Digital Commons Network^™

A Microfabricated Microconcentrator For Sensors And Chromatography, Minhee Kim

Dissertations

The detection and quantitative measurement of trace components is a challenging task. The key component in such an instrument is the concentration step where the analytes are accumulated before the analysis. In this research, simple and inexpensive processes for the microfabrication of microconcentrator that can be used with sensors and as an injector in GC were developed. Analytes are selectively concentrated in the microconcentrator. Rapid electrical heating of the microconcentrator releases the adsorbed species as a 66 concentration pulse", which serves as an injection for the detection system. The relatively small size of the microconcentrator allows it to be heated …

Remediation Of Chromium Contaminated Soils With Colloidal Silica, Netnapid Yossapol

Dissertations

The low-viscosity stabilizer, colloidal silica, is extensively used as a grouting material in the construction of grout curtains. It has low viscosity and is non-toxic, which is suitable for injection to stabilize fine-grained soils. It is also applied as a stabilizer in the in-situ treatment of hazardous waste. Once the colloidal silica solution is injected into contaminated soil, it moves through the pores inside the soil matrix, initiating the stabilization process. The viscosity of the colloidal silica mixture increases while it moves until solidifications. This process is called gelation and results in the creation of a gel barrier around contaminated …

Development Of Membrane Extraction Techniques For Water Quality Analysis, Dawen Kou

Dissertations

This research involved the development of membrane-based analytical techniques as applied to various aspects of water quality analysis. Gas injection membrane extraction was developed for fast on-line analysis of volatile organic compounds in water. Gas injection of aqueous samples increased the speed of membrane extraction. The aqueous boundary layer effects encountered during water elution was reduced. Axial mixing of the sample with a gaseous eluent was minimal, and this eliminated the tailing in the permeation profiles. The overall effect was significantly faster penneation. The overall diffusion coefficient during gas injection was found to be seven times the value during aqueous …

Catalytic Reduction Of Nitric Oxide By Solid Carbonaceous Material Under Lean Condition, Shan Xiao

Dissertations

The reactions of O₂, NO_x and soot from Diesel exhaust over Cu containing catalysts can significantly reduce soot and NO_x emissions while producing N₂ and CO₂. The author has evaluated the performance of Cu ion exchanged ZSM-5 and Cu adsorbed on Granulated Activated Carbon (Cu-GAC) using GAC as a surrogate for soot in a packed bed reactor. CO, formed primarily by the oxidation of GAC with O₂, appears to be a stable intermediate in the reduction of NO. With experimental parameters chosen to simulate Diesel exhaust conditions, Cu-GAC is much more …

Knowledge Discovery And Modeling In Genomic Databases, Michael M. Yin

Dissertations

This dissertation research is targeted toward developing effective and accurate methods for identifying gene structures in the genomes of high eukaryotes, such as vertebrate organisms. Several effective hidden Markov models (HMMs) are developed to represent the consensus and degeneracy features of the functional sites including protein-translation start sites, mRNA splicing junction donor and acceptor sites in vertebrate genes. The HMM system based on the developed models is fully trained using an expectation maximization (EM) algorithm and the system performance is evaluated using a 10-way cross-validation method. Experimental results show that the proposed HMM system achieves high sensitivity and specificity in …

Job Satisfaction And Leadership Style: A Study Of Michigan High School Principals, David A. Barry

Dissertations

Given the magnitude of importance in the role of the school principal, it is important to understand some of the job satisfaction factors related to the retention of current school principals particularly as it relates to leadership style. This study focuses on the retention of current principals by analyzing the job satisfaction of Michigan high school principals and examining its relationship with the principal’s leadership style. This study incorporates correlation research methods and survey procedures which include a self-administered questionnaire by the principal. The subjects for this study were randomly selected from the target population of all Michigan public high …

A Study Of Expert Problem-Solving In Qualitative Organic Analysis Using A Computer Simulation, Keith A. Schramm

Dissertations

A qualitative case study of eight doctoral level organic chemists from academia (6) and industry (2) solved eleven qualitative organic analysis problems using the Identification of Organic Compounds* software computer simulation. Think-aloud protocols were analyzed for content knowledge and strategic knowledge to account for expert performance. Each of the eleven qualitative organic analysis problems included a variety of functional groups and structures and was solved in a computer-simulated environment to allow for extensive problem-solving by the experts and to evaluate the simulation’s ability to model the problem-solving environment The data provided consisted of the typical instrumentation available to university undergraduate …

Teachers' Perceptions Of School Safety, Safety-Based Changes, And Their Resultant Impact On School Climate: A Case Study, Laura L. Finley

