Digital Commons Network^™

Single-Shot Mev-Resolution Hard X-Ray Spectrograph For Cavity-Based X-Ray Free Electron Laser, Keshab Kauchha

Dissertations

The Cavity-Based X-ray Free Electron Laser (CBXFEL) is a possible future direction in the development of fully coherent hard X-ray sources of high spectral brilliance, a narrow spectral bandwidth of ≃ 1 − 100 meV, and a high repetition rate of ≃ 1 MHz. A diagnostic tool is required to measure CBXFEL spectra with a meV resolution on a shot-to-shot basis.

The CBXFEL hard X-ray spectrograph is designed to image 9.831 keV X-rays in a ≃ 200 meV spectral window and with a spectral resolution of a few meV using an LCLS XFEL (Linac Coherent Light Source X-ray Free Electron …

Wmu Board Of Trustees Formal Session ,September 26, 2024, Wmu Board Of Trustees

WMU Board of Trustees Meetings

• Acceptance of the Agenda
• Approval of the Minutes (June 27, 2024 Meeting)
• Remarks by the Chair of the Board
• Remarks by the President
• Updates by the Faculty Senate President
• Updates by the Western Student Association President
• Updates by the Graduate Student Association President
• Western Michigan University Employee Graduates
• Bridging Classroom to Career: WMU Sales Program and Industry Collaboration
• Driving Student Success
• Public Comments Regarding Action Items

Action Items

• State Capital Outlay – Building Project Priority List
• Western Michigan University External Audit, 2024

Consent Item

1. Personnel Report
2. Curriculum Proposals
3. Special Liquor License Applications (October 25, 2024 and October 26, 2024 …

Breaking Boundaries: A Qualitative Exploration Of Scientific Motivation And Persistance From The Perspectives Of Arab Women Undergradute Students In Stem In The Us, Fadwa Hamad

Dissertations

There is a lack of information regarding the motivational experiences of Arab women undergraduate students in STEM fields in the US and the factors that contribute to their engagement and persistence in this field. This is because of their categorization as white on census documents, which renders them invisible. Research has shown that motivational beliefs are effective predictors of students' persistence especially for women from minority groups. Thus, it is important to understand the motivational experiences of Arab women students as part of the minority women in STEM in the US. Using an intersectionality framework, and a multi-component motivational model, …

Assessment Of Inquiry-Based Learning Practice In Response To The Science Achievement Gap Of City Schools, Lexus K. Baxendale,

Masters Theses

Over the past few decades, many city schools have seen a decline in graduation rates, attendance, rates, and standardized test scores. Once high achieving schools, are now struggling to get students to attend school let alone graduate. One specific area that has experienced this decline is K-12 science education. As a secondary science educator working within a city district, I have witnessed firsthand the substantial gaps in knowledge that many students exhibit even as they transition into high school. These gaps are often profound and can be traced back to the early stages of their education, where foundational scientific concepts …

Quasi – Monte Carlo Estimation For Functional Generalized Linear Mixed Models, Ruvini Jayamaha

Waldo Library Student Exhibits

Functional Data Analysis (FDA) is a topic of growing interest in the Statistics community. The data in FDA are smooth curves or surfaces in time or space which can be conceptualized as functions.

We propose a Functional Generalized Linear Mixed Model (FGLMM) to fit EEG data and estimate the parameters using Quasi-Monte Carlo Method.

This proposed model deals with non-Gaussian scalar response, functional predictor, and random effects. We relax the assumption of link and variance functions.

Drone-Based Airborne Vlf-Em In Detecting Groundwater Contamination Due To Landfill Leachate, Chanho Park, Mine Dogan

Waldo Library Student Exhibits

Modern landfills follow a strict state and federal regulation on their location, design, operation and monitoring practices. One of the key focus in the regulations is in terms of leachate. While the exact composition of the leachates depends on various factors such as waste composition and degradation processes, in general they contain groups of dissolved organic matter, inorganic cations and heavy metals.

Very Low Frequency-Electromagnetic (VLF-EM) has been widely used for delineating leachate plume direction and boundaries. Previous studies using VLF-EM were carried out as on-ground measurements due to limitations in technologies. With the advancements in Unmanned Airborne Systems (UAS), …

Communication Research On Sign Language Telecommunication And Digital Modes Of Interpretation., Scooter Briody

Honors Theses

Since the invention and proliferation of the telephone in the late nineteenth century, our world has become increasingly dependent on technologically mediated communication. Nowadays we are just as likely to have our next human interaction through our smartphone or computer screen as we are to meet another person face to face. We do not even tend to think of these things as tools for telecommunication anymore, but rather as extensions of our own will. Despite the overwhelming convenience of this technology, it is also fundamentally created with the interests of certain people in mind. If you are able to use …

