docherty

Research and Dessert

NSF Transforming Undergraduate Education in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (TUES)

Dept. of Education Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need (GAANN)

NSF Discovery Research K‐12 (DRK‐12)

Packard Foundation – Conservation and Science

Gates Foundation – College‐Ready Education, Early Learning, Post‐secondary Education, Empowering Communities

Dow Foundation

NIH Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA)

NIH‐National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Science Education Award (R25)

NSF Partnerships for International Research and Education (PIRE)

NSF International Research Experiences for Students (IRES)

NSF Catalyzing New International Collaborations

NSF Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research (PEER) Science

NSF Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic …

Other Funding Opportunities For An Interdisciplinary Climate Change Project, David Karowe, Kathryn Docherty, Carla Koretsky

Research and Dessert

No abstract provided.

The Western Michigan University Magazine, Fall 2012, Western Michigan University

Western Michigan University Magazine (1997-present)

• Learning in the 21st Century: Initiative promotes teaching, student services that keep pace with a changing student body
• International Odysseys: Student’s studies take him across the globe in a year
• Gerontology Center: New center created ahead of predicted population boom in elder adults
• Overcoming Bias: Professor’s book addresses threats to journalistic objectivity
• Distinguished alumni winners: Two are honored with annual award
• Reporting in Post-War Iraq: Alumnus creates news outlet covering oil in the war-torn nation
• From Scientist to Schoolteacher? WMU prepares engineers and other technical professionals to teach in “high-need” public schools
• New Sangren
• University News
• Campus Quick Reads
• Classnotes …

Haworthnews (10/2012), Western Michigan University

Haworth College of Business News

• Western Michigan University ROTC ranked top in the state at national leadership training
• President of Kalexsyn Inc. to be next speaker in WMU’s Entrepreneurship Series
• Veeck earns teaching innovation award
• Tom Feller, BBA ’04 – Full Circle
• Speaker to give update on the Kalamazoo Promise
• Two local leaders in special education featured in Keystone Breakfast Speaker Series
• Forging global relationships
• Dr. Gene S. Booker
• Crain’s Chicago Recognizes Alum Roa’s Success
• 2012 Western Michigan IT forum explores the importance of information and communication in business

Zones Of Exclusion: Urban Spatial Policies, Social Justice, And Social Services, Karen H. Bancroft

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Across the United States homeless persons, prostitutes, and drug and alcohol users are subject to policies that severely limit their freedom of movement. These new policies create spatial exclusion zones that deny these groups the right to inhabit or traverse large areas of their cities, particularly in the downtown cores, where treatment centers, shelters, food banks, soup kitchens, government services, and other social services are typically concentrated. In this paper, I examine these new spatial exclusionary policies (with a focus on Washington State's policies), present a brief historical account of socio-spatial practices, contextualize the current spatial laws, and end with …

The Physician Assistant Profession: A Handbook For Students, Jami L. Cynecki

Honors Theses

This document extensively covers the physician assistant career and can be used as a handbook for students who are interested in learning more about the career. This thesis explores the question, what is the process of becoming a physician assistant? More specifically, I will cover the progression from a student to a fully licensed PA. Topics that are discussed include: how to prepare for a career as a PA (including the pathway to being admitted to an accredited program), the training received in an accredited program and information on certification maintenance required as a licensed physician assistant Furthermore, this document …

Golden Rice: The Need, The Science, And Public Reception Of Gmos, Elizabeth A. Quemada

Honors Theses

Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) affects people all over the world. The most severely affected individuals are those in countries where access to Vitamin A rich foods such as dark leafy greens and dark red or orange vegetables, along with liver, eggs, and cheeses are not readily available. Vitamin A deficiency most harmfully affects young children, where it is needed for correct development, and pregnant women, where Vitamin A stores are depleted. Several methods have been put into action over the years in severely affected countries to help combat VAD. There are programs to increase the availability of Vitamin A in …

The Western Michigan University Magazine, Spring 2012, Western Michigan University

Western Michigan University Magazine (1997-present)

