Digital Commons Network^™

The Reaction Of Caffeic Acid And Copper (Ii) In Natural Water, Ling Xiaozheng Xu

Masters Theses

The interaction of the lignin precursor compound caffeic acid with copper(lI) in aqueous solution was studied. In the presence of a reducible transition metal, such as copper, caffeic acid undergoes oxidation. Oxygen was shown to play an important role in the reaction. The UV-visible data demonstrated that the conjugated double bond in the propenoic acid side chain of caffeic acid slowly disappeared during the reaction. The molecular weight experiments indicated that the product was a dimer. FTIR spectrum agreed with two possible dimer structures involving the side chain of caffeic acid. In addition, the reaction was shown to be reversible. …

Trauma In Adult Incest Survivors, Jane Kay Hedberg

Masters Theses

This study explored the traumatic effect of childhood incestuous abuse on the adult survivor. Eleven subjects were interviewed for this study. Hindman's (1989) trauma scale was revised, exploring issues of relationships, mental health, and living skills dysfunctions. In addition to the global score, the scale was disaggregated. Relationships between trauma and age at onset, physical and emotional violence, frequency, identification of self as victim, current relationship with offender, and response to disclosure were explored.

Several dimensions of feeling responsible were reported by victims, including feeling that there was something about them that made others victimize them, feeling responsible for protecting …

Gender Differences In Higher Education: A Comparison Of Males And Females Applying To Graduate School, Lynda Bennett

Masters Theses

The objective of this study was to determine in what ways male and female applicants to graduate school are similar or different. Secondary analysis was conducted on survey data which described attitudes and behavior of students admitted to graduate programs at Western Michigan University. The purpose was to assess the relationship between gender and curricula selected, likelihood of applying for and receiving financial aid, and the influence of marital status. Gender did have a statistically significant relationship with curricula selection and influence of marital status. Furthermore, it appeared that women graduate students find marriage to be a more limiting factor …

A Summary Of The Contributions Of Four Key African American Female Figures Of The Civil Rights Movement, Michelle Margaret Viera

Masters Theses

This thesis will present historical data to summarize the contributions of four key African-American female figures of the civil rights era. The theme is devoted to the historical contributions of these women. Their achievements will be shown to have answered to human needs during the struggle for African American civil and human rights. These achievements were preceded by their personal perceptions as to what constituted tenable rights and needs, introspection, and their willingness to assume a leadership stance and leadership roles.

This written historical assessment will illustrate the chain of events, social and geographical particulars which triggered participation in the …

Revisiting The Issue Of Terrorism: An Institutional Analysis Of U.S. Sponsored Terrorism Directed Toward Cuba, Rick A. Matthews

Masters Theses

Consistent with Herman's (1982) call to more critically examine state-sponsored terrorism, this study assesses the sociopolitical and economic context in which the U.S. has terrorized the nation-state of Cuba. While the definitional framework in which the U.S. has traditionally examined acts of terrorism excludes from it the possibility of self incrimination, this research uses a single standard and nondiscriminatory definition which examines the behavior in question and harms done, as opposed to a definition based on power considerations alone. The method in which this research is conducted is qualitative, consistent with the principles of a sociohistorical case study, using an …

The Al-Murrah Tribe In Qatar: Political Impact, Ali A. Hadi Alshawi

Masters Theses

Tribes and tribalism play significant roles in the Arabian Gulf. The focus of this study is on the Al-Murrah tribe, one of the largest tribes in East Saudi Arabia and Qatar. This study will provide an analysis of the Al-Murrah political structure and their relationship with the Gulf states.

This study gathered information using three methods. This researcher visited about 30 majlis (sitting rooms for men) and listening to over 900 tribesmen respond to issues provided by the researcher. Historical and official documents were investigated and personal observation and experience were also used.