Wmu Board Of Trustees Formal Session ,June 27, 2024, Wmu Board Of Trustees

WMU Board of Trustees Meetings

• Acceptance of the Agenda
• Approval of the Minutes (April 25, 2024 Meeting)
• Remarks by the Chair of the Board
• Remarks by the President
• Updates by the Faculty Senate President
• Updates by the Western Student Association President
• Western Michigan University Employee Graduates
• WMU’s Investment in the Future – Academic Tenure and Promotion
• Public Comments Regarding Action Items

Action Items

• Resolution: Trustee Dr. William F. Pickard’s Leadership Legacy
• Academic Tenure and Promotion
• Student Room, Board, and Apartment Rates 2024-2025
• Tuition and Required Fee Rates Fall 2024
• General Fund Budget, Fiscal Year 2024-2025
• Five Year Capital Outlay Master Plan
• Lease Agreement with Formosa …

Creating Advanced Processes Through Utilizing Renewable Eutectics For Gas Capture And Separation, Ahmad Mohammad Rasheed Al-Bodour

Dissertations

Global efforts to reduce emissions of environmentally harmful gases have intensified, with carbon dioxide (CO2) being identified as the most significant greenhouse gas and a key target for reduction strategies. Carbon dioxide (CO2) has the highest potential of threatening the environment. It is recognized as one of the greenhouse gases which has the potential of negative effects on the human being, atmosphere, and the environment. Even though CO2 gas has negative effects but at the same time it has high potential to be exploited in beneficial ways. For instance, CO2 is used in the energy field to produce the so-called …

Quasi-Monte Carlo Estimation For Functional Generalized Linear Mixed Models., Ruvini Kumari Jayamaha Hitihamilage

Dissertations

Functional Data Analysis (FDA) is a topic of growing interest in the statistics community and is applied in a wide range of fields such as Anthropology, Epidemiology, Meteorology, Neurology and Engineering. The data in FDA are smooth curves or surfaces in time or space which can be conceptualized as functions. Because of the smooth nature of the data and the measurements are highly correlated, making the classical methods such as univariate or multivariate analysis are infeasible for such data. Functional data Analysis (FDA) deals with these kinds of more detailed, complex, and structured data.

In this dissertation, we propose a …

On Near-Linear Cellular Automata Over Near Spaces, Abdul-Rahman M. Nasser

Dissertations

Cellular Automata can be considered as examples of massively parallel machines. They are computational mathematical objects consisting of a grid of cells, each of which can exist in a finite number of states. These cells evolve over discrete time steps according to a set of predefined rules based on the states of neighboring cells. The notion of cellular automata was first introduced by Ulam and von Neumann and then popularized by John H. Conway in the 1970s with one of the most famous examples being The Game of Life.

This research builds on and generalizes the work of Tullio Ceccherini-Silberstein …

Einstein Field Equations And The Solutions For Uncharged Black Holes, Yogesh Mahat

Masters Theses

The General Theory of Relativity, formulated by the brilliant mind of Albert Einstein, stands as one of the most fundamental and revolutionary pillars of modern physics. This elegant theory of gravity not only offers a comprehensive explanation of the workings of the universe on a large scale, but it has also paved the way for groundbreaking advancements in the field of mathematics. This thesis begins by providing a concise overview of the key mathematical principles that are crucial to understanding Einstein’s theory. These principles form the basis for deriving the field equations that Einstein introduced. From there, these equations are …

Moral Responsibility And Other Visceral Attitudes Of Western Michigan University Students Toward Food Waste, Quinn Heiser

Masters Theses

Despite the large number of people that go hungry on a regular basis in America, food waste remains a looming issue, globally and nationally. Both American college students and the universities themselves contribute a large portion to the national food waste totals. A dichotomy that is especially curious is the difference between students who live on-campus and whose main source of meals is the dining centers, versus students who live off campus and rely mainly on groceries to make meals independently. However, food waste has seldom been studied in the context of the fact that college is a major transition …

Estimating And Applying Parameters Necessary To Plan Cluster Randomized Trials (Crts) And Multisite Cluster Randomized Trials (Mscrts), Dea Mulolli

Dissertations

Cluster randomized trials (CRTs) are commonly used to study the effectiveness of educational interventions. During the design phase of a study, it is critical for researchers to ensure their studies are adequately powered to detect meaningful treatment effects, including both main and moderator effects. Designing CRTs with adequate power to detect main and moderator effects requires accurate estimates of design parameters. This research aims to advance the literature on design parameters for power analyses, specifically focusing on empirical estimates of intraclass correlations (ICCs). The work consists of three research papers that examine the role of including the teacher level in …

A Contingency Table Alternative To Poisson Regression In Comparing The Frequency Distributions Of Two Populations, Sandra Tay