• University news
• Oprah’s favorite guest
• Alumni and development changes
• Classnotes and obituaries
• College news
• Distinguished alumni winners
• The art, science and business of medicine: A founding dean, a $100 million anonymous gift and a downtown Kalamazoo home will help the WMU School of Medicine leverage the city’s life science heritage.
• Fostering success: After four years of wrapping its arms around former foster care youth, WMU has turned conventional wisdom on its ear and built a year-round home for a vulnerable population.
• Growing ever greener New academic initiatives and more than 30 years of energy-conservation efforts put WMU in forefront of …

Health Service Access For Rural People Living With Hiv/Aids In China: A Critical Evaluation, Xiying Wang, Xiulan Zhang, Yuebin Xu, Yurong Zhang

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The increasingly serious HIV/AIDS epidemic creates a significant burden for the public health system; however, little attention has been paid to the issue of health service access in rural China. Based on a qualitative study of 34 Chinese rural People Living with HIVIAIDS (PLWHA) and 13 health providers, this study fills a gap by examining health service access from both the demand and supply-side. Utilizing access theory, this study explores the availability, affordability and acceptability of health services in rural China. Moreover, this study focuses on access barriers and institutional obstacles that PLWHA meet during their illness and considers the …

Guiding Health Care Policy Through Applied Public Health Modeling And Simulation, Jonathan P. Leidig, Chris L. Barrett, Madhav Marathe

Transactions of the International Conference on Health Information Technology Advancement

The risk of a widespread epidemic is a primary public health concern with implications for healthcare providers and organizations. Modeling and simulation techniques have been successfully applied at the national level to set governmental polices and mitigation strategies through simulation-based predictions. Existing research in this field has been non-uniform in its coverage of local systems and region-specific findings. New collaborations between on the ground providers and modeling groups are required for successful simulation-based experimentation of region-specific health systems. These proposed collaborations are expected to contribute high-quality sub-population datasets to be used in experiments at the national level and allow for …

Insider Vol. 11 No. 2 Fall 2011, College Of Arts & Sciences

College of Arts and Sciences news

No abstract provided.

The Western Michigan University Magazine, Summer 2011, Western Michigan University

Western Michigan University Magazine (1997-present)

• News briefs
• Tech transfer increases trigger product development
• Printed electronics work garnering international kudos
• Researchers tackle rare neurological disease with Vanderbilt colleagues
• Prof puts democratic theories to test in Afghanistan
• Science role models and characters few for female students
• High school mathematics course reduces remedial needs in college
• WMU creative writer wins nation’s top book award
• ‘HeroRats’ combat land mines, tuberculosis
• Multiuniversity team minimizes global warming crop damage
• Lives of Kalamazoo children with autism changed

Wmu School Of Medicine: Prescription For The Future, Kiwanis Club Of Kalamazoo, John M. Dunn

WMU President John Dunn

No abstract provided.

Wmu School Of Medicine: Prescription For The Future, John M. Dunn

WMU President John Dunn

No abstract provided.

Community Reception For Founding Dean Hal Jenson, John M. Dunn

WMU President John Dunn

No abstract provided.

Prism #52, February 2011, Office Of The Provost

Prism: Western Michigan University's Newsletter for Academic Affairs

No abstract provided.

Western News, Jan. 27, 2011, Western Michigan University

Western News (1972-2018)

Story highlights: Founding medical school dean announced; Carnegie Foundation lauds WMU's community engagement efforts; Service anniversaries for January; On Campus with Lisa Johnson.

Insider Vol. 11 No. 1 Winter 2011, College Of Arts & Sciences

College of Arts and Sciences news

No abstract provided.

Exploring The Experiences Of Living With A Controversial Illness In Patients With Fibromyalgia, Samantha L. Wheeler

Dissertations

Fibromyalgia is an illness of great controversy estimated to affect approximately 4% of the US population. There are no widely accepted etiological causes or clear physiological explanations of fibromyalgia. Only a few research studies have addressed the concept of illness uncertainty in patients with fibromyalgia. There are no current studies that examine how fibromyalgia patients experience, perceive, and understand their illness in terms of having a syndrome with an unknown etiology.

