Digital Commons Network^™

Nonnative Phragmites Australis Invasion Into Utah Wetlands, Andrew Kulmatiski, Karen H. Beard, Laura A. Meyerson, Jacob R. Gibson, Karen E. Mock

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. ex Steud. (common reed), already one of the world’s most widespread plant species, has realized rapid range expansion in coastal wetlands of North America in the past century, but little is known about P. australis range expansion in inland wetland systems. We used genetic analyses, aerial photographs, field surveys, and a greenhouse experiment to study the extent and mechanism of nonnative P. australis invasion of Utah wetlands. We collected and genetically analyzed 39 herbarium samples across the state and 225 present-day samples from northern Utah’s major wetland complexes. All samples collected before 1993 and all samples …

The Effects Of Education On The Attitudes Of Counselors In Training Toward Alcoholism, Pamela Sue Van Kampen

Wayne State University Dissertations

Societal attitudes toward alcoholics tend to be negative, and shame and behavior based. Research shows these same attitudes are prevalent among medical and mental health care professionals. Alcohol related problems are frequently misdiagnosed, and sometimes the expectation for recovery is limited or negligible.

This study posited that the attitudes of counselors in training would become more positive as a result of a substance abuse education course as evidenced by a comparison of the pre- and post- scores on The Marcus Alcoholism Questionnaire (MAQ) (Marcus, 1962). Moreover, they would demonstrate significant changes in their perceptions of personal confidence and competencies in …

Teaching With Spirit: Freire, Dialogue, And Spirituality In The Composition Classroom, Justin Vidovic

Wayne State University Dissertations

This ethnographic study examines the role of spirituality in the composition teaching process and in Paolo Freire's dialogic education specifically. Work to acquire some aspects of spiritual "Discourse," as the term is defined by James Gee, is needed in order to make this spiritual foundation visible and practicable. Through a series of ethnographic narratives of a classroom, this study demonstrates the necessity of spiritual work on the part of the teacher to develop the mind frame and skill set necessary for dialogic pedagogy. A series of workshop activities based on Freire's spiritual prerequisites for dialogic education are proposed.

Mesauring The Effect Of Technological Change In Health Care Cost And Expenditure, Krishna P. Sharma

Wayne State University Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Background and objectives:

Technological change has a major role in driving up health care cost and expenditure. Yet we are not fully able to know the extent to which technological change affects cost and expenditure and the way new technologies enter the cost or expenditure functions. This paper uses historical data of US elderly males to see how health care spending associated with prostate cancer treatment behaves over time. Understanding the extent and mechanism by which a new technology actually translates into higher cost are main objectives of this study.

Study design, data and organization of the report:

This …

Manufacturing Menopause: An Analysis Of The Portrayal Of Menopause And Information Content On Pharmaceutical Web Sites, Deborah H. Charbonneau

Wayne State University Dissertations

Consumer-targeted prescription drug advertising serves as an interesting lens through which we can examine the portrayal of menopause in online drug advertisements. The aim of this study was to explore the portrayal of menopause on web sites sponsored by pharmaceutical companies for hormone therapies (HT). To unravel this question, a qualitative content analysis of web sites for FDA-approved hormone therapies was employed. A total number of 608 printed pages of web site content from eight web sites (N=8) were analyzed. Key findings elucidated how menopause was portrayed on the pharmaceutical web sites. First, descriptions of menopause articulated a biomedical perspective …

Develop Sonic Infrared Imaging Nde For Local Damage Assessment In Civil Structures, Qi He

Wayne State University Dissertations

Nondestructive Evaluation (NDE) is an interdisciplinary field of study, which is concerned with the development of analysis techniques and measurement technologies for the quantitative characterization of materials, tissues and structures. Ultrasonic IR Imaging is a novel NDE technique, which combines a short ultrasonic pulse excitation and infrared imaging to detect defects in materials and structures. In this technique, a sound pulse with a frequency in the range of 20-40kHz is infused on a target material for a short duration (usually less than one second). The sonic/ultrasonic sound waves travel into the material and cause rubbing and clapping between the surfaces …

The Determinants Of Student Achievement And High School Completion In Michigan, Cleo Michele Moody

Wayne State University Dissertations

ABSTRACT

By

Cleo M. Moody

December 2010

Advisor: Dr. Michael Addonizio

Major: Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

Degree: Doctor of Education

Policy and practice regarding in-grade level retention and their effects on high school graduation rates and successful student academic outcomes have currently assumed great importance in the education reform debate. Further, the effectiveness of our public schools and the achievement of our students have implications that can affect individuals and the communities in which they live. Now, more than ever, individual economic success and economic growth depend crucially on academic achievement and human capital. The purpose of this research …

