Digital Commons Network^™

Review Of The New Immigration Federalism. Pratheepan Gulasekaram & S. Karthick Pamakrishnan. Reviewed By Elizabeth Kiehne., Elizabeth Kiehne

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Pratheepan Gulasekaram & S. Karthick Pamakrishnan, The New Immigration Federalism. Cambridge University Press (2015), 276 pages, $34.99 (paperback).

14-08 Big Data Analytics To Aid Developing Livable Communities, Li Yang, Hyunkeun Cho, Jun-Seok Oh

Transportation Research Center Reports

In transportation, ubiquitous deployment of low-cost sensors combined with powerful computer hardware and high-speed network makes big data available. USDOT defines big data research in transportation as a number of advanced techniques applied to the capture, management and analysis of very large and diverse volumes of data. Data in transportation are usually well organized into tables and are characterized by relatively low dimensionality and yet huge numbers of records. Therefore, big data research in transportation has unique challenges on how to effectively process huge amounts of data records and data streams. The purpose of this study is to conduct research …

Student Nurse Behaviors And Barriers To Successful Completion Of The Traditonal Bachelor's In Science Of Nursing (Bsn) Program., Carri Shaw

Honors Theses

Change is often said to be the only constant in life. This holds true to the rapidly growing field of nursing. In order to meet the demands of new challenges that emerge in nursing, the way future nurses are educated also has changed. Not all nursing students find that the profession is for them. Therefore, some attrition from school is expected. This descriptive study will explore factors that the literature suggests are related to attrition at a mid-sized public university in the Midwest. A survey given to two different level nursing cohorts will give insight to pre-licensure nursing students’ experiences …

Transfer Student Orientation, John M. Dunn

WMU President John Dunn

No abstract provided.

Family Centered Care In Icu Settings, Victoria Kingsinger

Honors Theses

More than 5 million patients are admitted each year to Intensive Care Units (ICUs) in the US, and approximately 55,000 critically ill patients are cared for each day. ICU patients are a diverse population that has a need for an increased level of care. These patients often require ventilatory or cardiovascular support, invasive monitoring, and intense nursing and physician observation (Society of Critical Care Medicine, 2015). There are five primary admitting diagnoses for adults, which include respiratory failure, postoperative management, ischemic heart disorders, and sepsis. The mean age of patients is rising, particularly due to the baby boom generation, and …

Does Social Media Help Create Brand Loyalty?, Ali Russo

Honors Theses

Throughout my time at Haworth College of Business, Social Media has been a big topic of discussion. The issue has not been if companies should use it as a tool to reach consumers but how do companies effectively utilize Social Media sites. Companies have two important ways to utilize these sites: the first is to collect data from users, and the second is to create a platform where they can interact and influence purchasing decisions. I wanted to create a thesis that focused on the interaction side of Social Media. Initially, I wanted to see if Social Media would create …

Comparison Of Shareholder Value Between Full-Service Airlines (Fsas) And Low-Cost Carriers (Lccs)., William Kee

Honors Theses

Shareholders in the airline industry invest in a service industry that is met with high fixed costs, capital, and external factors such as customer satisfaction and fluctuations in crude oil prices. On one end of the airline spectrum in the United States lie the full-service airlines, such as Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, or United Airlines adopting a product differentiation approach to capture a competitive advantage by providing greater benefits, comfort, and experience to the customer. This approach attracts customers that value the experience more so than simply the price of the fare, but is often met with high operating …

Site Development At The Corner Of Drake And Stadium, Ahmad Sear Rahimi

Honors Theses

This report presents the site layout alternatives for the development located at the corner of Drake and Stadium in Kalamazoo, Michigan. In the report four different layouts are suggested and followed by best management practices for grading and earthwork plans, porous asphalt pavement design, storm water retention design for the proposed site, and storm sewer pipe design. The redesign of the Costco Development Site aims to maximize efficiency of the development area through the warehouse and gas station location, parking lot layout, and trucking routes. Grading design is developed based on the existing site conditions before construction took place. The …

For The Fund$ Of It: Product Development, Josie Marshall

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Widr Fm's Constitution: Restatement, Revision, And Analysis Of Genre, Joseph Silver

Honors Theses

I have been involved with WIDR FM for 18 months as its employed Music Director and a volunteer DJ. I am one of six part-time paid student directors who oversee the general management of the station. My tenure at WIDR has been especially exciting in that this is the first year of WIDR's affiliation with Student Media Group–a new organization funded by the University that collaborates WIDR FM with the Western Herald and the Young Broadcasters of Tomorrow. It is designed to guide these organizations toward greater interactivity, scholarship, and fiscal solvency. The Student Media Group brings many changes to …

Preferential Methods Used By Celcis Students To Enhance Conversational Skills., Karina Mariadas

Honors Theses

Conversational skills are something that can be improved over time. For new language learners, conversing in English can be difficult. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to determine the preferential methods to enhance conversational skills used by students from the Center for English Language and Culture for International Students (CELCIS) at Western Michigan University. The study was conducted using a survey questionnaire consisting of 7 parts. The conversation improvement methods that were addressed in the survey included: print, audio-visual, electronic devices/technology, face-to-face conversations and games. 112 students, 35 females, 75 males and 2 unknowns, participated in the survey during …

Western News, Dec. 3, 2015, Western Michigan University

Western News (1972-2018)

Story highlights: NeoVent duo wins new innovation prize; Input sought campuswide for strategic plan update; holiday greeting from John and Linda Dunn; On Campus with Linda Dillon.

