Digital Commons Network^™

Urban Growth Initiative For Greater Downtown Kalamazoo, Jim Robey, Randall W. Eberts, Lee Adams, Kathleen Bolter, Don Edgerly, Marie Holler, Brian Pittelko, Claudette Robey

Reports

No abstract provided.

Home-Range Dynamics And Resource Selection Of American Marten (Martes Americana) In Michigan’S Northern Lower Peninsula, Angela Kujawa

Masters Theses

American marten (Martes americana) are typically associated with mature coniferous forests. Marten were extirpated from Michigan’s Lower Peninsula due to human impacts, such as fire, logging, and over-harvest. Little is known about the resource selection and distribution of marten in Michigan’s northern Lower Peninsula since their reintroduction in 1985-86. Resource selection functions are valuable tools to estimate the relative probability an animal will utilize an area and predict where they may occur. When creating a resource selection function, potential sources of variation in data collection methods and wildlife populations should be considered to ensure accurate results. We sought …

Economic Conditions: Updates On The National, State, And Regional Economies With A Look At 2018, Jim Robey

Presentations

No abstract provided.

Measuring The Regional Availability Of Forest Biomass For Biofuels And The Potential Of Ghg Reduction, Fengli Zhang, Dana M. Johnson, Jinjiang Wang, Shuhai Liu, Shimin Zhang

College of Business Publications

Forest biomass is an important resource for producing bioenergy and reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The State of Michigan in the United States (U.S.) is one region recognized for its high potential of supplying forest biomass; however, the long-term availability of timber harvests and the associated harvest residues from this area has not been fully explored. In this study time trend analyses was employed for long term timber assessment and developed mathematical models for harvest residue estimation, as well as the implications of use for ethanol. The GHG savings potential of ethanol over gasoline was also modeled. The methods were …

Remote Screening And Self-Monitoring For Vision Loss Diseases Based On Smartphone Applications, Hussein M. H. Khairallah

Wayne State University Dissertations

Remote Healthcare Monitoring System (RHMS) represents remote observing of patient’s well-being and providing therapeutic services. Sensors play an essential part in RHMs. They measure the physical parameters and give continuous information to health organizations, doctors. The presence of Smartphones and other portable devices have allowed us to utilize remote healthcare monitoring system for an assortment of structures. Also, Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) advances considered as one of the critical research factor healthcare application for enhancing the standard of living.

In this dissertation, I have presented three tiers operating in the remote healthcare monitoring system; the Body Area Network (BAN), the …

Gvsu Press Releases, 2018, Grand Valley State University

University Press Releases, 1961-Present

A compilation of press releases for the year 2018 submitted by University Communications (formerly News & Information Services) to news agencies concerning the people, places, and events related to Grand Valley State University.

Improving The Lifestyle Of Andrews Korean Seventh-Day Adventist Church Members, Myung Do Park

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

The Andrews Korean Seventh-day Adventist church in Berrien Springs, Michigan has holistic lifestyle problems that are on the rise. Church members are experiencing health issues such as cancer, high blood pressure, diabetes, osteoporosis, and insomnia. In observing dietary patterns, it was noticed that some of our members do not bother to ascertain the content of the food being eaten. Other members have express the desire to learn about a healthy lifestyle. Purposeful attention to this need of the church is necessary. As a church community comprised of mostly pastors, university students and their families it is time to advocate …

Impact Of Highway Work Zones On Traffic Crashes: A Case Study In Michigan, Qadri Hafez Shaheen

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Infrastructure in the US is severely aged and outdated. This presents a seemingly paradoxical problem in the field of construction management: In order to fix and make roads and highways more safe, construction zones must become inherently less safe in the process. There is a high cost to taxpayers and drivers, as work zones experience a significant amount of crashes and fatalities each year. To mitigate some of the factors that contribute to these crashes, this paper attempts to deliver guidelines on how to update relevant crash data, identify relevant factors, and create recommendations accordingly. The research focused particularly on …