Economic Analysis Of Multidimensional Measures Of Obesity, Li Li

Wayne State University Dissertations

This study develops multidimensional measures of obesity based on six body measures, namely, weight, maximal calf circumference, thigh circumference, subscapular skinfold, waist circumference and percent body fat. Previous studies have used body mass index (BMI) as the measure of obesity. BMI does not fully consider body composition and is even more limited when applied to a population of subjects that are heterogeneous in muscularity, age, or bodyweight. Moreover, the use of BMI to classify people as obese and non-obese may result in misclassification problems. More recent studies have chosen some alternative measures of obesity, but there is no consensus on …

The Social Perceptions And Attitudes Held By African American Males Who Participated In A Self-Contained Special Education Middle School Program For Three Years And Dropped Out Of High School After The Ninth Grade, Sherrell Linnette Hobbs

Wayne State University Dissertations

ABSTRACT

THE SOCIAL PERCEPTIONS AND ATTITUDES HELD BY AFRICAN AMERICAN MALES WHO PARTICIPATED IN A SELF-CONTAINED SPECIAL EDUCATION MIDDLE SCHOOL PROGRAM FOR THREE YEARS AND DROPPED OUT OF HIGH SCHOOL AFTER THE NINTH GRADE

by

SHERRELL HOBBS

December 2010

Advisor: Dr. Marshall Zumberg

Major: Special Education

Degree: Doctor of philosophy

There are two parts to socialization, informal and formal. In the United States, informal lessons of socialization come from a child's primary caretaker(s). Imagine a child growing up in this informal setting only to see the world from one perspective through that unique experience. Later the child goes into a …

Unified Role Assignment Framework For Wireless Sensor Networks, Manish Mahendra Kumar Kochhal

Wayne State University Dissertations

Wireless sensor networks are made possible by the continuing improvements in embedded sensor, VLSI, and wireless radio technologies. Currently, one of the important challenges in sensor networks is the design of a systematic network management framework that allows localized and collaborative resource control uniformly across all application services such as sensing, monitoring, tracking, data aggregation, and routing.

The research in wireless sensor networks is currently oriented toward a cross-layer network abstraction that supports appropriate fine or course grained resource controls for energy efficiency. In that regard, we have designed a unified role-based service paradigm for wireless sensor networks. We pursue …

Drosophila Nicotinamidase And Sir2 In Longevity Regulation And Oxidative Stress Response, And The Implications For Aging Theory, Gregory Miller

Wayne State University Dissertations

The protein deacetylase Sir2 has been shown to increase lifespan in a variety of organisms, possibly through its ability to engender the effects of dietary restriction. The Drosophila nicotinamidase DNAAM increases lifespan in a Sir2 dependant manner, and may play a role in oxidative stress resistance. Oxidative damage that accumulates in cells during normal aging contributes to a variety of diseases and pathologies, and can result in an increase in age specific mortality. Accordingly, the oxidative stress theory of aging predicts that organisms with an increased tolerance to oxidative damage will have an increased longevity, while organisms with decreased tolerance …

Wastewater Treatment Comes To Detroit: Law, Politics, Technology And Funding, Barry Neal Johnson

Wayne State University Dissertations

Detroit was one of the cities identified by the International Joint Commission as polluting the Great Lakes in contravention of the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909. The United States Public Health Service also reported on the pollution that entered the Detroit River from Detroit's sewers. Pollution by sewage threatened lives with a dramatic increase in cases of Typhoid Fever and other gastro intestinal sicknesses. Chlorination of water supplies reduced these incidents to an acceptable level minimizing the arguments of sanitarians proposing wastewater treatment. Expansion of the city to encompass a rapidly rising population channeled the city's financial resources into infrastructure. …

The Fourier Spectrum Element Method For Vibration And Power Flow Analysis Of Complex Dynamic Systems, Hongan Xu

Wayne State University Dissertations

A general numerical method, the so-called Fourier-Space Element Method (FSEM), is proposed for the vibration and power flow analyses of complex built-up structures. In a FSEM model, a complex structure is considered as a number of interconnected basic structural elements such as beams and plates. The essence of this method is to invariably express each of displacement functions as an improved Fourier series which consists of a standard Fourier cosine series plus several supplementary series/functions used to ensure and improve the uniform convergence of the series representation. Thus, the series expansions of the displacement functions and their relevant derivatives are …

Post-Transcriptional Regulation Of Vibrio Cholerae Virulence Activator Toxt, Basel Hanna Abuaita

Wayne State University Dissertations

Vibrio cholera, the causative agent of the severe diarreal illness cholera, uses a complex array of gene regulation to induce its virulence determinants. During the early stage of infection, and upon response to unknown signals, virulence genes are turned on. ToxT protein is the primary virulence gene transcription activator. Once ToxT is produced, it amplifies its own expression through an auto-regulatory loop and directly binds and activates expression of various virulence factors including the toxin-coregulated pilus (TCP) and cholera toxin (CT). During the late stage of infection, virulence genes are turned off and the bacteria escape the host to resume …

