Digital Commons Network^™

Considering Ecojustice And Place-Based Responses To Market-Oriented Schooling, Monica K. Shields

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The politics of neoliberalism fester within education behind discourses of success, deficit, and normalcy. They intersect with discourses such as anthropocentrism, individualism, racism, ability, and others to organize society in a hierarchal manner and prioritize unfettered competition within an economic framework. The power of these discourses resides in their ability to communicate systemic ideology—masking the systemic oppression inherent to neoliberalism. These discourses can be traced to a mechanized worldview that understands matter, relationships, and knowledge through the metaphor of a machine. This study was designed to investigate how discursive meanings combine to create alternative discourses and to answer the research …

Assessment Of Mudpuppy (Necturus Maculosus) Presence Along The St. Clair-Detroit River System Using Environmental Dna And Occupancy Modeling, Jenny L. Sutherland

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The mudpuppy (Necturus maculosus) is cryptic, fully aquatic salamander within the Great Lakes region. Once abundant throughout its range, evidence now suggests that there have been declines due to habitat loss and lampricide use. Information on the status of mudpuppies along the St. Clair-Detroit River System (SCDRS) is lacking, and since they are important bio-indicators, they could be a gauge for restoration success. Environmental DNA (eDNA) and occupancy modeling were used to determine best detection practices for this cryptic species. Mudpuppy eDNA was detected at all known mudpuppy sites with the addition of one site. Occupancy was highest at shoreline …

Case Study Of Parents’ Experiences As Their Children With Hidden Disabilities Navigate The K-12 System To High School Completion, Tamiko Garrett

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The experiences of parents navigating through the K-12 school system as their children with invisible disabilities move toward graduation from secondary education are multifaceted. This qualitative study examined the experiences parents are having or not having at Kalamazoo Central High School (KCHS), a traditional high school within the Kalamazoo Public School (KPS) district. The research questions revealed the experiences of parents navigating their children with invisible disabilities. Conceptually, this study was guided by the ecologies of parental engagement (EPE) framework. The teachings of Pierre Bourdieu and his perspective on social capital were also utilized. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews, …

An Investigation Of How Iep Teams Function In Select Michigan High Schools When Developing A Course Of Study Decision For Students With Disabilities, Patrick Mies

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to investigate the ways that Individual Education Program (IEP) teams function when developing a course of study decision for students with disabilities in high schools in 19 school districts from four intermediate school districts in Michigan. Topics included teacher professional development for reaching consensus in IEP meetings and personal curriculum (PC) plans for diploma acquisition by students with disabilities. Special education teachers who work with students with disabilities at the secondary level shared survey information, perceptions, and opinions about their experiences in IEP meetings. Special education directors, with oversight for special education programs, …

The Successful Transition Of Black Men At Historically White Universities, Regina M. George

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

There is something going on with Black men in America who go to college. As university enrollment has become more diverse with all ethnic and economic groups attending in greater numbers, as Black women are graduating at unprecedented rates, as postsecondary education becomes an increasingly significant employment requirement, the persistence to graduation rate of Black men as a group is among the lowest. Historically White institutions of higher education seek to ensure academic success and increase 4-6 year graduation rates for all students. Perhaps Black men can inform the process and lift everyone with their knowledge. This is a qualitative …

Debunking The False Dichotomy: Developing And Applying Trans Quantcrit At The Intersection Of Trans/Non-Binary Identities And Religious, Secular, And Spiritual Engagement In College, Kate Curley

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Discrimination towards people who identify as trans/non-binary (NB) is still extremely well documented and pervasive across many different demographics. Discussions on religious, secular, or spiritual (RSS) identities and trans/NB identities are often fraught with difficult conflicts between the two. In student affairs published standards, practitioners are expected to serve “regardless” of gender in RSS programs and “regardless” of religion in LGBTQ+ programming. This study sought to explore how RSS campus climate influences students’ attitudes towards trans/NB people and how trans/NB experience their RSS campus climate. Informed by critical theory and using critical consciousness and ally identity development conceptual frameworks, I …

