Digital Commons Network^™

Effects Of E2 On Apoe Secretion And Neurite Outgrowth In Cultured Adult Mouse Cortical Neurons, Fei Shen

Masters Theses

Estrogen replacement therapy appears to delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The mechanism whereby estrogen prevents the pathogenesis of AD is unknown. In the present study, I examined the effects of 17-β-estradiol (E2) on neurite outgrowth from adult mice cortical neurons (AMC) in culture. I found that E2 increases apoE secretion and neurite outgrowth in AMC neurons from wild type mice in a dose dependent fashion. The neurite outgrowth promoting effect of E2 was not observed in AMC neurons derived from age-, sex-, and stain-matched apoE deficient/apoE gene knockout (apoE KO) mice. Furthermore, E2 has isoform specific effects on …

The Effects Of Parents, Teachers, And Peers On Academic Motivation, Amanda R. Holden

Masters Theses

The focus of this study was to assess the relationship between perceived support of parents, teachers, and peers and academic motivation. The second focus was to assess which variable was more predictive of academic motivation. The Children's Academic Intrinsic Motivation Inventory by Gottfried, 1986, the Peer Social Support, Peer Academic Support, Teacher Social Support, and Teacher Academic Support subscales of the Classroom Life Measure by Johnson, Johnson, Buckman, and Richards, 1985, and the Family Cohesion subscale of the Family Environment Scale by Moos and Moos, 1994 were administered to the students. A total of 72 students from 3rd, 4th, and …

An Investigation Of Motivations Influencing Participation In Marathons, Courtney Hague

Masters Theses

This study examined the varying motivations of runners participating in marathon races. Several variables were explored including age, gender, marathons attempted, marathons completed, and best personal performance time. Five hypotheses were considered: 1) Younger runners will most likely be motivated by Achievement Motives (competition and personal goal achievement) than the older runners. 2) Females will be more motivated by Physical Health Motives (weight concern and general health) than males. 3) Males will participate in marathons more for Achievement Motives (competition and personal goal achievement) than females. 4) Females and males will be similar along Psychological Motives (self-esteem and psychological coping) …

The Rural Public Television System: The Paradox Of Identity And Role, James C. Jones Jr.

Masters Theses

The American television broadcasting system is preparing for it's greatest upgrade since color television. This change will not only effect commercial television it will also effect our community public television stations.

Since it's inception in 1967 the public television system has been the innovation leader in the broadcast industry for using new technologies to benefit education and servicing the public. Public television was the leader in satellite programming distribution, descriptive television services and closed captioning. Public television has defined and demonstrated its role as a technology leader. This research study was undertaken to define from the public's perspective what it …

A Survey Of Illinois Speech-Language Pathologists Regarding Sensorimotor Techniques, Patricia Ann Finley

Masters Theses

Research studies have suggested improvement in communication deficit areas when sensory integrative techniques involving sensorimotor stimulation are implemented to facilitate speech-language therapy objectives. Therefore, a questionnaire was designed by the examiner to identify the extent of awareness, training, incorporation, and co-treatment of sensorimotor techniques of Illinois speech-language pathologists. The subjects were also asked to rate the effectiveness of different sensorimotor techniques and to rate the benefits when incorporating sensorimotor techniques into therapy. Subjects consisted of 232 speech-language pathologists who completed the questionnaire.

Results revealed that speech-language pathologists working in rehabilitation had a higher awareness level about sensorimotor techniques than those …

Non-Directive Play Therapy: Past, Present And Future, Jeslina Jayanti Raj

Masters Theses

The paper focuses on the history, research and future directions of non-directive play therapy. According to the history of play therapy, the first person to advocate studying the play of children in order to understand and educate them was Henry Rousseau. The history of play therapy is discussed with further details. Few studies have been done that empirically support the effectiveness of non-directive play therapy and there have been no investigations of therapeutic processes. From a behavioral perspective, it is understood that non-contingent attention in the form of attention, the absence of demands and the environmental richness of the playroom …