Al-Murrah have strong kinship ties which leads …

The Effects Of Part-Training On Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Skill Acquisition And Retention, David William Hagedorn

Masters Theses

Many thousands of lives could be saved annually in America with the prompt and correct execution of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). The bystander is a vital resource in the basic treatment of an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. However, studies have demonstrated that not only is retention of these lifesaving CPR skills poor, but initial acquisition of the CPR skills during training may be inadequate. This paper reviews methods and tools for CPR training, discloses areas of retention loss, and proposes solutions to be explored with further empirical research. With critical skills like CPR, the urgency to better train lay people and medical …

The Education Of Pregnant Adolescents And Adolescent Parents, Margie Christine Moore

Masters Theses

The enormity and seriousness of the problem of adolescent pregnancy in Kent County, in Michigan, and in the United States is documented, with implications given for future generations. Past and present perceptions of the problem are explored, and significant publications by professionals are reviewed. The needs of the young mother are identified. Educational, financial, legal, medical, physical and mental health, housing, and employment are among a confluence of issues confronting the adolescent who bears and rears her child. A variety of current educational programs appropriate for pregnant and parenting adolescents are then presented and summarized. The components of each program …

Maximizing School Safety By Minimizing Student Violence On And Near School Grounds, William J. Bryson

Masters Theses

This research applications project addresses the phenomenon of rising violence among the youth of the United States, and includes a discussion of how this trend impacts our schools, particularly both the perceived and real danger it creates for our schools' students and staff members. Also considered are three youth activities which have accompanied this phenomenon. These behaviors are drug abuse and trafficking, gang activity, and weapons carrying and use. A brief analysis is presented regarding the degree and nature of these activities' relationships to each other and to youth violence. Finally, a handbook for school administrators' use is included titled …

Effect Of Poly Acrylate Addition On Coating Color Rheology, Water Retention And Coating Performance, Shambhu Nath

Masters Theses

Five polyacrylate samples were used to study their effects on coating color rheology, water holding and runnability. The Cylindrical Laboratory Coater was used to apply the coatings and study the runnability of the coating colors. The healing tendencies of the coatings were studied by inducing a scratch under the blade. The higher acid level and degree of crosslinking of the polyacrylate gave higher viscosity and the higher acid level also gave higher water retention. Coating colors containing polyacrylates were less prone to dilatancy at high shear. The addition of polyacrylate reduced the healing of coating colors, but for the same …

Biomechanical Analysis Of The Volleyball Overhand Floater Serve, Jian Lu

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate biomechanical factors associated with successful overhand floater serves. Specifically, the study investigated the kinematics of the server at ball-hand contact. Six subjects performed floater serves for this investigation. Subjects served three trials under each of the following conditions: (a) short and long serves and (b) three ball-valve positions at ball-hand contact. Threedimensional cinematographic methods were used to obtain the data. Descriptive statistics were utilized to compare floater and nonfloater serves with respect to distance and ball-valve position. The results showed that (a) more long serves were classified as floater compared to short …

Ella Sharp's Hillside Farm: Expressions Of Class And Gender In Nineteenth Century Rural Michigan, Carol A. Nickolai

Masters Theses

This study examined ways in which social class and gender were expressed in the landscape and material culture of the Merriman-Sharp Farm, a nineteenth century upper class farm owned by women in Jackson, Michigan. Material culture studies, landscape architecture, and architectural history were used in addition to available documents to focus on how the Merriman-Sharp family reflected their class and gender affiliations.

