Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Digital Commons Network

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Theses/Dissertations

2017

Michigan

Articles 1 - 10 of 10

Full-Text Articles in Entire DC Network

The Palimpsest Boys, Brandon Stump, Brandon Stump Dec 2017

The Palimpsest Boys, Brandon Stump, Brandon Stump

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

These short stories deal with young boys and men who raise themselves in the absence of proper parenting. In particular, they wrestle with big questions about the family unit, sex, and love.


A Longitudinal Study Of Prenatal Care And Prenatal Outcomes Of Women In Foster Care Across Michigan Counties, Lauryn Jianrattanasawat Dec 2017

A Longitudinal Study Of Prenatal Care And Prenatal Outcomes Of Women In Foster Care Across Michigan Counties, Lauryn Jianrattanasawat

Masters Theses

According to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, at any given time, there are approximately 13,000 youth in foster care throughout Michigan. This study used secondary data of linked child welfare case records and State of Michigan Medicaid claims from January 1, 2009 to September 30, 2012 to research the effects of individual, foster care and spatial characteristics experienced by 307 women that became pregnant and delivered while still enrolled in foster care in Michigan on their prenatal care and prenatal outcomes. While, the majority of the analyses resulted in insignificant relationships, significant differences between foster care characteristics …


The Understanding Of The Formative Assessment Process By Michigan Educators, Victor Bugni Nov 2017

The Understanding Of The Formative Assessment Process By Michigan Educators, Victor Bugni

All NMU Master's Theses

Districts purchase assessments to inform teachers as to what students are learning and at which levels they are performing. Black and Wiliam (1998) told us that educators must understand the importance of feedback and student participation in the formative assessment process to enhance learning. Teachers can engage in formative practices to help close the gap between what students know and the learning objectives. This study used a quantitative survey to collect Michigan educators’ awareness of the use of formative assessment components in their classrooms, their skill for the use of these components, their perception of support for using these components, …


On Growing Up Finnish In The Midwest: A Family Oral History Project, Ingrid Ruth Nixon May 2017

On Growing Up Finnish In The Midwest: A Family Oral History Project, Ingrid Ruth Nixon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study explores what oral history interviews with my mother reveal about the familial and community dynamics that influenced Finnish-American children growing up on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula between 1930 and 1950. Close to four hours of oral history interviews were conducted with Viola Nixon, who is second and third-generation Finnish-American on her father’s and mother’s sides, respectively. After conducting a narrative analysis of the interviews, five themes emerged as significant to community function: family, language, education, work and church. I grouped some of these themes together to create three stories informed by materials drawn from the interviews, a cookbook, and …


Intraspecific Differences In Belowground Associations And Seedling Root Morphology For The Biofuel Crop, Panicum Virgatum., Erin Renee Kinnetz May 2017

Intraspecific Differences In Belowground Associations And Seedling Root Morphology For The Biofuel Crop, Panicum Virgatum., Erin Renee Kinnetz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The perennial C4 grass Panicum virgatum (switchgrass) is a promising bioenergy feedstock. Switchgrass is symbiotic with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). I examined 12 varieties of switchgrass grouped into 2 ecotypes (upland, lowland) to see if they differed in AMF abundance and root colonization using the GLBRC Variety Trials experiment. There was higher root colonization of lowland ecotype. A greenhouse experiment evaluated the role of live soil organisms in seedling establishment of 11 varieties. Live soil increased seedling survival, growth and influenced root morphology. Ecotypes differed in root architecture. Lowland developed a higher specific root length (SRL), a trait associated …


Veterans’ Satisfaction With Veterans’ Administration Healthcare Systems, Dale Arnold Apr 2017

Veterans’ Satisfaction With Veterans’ Administration Healthcare Systems, Dale Arnold

Masters Theses

There are currently over 600,000 veterans in the State of Michigan served by only five Veterans’ Administration Medical Centers. These medical centers are not evenly distributed throughout the state with the majority located in the southernmost portion of the state. There necessarily will be a number of veterans for which it is unreasonable to travel to these medical centers to receive care to which they are entitled. This research will investigate the number of veterans that are currently required to drive excessive distances to receive adequate care under the present system, and to possibly suggest solutions to the current situation.


Moving Beyond The Apple Orchard: The Institutional Analysis Of The Construction Of Washtenaw Community College, Julie M. Kissel Jan 2017

Moving Beyond The Apple Orchard: The Institutional Analysis Of The Construction Of Washtenaw Community College, Julie M. Kissel

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to understand the institutional forces that constructed and shaped the function, nature of funding, and governance of Washtenaw Community College (WCC). To do this, I studied the founding and development of WCC using organizational theory. This qualitative, historical case study used archival research to identify themes and the institutional building blocks for the junior college movement at large and the transition of the junior college to the comprehensive community college in the 1950s and 1960s as it served to buffer and bridge the post-secondary world. This study discovered that WCC was not a grassroots …


Accumulating Risk: Environmental Justice And The History Of Capitalism In Detroit, 1880-2015, Josiah John Rector Jan 2017

Accumulating Risk: Environmental Justice And The History Of Capitalism In Detroit, 1880-2015, Josiah John Rector

Wayne State University Dissertations

This dissertation is an environmental history of Detroit, Michigan from the 19th century to the present. Recent scholarship on the history of capitalism has largely ignored the problem of environmental inequality, and the negative externalities of economic growth. In contrast, studies of the environmental justice movement have richly documented race, class, and gender inequalities in environmental risk exposure. However, they have neglected the relationship between the development of the environmental justice movement and the restructuring of American capitalism since the 1970s, including deindustrialization and the shift to neoliberalism. Bringing these fields together, this dissertation connects Detroit’s long-term economic transformation to …


A Case Study Of The Design And Implementation Of A New Teacher Evaluation System In A Northern Michigan School District, Scott Moore Jan 2017

A Case Study Of The Design And Implementation Of A New Teacher Evaluation System In A Northern Michigan School District, Scott Moore

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to identify how one district attempted to meet the need for greater accountability in the teacher evaluation process as mandated by law and to describe strategies that were employed by the district to ensure the integration of student achievement data. This research highlighted how a teacher evaluation instrument evolved over a 5-year period from 2011 to the end of the 2014–2015 school year. This qualitative, single-case study comprised examination of interview responses of 17 stakeholders including a former superintendent, technology director, two board of education members, three former principals, and ten teacher-leaders. Open-ended interview …


Barriers To Preventive Healthcare For Immigrants In Michigan, Sondos Ghazi Al-Hachim Jan 2017

Barriers To Preventive Healthcare For Immigrants In Michigan, Sondos Ghazi Al-Hachim

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The Affordable Care Act expanded insurance coverage to the general population; however, expanding insurance coverage to immigrants might not be sufficient to improve utilization of annual physical preventive exams. This study evaluated adult Michigan immigrants' individual demographics, perceptions, and behaviors, as well as the collective cultural and system characteristics that might act as barriers to the utilization of annual physical preventive exams. Ken Wilber's integral operating system model for medicine conceptual framework was used to create a comprehensive map of factors and bring more clarity and understanding to the barriers to annual physical preventive exam. The quantitative survey was the …