An Analysis Of Consistent Inclusion Programming District Wide, Laura N. Vos

Masters Theses

Inclusive education is the newest and largest change that the district being examined has had to face in recent years. However, within the six elementary buildings, inclusion is delivered in different ways. The inconsistency amongst the buildings in regards to inclusion was examined to determine if the effects have a positive or negative impact on the district as a whole. An interview/questionnaire was administered to twenty-five samples throughout the district. The interviews determined overwhelmingly that the practices are inconsistent, but whether the effect was positive or negative was debateable. The study also found common successful practices, shared commonalities and concerns …

A Geostatistical Screening Strategy For Assessing Contaminated Sediment, Yasuyo K. Makido

Masters Theses

Many environmental problems involve the collection and interpretation of spatial data. Screening methods attempt to develop efficient test procedures to determine the presence and absence of contaminants in samples. Screening methods can reduce monitoring costs and effectively identify contamination problems. Adaptive sampling has the flexibility to adjust for follow-up sampling based on the observed patterns in the population. Geostatistical method is employed for the adaptive sampling scheme. Geostatistics are statistical methodologies that use spatial coordinates to help formulate models used in estimation and prediction.

This study seeks to map Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) concentrations in sediment in Lake Allegan and Morrow …

Avoiding Pitfalls In Administrative Internships, M. Scott Korpak

Masters Theses

Educational leaders and researchers are concerned about the number of qualified candidates for school leadership positions (Tracy, G. & Weaver, C. 2000). In response to this need, many school districts are promoting administrative internships. Through this project, the author sought to learn more about the following challenges: What does the current research literature say about administrative internships, and what are some of the common pitfalls that administrative interns face, especially in the area of journal preparation and the corresponding guidelines of the Human Subject Institutional Review Board.

Through this project, recommendations were formulated for future interns and their advisors. Common …

The Potentials For Cross-Gender Mentoring, J. Douglas Penn

Masters Theses

The youth of today are being confronted with more diverse choices than ever. With trends like close to 70% of African-American youth (in 1994) growing up in single-parented homes, many youth are left to make these critical choices without access to sufficient numbers of trusted adults. As the Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development Concluded: "Many young people feel a desperate sense of isolation. Surrounded only by their equally confused peers, too many make poor decisions with harmful or lethal consequences" (1989). The job of social policy now must be to match these diverse choices with an equally diverse supply of …

Characterization Of Organo-Tin And Organo-Mercury Compounds With Electrospray Mass Spectrometry, Kan Zhu

Masters Theses

Metal-containing compounds are often found as pollutants in the environment. Obtaining speciation information about these compounds is important to understanding toxieity and bioaccumulation. Electrospray Mass Spectrometry (ESMS) is a technique that has the potential to provide rapid and direct speciation information of solution phase metal compounds. The ionization behavior of chemical species is related to their electron affinities. The higher the electron affinity, the easier it will be reduced during the ionization process. Additionally, solvent with different polarity and surface tension will also affect the ionization and reduction products. Organo-tin compounds with more alkyl groups will be ionized more efficiently, …

Pan, Ppn And Mpan Measurements And The Quantitative Relationship Of Pan And Mpan In Biogenic Hydrocarbon Conditions, Chen Wangchun

Masters Theses

Simultaneous measurements of PAN, PPN and MPAN were made during the SOS 1999 Nashville campaign at Dickson site. The PANs data at this site were rich and complex. PAN and MP AN showed obvious diurnal change but PPN did not during this period. PAN and ozone have a clear positive relationship. Due to the special location of the site, winds from different directions bring anthropogenic hydrocarbons (AHCs) or biogenic hydrocarbons (BHCs) to the site. The data showed that the influence of AHCs and BHCs on PANs compounds varied on different days. Average values of PAN/PPN and PAN/MPAN from MLR may …