Assessing Access-To-Justice Outreach Strategies, J. J. Prescott

Articles

The need for prospective beneficiaries to “take up” new programs is a common stumbling block for otherwise well-designed legal and policy innovations. I examine the take-up problem in the context of publicly provided court services and test the effectiveness of various outreach strategies that announce a newly available online court access platform. I study individuals with minor arrest warrants whose distrust of courts may dampen any take-up response. I partnered with a court to quasi-randomly assign outreach approaches to a cohort of individuals and find that outreach improves take-up, that the type of outreach matters, and that online platform access …

Legacies Of Industrial Contamination: Voices Of Resistance In White Lake, Michigan, Elizabeth A. Revord

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

This research presents a case study of resistance to contamination from three large chemical plants by activists in the communities of Montague and Whitehall located on White Lake, Michigan. Although clean-up efforts have met state and federal guidelines for brownfield and Superfund sites, the people and community of White Lake have continued to be vigilant regarding environmental protection and harbor many concerns regarding their future and redevelopment of sites that are likely still contaminated.

The connection to place and sense of community that the residents of White Lake honor is the foundation of their resistance. Using data collected from semi-structured …

The Palimpsest Boys, Brandon Stump, Brandon Stump

LSU 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

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 Failure Of Education Federalism, Kristi L. Bowman

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Since the Great Recession of 2007–09, states have devoted even less money to public education and state courts have become even more hostile to structural reform litigation that has sought to challenge education funding and quality. Yet the current model of education federalism (dual federalism) leaves these matters largely to the states. As a result, state-level legislative inaction, executive acquiescence, and judicial abdication can combine to create a situation in which the quality of traditional public schools declines sharply. This is the case in Michigan, which is an unusually important state not only because the dynamics that are emerging in …

Clinical Assessment Of Cognitive Function In Patients With Head And Neck Cancer: Prevalence And Correlates, Amy M. Williams, Jamie Lindholm, Farzan Siddiqui, Tamer Ghanem, Steven S. Chang

Otolaryngology Articles

Objective: Identify the prevalence and clinical correlates of cognitive impairment in patients presenting for treatment of head and neck cancer (HNC) using brief screening within a multidisciplinary care team.

Study Design: A case series with planned data collection of cognitive function, quality of life (QoL), and psychosocial variables.

Setting: Urban Midwest academic medical center.

Subjects and Methods: In total, 209 consecutive patients with a diagnosis of HNC between August 2015 and September 2016 who had a pretreatment assessment with a clinical health psychologist. At pretreatment assessment, the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), a brief screening tool for cognitive function, was administered …

The Public Pension Crisis Through The Lens Of State Constitutions And Statutory Law, Kristen Barnes

Chicago-Kent Law Review

No abstract provided.

Phragmites Removal Increases Property Values In Michigan’S Lower Grand River Watershed, Paul Isely, Erik E. Nordman, Shaun Howard, Richard Bowman

Journal of Ocean and Coastal Economics

The presence of Phragmites australis, an invasive wetland plant, negatively affects coastal property values and home prices rise with distance from Phragmites. Home prices increased as distance to Phragmites increased at a rate of $3.90/meter. Removing Phragmites from a property so that the next closest Phragmites was 400 m away results in a property value increase of over $1,500. Removing all Phragmites within 400 m of any property results in a total property value impact of $837,000. This generates about $13,457-$15,121 in additional property taxes each year once the prices and taxes adjust to the plant’s removal. We …

Juvenile Lifers And Juveniles In Michigan Prisons: A Population Of Special Concern, Kimberly A. Thomas

Articles

Prisoners serving life without parole for offenses they committed when they were juveniles have received much attention after the United States Supreme Court found in Miller v Alabama that mandatory life without parole for juveniles violated the Eighth Amendment and found that its Miller decision applied retroactively. Courts have begun the process of sentencing and resentencing these individuals, some of whom are still teens and some of whom have served 40 years or more in the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC). All told, not including new cases that come before the court, approximately 370 prisoners will receive individualized sentences under …

Vance, Edward Richard, 1833-1902 (Mss 612), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 612. Correspondence, diaries, scrapbooks, photographs and family papers of Richard Vance, a Warren County, Kentucky native and U.S. Army officer. After his Civil War service, Vance spent his career at several posts in the South and on the frontier until his retirement in 1892.