This qualitative study, using phenomenological methods, explored the concept of unknown etiology as one factor in illness uncertainty. Ten participants, diagnosed with fibromyalgia from 2-15 years were interviewed. The …

Western News, Sept. 9, 2010, Western Michigan University

Western News (1972-2018)

Story highlights: Convocation to feature State of University address, campuswide awards; WMU on magazine's new top-tier list; On Campus with Cara LaLumia-Barnes.

Why You Should Care About The Threatened Middle Class, Jill Littrell, Fred Brooks, Jan Ivery, Mary L. Ohmer

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

In the last two decades, the income and security of the individual middle class worker has declined and the gap between the middle class and the wealthy has widened. We explain how this is bad for democracy, the economy, and the aggregate health of the nation. We examine the governmental policies and interventions that increased the middle class following the depression and maintained its vigor through the post-World War II period. The impetus for these changes in governmental policies in the 1930s was to end the Great Depression. We pose the question of whether a nation can recover from a …

How Much Did The Germans Know About The Final Solution?: An Examination Of Propaganda In The Third Reich, Issa A. Braman

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Prism #44, February 2010, Office Of The Provost

Prism: Western Michigan University's Newsletter for Academic Affairs

No abstract provided.

Empirical Essays On The Impact Of Health-Aid On Health Outcomes, Elsy Thomas Kizhakethalackal

Dissertations

This dissertation consists of three essays that empirically explore the impact of multilateral health-aid on health outcomes like infant mortality rate (IMR) and incidences of an infectious disease, Tuberculosis, in developing economies. The first essay uses parametric and semiparametric mean regressions (additive and non-additive specifications) to capture the impact of education and health-aid on the IMR, after controlling for other covariates. Both specifications confirm education as an important factor in reducing IMR. However, the effect of health-aid on IMR is not significant. In our additive model, we do see a threshold level of health-aid after which the impacts of health-aid …

Meeting American Veterans Taught Lesson About Propaganda's Deceitfulness, Diether Haenicke

WMU President Diether Haenicke

This column was first published Nov. 17, 2004 and reprinted Nov. 11, 2009 in the Kalamazoo Gazette mlive.com/kalamazoo

Domestic Violence Rights Movement In Tanzania: An Exploration, Flora Peter Myamba

Dissertations

In Tanzania, the involvement of a social movement to addressing domestic violence is fairly recent (early 1990s) (Green, 1999; Hirsch, 2003; Michau, 2002; TAMWA, 1999). As has historically been the case in most African countries, domestic violence has remained largely invisible, being considered a normal custom, practice and tradition (Green, 1999; The New York Times, 2005; TAMWA, 1999). Efforts to address it have been regarded as shameful and pointless (TGNP, 1993). Indeed, cultural mores remain very contentious with regard to the activities of the Tanzanian domestic violence rights movement (DVRM). It is this conflict between the movement's efforts to educate …

Characterization Of The Ap-1 And Nf-Kappa B Transcription Factors In The U-87 Mg Astrocytoma Cell Line, Denise L. Smith

Dissertations

Growth factors, signaling molecules and transcription factors are frequently mutated in cancer and platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) has been shown to be over-expressed in most gliomas. In the astrocytoma cell line U-87 MG, the over-expression of PDGF has been shown to lead to over-expression of transcription factors activator-protein-1 (AP-1) and nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB), and it is believed that the individual subunits of AP-1 (c-Jun, JunB, JunD, c-Fos, FosB, Fra-1, and Fra-2) and NF-κB (c-Rel, p50, p52, p65, and RelB) play different roles in proliferation, survival and differentiation in the U-87 MG cell line.

To assess these different roles, transient …

The Theory And Practice Of Drug Courts: Wolves In Sheep Clothing?, Kristen E. Devall

Dissertations

This dissertation is a case study of an adult drug court in a medium-size Midwestern city. The primary impetus behind the creation of the drug court model was the partial recognition that the "get tough" approach to crime and the "war on drugs" was ineffective in "solving the United States' drug problem. Drug courts represent an integration of a public-health approach and a public-safety strategy of fighting crime and administering "justice." The bulk of the extant research regarding drug courts addresses one central question: "Do drug courts work?" Researchers and evaluators alike have attempted to answer this question over the …