Relationship Between Nursing Nutrition Knowledge And Attitudes And Identification Of Malnutrition In The Acute Care Setting, Susan D. Kendziorski

Masters Theses

Malnutrition is widespread in healthcare and effective protocols are needed to identify those at risk. Nurses are well suited to carry out screening for malnutrition because they are in close contact with the patient and are responsible to coordinate each patient's care. In order to perform this role nurses must have nutrition knowledge and the skills to complete an accurate nutrition screen. The purpose of this study was to examine relationships between nursing nutrition knowledge, nursing attitudes towards nutrition, and the accurate completion of a nutrition screening protocol. Patient's charts were reviewed for accurate completion of the nutrition screening protocol …

This Is The Price We Pay: A Study Of Divorce In The U.A.E. From Divorced Women's Perspectives, Wadha Al Nuaimi

Masters Theses

This study aims to answer these questions: What is the process of divorce in the U.A.E? When do women in the U.A.E reach the point where they can't stay with their husbands? Why does a close intimate relationship break up? What are the connections between social, economic, and cultural environment in the U.A.E and the divorced women who live within them?

Qualitative methods based on interviews of 20 divorced women citizens who initiated the divorce process in the city of Al Ain have been used. The study showed that there are six stages in the divorce process: disillusionment, expressing concern, …

The Impact Of The Program For Athletic Coaches Education (Pace) Certification –Mivca Coaching Association, Heather L. Sawyer

Masters Theses

This study identified the level of awareness, and perceived usefulness of the Program for Athletic Coach (PACE) by the Michigan Interscholastic Volleyball Coaches Association (MIVCA) (n=296). The study further examined: (1) the extent MIVCA coaches are engaged in PACE; (2) the relative importance of content delivered; (3) the important content to improve coaching; and (4) what the MIVCA coaches believed their personal investment should be in a coaching education program.

The participants were asked to complete a survey that ranked the importance of the domains and standards found in the National Standards for Athletic Coaches (NSAC). Results indicate a relatively …

Physiological And Perceptual Responses To Elliptical Trainer Exercise At Three Different Grade And Resistance Settings, Katherine A. Wehmeyer

Masters Theses

The study compared the effects of elliptical trainer exercise at different grade (G) and resistance (R) settings on the following variables: (a) heart rate, (b) heart rate as a percentage of maximum heart rate, (c) relative VO₂, (d) relative VO₂ as a percentage of VO₂ max, (e) absolute energy cost, (f) relative energy cost, (g) RPE for legs, (h) RPE for chest, and (i) RPE for overall body. Heart rate, relative VO₂, Respiratory Exchange Ratio, and RPE were measured as 30 subjects completed nine experimental conditions. The experimental conditions consisted of striding forward on …

The Role Physical Maturation Plays When Children Perform The Presidential Fitness Test, Anil M. Joseph

Masters Theses

The problem of the study was to determine the relationship between maturational age and performance on the Presidential Fitness Test. Seventy three subjects, boys and girls ranging in age from 8 to 12 years were involved in the study. It was the intent of the researcher to determine the relationship between maturational age and performance on The Presidential Fitness Test. The Roche, Wainer and Thissen (RWT) (Roche, Wainer, & Thissen, 1975) method of maturation was used to establish maturational age for all the subjects. The researcher used data that waere previously collected by Spring Arbor College for this current research. …

Pragmatic Behaviors And Competency Levels Of Typically Developing And High Risk African American Preschoolers, Jennifer Dodd

Masters Theses

The pragmatic behaviors and competency levels of typically developing (TD) and high risk (HR) African American preschool children were assessed through the use of the Pragmatic Coding System (PCS, Hyter & Dodd, 1999). Ten children were videotaped within two play settings (i.e., dramatic play and manipulative toy play) for a total of twenty minutes. Results indicated that TD and HR children used the same types of pragmatic behaviors in both play settings. Frequency differences, however, were found between the two groups. Typically developing children produced a significantly greater number of initiations, total responses, multi word responses, one word responses, no …

