Digital Commons Network^™

Western News, July 29, 1999, Western Michigan University

Western News (1972-2018)

Story highlights: University ready for charter school ideas that will link campus to public schools, Public sessions set for feedback on planning, Alliance aims to provide better disability services to area residents, BOT learns of more than $5 million in April and May grants, Anonymous gift establishes four need-based student scholarships, New travel instruction bachelor's degree program will be the first of its kind in nation, Veteran WMU charter school researcher picked to evaluate charters in Pennsylvania.

Western News, July 15, 1999, Western Michigan University

Western News (1972-2018)

Story highlights: Tentative faculty contract agreement set for September vote, University team explores the history and legacy of Great Lakes fishing policies, Final 1998-99 general fund operating budget gets trustees' approval at June board meeting.

Western News, July 1, 1999, Western Michigan University

Western News (1972-2018)

Story highlights: Tuition; fee increase held to 30% for fall, Lacey to be special assistant to President Floyd for year, Doctoral program converted, Thompson to add Graduate College dean responsibilities to job.

Western News, June 3, 1999, Western Michigan University

Western News (1972-2018)

Story highlights: Light announces he'll step down as provost; return to faculty next June, Scholars from across nation head to WMU to study a time long ago and a place far; far away, Environmental writers gather on campus to consider 'diminished' nature of Midwest and other locations, Industrial design students' work for Steelcase unit picked for international trade show in Chicago, Female Holocaust survivors are focus of nursing faculty member's book, Music students go 'down under' for spring concert tour of Australia, Fiji and New Zealand, Bat-Ami draws from history for young adults' refugee romance.

The Use Of Curriculum-Based Measurement To Evaluate The Effects Of A Remedial Education Program, Michael D. Hixson

Dissertations

This study examined the effectiveness of two Direct Instruction programs: Corrective Reading: Decoding and Connecting Math Concepts. The effectiveness of the interventions was evaluated using a single-subject experimental design with curriculumbased measurement (CBM) probes as the main means of assessment. Other methods of assessment included standardized achievement tests, school reports, and pre- and postcurriculum- based assessment probes. The CBM probes for all students were sensitive to the effects of the interventions, although there was a great deal of variability in the CBM reading probes and little correspondence across methods of assessment. The results indicate that the two Direct Instruction programs …

Multiple Isotopic Studies Of Calcium Carbonate Growths In Concrete Structures, Danielle M. Schmitt

Masters Theses

Secondary minerals, predominantly carbonates, forming under concrete structures have received attention in terms of their possible role in the degradation of their hosts. δ¹³C and δ¹⁸O analyses of several calcium carbonate growths collected from bridges in Michigan and New York were performed. The δ¹³C and δ¹⁸O values clustered around -24.7 ± 1(PDB) and 13.7 ± 1(SMOW) ‰, respectively. A positive δ¹⁸O- δ¹³C correlation suggests kinetically driven precipitation involving atmospheric CO2• ¹⁴C activities determined for select samples support the theory that atmospheric CO₂ is involved …

America's Changing Attitudes Toward Welfare And Welfare Recipients, 1938-1995, Laurie Macleod, Darrel Montero, Alan Speer

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper examines American national public opinion on welfare, welfare recipients, and the government's role in welfare programs. The data were gathered from published public opinion polls of national samples of adults taken between 1938 and 1995. The findings indicate that public opinion has remained relatively stable over this 57-year period, with the majority of Americans believing that the government has a responsibility to help those in need. At the same time, the majority of those polled believed that the government spends too much on welfare. The findings also show that the public is in favor of reducing income differences …

An Analysis Of Nine K-12 School Districts That Have Established Membership With The Coalition Of Essential Schools, Shari A. Peters Kitchen

Dissertations

In the late 1970s, Ted Sizer, professor of education at Brown University, and a team of researchers traveled the country visiting dozens of secondary schools. The purpose of these visits was to understand the American high school by observing it firsthand. Sizer reported his findings in 1984 in Horace's Compromise: The Dilemma of the American High School.