Are First Generation Immigrants More Inclined To Participate In Clinical Research?, Aisha Farha

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The number of immigrants entering the United States has increased dramatically in the past 30 years, but minorities and ethnic groups are underrepresented in research studies. This study examined first- and second-generation Arab American immigrants in Dearborn, Michigan, using a survey from 65 participants to determine the impact of generation on clinical research participation. Fifty-one (78%) of the respondents were first-generation immigrants, and 14 (22%) were second generation. There was no statistical difference between first- and second-generation immigrants in their willingness to participate in clinical research. Further research with a larger and more diverse population is needed to evaluate willingness …

Can Place-Based Teacher Preparation Be Culturally Responsive? An Exploration Of One Promising Program, Shondra L. Marshall

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This qualitative dissertation explored the perceptions of three teacher candidate/alumni who were in a teacher preparation program. The three teacher candidate/alumni shared their experiences and readiness to teach culturally diverse students in K-12 settings. This study also examined the development of a teacher preparation program at a Midwest university. In addition to the voices of the three teacher candidate/alumni, the perspectives of three program developers were also engaged and analyzed. A top-down and open-coding method of data analysis was used in this study. A mini exploratory case study research design was utilized, and participants were interviewed using a semi-structured interview …

What Works? Supporting Students From Urban School Districts At A Midwestern University, Eric Reed

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Postsecondary administrators across the nation are in search for effective policies and practices that lead to higher rates of student academic performance, persistence, and completion rates. In a time of increased accountability and diminished resources, the empirical findings of this study help administrators by demonstrating that resources invested in retention yield long-term benefits to the institution. At a large, public, 4-year university in the Midwest, the average 6-year graduation rate of students from urban school districts was 24% compared to the overall 40% graduation rate for the institution. Historically, students from urban school districts enter postsecondary institutions after persevering through …

Instructional Communication In Preservice Education: Rapport, Conflict, And Classroom Management, Vanessa Callanan

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This study examines communication as instructional classroom practice and considers its increased inclusion in teacher preparation programs. While widely recognized as an important aspect of most university degree programs, communication pedagogy is often overlooked in schools of education curricula. Data collected from six current teachers suggest that the teachers demonstrated a value for instructional communication in three distinct ways that can all be attributed to their interaction with their students and classrooms. The teachers in this study demonstrated this through their building of rapport with their students, their strategies for both avoiding and resolving conflict within the classroom, and their …

The American Phantasmagoria: The Rise Of Spiritualism In Nineteenth-Century America, Daniel Bowlin

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Spiritualism, or the belief in spirit communications through mediums, was a movement in the nineteenth century which gained popularity within America. This thesis aims to widen the scope of spiritualism’s historiography by exploring spiritualists’ lives to reveal a more complex answer to why this movement gained a large following in antebellum America. The stories of spiritualists show that spiritualism rose in nineteenth century America because the culture placed death in the periphery, leaving certain Americans unresolved and therefore looking to the Victorian death culture for closure from a lost relationship. Additionally, spiritualists saw the muddled religious system as proof of …

Evolution Of Object-Oriented Methods From The Reverse Engineering Of Programming Code, Pann Ajjimaporn

Theses and Dissertations

Many software development projects fail because of their inability to deliver the product in a timely and cost-effective manner, i.e. the software crisis. In a commercial airline company, a safety-critical system for preventing a “single-point of failure” needs to be developed and certified. To meet the project deadline an Agile approach was used in developing the first portion of the system. An appropriate software development methodology, i.e. reverse-engineering was then applied to the software system to develop method that would be used in system maintenance and evaluation.