The social construction of reality is an ongoing process at the Merriman-Sharp farm through the Ella W. Sharp Park and Ella W. Sharp Museum. The ways in which the Ella W. Sharp Park and Ella W. Sharp Museum …

A Descriptive Study Of Offenders Sentenced To Special Alternative Incarceration From 1988-1990 In Kalamazoo County, Sherri Deboef Chandler

Masters Theses

This is a descriptive study of the first two-year cohort of offenders sentenced in Kalamazoo County to Special Alternative Incarceration (SAI). Data were compiled from the Kalamazoo County Probation Department records which indicated 84 young men were sentenced to SAI from its inception in 1988 to 1990. Data were gathered on these offenders spanning 1988 to 1992. Successful graduation from SAI, completion of the probationary period, and recidivism were compared to offense, race, SES, education, employment, and other variables. The data of this group were also compared to national data of those sentenced to Special Alternative Incarceration programs. This group …

An Interactionist Perspective On Centrality And Racial Discrimination In Professional Baseball, David S. Czurak

Masters Theses

The structuralist version of centrality has measured racial discrimination in professional baseball for the past two decades. Its reliance on positional groupings, based on location, has resulted in a count of racial occupancy at these locations, often without a comparative racial baseline. The structuralist premise has accused baseball of playing field discrimination, citing it as a black versus white issue while discounting other motivations. From a symbolic interactionist perspective, this structuralist account of centrality is flawed in that it lacked action. Nor has it correctly identified what is central to baseball, and many of its findings have been inconclusive. An …

Stimulant Medication And Attributional Style In Adhd Children, Maria Zoubek

Masters Theses

The results of this study indicated that stimulant medicated ADHD children do not exhibit a more external global academic attributional style than a nonreferred control group. Further, the ADHD children's specific level attributions suggested that these children believed their medication was at least somewhat helpful and that they rated as providing a good effort on the spelling test. Additional analyses revealed that children who did not attribute successful outcomes to their effort tended to report higher levels of depression. Discussion focuses on implications for the role of global and specific level attributions in ADHD children's depressive symptomatology.

Evidence For The Endoparasite Giardia Lamblia In Human Paleofeces From Salts Cave. Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky, Lisa Karen Ruppert

Masters Theses

Three desiccated human feces recovered from Salts Cave, Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky, were analyzed for evidence of parasitic infection, specifically Giardia Lamblia. Positive detection of Giardia cysts was made using a direct immunofluorescent assay (IFA) technique. Scanning electron microscopy revealed what appear to be Giardia lamblia trophozoites. One additional fecal sample, analyzed for its dietary content, was composed primarily of Helianthus annuus (sunflower) and Chenopodium berlandieri (goosefoot). Over one hundred seeds of Cucurbita pepo (squash) were also contained within this specimen. This sample has been radiocarbon dated to 2420±90 B.P., falling into the cluster of previous dates from …

Gis Application For Nitrogen Dioxide Pollution Monitoring In Moscow, Russia, Maria V. Privalsky

Masters Theses

The focus of this study was nitrogen dioxide pollution monitoring in Moscow, Russia. ERDAS GIS was used to create maps of nitrogen dioxide distribution on the territory of the city for the years from 1983 to 1991.

A special model was written to compare the consecutive pairs of years in respect to the nitrogen dioxide pollution change. Results of model application were analyzed in order to determine the territories that experienced maximum changes during the study period.

Relationship between street density as a measure of car flow and nitrogen dioxide pollution was estimated. Two measures of the relationship were used: …

A Procedure For G-Matrix Calculation From A Momentum Space Potential, Zhaohui Gao Busche

Masters Theses

In this work a numerical procedure was found to calculate the G-matrix in momentum space with a momentum space potential. The integral equation for the G-matrix was solved by conversion to a matrix equation. Two numerical integral methods, three-point Simpson method and Gaussian integral method, were employed in this process to determine the more efficient method.