Nicholas Of Lyra, Literal Commentary On Galatians, Edward Arthur Naumann

TEAMS Commentary Series

Though little-known today, Nicholas of Lyra's commentaries are arguably among the most widely-read and influential commentaries of all time. For more than two hundred years, from the time of their composition, well into the Reformation era, they were copied and recopied, printed and reprinted, as an indispensable guide to the meaning of scripture. Naumann presents here a complete translation of Lyra's literal commentary on Galatians in English for the first time, with a freshly-edited Latin text, and provides ample notes on its significance in relation to the works of previous authors.

Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project Annual Report, 2015, Michael S. Nassaney

Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project

This year the Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project (hereafter the “Project”) established new standards in research, teaching, and public outreach in the study of the fur trade and colonialism in southwest Michigan. The Project continues to collaborate in the generation and dissemination of knowledge under the auspices of the Fort St. Joseph Archaeology Advisory Committee (FSJAAC), Western Michigan University (WMU) faculty and students, interested stakeholders, supporters, members, and community volunteers. Highlights of 2015 include:

• Fort St. Joseph was featured in the exhibit “Evidence Found” at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum in 2015, enjoyed by some 60,000 visitors.
• The Register of Professional …

Enterprise Risk Management (Erm) At U.S. Colleges And Universities: Administration Processes Regarding The Adoption, Implementation, And Integration Of Erm, Anne E. Lundquist

Dissertations

The variety, type and volume of risks affecting higher education are numerous and the consequences for unmanaged risks and missed opportunities are more significant than ever before. In response, many institutions of higher education are adopting an Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) approach. External factors, as well as institutional culture, play a role in the decision to adopt ERM, as well as the path of implementation. Because higher education has unique characteristics that differentiate it from other organizations, particularly a shared governance structure, the adoption and implementation decisions, and resulting ERM frameworks, have aspects that make them unique to the higher …

Analyzing Repetitive Sequences With Structured Dynamic Bayesian Networks, Thomas. L. Lake

Masters Theses

Time series often feature structure that is known a priori and easily described using natural language terms such as repetitive, symmetric, seasonal, and self-similar. However, the typical conjugate priors used in Bayesian analysis do not capture such complex phenomena well. As a result of this mismatch, known structure is modeled poorly or completely ignored. Focusing on time series with repetitive structure, this thesis proposes to overcome this problem by reducing rather than in- creasing the capacity of a well know time series model, the Hidden Markov Model. Through a careful choice in the way model capacity is reduced the model …

Cto Updates - December 2015, Office Of Information Technology

Tech Talk

• Make a difference
• Google Apps for Education
• Dunbar tailgate
• PRTG
• Remind.com
• Research support
• Remembering John Racine
• Did you know?

Formulation And Evaluation Of Soy Polymer Based, Gravure Printed Resistive Inks For Applications In Printed Electronics, Bhushan Hiralal Patil

Masters Theses

Today, the majority of the commercially available conductive inks are formulated using expensive metallic particles, such as silver and gold. Most of the inks use volatile solvents in the formulation, which are hazardous to the environment as emission of VOCs is the major concern. In the case of water-based inks, usually petroleum-based acrylic polymers are used. Apart from being nonrenewable raw materials, acrylic polymers are carcinogenic in nature. Also, acrylic polymers are used in a variety of applications, such as the automotive, medical device, paint, and adhesive industries. Often times, the ink industry has to compete with other industries for …

Assessment And Comparison Of The Electronic Properties Of Group 10 Bimetallic Nanoparticles Relative To Their Monometallic Counterparts, Ali Bolandi

Dissertations

Group 10 transition metals with nanoscale dimensions offer significant advantages over their bulk counterparts. Significant work has been devoted toward studying the benefits of their catalytic efficiencies, however, less has been dedicated toward understanding their electronic properties and how such changes influence charge storage and sensor efficiency. The dissertation work focuses on designing metallic and bimetallic nanoparticles consisting of nanoscale Group 10 transition metals with welldefined structures, prepared using a facile synthetic procedure. The nanoparticles were characterized by electron microscopy, spectroscopic and x-ray techniques. The efficiency of monometallic and bimetallic nanoparticles toward electron storage was investigated electrochemically and by optical …

Novel Software Defined Radio Architecture With Graphics Processor Acceleration, Lalith Narasimhan

Dissertations

Wireless has become one of the most pervasive core technologies in the modern world. Demand for faster data rates, improved spectrum efficiency, higher system access capacity, seamless protocol integration, improved security and robustness under varying channel environments has led to the resurgence of programmable software defined radio (SDR) as an alternative to traditional ASIC based radios. Future SDR implementations will need support for multiple standards on platforms with multi-Gb/s connectivity, parallel processing and spectrum sensing capabilities. This dissertation implemented key technologies of importance in addressing these issues namely development of cost effective multi-mode reconfigurable SDR and providing a framework to …

