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Fact Book 2007-08, Western Michigan University

Western Michigan University Fact Books

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Retaining Information Technology Employees In Higher Education, Mary Holmes

Dissertations

The retention of qualified Information Technology (IT) employees is at an all time low within higher education institutions. IT personnel are essential for higher education institutions to effectively integrate technology into their educational programs. These IT employees contribute to their institution's teaching/learning mission, while simultaneously supporting complex and highly visible administrative operations. Yet, all previous research regarding IT employee retention issues had only been conducted within corporate settings.

To examine factors related to IT employees' retention within public higher education, an internet-based study was sent to IT employees in all four-year public universities throughout Michigan. The survey included questions within …

Decision Support Systems In Product Development: A Batesian Network Approach For Injection-Molded Products, Jason S. Trahan

Dissertations

Attribute defects cause a majority of the scrap for many manufacturers injection-molding aesthetic parts, yet these defects receive little attention duringproduct development. Methods for preventing attribute defects have been hampered by the inability to quantify complex cause-effect relationships. However, the qualities of a burgeoning branch of knowledge-based systems, called Bayesian networks, have benefited various fields faced with similar circumstances.Bayesian networks have the capability of presenting causal relationships between variables in a graphical structure and quantitatively explaining their effects throughout that structure. These effects can be characterized by probabilities derived from sources, such as equations, historical data, rules-of-thumb or expert knowledge. …

Letters To The Editor Regarding Nasw Press Censorship Issue, Marcia B. Cohen, Richard Hoefer, Tony Tripodi, Stanley L. Witkin, Elizabeth J. Clark

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR REGARDING NASW PRESS CENSORSHIP

• Marcia B. Cohen, Co-editor, Journal of Progressive Human Services
• Richard Hoefer, Editor, Journal of Policy Practice
• Tony Tripodi, Former Editor of Social Work Research Former Co-editor of Journal of Social Work Research and Evaluation
• Stanley L. Witkin, Former Editor-in-Chief, Social Work
• Elizabeth J. Clark, Executive Director, National Association of Social Workers (NASW)

Paths To A Green World: The Political Economy Of The Global Environment. Jennifer Clapp And Peter Dauvergne.

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book note for Jennifer Clapp and Peter Dauvergne, Paths to a Green World: The Political Economy of the Global Environment. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2005. $ 25.00 papercover.

The Cover-Up Is More Damaging Than The Sin: Sexual Scandals At The Cabinet And Sub-Cabinet Levels, Craig Korpela

Dissertations

Based on the sexual scandals of Alexander Hamilton, John Eaton, Sumner Welles, and the recently concluded investigation of Henry Cisneros, this research provides an initial, and subsequently revised, set of phases and factors that describe sex scandals of Cabinet and sub-Cabinet secretaries. Garnered from these historical cases and other scandal literature are factors that impact the development of a sex scandal. Presidential support, traits of the indiscretion, relationships between executives, public opinion, legal matters, Congressional oversight, and efforts to cover-up a sexual affair are just a few of the factors that could impact the tenure of an appointee.

Sustainable Barrier Sbs Paperboard Coatings Using Co-Polymerized Shape Engineered Pigments, Lokendra Pal

Dissertations

This study concentrates on the development, application, characterization and optimization of shape engineered pigments and co-polymerized sustainable coatings to provide solid bleached sulfate (SBS) board with a barrier against water, water vapor, and gasses. In contrast to off-line extrusion coating with unsustainable petroleum based products, conventional and co-polymerized shape engineered pigmented dispersion coatings were used to improve barrier, surface, optical and mechanical properties of an SBS board.