The goals of this research study were to develop a segment of one …

Antennas And Wave Propagation In Wireless Body Area Networks: Design And Evaluation Techniques, Ala Alemaryeen

Theses and Dissertations

Recently, fabrication of miniature electronic devices that can be used for wireless connectivity becomes of great interest in many applications. This has resulted in many small and compact wireless devices that are either implantable or wearable. As these devices are small, the space for the antenna is limited. An antenna is the part of the wireless device that receives and transmits a wireless signal. Implantable and wearable antennas are very susceptible to harmful performance degradation caused by the human body and very difficult to integrate, if not designed properly. A designer need to minimize unwanted radiation absorption by the human …

Small-Scale Characterization Of Additively Manufactured And Heat Treated Alsi10mg, Farwan A. Alghamdi

Theses and Dissertations

Selective Laser Melting (SLM) additive manufacturing of aluminum alloys is a layer-wise manufacturing method which can provide lightweight and complex-in-shape automotive, aerospace and medical components with enhanced mechanical properties. In the SLM, the mechanical properties will differentiate depending on the cooling rate as the deposition of material gradation distance from the build plate as well as the deposition direction, in which it has an effect on the microstructure.

The aim of this project is to assess the correlation between microstructure and small-scale characteristics of an additive manufactured AlSi10Mg alloy in the as-printed and heat treated conditions. Post heat treatment cycle …

Manganese Salan Complexes As Catalysts For Hydrosilylation Of Aldehydes And Ketones, Nora Salman Almutairi

Theses and Dissertations

New types of manganese(III) complexes containing H2salan ligand have been synthesized and examined as catalysts in the hydrosilylation of carbonyl compounds. Manganese(III) chloride complex (4b) exhibits minimal activity for the hydrosilylation of benzaldehyde at 120 ºC, but can be activated with silver perchlorate. Manganese(III) azide complex (5b) is characterized by the IR spectra, and the stretching frequency for the azide group is 2050 cm-1. This complex shows good activity in the hydrosilylation of benzaldehyde at 120 ºC, generating the corresponding silyl ether in high conversion 99 % within 1 h. Under optimized reaction conditions, phenylsilane as the reductant in C6D6 …

Digital Image Processing And Metabolic Parameter Linearity To Noninvasively Detect Analyte Concentration, Joseph Allen Jr

Theses and Dissertations

Spectroscopy is the scientific technique of quantifying and measuring electromagnetic, or light, reflectance or absorption. Atoms emit and/or absorb light when light passes through. The excitations provide specific energy signatures that relate to the element that is emitting or absorbing the light. Non-invasive biosensors monitor physical health properties such as heart rate, oxygen saturation, and tissue blood flow as a result of spectroscopy. Several attempts have been made to non-invasively detect metabolic chemical, or analyte, concentration with various spectroscopic techniques. The primary limitation is due to signal-to-noise ratio. This research focuses on a unique method that combines emission spectroscopy and …

The Effect Of Different Dianhydride Precursors On The Synthesis, Characterization And Gas Separation Properties Of Pi And Pbo Derived From Bisapaf, Maram Abdulhakim Qasem Al-Sayaghi

Theses and Dissertations

The current processes used for natural gas separation and purification are considered energy intensive which could potentially be substituted by membrane technology. Aromatic polyimides are considered one of the most viable types of polymers used for the fabrication of membranes for gas separation mainly due to their outstanding properties. Moreover, aromatic polyimides could be thermally rearranged to form another class of polymers called polybenzoxazoles which are characterized by having enhanced gas separation properties. This research aimed to (1) synthesize and characterize three different aromatic polyimides via polycondensation reaction of a diamine (BisAPAF) with three different dianhydride precursors (PMDA, ODPA, BTDA), …

The Relationship Between Cell Phone Use And Motivation To Exercise In College Students, Ryan Eric Doree

Theses and Dissertations

Past research suggests that high cell phone usage is related to sedentary behavior, poor physical fitness, and poor mental health. College students cell phone usage has increased over previous years while physical activity levels have declined, but due to little research, this relationship is still unclear. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between college student's smartphone usage, exercise motivation, and physical activity. College students completed an electronic survey (n=157; female = 135; age = 20.01±1.49; BMI = 24.39) that assessed exercise motivation, physical activity, smartphone usage, height and weight (to calculate BMI), depression, anxiety, stress and …

Factors And Experiences That Influence Physical Therapy Students' Considerations To Practice Pediatric Physical Therapy, Amy Joleen Elbert