Tracking Profiles Of Genomic Instability In Spontaneous Transformation And Tumorigenesis, Lesley Lawrenson

Wayne State University Dissertations

The dominant paradigm for cancer research focuses on the identification of specific genes for cancer causation and for the discovery of therapeutic targets. Alternatively, the current data emphasize the significance of karyotype heterogeneity in cancer progression over specific gene-based causes of cancer. Variability of a magnitude significant to shift cell populations from homogeneous diploid cells to a mosaic of structural and numerical chromosome alterations reflects the characteristic low-fidelity genome transfer of cancer cell populations. This transition marks the departure from micro-evolutionary gene-level change to macro-evolutionary change that facilitates the generation of many unique karyotypes within a cell population. Considering cancer …

The Interictal State In Epilepsy And Behavior, Daniel Tice Barkmeier

Wayne State University Dissertations

Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological diseases, affecting up to 1% of the world population. Epilepsy remains poorly understood and there are currently no medications to cure it. Patients with epilepsy have both seizures as well as another type of abnormal activity between seizures, known as interictal spikes. Interictal spikes have thus far been poorly researched, yet growing evidence supports an important role for them in epilepsy. In this project, we first show the high variability between reviewers in marking interictal spikes on intracranial EEG, and then develop and test an automated detection method to solve this problem. …

Activation Of Tumor Cell Death Program By Targeting The Ubiquitin-Proteasome Pathway: Significance In Cancer Treatment And Prevention, Michael Joseph Frezza

Wayne State University Dissertations

ACTIVATION OF TUMOR CELL DEATH PROGRAM BY TARGETING THE UBIQUITIN-PROTEASOME PATHWAY: SIGNIFICANCE IN CANCER TREATMENT AND PREVENTION

by

MICHAEL FREZZA

August 2010

Advisor: Dr. Q. Ping Dou

Major: Cancer Biology

Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

The ubiquitin-proteasome pathway serves as a quality control mechanism to regulate the degradation of intracellular proteins involved in a wide array of cellular processes including tumorigeneis. Thus targeting key features of protein turnover responsible for the growth and proliferation of cancer have emerged as a favorable approach in cancer therapy. Both in vitro and in vivo experimental and clinical results have demonstrated the potential use of …

The Art Of Collaboration: Interlocal Collaboration In The Provision Of Fire Services In The Metropolitan Detroit Area, William David Hatley

Wayne State University Dissertations

Metropolitan regions have emerged in the United States as important economic units with numerous small local governments each providing various public services. The movement toward city-county consolidation has frequently been defeated at the polls. Frederickson (1999) argues that metropolitan areas have become so fragmented in their approach to service delivery that they constitute what he describes as a "disarticulated state", characterized by the declining salience of jurisdiction, the fuzziness of borders and an erosion of the capacity of the local jurisdiction to contain and, thereby, manage complex social, economic and political issues. Feiock (2009) contends that much of the urban …

Immunomodulatory Effect Of Host And Fungal Eicosanoids During Host-Pathogen Interactions With Candida Albicans, Gitanjali Kundu

Wayne State University Dissertations

Candida albicans, an opportunistic fungal pathogen, poses a significant clinical threat to immunocompromised patients. Diseases associated with this fungus ranges from superficial mucosal infection to life-threatening systemic candidiasis. The mechanisms by which Candida persists at mucosal surfaces in the face of an adaptive response are unclear. Candida produces immunomodulatory oxylipins that cross-react functionally with host eicosanoids, which are considered to play important role in regulating innate and adaptive immune responses. Our objective was to characterize the role of prostaglandins produced by the host and this fungus during host pathogen interactions, both in vitro with dendritic cells (DCs) and macrophages, and …

A Qualitative Study Of Stressors, Stress Symptoms, And Coping Mechanisms Among College Students Using Nominal Group Process, Helen W. Bland, Bridget F. Melton, Stephen Patrick Gonzalez

Community Health: Faculty Publications

Background: Stress is part of the college experience; however, how students deal with stress can greatly impact their behaviors and health status. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to qualitatively assess sources of stress, types of stressors, and coping mechanisms employed among undergraduate students.

Methods: Nominal group process was utilized to obtain information related to study variables and help prioritize the accounts provided by study participants (n = 173).

