Digital Commons Network^™

Review Of Social Work And Social Development: Theories And Skills For Developmental Social Work. James Midgley & Amy Conley, Eds. Reviewed By Margaret Lombe., Margaret Lombe

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book review of James Midgley & Amy Conley (Eds.), Social Work and Social Development: Theories and Skills for Developmental Social Work. New York: Oxford University Press (2010). $45.00 (hardcover).

Western News, Feb. 3, 2011, Western Michigan University

Western News (1972-2018)

Story highlights: Franklin, St. John elected to head WMU Board of Trustees for 2000, WMU lands 747 gift from Northwest Airlines, Garland to be honored as University's second 'Outstanding Emeritus Scholar' for decades of work in archaeology, Demetrakopoulos, Simpson named winners of WMU's annual Distinguished Service Awards, New travel instruction degree paves way for nation's newest human service profession, Vander Weg's appointment as art chair approved by BOT.

Prism #52, February 2011, Office Of The Provost

Prism: Western Michigan University's Newsletter for Academic Affairs

No abstract provided.

Western News, Jan. 13, 2011, Western Michigan University

Western News (1972-2018)

Story highlights: Variety of MLK celebration events slated; Fund started by Sindecuse doctor helps students pay medical bills; New cadre of 52 faculty, staff members inducted into 25 Year Club; On Campus with Sherri Alvey and Bradley Galloway.

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

College of Arts and Sciences news

No abstract provided.

Footnotes, Issue 8, Jan.-Feb. 2011, Department Of English

Footnotes: Department of English Newsletter (2008-2012)

No abstract provided.

2011 Complete Digest, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

No abstract provided.

The Perfect Pitch 2011, Wmu School Of Music

School of Music News

The Perfect Pitch 2011:

• Letter from the Director
• What’s New?
• Welcome New Faculty Members
• The World Comes to the School of Music
• WMU Music in the National Spotlight
• Music Staff Lead the Way
• Fruits of Collaboration
• Student Achievements
• Alumni News
• Faculty Achievements
• Honor Roll
• Faculty and Staff

Leg-Up: Helping Youth Apply Engineering, Tycho K. Fredericks, Steven E. Butt

Academic Leadership Academy

Leg-Up is a program that was designed to encourage youth to understand and apply math and engineering concepts they are taught in school. This program immerses middle school students in real world problem solving; it allows students to select a problem they deem important, and with the aid of mentors, determine a solution via the scientific method.

Strategic Planning And Assessment, Sue Stapleton

Assessment in Action Conference

The fundamentals of strategic planning in higher education along with design of metrics for assessment will be discussed in this presentation.

Depictions And Gaps: Portrayal Of U.S. Poverty In Realistic Fiction Children’S Picture Books, Jane E. Kelley, Janine J. Darragh

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Researchers conducted a critical multicultural analysis of 58 realistic fiction children’s picture books that portray people living in poverty and compared these depictions to recent statistics from the United States Census Bureau. The picture books were examined for the following qualities: main character, geographic locale and time era, focal poor character (gender, age, and race), who demonstrated action, and the type of action (individual, community, systemic) demonstrated. Results of the analysis showed that while in some areas the books accurately reflect the reality in the United States today, there are other areas in which poverty is misrepresented. For example, while …

Study Abroad Program Design, Personal Development And Intercultural Effectiveness, Margaret Davis Wiedenhoeft

Dissertations

Research on study abroad focuses on the development of learning outcomes and assessment (Bolen, 2007) or program design, such as level of integration with local student population, housing situation, and level of interaction with host culture (Brecht & Robinson, 1993; Engle & Engle, 2004; Georgetown Consortium Research Project, n.d.; Paige, Cohen, & Shively, 2004; Redden, 2007; Vande Berg, Balkcum, Scheid, & Whalen, 2004). The purpose of this study is to examine the extent of personal development and intercultural effectiveness of students who study abroad and to determine the relationship of program design (homestay, conducting an on-site project, language level obtained …

2011-12 Series - Convergence Of Cultures, University Center For The Humanities

University Center for the Humanities Events

This year the University Center for the Humanities focuses a lens on the contact zones between culture and power to understand the tensions, collaborations, accommodations and conversions that accompany sustained cross-cultural encounters. It considers the intersections of ethnicity, language, religion, politics, science and culture and the innovative and creative human products of that interaction. The lecture series is designed to contest stereotypes of difference and expand the understanding of complex social dynamics.

Fact Book 2011-12, Western Michigan University

Western Michigan University Fact Books

• General Information
• Enrollment Information
• Institutional Comparison
• Student Information
• Faculty Information
• Budgets and Resources

Minutes Of The Faculty Senate Councils, 2011-12, Wmu Faculty Senate

Minutes of the WMU Faculty Senate Councils

No abstract provided.