It is very important for package and quick-service wares made from coated SBS board to maintain barrier and mechanical properties at high humidity and temperature applications. The coated SBS board package should protect …

Results Of Early Implementation Of Governmental Acounting Standards Board Statement No. 34 In 15 Ohio Public School Districts, Michael Bennett Amspaugh

Dissertations

The study researched the experience of treasurers in 15 Ohio public school districts in implementing Governmental Accounting Board Statement No. 34 in the districts' annual financial reports prior to the required implementation date. Statement No. 34 is intended to make government annual financial reports more useful for and comprehensible to members of three user groups---the financial community, legislative and oversight officials, and citizens. In the study, treasurers of the 15 school districts were interviewed regarding their experience in implementing Statement No. 34, the changes in school operations resulting from implementation, and changes in questions from the three user groups about …

Journal Of Sociology & Social Welfare Vol. 33, No. 4 (December 2006)

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

TABLE OF CONTENTS

SPECIAL FEATURE: CENSORSHIP IN NASW JOURNALS?

• THE PERILS OF SELF-CENSORSHIP - Robert D. Leighninger, Jr
• INTERNATIONAL SOCIAL WORK, GLOBALIZATION AND THE CHALLENGE OF A UNIPOLAR WORLD - James Midgley
• LETTERS TO THE EDITOR REGARDING NASW PRESS CENSORSHIP
• Marcia B. Cohen, Co-editor, Journal of Progressive Human Services
• Richard Hoefer, Editor, Journal of Policy Practice
• Tony Tripodi, Former Editor of Social Work Research, Former Co-editor of Journal of Social Work Research and Evaluation
• Stanley L. Witkin, Former Editor-in-Chief, Social Work
• Elizabeth J. Clark, Executive Director, National Association of Social Workers (NASW)
• NINETEENTH CENTURY REVIEW OF MENTAL HEALTH CARE …

Refocusing On Adult Probation: Theory Versus Practice, Paul David Gregory

Dissertations

This dissertation is a case study of an adult probation department in a southern state. Adult probation is an important part of the criminal justice system, as it provides a reduced program cost compared with incarceration. Current literature proposes that adult probation is in crisis due to poor to sub-standard performance by probationers, a collapse in supervision, and decline in probation funding. This dissertation attempts to answer the question of possible causes for problems in the adult probation system. To accomplish this, this work focuses on how probation officers and clients are affected by contradictions occurring between the theory and …

Counselor Education And Peace Building: Current Status And Future Direction, Jenny Ritha Keller

Dissertations

Counseling professionals are informed and guided in professional development, research and practice by the relevant professional organizations that endorse the field’s professional, ethical, and competency standards. Amidst the contemporary professional proclamations of multicultural- and social justice counseling as professional grounding principles, is also the directive to promote and engage in peace building. Although the notion of peace building appear to be conceptually congruent with the multicultural and social justice counseling competencies; peace building concepts and issues, and research on nonviolence, reconciliation, democratization, and conflict transformation, are as yet unchartered notions in the counselor education literature.

The purpose of this study …

Problem-Based Learning: An Attitudinal Study Of Police Academy Students, Gregory P. Vander Kooi

Dissertations

Policing strategies have gravitated toward a consensus paradigm model, commonly referred to as "community policing." This is a significant paradigm shift, yet most police academies continue to use traditional lecture-based pedagogical methods to train police officers. One possible alternative to passive lecture-based teaching is a more active problem-based learning. Problem-based methodologies consist of presenting ill-structured problems whereby an instructor facilitates and directs the students in active inquiry toward possible solutions for a specific problem.

State-Corporate Crime In Kalamazoo Department Of Public Safety: A Case Study Of Deviant Activity Between The Police And Computer Vendors, Steven Edward Reifert

Dissertations

This study focuses on the state corporate crime that occurred when Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety implemented two computer systems that never functioned as promised. Failure of these systems resulted in death, injury, and substantial waste of taxpayer money. A case study method is used to describe and explain how this social harm occurred. An integrated theory of state-corporate crime developed by Kauzlarich and Kramer (1998) is used to examine theintersection of deviance between corporate vendors, the public safety department, and the federal government. More specifically, this study explores this intersection on three levels---the political economic setting before, during, and …

A Heuristic Study Of The Decision To Privatize Local Government Service, David L. Rich

Dissertations

The purpose of this research is to explore the nature of local government decision making. Six Michigan cities, selected from respondents to an International City/County Management Association (ICMA) privatization survey, are the basis of this multi-case study examining the decision to privatize public services.