Dissertations

In the last decade, several high-profile shootings in suburban school districts have drawn attention to the issue of school-based violence. Consequently, schools all over have responded in many ways. The literature reveals that many suburban and rural schools have adopted the same measures as have urban districts, despite the fact that their discipline and violence problems are qualitatively different. These responses have generally been punitive and technological in nature, rather than curricular or structural reforms. This has included institution of metal detectors, more restrictive student dress codes, zero tolerance laws and others. Some, though, have suggested that these responses may …

Family Structure And Attachment And Their Role In Reducing Delinquency In The African American Family, Kiesha Warren

Dissertations

The study uses data from the over sampling of African American youth (4,808) from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to explore the relationship between family structure, attachment and their role in reducing delinquency. Using theelement of attachment from Hirschi’s (1969) social control theory, this study examines the historical development of the various family structures and the role attachment plays in reducing delinquency in those family structures. The study uses structural equation modeling to test this hypothesis. This study shows that when attachment is present regardless of the family structure delinquency will be reduced.

Visualization Methods: A Comparative Study Of New, Traditional And Robust Procedures, Kimberly Crimin

Dissertations

Two major goals in discriminant analysis are discrimination and classification. In discrimination, the goal is to describe graphically (visualization) different features of several known groups. In classification, the goal is to allocate unknown observations to one of several known groups. We have developed new visualization procedures based on traditional estimating procedures and also on robust estimating procedures. We have further developed robust classification procedures. We propose several robust classification procedures based on coordinatewise and affine equivariant, rank-based robust estimates. Empirical studies are performed over many different error distributions. These studies result in empirical efficiencies of the robust and traditional procedures. …

Education, Social Security, And The Welfare State: Alternative Policy Choices In The United States And Germany, Karl G. Hokenmaier

Dissertations

Western welfare states have not all followed the same path in their social policy development. Still, certain similarities have been identified in the types and combinations of social insurance supported by specific groupings of these states. Titmuss (1974) described "three contrasting models or functions of social policy." Heclo (1985) argued "three broad groups of nations can be distinguished” with different models of social welfare policy. Esping-Andersen (1990) identified "three worlds of welfare capitalism," each with a unique social policy agenda and distinctive social insurance system. Education is typically not included with other social programs in depicting the policy profiles of …

A New Type Of Particle Detector For Nuclear Scattering Experiments, Philip Ugorowski

Dissertations

A new detector was needed for counting recoil protons resulting from proton-proton (pp) elastic scattering during pion production experiments by the Polarized Internal Target Experiments (PINTEX) group at Indiana University Cyclotron Facility (IUCF). The previous silicon detectors were only usable forincoming protons up to 9 MeV, and a stopping power of at least 40 MeV was needed. In addition, the detector had to operate in nanotorr vacuum, and near strong varying magnetic fields, ruling out standard organic plastic scintillators and photomultiplier tubes. We needed to find the most suitable inorganic scintillator and another method of detecting the photons produced when …

Why Religious People Believe What They Shouldn't: Explaining Theological Incorrectness In South Asia And America, D. Jason Slone

Dissertations

Cross-cultural descriptions of religious thought and behavior in South Asia and America show that people commonly hold ideas and perform actions that seem to be not only conceptually incoherent but also “theologically incorrect” by the standards of their own traditions. For example. South Asian Theravada Buddhists are taught that the historical Buddha is unavailable because he attained enlightenment and achieved parinirvana (“complete extinction”) and yet conceptually and ritually represent him as if he is present and available for petition. Similarly, American Protestants represent the Christian God as having absolute divine sovereignty and yet reveal confidence in an inner locus of …

The Structure Of The Leadership Construct: A Test Of Factorial Invariance Using Structural Equation Modeling, Liliana Rodriguez-Campos

Dissertations

Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used in this dissertation to investigate the factorial invariance (i.e., equivalence) of the leadership construct as perceived by different groups of people in education. Specifically, the author focuses on three groups (364 teachers, 419 principals, and 369 superintendents) from a statewide survey, where the central concern is whether components of the measurement model of leadership are invariant across those particular groups. In seeking evidence of multigroup invariance, the author was interested in finding the answer to the following research questions: (1) to what extent do some leadership factorial structures fit a group better than others? …

Substance Abuse Treatment: Substance Abuse Counselors' Belief Systems And How These Beliefs Impact Treatment, Ann Crabb

Dissertations

The treatment of substance abuse is an anomaly within the mental health field. Historically, the treatment of addicted people has relied more on the personal experiences of those who have recovered than empirical findings (Shaffer, 1987). The founding of Alcoholics Anonymous sparked the creation of a belief system regarding substance abuse and recovery that, despite contradictory research findings, remains strong today (McElrath, 1997). This study was conducted to explore the belief systems of both recovering and nonrecovering substance abuse counselors today to determine what their beliefs are, how these beliefs were formed, and whether their belief system has changed over …