In response to the compromises raised in Horace's Compromise, 12 schools volunteered to become the Coalition of Essential Schools. The Coalition rests on a set of nine Common Principles, which include intellectual rigor, simple and universal goals, personalized school, graduation by exhibitions …

A Comprehensive Approach For Evaluation Of Groundwater Vulnerability To Contamination, Shafiul H. Chowdhury

Dissertations

Groundwater vulnerability to contamination from surface sources was evaluated for Nottawa Creek Watershed, Calhoun County Michigan using AQUIPRO and DRASTIC vulnerability methods. A geographic information system (GIS) was used to analyze and map the data. Forty groundwater samples were collected following a statistical sampling protocol from private wells. Samples were analyzed for nitrate-N and atrazine. Atrazine was not detected (detection limit 0.1 ppb) in any of the samples. Five samples contained detectable nitrate-N (detection limit 0.05 mg/L). Due to insufficient chemical data, the relative AQUIPRO and DRASTIC vulnerability scores could not be compared with the frequency of occurrences o f …

Effects Of Methylphenidate On The Sensitivity To Reinforcement In Children Diagnosed With Adhd: An Application Of Matching Law, Laura Kay Murray

Masters Theses

This experiment evaluated the effects of methylphenidate on sensitivity to reinforcement of children diagnosed with ADHD using matching law.

Four children (2 males and 2 females) between the ages of 6 and 10 who were previously diagnosed with ADHD completed easy math problems to earn tokens under four different variable-interval (VI) schedules of reinforcement presented in random order. The rate of completed math problems was plotted against the mean frequency of obtained reinforcers at each schedule value in tokens per minute. The data were fit to the following single-rate hyperbolic equation (Herrnstein, 1970): R = kr/r+r₀.

Results show …

Spectroscopic And Kinetic Investigation Of Carbocation Reactivity In Supercritical Carbon Dioxide, Hongshu Jin

Masters Theses

Recent interest in the use of supercritical CO₂ as an environmentally benign reaction medium has included the development of solvent systems that may support polar and ionic chemistry. Carbocations are key intermediate in a variety of synthetically important reactions and characterization of their reactivity is the focus of this work. UV-visible absorption, and steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy has been used to identify and monitor the reaction kinetics of 9- phenylxanthenium carbocation. The arylcarbocation is conveniently generated from 9- phenylxanthen-9-ol in supercritical CO₂ under mildly acidic conditions. Under these conditions 9-phenylxanthenium ion is extremely stable and persists for …

An Analysis Of Grade-Level Expenditures Of At-Risk Funding Among Districts Of Different Economic Status In The State Of Michigan, Benard A. Meyer

Dissertations

Many of the recent financial reforms failed to address the needs of at-risk children. Effective solutions to the problems of the educationally disadvantaged must include changes within the schools, how the schools are funded, and how the schools spend their funding. Michigan’s 1994 finance reform included a funded plan for “unequal treatment of unequals” directed for the support of at-risk students. This fund was called Section 31a Program for At-Risk Pupils and involved a 230 million dollar compensatory education funding allowance for students at risk of school failure. This study presented here will determine if there is a relationship between …

The Faculty Recognition Dinner 1999, Western Michigan University

Faculty Recognition

The Faculty Recognition Dinner Program

May 27, 1999

Honored Guests:

• Mary Ann Bush
• Anna Campbell
• Lewis Carlson
• Dennis Darling
• Thomas Deckard
• David Diget
• Susan Hannah
• Robert Humiston
• Edgar Inselberg
• Edward Jayne
• J. Michael Keenan
• Robert Luscombe
• David Lyon
• Marcia Mascolini
• Ruth Ann Meyer
• Philip Micklin
• Ellen Page-Robin
• Ronald Sackett
• Uldis Smidchens
• Charles Spaniolo
• Hans Stolle
• Curtis Swanson
• Shirley Van Hoeven
• Lewis Walker
• Leard Wylie

Western News, May 20, 1999, Western Michigan Univeristy

Western News (1972-2018)

Story highlights: University stops accepting fall 1999 freshman applications; closes class, Senate subcommittee supports funding boost for WMU; conference committee is next step, Year-to-date gifts to WMU Foundation top $9 million, Senate approves research policies, hears presentation on classroom civility, Green campus audit will review University's environmental efforts.