Classical decision-making theory is used to identify six foundational elements from which to analyze the privatization decision: (1) identification of theproblem(s) that triggered the decision to consider privatization; (2) the solutions considered; (3) the processes or mechanisms used to make the decision; (4)the environment in which the decision was made; (5) the identification of the key …

Religion And Semiosphere: From Religious To The Secular And Beyond, Rajka Rush

Dissertations

Religion is a system of structural ideas that involve the natural ability of the mind to engage itself into the process of unlimited semiosis which can be defined as an existential openness of one's consciousness to the universe as a system. This primary religious consciousness becomes limited by language, symbolic, and cultural constraints. The religious semiotic space is a sub-cultural system open to culturally and cross-culturally encoded idioms and concepts. These cultural potentials are interpreted and settled by the religious exegesis expressed in the behavioral patterns of the symbolic actions that reflect a specific worldview of the closed community controlled …

Analyzing The Effects Of Inquiry-Based Instruction On The Learning Of Atmospheric Science Among Pre-Service Teacher Education Students, Robert James Ruhf

Dissertations

This study tested whether or not pre-service teacher education students enrolled in inquiry-based earth science courses gained more thorough knowledge, comprehension, and application proficiencies with regard to atmospheric science concepts included in the Michigan Curriculum Framework for Science Education---the content standards of the Michigan State Board of Education for K-12---than did pre-service teacher education students enrolled in a traditionally-based earth science lecture/laboratory course. Content proficiencies were tested at the beginning of the semester (the pretest) and again at theend of the semester (the posttest). A sample of students participated in post-test interview sessions designed to examine in depth their knowledge, …

Expression And Characterization Of Hyperthermophilic Aqujfex Pyrophilus Flagellin Protein In Mesophilic Bacterial Systems, Srivani V. Mukkamala

Masters Theses

The structural protein flagellin, FlaA derived from hyperthermophilic Aquifex pyrophilus, a rod shaped eubacterial species that grows near hydrothermal vents at an optimum growth temperature of 85 °C forms elongated thermostable flagella nanotubes. FlaA was successfully over-expressed for the first time using pET28c plasmid in E. coli BL21 cells at 37 °C. The protein was isolated from inclusion bodies that were solubilized by alkaline pH, refolded by dialysis and purified by chromatographic techniques. The FlaA was characterized by fluorescence, light scattering and circular dichroism. The FlaA was not in the correct folded form to form flagella as efforts to …

Computer Model To Select Leed Certification For Building Projects, Ruba Mirghani Mohammed

Masters Theses

According to the US Green Building Council (USGBC) residential and commercial buildings in the United State consume huge amounts of natural resources; pollute the environment, and generate large amounts of waste, all of which affect the environment, economy, public health, and productivity. As a result, USGBC committees developed the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system to help professionals improve the quality of buildings and lessen their impact on the environment.

The (LEED) Green Building Rating System is a point-based system for certifying the level of a building's sustainability. There are four LEED certification categories: (1) Certified, (2) …

Nineteenth Century Review Of Mental Health Care For African Americans: A Legacy Of Service And Policy Barriers, Tony B. Lowe

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The need to focus on service and policy barriers to mental health service delivery for African Americans remains critical. The purpose of this article is to review nineteenth century care as a method for understanding contemporary service and policy barriers. A case study strategy is used to compare the efforts of Pennsylvania and South Carolina using primary and secondary sources to document these developments through a political economy perspective. These findings suggest that the prevailing social, political and economic realities have created mental health disparities along racial lines. Existing barriers are likely rooted in this same reality.