Separable Preference Orders, Jonathan K. Hodge

Dissertations

Whenever a decision-maker must express simultaneously his or her preferences on several possibly related issues, the existence of interdependence among these preferences can lead to collective decisions that are unsatisfactory or even paradoxical. Intuitively, an individual’s preferences are said to be separable on a subset of issues if they do not depend on the choice of alternatives for issues outside the subset. Here we explore from a mathematical standpoint the properties of separable and nonseparable preference orders. We begin by formulating a general model of multidimensional preferences and we formally introduce the notions of separability and noninfluentiality. We study the …

A Foundation For Democratic Transition: The Evolution Of Korean Civil Society 1972-1987, Sukhee Lee

Dissertations

This dissertation seeks to explain the evolutionary process of Korean civil society throughout the 1970s and 1980s as a foundation for democratization. I argue that the changing character of civil society in the mid-1980s was a necessary condition for democratic transition in 1987. Thus, this study focuses on how an ineffective civil society became sufficiently effective to be a deciding factor in Korea’s democratic transition, and seeks to define what factors led to the change. In the process of development of civil society, several factors, such as political culture, economic development, political opportunity structure, and the external environment, affected the …

Ideology Or Insanity? Media Presentation Of Ted Kaczynski And Tim Mcveigh, Matthew P. Sheptoski

Dissertations

This dissertation explores mainstream media presentation of two convicted murderers: Theodore J. Kaczynski, otherwise known as "The Unabomber," and Timothy J. McVeigh, found guilty of the 1995 destruction of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. More specifically, I analyze The New York Times's and Time's presentation of these two actors in order to assess whether their acts were attributed to political and ideological motivation or psychological abnormality and mental illness. Quantitative and qualitative findings indicate that Kaczynski's crimes were more likely to be attributed to psychological abnormality and mental illness, while McVeigh's crimes were more likely to be …

Integration Of Multiple Perspectives On Leadership: A Comparative Study Of Experienced And Novice Leaders, Rigoberto J. Rincones-Gomez

Dissertations

The purpose o f this study was to investigate a multiple-perspectives approach to educational leadership. Twelve superintendents from the state of Michigan participated in this study. A sampling strategy was used to differentiate six novices from six experienced superintendents. Interviews, thinking-aloud, and journals were used in order to capture information regarding superintendents’ approaches to leadership. The conceptual framework used in this study was defined by (a) a system of perspectives on leadership, and (b) the assumptions that lie beneath those perspectives, including the assumptions about the leader, follower, organization, and task. These two components turned into the two-level coding system …

The Relationship Between Financial Aid And Freshman Persistance At A Midwestern Liberal Arts College, Jack Phillip Powell

Dissertations

College student persistence has been one o f the most important topics discussed in higher education over the last 25 years. The consequences of student attrition from our colleges and universities are immense for the individual student and institutions alike. One of the purposes of student financial aid is to promote student persistence. The need for empirical research to assess whether financial aid is accomplishing this vital purpose is critical Research is particularly important given the significant shifts in policy brought on by the 1992 Reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. This study addressed two research questions. The first deals …

Electron Correlation Leading To Double-K-Shell Vacancy Production In Li-Like Ions Colliding With Helium, Ali Sami Alnaser

Dissertations

Single and double K-shell vacancies in Li-like ions colliding with neutral helium target have been investigated using high-resolution Auger projectile spectroscopy. Be⁺, B²⁺, C³⁺, and O⁵⁺ Li-like ions were produced and accelerated to intermediate-to-high collision velocities where perturbative models are expected to be valid, using the Tandem Van de Graaff accelerator at Western Michigan University. Double-K-shell vacancies in atomic systems or so-called “ hollow ions” can be induced by different mechanism in ion-atom collisions. For intermediate-to-high velocity collisions where the collision time is small, the projectile ion can interact with only one of …

Numerical Studies Of Transition For Flows Around Multi-Element Airfoils, Fengjun Liu

Dissertations

The transition of flows around a multi-element airfoil has been numerically studied using RANS with a k - e two-equation transition model, LST and DNS. The transition model uses an effective eddy-viscosity by coupling an intermittence-like correction to a turbulence eddy-viscosity that can be obtained via solving a parent k - e turbulence model. The transition model is truly predictive in that it is able to predict transition onset locations without having to specify prior knowledge of the targeted transition process. The predicted transition onset locations for all the cases studied were compared with the measured data. The results suggest …

Social Anxiety: Attentional Bias In Reaction To Emotional Faces Before And After Participation In A College Level Public Speaking Course, Scott Walter Maieritsch