Western News, April 8, 1999, Western Michigan University

Western News (1972-2018)

Story highlights: Federal funds will expand elementary skill building, Political science senior is named Truman Scholar, Student-designed Sunseeker solar race car to be unveiled; head for Sunrayce qualifying event, Civil unrest can't match determination in setting up Kandy to Kalamazoo connection, BOT approves name change for new campus chapel to honor national health care pioneer, Levin to speak at ed technology session, Bartley to be honored.

24th Conference On Senior Engineering Design Projects, College Of Engineering And Applied Sciences

Senior Engineering Design Conference

The 24th Conference on Senior Engineering Design Projects was held on April 13, 1999 at the College of Engineering and applied Sciences on the Parkview Campus of Western Michigan University. The college sponsors the conference to showcase the work of its graduating seniors, who are required to complete a capstone project that puts into practice what they have learned. Many of the projects are sponsored by business and industry.

Spelling Practices In School Districts And Regions Across The United States And State Spelling Standards, Elaine Traynelis-Yurek, Mary W. Strong

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

The authors sent a survey during the 1996-97 school year to 670 school districts in 41 states requesting information on spelling instructional practices to ascertain whether spelling texts are still widely used in the United States given the current emphasis on developmental spelling in the primary grades and the March, 1996 publication of the NCTE/IRA standards. In addition, a search of the reading/language arts standards in 50 states in 1998 revealed that most states do have spelling standards, but only a few coincide with the CTE/IRA Standard 6 which mentions spelling.

Reading Horizons Vol. 39, No. 4

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Complete issue of Reading Horizons volume 39, issue 4.

Process Of Change In Reading Instruction: A Model Of Transition, Beth Hurst

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

The purpose of this study was to examine closely the processes, both theoretical and enacted, a teacher undergoes when making changes in methods of reading instruction. A case study using qualitative research methods chronicled a teacher who after 19 years of teaching strictly by the basal began changing toward a balanced literature approach. A model of transition demonstrating this teacher's processes of change is included.

Dimethyldioxirane In Tcf Bleaching Sequences, Nayereh Mahdavi

Masters Theses

The use of chlorine containing bleaching process creates various organic compounds such as chlorinated furan, dioxin, and AOX (adsorbable organic halogen). The human and aquatic life has been affected with the formation of these chlorinated organic compounds. EPA is proposing new regulations to impose discharge limits on the conventional pollutant materials of the bleaching effluents.

The objective of this research was to evaluate two TCF (Total Chlorine Free) bleaching sequences that use hydrogen peroxide and DMD on oxygen delignified hardwood kraft pulp. In one of the sequences, the DMD stage (A) was used prior to the hydrogen peroxide stage (P), …

Efficiency Of Distributed Priority Queues In Parallel Adaptive Integration, Rodger Zanny

Masters Theses

The adaptive integration algorithm is· effective in numerically solving integration problems. It is able to focus the application of integration rules on the portion of the integration region where the integrand is the least well-behaved. Parallel implementations must use dynamic load balancing or performance suffers.

Dynamic local load-balancing techniques allow each processor to maintain its own pool of work in a local priority queue and balance the workload based on local criteria. However, the use of locally controlled priority queues is known to be inefficient (in terms of the number of integration rule applications needed to reach an answer) as …

The Relationship Between Selected Environmental Variables And Attrition, Persistence, And Academic Success Of Majority And Minority College Students, Carole J. Woolford-Hunt

Dissertations

Research indicates that college student persistence, attrition, and success is related to the student’s ability to gain academic and social integration into the university community. This theory has guided researchers to explore either the academic or social factors that promote integration. Under the umbrella of social integration exists the underresearched category of environmental factors.

The overall purpose of this study was to identify selected environmental factors that affect minority and majority students’ persistence and success rates in a Midwestern state-run university. The environmental variables of size of college within a larger university, residential versus nonresidential nature of colleges within a …

Periodicity And Disorder, Simeon D. Simeonov

Dissertations

We have studied four examples of periodicity and disorder in nature and the phenomena associated with them.