Ethiopian Language Policy And Health Promotion In Oromia, Begna Dugassa

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

In the time of HIV/AIDS, epidemics for which we have no vaccination or cure, public health is bound entirely to depend on the traditional health education strategies to stop or contain this disease. This reality demands that we travel extra miles and thoroughly employ every health promotion tool at our disposal. The Ottawa Charter for health promotion stressed the need for public policy to create supportive social conditions for health. This necessitates a commitment to enduring social conditions for health and raises topics that have been neglected by the traditional public health scholars. A close examination of the colonial language …

Multiracial America: A Resource Guide On The History And Literature Of Interracial Issues. Karen Downing, Darlene Nichols, And Kelly Webster., Rose M. Barreto

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Book note for Karen Downing, Darlene Nichols and Kelly Webster, Multiracial America: A Resource Guide on the History and Literature of Interracial Issues. Lanham, MD: Rowan & Littlefield, 2005. $35.00.

Marcus Bull, The World Of Eleanor Of Aquitaine: Literature And Society In Southern France Between The Eleventh And Thirteenth Centuries. Boydell & Brewer, 2005, Miriam Shadis

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.

Western News, Nov. 30, 2006, Western Michigan University

Western News (1972-2018)

Story highlights: WMU establishes award for emerging scholars; Ten staff members received fall service awards; Obituaries for Harry Hefner and David Morris; On Campus with Jan Dekker.

Western News, Nov. 16, 2006, Western Michigan University

Western News (1972-2018)

Story highlights: WMU gets cutting-edge aviation training devices; Baileys established endowed jazz scholarship; New Issues releases six new poetry collections; On Campus with Rosanna Metoyer.

Western News, Nov. 2, 2006, Western Michigan University

Western News (1972-2018)

Story highlights: Washington selected as CHHS dean; Bronco Legislative Network offers voter information; Nominations sought for revived teaching award; On Campus with Donna Gardner-Lawson.

The Impact Of Multiple Fluency Interventions On A Single Subject, Jennifer Morra, Diane H. Tracey

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

This study investigates the effectiveness of multiple fluency interventions on a single subject in grade three. Fluency interventions, including choral reading, echo reading, repeated reading, audio book modeling, and teacher modeling were implemented over a period of eight weeks. Results indicated that using multiple fluency strategies, rather than a single fluency strategy as is usually investigated, was positively associated with improvement in oral reading

Investigating Connections Between Teacher Beliefs And Instructional Practices With Struggling Readers, Sherry W. Powers, Cassie Zippay, Brittany Butler

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

This study examines and describes the changes in four teachers' beliefs and practices in literacy and literacy assessment over the course of a yearlong graduate level clinical experience. Four teachers who worked in the university literacy clinic as part of their graduate course work participated in this study. Two of the four teachers teach elementary aged pupils in a public school, another serves as a reading resource educator at a public elementary school, and the fourth teaches high school-aged students at an alternative school associated with a public school. Findings indicate that teacher beliefs and their classroom instruction are often …

Insider Vol. 8 No. 1 Fall 2006, College Of Arts & Sciences

College of Arts and Sciences news

A Publication for Friends of the College of Arts and Sciences

Prism #17, September 2006, Office Of The Provost

Prism: Western Michigan University's Newsletter for Academic Affairs

No abstract provided.

Harnessing The Power Of Story: Using Narrative Reading And Writing Across Content Areas, Steven Nathanson

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

This article reviews research to examine how teaching and learning are improved with the use of narrative story materials. Stories help to focus the reader's attention and build personal connection, resulting in better retention and deeper subject-matter understanding. Four key advantages of narratives cited by D. T Willingham are discussed. The effectiveness of stories is further supported by a review of research from diverse fields, including cognitive psychology, social and physical sciences, education, and communication. Suggestions and strategies for the use of narrative materials in content area settings beyond the elementary classroom are also provided.