Reefer Madness: How Voters Responded To Medicinal Marijuana Initiatives In The 1998 State Elections, Ryan E. Wood

Masters Theses

In recent years, a growing number of states have witnessed the passage of state initiatives that have authorized the medicinal use of marijuana. The medicinal marijuana movement has circumvented elected state legislatures by relying on an increasingly popular form of direct democracy - the direct initiative. This paper briefly examines the history and continuing legacy of illicit drugs and the initiative process in the context of the movement for medicinal marijuana. However, the primary focus of this study is to uncover the voter characteristics that influenced attitudes toward medicinal marijuana in the 1998 state elections. This paper uses Voter News …

The Geochemistry Of A Leaf Composting Leachate Plume, Asylum Lake, Kalamazoo, Michigan, Eric G. Steeves

Masters Theses

Since the implementation of legislation that bans yard waste from landfills, there has been a need to characterize the impact that large scale composting has on groundwater quality. Allen (1993) and Weaver (1995) have attempted to characterize a leaf composting leachate plume located at the WMU-Asylum Lake Well Field #2 in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Allen was not able to base any conclusions on geochemical results and Weaver delineated the plume using fewer monitoring wells than are now available.

The data from twenty-one monitoring wells indicates that local groundwater is being impacted by the large-scale composting operation. The plume is characterized by …

The Impact Of Peer Pressure On Self-Reported Alcohol And Other Drug Use, Daniel D. White

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of peer pressure upon eighth, tenth, and twelfth grade use of alcohol and other drugs. Data related to the use of cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana were analyzed to determine the effect that peer pressure has on the use of these substances. Other relationships considered were sex, grade level, and race, based on the literature in this area.

The data that were chosen for this study included 141 Michigan public school districts and were based on the responses of 16,760 students in 1992-93, and 15,283 students in 1994-95.

The results indicate …

Adapting The Habitat For Humanity Model To Sabah, Malaysia, Rozita Abdul Manap

Masters Theses

Building sustainable housing and community developments through the Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI) homeownership program, is one of the many ways that has successfully improved housing standards for low-income communities in the U.S. Findings show that this model can be used as a mechanism to stimulate serious programs and as an alternative to improve and solve housing problems.

This study focuses on how the Habitat for Humanity model can be applied towards increasing the benefits to the community in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. Located on Borneo Island, Sabah is the second largest state in the Federation of Malaysia, but is regarded …

The Effects Of A Management System In A Non-Profit Association, Lori H. Miller

Masters Theses

The primary challenge for non-profit associations is carrying out the functions that meet the various needs of their members or Board of Directors with restricted income. In many non-profits there are numerous tasks to complete with few personnel. Existing literature on the topic of non-profit management has limited applicability regarding managing staff performance. The current study examined the effects of a management system that included weekly meetings, goals and feedback on the performance of four employees in a non-profit association.

This study was an ABC group design where Condition 'A' consisted of weekly meetings and goal setting, Condition 'B' consisted …

The Incidence Of Caregiver Reported Sensory Processing Disorders In Children Who Are Experiencing Traumatic Stress Reaction, Ann K. Viviano

Masters Theses

The purpose of this research project was to determine whether children who are experiencing traumatic stress reaction to childhood neglect· or abuse demonstrate sensory processing disorders. It was hypothesized that since neurodevelopment has been disrupted in children who have been exposed to trauma or neglect, sensory processing abilities may also be disrupted.

The Sensory Profile, a judgment-based caregiver questionnaire, provides a standard method to measure a child's sensory processing abilities and to profile the effect of sensory processing on a child's functional performance. A convenience sample of 25 children, with documented traumatic stress reaction due to abuse and/or neglect, …

Gender Differences In The Career Paths And Wages In The Japanese Labor Market, Machiko Kitagawa

Masters Theses

This study examines the gender gap in career patterns in the Japanese labor force, with particular attention to the role of education. A chief concern regarding employment for women is the worsening situation of college-educated women in terms of wages and employment opportunities.