The resulting G-matrix in momentum space was Fourier transformed into coordinate space. This was compared with the results of the G-matrix calculated from coordinate space directly as well as the results from solving the Bethe-Goldstone equation. A 2% accuracy was achieved with both the …

Effective Supervision In Community-Based Services For The Developmentally Disabled, Laura L. Methot

Masters Theses

This study investigated the effects of a supervisor training program on the subsequent use of objective measures and contingent consequences by a manager when monitoring and evaluating the performance of supervisors, and by supervisors when monitoring and evaluating the performance of direct care staff in a human service agency. Data also were collected to examine whether changes in supervisor performance produced changes in the direct care staff's use of contingent consequences for client performance and changes in client behaviors. One manager, 4 supervisors, 7 staff and 16 clients from an employment training center and a group home participated in the …

Total Organic Carbon In A Glacial Aquifer: Measurement And Effects Upon Transport Of Organic Compounds, Jiang Wu

Masters Theses

Organic contaminant transport processes in subsurface systems have been paid increasing attention recently. Sorption of organic compounds on the aquifer solid matrix (retardation) is one of the most important processes influencing contaminant transport. The extent of sorption has been estimated by determination of organic carbon in aquifer materials and assumptions concerning sorption constants.

This paper focuses upon the sensitivity of organic contaminant transport to the total organic carbon (TOC) content in a natural aquifer. This study was composed of two phases. The first phase was methodology development and laboratory analysis of organic carbon contents in soil samples. Acidification and furnace …

Children's Tool Making Capabilities: Implications For Hominid Intelligence Models And Skill Acquisition Theory, Jill S. Mccleary

Masters Theses

The focus of this study was on morphological differences in stone tools that could be attributed to varied instruction and cognition levels.

In this study two groups of children, one second grade class and one fourth grade class, were selected to make stone tools. The tools that they made included both Oldowan-type flake tools and Acheulean-type handaxes. The primary variables considered in this study were the subjects' level of cognitive development (pre-operational versus concrete operational) as determined by a series of Piagetian tests, and the effects of varied instructional techniques.

Results suggest that Oldowan flake tools can be produced, at …

The Effects Of Sensory Integrative Therapy And Functional Communication Training On Stereotypic Behavior, Thomas M. Starzynski

Masters Theses

Three developmentally delayed individuals who exhibited self-stimulatory behaviors were exposed to sensory-integrative therapy. Prior to treatment, a Motivation Assessment Scale was completed and a functional analysis baseline was conducted to identify the maintaining variables of the self-stimulatory behavior. Each subject displayed a pattern of responding suggesting that stereotypic behaviors were maintained by automatic reinforcement. Results show that sensory-integrative therapy had no effect on self-stimulatory behaviors. The stereotypic behaviors of Subject 1 and Subject 2 were later reduced when functional communication plus response interruption was applied. The self-stimulatory behavior of Subject 3 was not affected by the implementation of functional communication …

The Borders Of A Canvas Tent: An Analysis Of Feminist Utopian Novels, Catherine R. Caldwell

Masters Theses

This thesis is a critical examination of three feminist utopian novels: Woman on the Edge of Time, by Marge Piercy; Herland, by Charlotte Perkins Gillman, and Les Guerilleres, by Monique Wittig. The study, derived from the sociology of knowledge and deconstruction theory, focuses on similarities and differences involving: (a) sexuality; (b) community building; (c) religion; (d) decision making processes, political systems, and modes of production; (e) crime, deviance and political conflict resolution; and (f) child rearing. The analysis demonstrates that utopia may serve to critique dominant ideology. It also shows how utopian novels treat, and suggest possibilities …

American Foreign Policy: Constitutionality Of Congressional Initiatives Into Presidential Prerogative—Who Controls The War Powers?, Jay F. Donaldson

Masters Theses

This paper examines the executive-legislative relations on foreign policy formulation, debate, authorization, funding and implementation. The research shows that the founding fathers never intended one branch to totally control the "war powers." Inter-branch rivalry and conflict were intended.

The research establishes a pattern this inter-branch relationship has taken since the Constitutional Convention. This "pattern" clearly indicates the natural ability of the executive branch in handling foreign affairs especially those key events involving the use of force or where the potential for violence exists.