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this quantitative non-experimental research study was to explore the difference that life experiences, educational experiences, and clinical experiences made on physical therapy students’ considerations to practice pediatrics. There has been a lack of research regarding how different experiences with children integrated into the curriculum in pediatric physical therapy education positively influences students’ interests and considerations to practice pediatrics. This research study investigated the problem using the framework of adult learning theory and experiential learning. Physical therapy students from three Upper Midwestern physical therapy programs (Years 1 through 3) voluntarily participated in this survey research. A survey was …

Principals' Perceptions Of Implementation Levels Of Innovative Education In North Dakota Schools, Timothy Godfrey

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this quantitative study was to bring awareness to education policy makers and educators in North Dakota (ND) regarding the process of implementing innovative education after the enactment of North Dakota’s Senate Bill 2186 (SB 2186) in 2017. For the purpose of this study, innovative education is defined as instruction that incorporates any or all of the 4Cs: communication, collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking. This study analyzed ND principals’ perceived levels of implementation of 4Cs instruction, perceived roadblocks and supports to 4Cs implementation, differences in implementation of 4Cs instruction dependent on enrollment, and differences in implementation of 4Cs …

The Time Of Imagery Use And Its' Effect On Performance And Self-Efficacy In College Baseball Players: An Intervention Study, Colton Jeffrey Haight

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examined the interaction between the time of imagery use and performance and self-efficacy in college baseball players during a hitting task. Participants (n=24) were randomly assigned to one of 3 conditions: (a) before practice imagery group, (b) during practice imagery group, (c) after practice imagery group. A 3 (imagery group) × 2 (pretest and posttest) repeated measures ANOVA with performance and self-efficacy as the dependent variables was used. Results for performance main effects and interactions were not significant (p > .05); means were lower during posttest than pretest but weren’t considered significant changes. For self-efficacy, there was a significant …

Thermal Performance Analysis Of The Liquid Cooling And Ventilation Garment (Lcvg) With Respect To Tubing Geometry, Kayla Marie Daniels

Theses and Dissertations

The technology of a liquid-cooled garment allows astronauts to complete extravehicular activities while maintaining a degree of thermal comfort. The garment has gone largely unchanged despite advancements in technology, materials, and knowledge. This research examines possible advancements in thermal efficiency with an alternate tubing geometry through heat transfer rate calculations. A semi-circle cross-section was selected and compared against the current circular cross-section tubing. Each tubing cross-section was 3-D printed and integrated into forearm sleeves. For comparison, the assembly of each sleeve resembled the current Liquid Cooling and Ventilation Garment used with the Extravehicular Mobility Unit. Subjects wore the forearm sleeves …

Reproductive Strategies Of Common Eiders (Somateria Mollissima), Samuel Donald Hervey

Theses and Dissertations

Many reproductive strategies exist all with the same goal to maximize fitness. Because reproductive strategies affect fitness directly, there is interest to understand how they are utilized within a population. The two main strategies we focus on for this work related to Common Eiders (Somateria mollissima) are the utilization of conspecific brood parasitism as an alternative tactic beyond simply nesting and their ability to shift timing of breeding to align young with the best opportunity for survival. To accomplish studying our two reproductive strategies we monitored the Mast and WaWao Common Eider colonies located within Wapusk National Park, Manitoba. Our …

Writing The Body: Embodied Forms And Animal Spirits, Andrew Harnish

Theses and Dissertations

“Writing the Body: Embodied Forms and Animals Spirits” is comprised of a critical introduction and a novel. The critical introduction, “Embodied Forms: One Writer’s Journey from an Ableist Aesthetic to Disability Consciousness” is a literacy narrative that traces my longstanding internalization of ableist norms and their expression in my fiction, and my gradual embrace of the value of disability as an identity and aesthetic sensibility. In so doing, the introduction argues that dominant notions of “normalcy,” “perfection,” and “beauty” are deeply damaging to the disabled writers who internalize them because they encourage the creation of art that erases disability, both …