Cautiverio Y Convivencia En La Edad De Cervantes, Natalio Ohanna

All Books and Monographs by WMU Authors

Cautiverio y convivencia en la edad de Cervantes [Captivity and Coexistence in the Age of Cervantes] explores Spanish narratives of coexistence in Muslim and Native American lands, through the lens of captivity in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Far from engaging with the violence or trauma of confinement, the author studies the cognitive experience that results from abrupt immersion in a foreign culture, which leads to a revision of homogeneous and stereotypical perceptions of cultural, religious and ethnic differences, and ultimately undermines the perception of one’s own society as a stable world. In the Early Modern use of captivity narratives …

Understanding The Career Paths And Experiences Of Division I-A Athletic Directors: A Phenomenological Study, Harold Thomas Swift

Dissertations

The focus of this study was to understand the career paths and experiences of Division I-A Athletic Directors. There are only 120 of these coveted positions in the country. The limited research on how to obtain this position led to this investigation.

This research examined the career paths of 10 Division I-A ADs male (five African American and five White) and their experiences reaching their position. A qualitative phenomenological approach was used as the methodology. One-on-one phone interviews were conducted using open-ended interview questions that elicited information from each participant. The Social Cognitive Career Theory and Critical Race Theory were …

Dielectric Properties Of Nitrogen Incorporated Ultrananocrystalline Diamond Films , Salem Alfaify

Dissertations

Deposition of Ultrananocrystalline Diamond (UNCD) films have been carried out and dielectric properties of nitrogen incorporated UNCD films were studied using spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE), UV/VIS spectroscopy, and reflectance spectroscopy. Dielectric functions of the films were correlated with their nanostructure, elemental concentration, and growth conditions. The films were grown in a 915 MHz microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition system with 0%, 10%, and 20% N2 gas diluted into Ar/CH4/H2 plasma. Samples were deposited on 6-inch Si substrates. For UV/VIS spectroscopy studies, samples were deposited on quartz substrates. The bonding structure was investigated by Raman spectroscopy and the surface morphology of the …

New Media Icc Profiles Construction And Concerns, Reem El Asaleh

Dissertations

With the advent of the modern digital technology, users can now capture an image and reproduce it between different media, such as display it on LCD monitor or tablet computer, print it on desktop printer or send it to a printing press. The challenge has been then to maintain the accuracy of image colors during this reproduction, which has led to the development of Color Management Systems. Using these systems, the color reproduction across-media will be accomplished using device ICC profiles that describe each device’s color characterization data in a standardized format based on International Color Consortium (ICC) specifications.

ICC …

Leach-Sm: A Protocol For Extending Wireless Sensor Network Lifetime By Management Of Spare Nodes, Bilal Abu Bakr

Dissertations

Operational lifetime of a wireless sensor network (WSN) depends on its energy resources. Significant improvement of WSN lifetime can be achieved by adding spare sensor nodes to WSN. Spares are ready to be switched on when any primary (a node that is not a spare) exhausts its energy. A spare replacing a primary becomes a primary itself.

The LEACH-SM protocol (Low-Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy with Spare Management) proposed by us is a modification of the prominent LEACH protocol. LEACH extends WSN lifetime via rotation of cluster heads but allows for inefficiencies due to redundant sensing target coverage. There are two …

"Don't Let The Job Change You; You Change The Job": The Lived Experiences Of Women In Policing, Carrie Buist

Dissertations

In the last decade, the percentage of women working as police officer has not seen any significant increase. This dissertation, "Don't Let the Job Change You; You Change the Job:" The Lived Experiences of Women in Policing uses in-depth, participant guided interviews with current women police officers to gain a better understanding of their experiences. The goal of this project was to allow the women to speak for themselves, and in sharing the narratives of their lived experiences as officers, both add to and build on the existing research on women working in policing. In addition to the interviews, observations …

The Impact Of Structured Group Counseling On Resiliency, Self-Efficacy, And Racialidentity Among African American Female Teenagers, Lashonda B. Fuller

Dissertations

African American female teenagers are at-risk for low academic achievement as well as personal and social problems. These concerns have the potential to impact their psychological development including resiliency, self-efficacy, and racial identity. This is an issue that needs focused attention. Therefore, the purpose of this dissertation was to determine if a structured group counseling model effectively impacts African American female teenagers‟ resiliency, self-efficacy, and racial identity. The researcher conducted four structured counseling groups over a period of 20 weeks; however, the teenagers participated in consecutive 10 week sessions. The treatment was applied to two groups simultaneously, and the groups …

The Gendered Plight Of Terror: Annexation And Exile In Latvia 1940-1950, Irene Elksnis Geisler