The paper also examines the surge of congressional authority (1970's) which attempted to apply restraint on what …

The Role Of Congress In The Decisionmaking Process Regarding The Use Of Force: The Cold War And Beyond, Thomas Greven

Masters Theses

Employing Alexander George's method of structured, focused comparison of cases, this study identifies patterns of Congressional action when the use of American armed forces was at stake. Common explanations for the reluctance of Congress in assuming its constitutional role in the initiation of armed conflicts stress concerns over political costs of a Congressional involvement, namely the so called rally-effect, and existing policy consensuses.

Operating with a set of variables: the military operation, party control, the President's behavior toward Congress, and public opinion, which are applied to three case studies: the Dien Bien Phu crisis in 1954, the airstrikes against Libya …

Rear Seat Belt Usage And Comfort, Kuntal Thakurta

Masters Theses

Seat belts have been shown to be effective in reducing car crash fatalities and injuries. Despite consistent evidence that seat belts when worn can provide the greatest vehicle occupant protection of all currently available occupant restraint systems, seat belt use rates remain low. The rates of occupants wearing seat belts in rear seats is much lower than front seat occupants. One of the primary causes for occupants not using seat belts in rear seats has been lack of comfort. The purpose of this thesis was to study the relationship of comfort and seat belt use in rear seats. The current …

The Effect Of Insulin Mimetics On Enzymes Of Fatty Acid Biosynthesis, Eric A. Berg

Masters Theses

Fatty acid biosynthesis, an insulin regulated pathway, is the process of producing fatty acid chains from 2 and 3 carbon units. Two enzymes in this pathway that insulin affects are glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH) and fatty acid synthase (FAS). Sodium vanadate and sodium selenate have demonstrated insulin-like effects in several tissue and cell types. These mimetic effects include increasing glucose transport, regulating glycolytic enzymes, normalizing plasma glucose levels and activities of insulin regulated enzymes in diabetic rats. Our goal was to examine effects of sodium vanadate and sodium selenate on fatty acid biosynthesis in two insulin responsive systems: Isolated rat hepatocytes …

Problems Associated With Using Ground Penetrating Radar To Locate A Lnapl Plume, Jodie Mcneil

Masters Theses

The Crystal Refinery in Carson City, Michigan was the site used to test the hypothesis that Ground Penetrating Radar can locate LNAPL plumes. The contamination at the site is in the form of two tree product plumes and a dissolved plume. Three Ground Penetrating Radar antennas were used, a 100 MHz, a 300 MHz and a 500 MHz. Borings with a hand auger were made on some of the GPR lines. Gravel and coarse sand along with product in the form of residual stain and tree product were found in some locations. A vertical electrical sounding and a resistivity profile …

Photoionization With Excitation Of The 4s And 4p Subshells In Krypton, Ahmad Farhat

Masters Theses

High-resolution photoelectron spectra of the nd, Rydberg satellites in krypton have been measured for the first time for six different angles and for photon energies between 68.5 and 250 eV. The relative intensities of these satellites with respect to the 4s and 4p main lines are in very good accord with the most recent measurements of Krause et al. (1992) at 68.5 eV. They also confirm that the theoretical predictions for the relative intensity of these satellites are too high. We determine the ratios for nd satellites with respect to the 4s and 4p main lines, and extract the angular …

The Ethnic Aspects Of Population Change In Latvia After Independence, Ilmars Mezs

Masters Theses

This study examines current and historic ethnic and demographic trends and their spatial and cultural contexts within Latvia. Comparisons with the other two Baltic states are also presented and discussed. The Latvian population underwent fifty years of Soviet rule, with deliberate policies to dilute the homogeneity of Latvians through Russification, in-migration, and political dominance. The period from 1940 to 1991 greatly impacted Latvians and immigrants, who were mainly Russians, by placing stresses on the spatial structure of the ethnic groups and their cultural relationship.

Latvians in particular feared ethnic and cultural extinction. The process of ethnic dilution and mixing under …