Dissertations

When testing the conditional independence between a binary outcome and a binary treatment indicator, conditioned on a categorical variable with k levels, typically represented by a K × 2 frequency table, researchers often turn to Poisson regression and the Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel (CMH) test. However, a common challenge encountered in these analyses is the presence of treatment effect heterogeneity. Introducing an interaction term between treatment indicators and effect modifiers in log-linear regression offers potential solutions, yet the equidispersion assumption of Poisson regression remains problematic. On the other hand, the CMH test assumes similar treatment effects across all strata, disregarding potential variations among …

A Microgenetic Learning Analysis Of Contextuality In Reasoning About Exponential Modeling, Elahe Allahyari

Dissertations

This work explores the complex cognitive processes students engage in when addressing contextual tasks requiring linear and exponential models. Grounded within Piagetian constructivism and the Knowledge in Pieces (KiP) epistemological perspective (diSessa, 1993, 2018), this empirical study in a clinical setting develops a Microgenetic Learning Analysis (MLA) of the reasoning of 14 students from an Algebra II course. It reveals the critical role of cognitive disequilibrium as an essential cognitive state for conceptual development and the process of reorganizing knowledge systems. The study uncovers the fluctuations in students’ reasoning patterns and the significant impact on students’ reasoning patterns of task-specific …

An Experimental Study Of Supervised Machine Learning Techniques For Minor Class Prediction Utilizing Kernel Density Estimation: Factors Impacting Model Performance, Abdullah Mana Alfarwan

Dissertations

This dissertation examined classification outcome differences among four popular individual supervised machine learning (ISML) models (logistic regression, decision tree, support vector machine, and multilayer perceptron) when predicting minor class membership within imbalanced datasets. The study context and the theoretical population sampled focus on one aspect of the larger problem of student retention and dropout prediction in higher education (HE): identification.

This study differs from current literature by implementing an experimental design approach with simulated student data that closely mirrors HE situational and student data. Specifically, this study tested the predictive ability of the four ISML classification models (CLS) under experimentally …

Alternative Adjacency Matrices And Spatial Analysis, Jaeseong Hwang

Dissertations

Spatial analysis is essential for comprehending the spatial distribution of diseases and various phenomena across geographic regions. This study investigates the utilization of alternative adjacency matrices in spatial analysis, with a specific focus on implementing Poisson regression models. This study intricately explores the methodology behind constructing alternative weight matrices, specifying weight matrices, and comparing the performance of Poisson models using five different weight matrices.

The popular Poisson model model is described, and five different definitions of weight matrices are defined, which are the following: binary weight matrix, inverse distance weight matrix using Euclidean distance, Graph distance matrix, Path matrix, and …

Using Video Prompting To Teach Daily Living Skills To Young Adults With Disabilities, Melissa Anne Rajter

Dissertations

Young adults with disabilities may experience difficulties with the daily living skill of meal preparation. Such skills are significant for independent living, employment, and overall quality of life. Previous research has identified video prompting daily living skills as an effective practice that supports independent living. Furthermore, research on young adults with disabilities and video prompting daily living skills has shown an increase in the percentage of correct responses for meal preparation, compared to no use of video prompting. The purpose of the present study was to teach and assess three cooking recipes as a daily living skill for seven young …

Environmental Fate And Transport Of Pfas In Wastewater Treatment Plant Effluent Discharged To Rapid Infiltration Basins, Kai M. Trobisch

Masters Theses

Fate and transport of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluent discharged to rapid infiltration basins (RIBs) is investigated using data from 26 WWTPs in Michigan and numerical modeling to assess the role of air-water interface (AWI) sorption in modulating mass fluxes to the saturated zone. Analysis of RIB physical properties yields a median separation distance of 6.5 meters between land surface and the water table, and a continuum of area-normalized effluent fluxes ranging from 0.01 to 0.62 meters per day. A subset of WWTPs with RIBs indicate higher PFAS concentrations in groundwater than effluent with …

A Tale Of Two Toroidal Graphs, Akshat Gulgulia

Honors Theses

A graph is toroidal if it can be embedded on a torus which is a doughnut-shaped surface. Two well-known examples of toroidal graphs are the complete graph K5 and the complete bipartite graph K3,3. In this thesis we elucidate the association of the subject matter with two renowned enigmas in graph theory, namely the Five Princes Problem and the Three Utilities Problems. Additionally, we look at their association with several renowned theorems in topological graph theory. We explore the link between these two graphs and a contemporary labeling concept.