Redefining Significance: Experiences Of Humanities Faculty Engaged In Undergraduate Research, Susan Mendoza

Dissertations

Programs that actively engage students in research and scholarship are the touchstone for integrating undergraduate education with authentic scholarly inquiry. Recent empirical studies demonstrate that undergraduate research experiences (URE) are related to increased student learning and development, increased levels of retention, increased enrollment in graduate school, and increased understanding of research as a vocation and profession. However, these seminal studies focus on URE in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) disciplines. Although there are some studies that explore undergraduate research in the social sciences and humanities, the accepted models and best practices of undergraduate research are entrenched in the …

Expression Of Insulin Responsive Genes In Insulin Resistant Conditions, And The Effect Of Selenium On Gene Expression, David L. Ruff

Masters Theses

Chronically high blood glucose levels lead to many problems, such as insulin resistance, the hallmark of Type II diabetes. Increased flux through the hexosamine biosynthesis pathway is one mechanism by which high glucose as well as glucosamine has been shown to induce insulin resistance. This study tests the effects of glucosamine induced insulin resistance on insulin regulation of the metabolic genes glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH) and fatty acid synthase (FAS) as well as insulin responsive proteins tribbles homolog (TRIB3) and sterol regulatory element binding protein (SERBP-1c) 1c.

Selenium, a micronutrient has been shown to be an effective insulin mimetic in Type …

String Quartet, Brut, Bernie Walasavage

Masters Theses

l’Art Brut , also commonly referred to as “outsider art,” is comprised of a variety of visual media by untrained or mentally ill artists. The string quartet is subtitled this because it takes inspiration from the work of these artists; with its jagged edges, vibrant colors, and horrid scenes, there is an organic beauty inherent in such eclectic and divergent art. Another factor which drew me to the artwork of the mentally ill was the commonality of Kenophobia: an abnormal fear of empty spaces. Schizophrenic, Swiss artists, Adolf Wölfli (18641930) and Aloïse Corbaz (18861964) were noted for suffering this phobia …

Comparing Online And Traditional Interview Techniques: A Qualitative Study Of The Experiences Of Researchers And Participants In The Malaysian Context, Diyana Kamarudin

Dissertations

The study employed an innovative simulation of interview conditions using both face-to-face and online techniques that facilitated both emic and etic perspectives. The dissertation utilized both micro and a macro levels of study. At the micro level, 10 researcher participants interviewed 30 parent participants utilizing two different interview techniques: online face-to-face interviews via Skype, and traditional face-to-face interview. The interviews focused on parental mediation on children’s television habits. At the macro level the researcher coordinated the study and conducted interviews with the researcher participants, after they completed their own interviews in the simulation. Both online and face-to-face interviews were video …

Ceas E-News 11.24.2015, College Of Engineering And Applied Sciences

College of Engineering and Applied Sciences News

• Alumni Excellence Academy 2015
• Dr. Edmund Tsang Recognized
• Developing a New Project From the Idea Stage Through Rapid Prototyping
• Armstrong Scholarship Recipients 2015

The Negotiation And Development Of Writing Teacher Identities In Elementary Education, Shartriya M. Collier, Suzanne Scheld, Ian Barnard, Jackie Stallcup

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

Identity development in writing is a unique process. While many studies have explored the process of developing a professional identity among future teachers, few studies have investigated how teacher candidates develop a writing teacher’s identity. This study explores the development and negotiation of writing teacher identity among 21 pre-service multiple-subject teacher candidates at a large public institution in California. More specifically, the study examines the students’ journeys as they transformed from students of writing in a university methods course to student teachers of writing in a local school district. Our findings indicate that the use of a sociocultural-based approach to …

Inquiry, Experience, And Exploration: Rebooting The Research Project And Making Connections Beyond The English Classroom, Trevor Thomas Stewart, Jeff Goodman

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

This article describes our efforts to revitalize the research project in the English Language Arts classroom, engage students in the exploration of topics of organic interest, and create opportunities for them to share their findings with authentic audiences.

“It Sounds Wrong” Vs. “I Would Be Curious”: Challenges In Seeing Students As Writers In A School-University Partnership, Anne Elrod Whitney, Nicole Olcese, Virginia Squier

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

This article presents qualitative data and a pedagogical reflection from two teacher educators as they consider a writing partnership between preservice teachers in their methods course and a class of middle school writers. The purpose of the partnership was to help preservice teachers think about students not just for the purposes of evaluation and grading, but as writers, and, more importantly, as human beings. Authors present their inquiry and the challenges that arose as a result of the project, including reflections on the partnership from preservice teachers.

What Does College Writing Really Entail? The Ccss Connection To University Writing, Marcy Taylor, Elizabeth Marie Brockman

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

This article responds to the question: What Does College Writing Really Entail? The authors showcase four university-level writing assignments and demonstrate how they collectively reflect both assessment results of study of college writing at a Midwestern University and the Common Core State Standards, especially the writing and reading anchor standards.