Two cohorts of age groups, 25-29 and 40-44, are used to examine gender differences in career paths by educational level. The latter section of study examines the determinants of the average monthly earnings of male and female regular employees.

Analysis revealed significant differences between men's and women's employment patterns and wages during the middle ages. The study …

Apoptosis Following Peripheral Sensory Deafferentation In The Olfactory Blub Of Adult Zebrafish, Danio Rerio, Akiko M. Vankirk

Masters Theses

Removal of the olfactory organ in the adult zebrafish results in a significant decrease in volume of the ipsilateral olfactory bulb. Our lab has been investigating the potential role of apoptosis in this phenomenon. My hypothesis is that cells in the adult olfactory bulb normally undergo minimal apoptosis and that apoptosis will increase when sensory stimulation is removed. The TUNEL method allowed detection of cells undergoing DNA-fragmentation, which indicates an apoptotic response. Double-label immunohistochemistry was used to mark which apoptotic cells are neurons by using antibody to Hu, a neuron specific protein. Triple-labeling with bis-benzirnide confirmed the apoptotic nature of …

The Sense Of Coherence In Adjustment To Widowhood, Nora Dorothy Hartung

Masters Theses

The purpose for this study is to discover if a feature of personality, the Sense of Coherence, is a factor in the adjustment of women to widowhood. It has been suggested that women with a strong Sense of Coherence (SOC) will use adaptive behaviors and resources in their transition to widowhood. My observation at the church I attend is the reason for this inquiry.

The method used in this research is a questionnaire administered at six senior centers of Senior Services Inc., in Kalamazoo, Michigan. A sample (n tested. 50) of widowed women were tested.

A questionnaire was administered to …

Gender Equality And Agricultural Development: Women And Agricultural Extension Programs In Malawi, Amanda Bigelow

Masters Theses

Since it gained independence, Malawi has struggled to produce enough food to feed its quickly growing population. As the Ministry of Agriculture has tried to implement new policies regarding agricultural development, it has restructured key organizations within the government.

Initially, women were largely ignored in governmental and international aid agencies' development plans. However, after several unsuccessful projects, most implemented by the World Bank, a new project created by USAID revealed statistics that attributed part of the failures to gender-related biases in planning. Once these biases were identified, the government of Malawi requested assistance in reaching women farmers for purposes of …

Nudists In The Know: Investigating Social Assumptions Of A Clothed Society, Sandra E. Schroer

Masters Theses

This work is an institutional ethnography on the ruling relations of clothing in society. Research was conducted through a standpoint methodology which combines interviews, participant observation and the first hand experiences of the researcher.

The interview data reveals nudists' belief in a social preoccupation with body ideals and the power structures created by some uses of clothing. The subjects in this research apply their experiences in both the clothed world and the non-clothed world to expose the implications of the social structures of clothing which appear to effect interpersonal relationships, gender and disability, inequality, prejudice and ageism.

In addition, the …

An Investigation Of Friedel-Crafts Alkylation Reactions In Super- And Subcritical Carbon Dioxide And Under Solventless Reaction Conditions, Kan Nie

Masters Theses

This study investigates the Friedel-Crafts alkylation reaction of triphenylmethanol with methoxybenzene (anisole) in supercritical and subcritical carbon dioxide, and under solventless reaction conditions. The reaction was initiated using trifluoroacetic acid to produce triphenylmethylcarbocation as the reaction intermediate. Isolated product yields of the Friedel-Crafts product, p-methoxytetraphenylmethane, are reported. The possibility of using the above reaction as an alternative synthesis in an undergraduate organic laboratory to teach some of the tenets of green chemistry is also presented. Additionally, we have investigated the use of benzhydrol, 9-hydroxyxanthene and 9-phenylxanthen-9- ol as potential carbocation sources for supercritical carbon dioxide synthesis and we report those …