Dissertations

Drawing on methodologies employed in Oral History and Memory scholarship, this qualitative study utilizes the lens of gender to explore narratives contesting time-honored notions of violence, war and peace. It examines Latvia's history through the voices of women from 1940 to 1950. This project seeks to interpret Latvian history based on the experiences of those who survived invasion, exile and deportation. It positions the narratives of women at the center rather than at the margins of historical analysis. The project analyzes themes central to women's social roles in order to attain a more complete understanding of war, exile and people's …

Reluctant To Report: The Mandated Reporting Practices Of Child Care Providers, Aileen Mckenna

Dissertations

Child care providers spend far more time with children under age 3, the most likely to suffer severe and fatal abuse and neglect, than any other mandated reporter. Their close relationship with both the child and the family places them in a unique position to observe signs and suspicions of abuse or neglect and to make timely reports to Child Protective Services (CPS). Yet despite this, child care providers rank last among mandated reporters in both reporting suspicions of abuse and neglect and in actual substantiated reports. Only a handful of studies have looked specifically at the decision-making practices of …

Latina Women’S Reasons For And Experience Of Sexual Assault Disclosure: A Qualitative Investigation, Melissa Villarreal

Dissertations

This study describes Latina women’s experiences of sexual assault disclosure. The research questions are: (1) What reasons do Latinas give for choosing to disclose, not to disclose, or to delay disclosure of their experiences of sexual assault? (2) Can patterns be detected regarding to whom Latinas disclose and under what circumstances? (3) What feelings and consequences do Latinas remember experiencing during their initial disclosure? (4) In retrospect, how do Latinas interpret their self-disclosure decisions? Participants for this study agreed to be interviewed about their sexual assault experiences. Seven interviews were gathered in 2005 and six in 2011. A constant comparison …

Molecular, Cellular And Systemic Effects Of Atrazine On The Xenopus Laevis Tadpole, Renee Maryanne Zaya

Dissertations

Atrazine is one of the two most commonly used herbicides in the US and it is the most studies are among the first to link physiological effects of atrazine to changes in tissue and gene expression in Xenopus laevis tadpoles. These studies provide the groundwork for future studies into the mechanisms behind responses to chemical stressors generating data resulting in a better understanding of how these chemicals affect us all. commonly found herbicide in ground water. As a result, a great deal of attention has been placed on its use and safety. It has also been implicated to play a …

Professional Learning Communities And First-Year Composition Instructors., Erinn Bentley

Dissertations

This study is situated within the field of writing teacher education and investigates the professional development of first-year composition instructors. The purpose of this study is to examine the flexibility of one K-12 teacher professionalization model, the professional learning community (PLC), for offering first-year composition instructors ongoing support and for promoting instructors' pedagogical content knowledge growth.

This study builds upon scholarship within the field of rhetoric and composition to examine current trends in training graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) who teach first-year composition courses (Dobrin, 2005; Latterell, 1996; Pytlik & Liggett, 2002; Tremmel & Broz, 2002; Yancey, 2002). Such research indicates …

Negotiating Generational Conflict And Identity Formation As A Way To Self Actualization In Contemporary Arab American Women's Literature, Hassan Ali Abdullah Al-Momani

Dissertations

This study focuses on identity formation in three contemporary Arab American women's novels: Alicia Erian's Towelhead, a text written specifically for young adults, Laila Halaby's West of the Jordan, a novel that has been read and embraced by Arab American young adults, and Evelyn Shakir's Remember Me to Lebanon, a text that features a number of Arab American young adult protagonists. Central to my project is the question of how Arab American female protagonists negotiate a space for themselves within the power structure of their families and their communities in order to forge bi-cultural identities. The first and second chapters …

Direct Forcing And Heating Immersed Boundary- Lattice Boltzmann Method For Arterial Wall Thermography, Oluyinka Olugbenga Bamiro

Dissertations

Vulnerable atherosclerotic plaques have high probability of rupture and are characterized by non-homogenous temperature along the arterial wall. The nonhomogeneous temperature is attributed to the accumulation of heat releasing inflammatory cells in the arterial wall. Rupture of the vulnerable plaque can lead to acute coronary syndrome and sudden cardiac death. Arterial wall thermography (AWT) can be applied to detect the presence of temperature hot spots along the arterial wall by using temperature measurement devices and provide an early detection of a vulnerable atherosclerotic plaque. AWT, however, is invasive in nature.

Computational fluid and heat transport models provide a more efficient …

Jamaican American Child Disciplinary Practices, Stephaney Carter

Dissertations

Little is known about child disciplinary practices in Jamaican American families. Literature on child discipline in Jamaica and other Caribbean nations has mainly focused on physical discipline, and no empirical studies have investigated the types of discipline used in the Jamaican American community. The purpose of this study was to describe current child disciplinary practices in Jamaican American families. A total of 311 primarily first-generation Jamaican American parents from New York City completed the 54-item Jamaican Child Discipline Survey, designed for this study, either online or in paper-pencil format. The main foci of the study included the use of child …