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 …

Using Behavioral Insights To Improve Take-Up Of A Reemployment Program: Trial Design And Findings, Matthew Darling, Christopher J. O'Leary, Irma L. Perez-Johnson, Jaclyn Lefkowitz, Kenneth J. Kline, Ben Damerow, Randall W. Eberts, Samia Amin, Greg Chojnacki

External Papers and Reports

No abstract provided.

Evicted: The Socio-Legal Case For The Right To Housing, Lisa T. Alexander

Faculty Scholarship

Matthew Desmond's Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City is a triumphant work that provides the missing socio-legal data needed to prove why America should recognize housing as a human right. Desmond's masterful study of the effect of evictions on Milwaukee's urban poor in the wake of the 2008 U.S. housing crisis humanizes the evicted, and their landlords, through rich and detailed ethnographies. His intimate portrayals teach Evicted's readers about the agonizingly difficult choices that low-income, unsubsidized tenants must make in the private rental market. Evicted also reveals the contradictions between "law on the books" and "law-in-action." Its most …

Estimating The Impacts Of Plazacorp Investments Related To The Acquisition Of The Arcadia Ramp In Downtown Kalamazoo On The Region, Jim Robey, Kathleen Bolter, Claudette Robey

Reports

No abstract provided.

Ceftaroline Fosamil Monotherapy For Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus Bacteremia: A Comparative Clinical Outcomes Study, Samia Arshad, Vanthida Huang, Pamela Hartman, Mary Perri, Daniela Moreno, Marcus J. Zervos

Infectious Diseases Articles

OBJECTIVES: Vancomycin is the treatment of choice for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteremia; however, its use has been subject to scrutiny due to failure in severe infections. Ceftaroline fosamil (CPT-F) is approved for MRSA acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections, but not for bloodstream infections. The clinical outcomes of treatment with CPT-F in patients with MRSA bacteremia were evaluated.

METHODS: Patients diagnosed with MRSA bacteremia at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan, USA, involving isolates with a vancomycin minimum inhibitory concentration ≥1.0mg/l and susceptible in vitro to CPT-F, were systematically reviewed retrospectively. Ceftaroline fosamil-treated patients were matched with at …

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.

Press Release For Andy Lubbers Be Nice Fund, Delivered On February 21, 2017, Arend D. Lubbers

Presidential Speeches

Press Release for Andy Lubbers Be Nice Fund, delivered on February 21, 2017 by Arend D. Lubbers, who served as President of Grand Valley from 1969-2001.

Interhospital Transfer Of Children In Respiratory Failure: A Clinician Interview Qualitative Study., Folafoluwa O. Odetola, Renee R. Anspach, Yong Y. Han, Sarah J. Clark

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

PURPOSE: To investigate the decision making underlying transfer of children with respiratory failure from level II to level I pediatric intensive care unit care.

METHODS: Interviews with 19 eligible level II pediatric intensive care unit physicians about a hypothetical scenario of a 2-year-old girl in respiratory failure: RESULTS: At baseline, indices critical to management were as follows: OI (53%), partial pressure of oxygen in arterial blood (Pao

CONCLUSION: Interhospital transfer of children in respiratory failure is triggered by poor response to escalation of locally available care modalities. This finding provides new insight into decision making underlying interhospital transfer of children …

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 …

Gvsu Press Releases, 2017, Grand Valley State University

University Press Releases, 1961-Present

A compilation of press releases for the year 2017 submitted by University Communications (formerly News & Information Services) to news agencies concerning the people, places, and events related to Grand Valley State University.

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 …

The Effect Of An Increase In Lead In The Water System On Fertility And Birth Outcomes: The Case Of Flint, Michigan, Daniel Grossman, David J.G. Slutsky

Economics Faculty Working Papers Series

Flint changed its public water source in April 2014, increasing lead exposure. The effects of lead in water on fertility and birth outcomes are not well established. Exploiting variation in the timing of births we find fertility rates decreased by 12%, fetal death rates increased by 58% (a selection effect from a culling of the least healthy fetuses), and overall health at birth decreased (from scarring), compared to other cities in Michigan. Given recent efforts to establish a registry of residents exposed, these results suggests women who miscarried, had a stillbirth or had a newborn with health complications should register.