Results: Participants gave insight into the unique stress faced by this generation (grades, GPA, multitasking, parental expectations), stress symptoms (more psychological in nature), and coping strategies (prayer, talking to mom, …

Enzymology And Medicinal Chemistry Of N5-Carboxyaminoimidazole Ribonucleotide Synthetase : A Novel Antibacterial Target, Hanumantharao Paritala

Wayne State University Dissertations

N5-Carboxyaminoimidazole ribonucleotide synthetase (N5-CAIR synthetase), a key enzyme in microbial de novo purine biosynthesis, catalyzes the conversion of aminoimidazole ribonucleotide (AIR) to N5-CAIR. To date, this enzyme has been observed only in microorganisms, and thus, it represents an ideal target for antimicrobial drug development. Here we report structural and functional studies on the Aspergillus clavatus N5-CAIR synthetase and identification of inhibitors for the enzyme. In collaboration with Dr. Hazel Holden of the University of Wisconsin, the three-dimensional structure of Aspergillus clavatus N5-CAIR synthetase was solved in the presence of either Mg2ATP or MgADP and AIR. These structures, determined to 2.1 …

Enhancing The Effectiveness Of Mediation In Korean-American Family Disputes: Cultural Sensitivity Training For Mediators And Co-Mediation Teams, Giyang An

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

This Note focuses primarily on first generation KoreanAmerican women who remain loyal to community values that follow traditional Korean norms, especially when it comes to gender and family roles. To demonstrate the effects of these social values, this Note will analyze conflicts stemming from the various roles and identities (e.g., as a wife or mother) of Korean-American women. In addition, this Note will discuss the different ways Koreans and Americans view the legal systems in their respective countries, and how Koreans generally have a more favorable view of mediation than the confrontational model of litigation. This Note will focus on …

Mediation Ethics: An Exploration Of Four Seminal Texts, Barbara Wilson

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

The subject of mediator ethics is often conflated with discussions about standards of practice, the appropriate wording of codes of conduct, or forms of practitioner regulation. These discussions sometimes also extend to debates about practice dilemmas, such as conflicts of interest, voluntariness, confidentiality and stakeholder issues. The main purpose of this paper is instead to discuss the importance and problems of the differing ethical principles which, I argue, underlie four seminal and popular Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) books. These texts are in current circulation, although some have been republished as later editions since first appearing. They are often used-either separately …

Restoring Human Trafficking Victims Through Victim-Offender Dialogue, Carina Patritti

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

This Note will explore the pros and cons of using victim-offender dialogue in cases of human trafficking. In the first part of the Note, a background on human trafficking will be provided, including current statistics on human trafficking cases and the effects on victims. Restorative justice will be discussed in the second part of the note, with specific emphasis on VOD. The third part of the Note will explore how the criminal system has used VOD, beginning with low-level crimes and then exploring how VOD has been applied to serious and violent crimes. This Note will then propose the application …

Promoting Public Access Policies: A New Role For Librarians, Leila Fernandez, Rajiv Nariani, Marcia Salmon

Sci-Tech News

A paper delivered at the Future of Science Librarianship Contributed Papers session at the 2010 Annual Conference of the Special Libraries Association.

Conference Session Reports From The 2010 Annual Conference, Diane Foster, Lutishoor Salisbury Mrs, Hilary M. Davis, Claudia Lascar, Khue Duong, Daureen Nesdill, Dana Roth, Regina Cannon, Theo Jones-Quartey, A. Ben Wagner, Lea Wade, Carol Debiak

Sci-Tech News

No abstract provided.

The Sla 2010 Annual Conference: A Newbie's Account, Molly Tebo

Sci-Tech News

No abstract provided.

Science Today In Verse, Hope Leman

Sci-Tech News

No abstract provided.

Feral Swine Behavior Relative To Aerial Gunning In Southern Texas, Tyler A. Campbell, David Long, Bruce Leland

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Feral swine (Sus scrofa) impact resources through their destructive feeding behavior, competition with native wildlife, and impacts to domestic animal agriculture. We studied aerial gunning on feral swine to determine if aerial gunning altered home range and core area sizes, distances between home range centroids, and distances moved by surviving individuals. We collected data before, during, and after aerial gunning in southern Texas. Using Global Positioning System collars deployed on 25 adult feral swine at 2 study sites, we found home range and core area sizes did not differ before and after aerial gunning. However, feral swine moved …

The Economic Impacts To Commercial Farms From Invasive Monkeys In Puerto Rico, Richard M. Engeman, Jose´ E. Laborde, Bernice U. Constantin, Stephanie A. Shwiff, Parker Hall, Anthony Duffiney, Freddie Luciano

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Beginning in the 1930s and continuing through the 1970s, rhesus macaques and patas monkeys were introduced to presumed secure locations, primarily coastal islets, in Puerto Rico. Escapes into the wild began almost immediately after introduction. Today the combined range of the two species covers approximately 600 km² of southwestern Puerto Rico, where serious conflicts with agricultural interests have resulted. The Puerto Rico Department of Agriculture surveyed about 90% of commercial farmers in the range of the monkeys to begin quantifying damage by monkeys and the associated economic losses during the years 2002–2006. During that time, total economic losses by …