Thermomechanical Processing Of Mg-Li-Al Ultralight Alloys, Rezawana Islam

Theses and Dissertations

Globally, magnesium (Mg), as the lightest metallic material, imparts a significant long term impact on the stipulation of lightweight structures in aerospace and automotive industries. However, the deformation behavior of magnesium at ambient (room) temperature is not acceptable for most of the structural applications because of its hexagonal closed pack (hcp) structure and limited active slip systems which result in an unacceptable level of brittleness (literally no formability at ambient temperature). Having said this, alloying Mg with an element with more active slip system in its crystalline structure (i.e. lithium with body center cubic crystalline structure) might be a solution …

Per- And Polyfluoroalkyl Substances In The Soil Environment: Sorption, Bioaccumulation And Biotransformation, Bosen Jin

Theses and Dissertations

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are man-made chemicals, widely used in both industries and daily lives, such as in non-stick cookware, waterproof clothing, and painting materials. Researchers have investigated PFASs for about two decades, but most of the studies focus on perfluoroalkyl substances with very limited information available on polyfluoroalkyl substances. In this research, we investigated the sorption/desorption mechanisms perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and its two cationic and zwitterionic precursor compounds, perfluorooctanesulfonamido ammonium salt (PFOSAmS) and perfluorooctaneamido betaine (PFOAB) in a group of soil. We also studied the bioaccumulation and bioconcentration of these chemicals along with perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and its …

Earthquake Loading Effects On The Buckling Of Liquid Filled Cylindrical Storage Tanks, Hailey Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis studied twelve liquid filled cylindrical storage tanks to determine the static buckling loads, as well as the dynamic buckling loads when subjected to earthquake loading. The geometries of the cylindrical tanks were investigated with height-to-diameter ratios of 0.5, 0.75, 1.0, 1.25, 1.5, and 2.0 and with diameter-to-thickness ratios of 520.83 and 1,041.67. Each cylindrical tank modeled had a constant thickness of 0.36 inches. ANSYS Workbench was used to create a finite element analysis of each cylindrical tank. A transient dynamic bucking analysis was performed on each model in order to determine the dynamic buckling load of the cylindrical …

Prestige, Status, And Esteem And The Teacher Shortage, Scott G. Klimek

Theses and Dissertations

Perceptions of prestige, status, and esteem of the teaching career were explored in this study. The population consisted of 1,127 high school seniors and college undergraduates. The study included 51 statements where participants rated their perceptions of teaching’s prestige, status, and esteem on an 8 point Likert scale. The data was factor analyzed, and the results identified that the perceptions of teaching’s prestige consisted of financial and image perceptions. A descriptive analysis found that high school senior and college undergraduate perceptions of teaching’s financial component of prestige (M = 9.99, SD = 2.90) and esteem (M = 10.42, SD = …

Chromium Selenide Synthesis And Characterization, Alexander Kukay

Theses and Dissertations

A number of transition metal chalcogenides have displayed promising electrical and magnetic properties that may prove to be ideal materials for various electro-chemical applications. However, production of various transition metal chalcogenides has remains unique to each material and typically these synthesis techniques are not scalable for industrial utilization. Using a generalized heat treatment, various chromium selenium compounds were synthesized. Phase control has been demonstrated by restricting the amount of oxygen present in the reaction vessel. Obtaining different phases as a result of changing an environmental condition suggests a tunable reaction method that can be used to synthesize a number of …

Performance Based Testing Specifications For Asphalt Pavement Construction In North Dakota, Jun Liu

Theses and Dissertations

Asphalt pavement distresses reduce the comfort, safety, and efficiency of operations. In North Dakota, low temperature cracking, fatigue cracking and rutting are three common types of distress. The main objective of this thesis is to test, analyze, compare and evaluate low temperature cracking, fatigue cracking, rutting and moisture resistance of field and laboratory mixes that are commonly used in North Dakota. The effects of using Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP) performance in terms of cracking and rutting was also investigated.

Low-temperature cracking, fatigue cracking, rutting and moisture damage resistance were determined using Disc shaped compact Tension (DCT), Semi Circular Bend Test …