Dissertations

This study was designed to examine the effectiveness of a semester-long public speaking course in reducing the self-reported levels of communication anxiety and social anxiety among college students enrolled in such a course. The current study also sought to replicate and extend a recent line of research that has demonstrated that highly socially anxious individuals show an attentional bias away from emotional faces under conditions of social-evaluative threat. The current study extended this line of research by conducting the same reaction time procedure with participants in a pretest/post-test design. The project was designed to determine if groups (rating high vs. …

An Analysis Of Student Progress In Beginning Flight Training: Performance Prediction, Performance Measurement, And Performance Improvement, Ryan Olson

Dissertations

The current project was designed to explore potential strategies for reducing the risk of accidents and incidents with beginning flight students (V = 28) by: (a) evaluating the CogScreen™ Aeromedical Edition (CogScreen-AE) test as a predictor of performance, (b) investigating patterns in student performance using expanded data collection procedures, including more extensive measurement of landings, and (c) evaluating the effects of early supplemental training on a personal computer-based aviation training device (PCATD). The experimental manipulation employed a matched pairs research design and exposed a treatment group (rt = 14) to six trials of “skill pattern” practice on a PCATD, with …

How Does It Mean? Literary Theory As Metacognitive Reading Strategy In The High School English Classroom, Lisa J. Schade

Dissertations

In the last two decades, serious scholarly attention has been paid both to theories of teaching reading and to theories of literary interpretation. These potentially related fields have been treated as separate, focused either on teaching reading in the elementary grades or on teaching interpretation to advanced college literature students. Until very recently the relevance of either reading theory or literary theory to middle school or high school pedagogy has remained unexamined. My research, as a reflective practitioner, addresses this important gap. I focus on the teaching of literary theory in the high school English classroom as a strategy to …

A Study Of The Effects Of Goal Conflict On Job Satisfaction In Auxiliary Enterprise Units Within Higher Education, Stephen M. Keizer

Dissertations

The role of goal conflict on job satisfaction within auxiliary enterprise units at Western Michigan University was the focus of this study. The continuing decline in state appropriations has caused state-funded colleges and universities to change their operational model in order to become more fiscally responsible. This change in operational focus has led to a shift in the balance between the goal of educating students and the goal of generating revenue. This shift creates goal conflict among many of the employees whose role it is to bolster the sagging operational budget. Conflict within job goals impacts on job satisfaction and …

A Study Of The Counseling Practices Of Wesleyan Pastors, Kurt A. Stevens

Dissertations

Little is known about the counseling practices of Wesleyan ministers. The primary goal of this study was to provide a detailed description of what pastoral counseling consists of for Wesleyan pastors. The study examined the most common and most troubling counseling issues, the extent to which pastors felt qualified and comfortable providing pastoral counseling, the ability of pastors to counsel parishioners presenting with various issues (e.g., divorce, death, abuse, parenting), the timing of referrals and to whom referred, the number of parishioners currently counseling, the location and time of counseling sessions, and the number of counseling courses taken and perceived …

Classroom Questioning Strategies As Indicators Of Inquiry Based Science Instruction, Linda Hale Goossen

Dissertations

Inquiry teaching often rests upon the assumption that through the use of questioning and response strategies, teachers can stimulate students to actively construct knowledge. Based on this hypothesis, middle-school science lessons were observed and questioning and response strategies were identified that are related to inquiry-based instruction.

Twenty-four science lessons were observed, videotaped, and ranked by inquiry characteristics other than questioning strategy. The video and audio portions of the recordings were analyzed to determine the student and teacher’s questioning and response strategies in each classroom. These strategies were then compared to teaching style, along a continuum from traditional to inquiry, to …

Factors Predicting Distress At Marital Therapy Onset, Joseph J.H. Horak

Dissertations

Higher levels of distress at marital therapy onset predict poorer treatment outcomes in several studies. This study selected nine variables to determine their ability to predict distress at marital therapy onset. The first two predictor variables, shame (measured by the Internalized Shame Scale; Cook, 2000) and expressive atmosphere in the family of origin (measured by the Family of Origin Expressive Atmosphere Scale; Yelsma, Hovestadt, Anderson, & Nilsson, 2000), were chosen from the literature and studies that considered these variables to be related to marital distress. The remaining seven sociodemographic predictor variables—(1) parental divorce as a child, (2) pregnancy before marriage, …

Nonlinear Regression Based On Ranks, Asheber Abebe

Dissertations

This study presents robust methods for estimating parameters of nonlinear regression models. The proposed methods obtain estimates by minimizing rankbased dispersions instead of the Euclidean norm. We focus on the Wilcoxon and generalized signed-rank dispersion functions. Asymptotic properties of the estimators are established under mild regularity conditions similar to those used in least squares and least absolute deviations estimation. The study also shows that by considering the generalized signed-rank dispersion we obtain a class of estimators that encompasses most of the existing popular nonlinear regression estimators. As in linear models, these rank-based procedures provide estimators that are highly efficient. This …