Finite State And Sequential Automata, Kriti Gulgulia

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Virtual Reality As An Adjunct To Behavior Therapy: A Systematic Literature Review, Alya Alharrasi

Honors Theses

The World Health Organization (WHO) projects that by 2030, mental disorders will become the primary source of global disease burden [1]. Anxiety-related disorders, including specific phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and various forms of general or specific anxiety, are the most rapidly growing mental health disorders worldwide [2]. In the United States (US), over 1 in 10 American youths are experiencing depression, resulting in a severe impact on their personal, academic, or professional encounters and social engagements [3]. Similarly, anxiety disorders affect up to one-third of the US population during their lifetime [4].

Due to the growth of mental health …

5675 Wiredcats Scouting Hub, Sebastian Smiley

Honors Theses

The WiredCats Scouting Hub was created to provide FIRST team 5675 with an application that allows them to make more informed strategic decisions regarding their competitive play. The app synthesizes data from multiple sources, parsing multiple data formats into a single source of truth. It also presents data to users through graphs and charts and provides interactive tables. The application meets the requirements set forth by the leadership of team 5675, effectively providing the capabilities they seek.

Kalamazoo Nature Center Mobile Application, Jacob Tebben

Honors Theses

This project aimed to address the challenge of enhancing visitor engagement and information dissemination at the Kalamazoo Nature Center (KNC) through the development of an integrated mobile and desktop application system. This initiative arose due to the limitations posed by traditional mobile applications which often become outdated and need to be updated by a dedicated software team. This project was designed for any user of the KNC desktop app to be able to update content on the mobile app, without the need of a dedicated software team.

The mobile application was designed for visitor use, enabling them to access up-to-date …

A Petrological Characterization Of The Iutzi Member Of Lucas Formation, Michigan Basin, Moira Burns

Honors Theses

It is thought that most Phanerozoic dolomites form via the replacement of precursor calcium carbonate [CaCO₃] with dolomite [CaMg(CO₃)₂] through a dissolution-precipitation reaction with a Mg-bearing fluid. Although this may be widely accepted, the timing, conditions, settings, and mechanisms associated with the dolomitization process are still strongly debated, resulting in the proposal of various dolomitization models. The association between evaporite minerals and dolomite in the rock record is common and has led many to propose a model genetically associating evaporative fluids and dolomitization. The evaporative model posits as marine fluids evaporate and become more …

The Value Of 360-Degree Assessment In Higher Education, Daniela Schroeter, Heather Jach Turner

Assessment Grants

This assessment project aims to examine the value of 360-degree assessment for higher education with the goals of (a) enhancing undergraduate and graduate students' learning experiences and outcomes, (b) developing an assessment toolbox for broad dissemination, (c) fostering curriculum alignment, and (d) contributing to program and unit level learning outcomes assessment while keeping a strong alignment with WMU’s strategic priorities. Funding will be applied toward strategic examination of data derived from exploratory implementation of 360-degree assessment within four School of Public Affairs and Administration courses. Dissemination products include a 360-degree assessment toolbox, presentations and reports, and possible journal manuscripts.

Probing Shielding Tensor Components Of Amino Acids Using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Shiva Agarwal, Sungsool Wi, Michael Famiano, John Miller, Zbigniew Chajecki

Waldo Library Student Exhibits

Amino acids combine to form proteins in living organisms; most are chiral. On Earth amino acids appear only in the L- form, which is likely due to the amplification of enantiomeric excess (ee). However, a small ee for the L-form of amino acids has been observed in meteorites that have fallen on Earth. One possibility for this ee is the effect of antisymmetric components of the magnetic shielding tensor for 14N nuclei in amino acids, which in NMR manifests as the antisymmetric chemical shift (ACS). This can result in preferential destruction of their D-form through interactions with polarized leptons (e.g., …

Unlocking Potential: Analyzing The Impact Of Special Education Services On The Assessment Outcomes Of Students With Learning Disabilities, Kaitlyn Billops

Dissertations

Since the enactment of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 2004, there has been a notable increase in the enrollment of students receiving special education services (National Center for Education Statistics [NCES], 2022). However, despite advancements in special education programming and service delivery, academic performance for students with disabilities still falls behind their general education peers, particularly on state summative assessments (Aron & Loprest, 2012). Disparities in academic achievement on these assessments can be attributed to various factors, including assessment practices, students' comfort levels during testing, and the severity of their disabilities. Assessing the efficacy of special education …

An Examination Of Specific Learning Disability Identification Post Participation In The Michigan Department Of Education Transformation Zone, Erin E. Senkowski

Dissertations

The identification of students with specific learning disabilities has evolved since the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) in 2004. This reauthorization gave state agencies parameters that disallowed using the severe discrepancy model for identification as a stand-alone method. In response to this change, Michigan provided Intermediate and local school districts with further guidance that disallowed the use of the severe discrepancy model for identifying children with Specific Learning Disabilities (SLDs) and instead required Intermediate School Districts, on behalf of their local districts, to choose one of three models, including Patterns of Strengths and Weakness (PSW), …