In the first chapter of the dissertation we present an introduction to this work.

In the second chapter, the photonic band structures of two types of zinc blend structures are computed using the plane wave expansion method. Both structures are formed from an array of dielectric spheres in a vacuum background. In a first type zinc blend structure the spheres have the same size but different dielectric constants. In a second type of structure we keep the dielectric contrast of the spheres the …

The Relationship Between Principals' Leadership Characteristics And Characteristics Of Public Middle Schools, Linda S. Schneider-Rediske

Dissertations

Principals’ perceptions of the relationship between middle school leadership characteristics and the relevance and use of middle school characteristics were examined in this study. A systematic random sampling procedure was used to select principals from public middle schools in the State of Michigan. A survey instrument was developed to measure the variables. These variables were determined based on a review of the literature. The reliability of the instrument was obtained using the Cronbach’s alpha coefficients. Spearman rank-ordered correlations were used to determine the strength and direction of the relationships of each hypothesis.

The findings from this study suggest that there …

Effects Of Temperature Control On Gravure Packaging Inks, Rodrigo Sosa

Masters Theses

It is well known that variations in ink temperature cause a variation in color density and viscosity. The viscosity of almost all liquids decreases with increasing temperature. In this research project, three different ink temperatures were selected to measure the effects of temperature control on solvent and ink consumption and on printability. Two colors were selected (magenta and cyan) and two heat exchangers were constructed to cool and/or heat the ink.

It was found that variations in ink temperature cause variation in solvent and ink consumption. As the temperature of the ink increases, solvent consumption and ink consumption increase, but …

Gas Sparging And Humic Acid Sorption/Desorption, Masaki Sakakibara

Masters Theses

Partition coefficients (K_DOC) for sorption of PAHs and chlorinated benzenes to dissolved humic acids (HA) were measured using gas-sparging methodology. The resulting K_DOC values were significantly lower than the K_OW-based K_DOC values, which generally appear to provide reliable estimates for K_DOC values. The K_DOC values measured by gas sparging were also strongly influenced by the concentration of HA in solution, as measured by dissolved organic carbon content (DOC). Increasing DOC concentration consistently resulted in decreased K_DOC values for all compounds investigated. Previous studies have claimed that K_DOC values measured using …

Western News, March 11, 1999, Western Michigan University

Western News (1972-2018)

Story highlights: President Floyd testifies in Lansing; points to WMU's achievements as a research university, Women's NIT opener set for tonight on campus, Daniel and Van Hoeven named 1998 Distinguished Service Award recipients, Visiting artist from India finds inspiration in Midwestern winter scenes and activities, December grants totaling $2.5 million push year's grant total past the $68 million mark, Sam Clark Lecture will focus on government, Veldkamp elected to office in Greek advisors group, Latino theater comes to campus for student recruitment.

Western News, Feb. 18, 1999, Western Michigan University

Western News (1972-2018)

Story highlights: Fisheries grant to fund traveling exhibit for Great Lakes region, Senate approves major changes in student academic rights and conduct policies, Lawson; Roehrick honored with 1998 Teaching Excellence Awards, Whitney Young address to focus on multiculturalism, Sports Medicine Clinic takes aqua therapy plunge.

Western News, Feb. 4, 1999, Western Michigan University

Western News (1972-2018)

Story highlights: For engineering; it's Kalamazoo-and Battle Creek, Krause to head 1999 BOT; Franklin will be vice chair, University's drive for Research II designation is on target; dependent on criteria decisions, Specialist in human microvascular system wins Distinguished Faculty Scholar title for 1998.

We Love To Read — A Collaborative Endeavor To Build The Foundation For Lifelong Readers, Marjorie S. Hertz, Kathi L. Swanson

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

This article presents a model of a reading motivation project for a group of fourth grade students. The project incorporates strategies shown to promote engagement in literacy: opportunities for choice, reflection and social interaction. It features the use of metacognitive activities where students set weekly goals and reflect upon how they are growing as readers.