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This portion of the White Library site is dedicated to documenting the scholarly output of our faculty. This is by no means an all-inclusive list and there are many citations yet to be added. Clicking the title will either take you to the item’s location in the library catalog or database, or to an outside link where you can purchase it. If would like to suggest a faculty publication to be included, please send link to the source and a Chicago Style citation to facultypublications@arbor.edu.

Jeffrey Bilbro

By on April 30, 2015 in Faculty Publications

Bilbro, Jeffrey. Loving God’s Wildness: The Christian Roots of Ecological Ethics in American Literature. Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press, 2015.

Jogging with ChestertonWhen the Puritans arrived in the New World to carry out the colonization they saw as divinely mandated, they were confronted by the American wilderness. Part of their theology led them to view the natural environment as “a temple of God” in which they should glorify and serve its creator. The larger prevailing theological view, however, saw this vast continent as “the Devil’s Territories” needing to be conquered and cultivated for God’s Kingdom. These contradictory designations gave rise to an ambivalence regarding the character of this land and humanity’s proper relation to it.

Loving God’s Wildness rediscovers the environmental roots of America’s Puritan heritage. In tracing this history, Jeffrey Bilbro demonstrates how the dualistic Christianity that the Puritans brought to America led them to see the land as an empty wilderness that God would turn into a productive source of marketable commodities. Bilbro carefully explores the effect of this dichotomy in the nature writings of Henry David Thoreau, John Muir, Willa Cather, and Wendell Berry.

Thoreau, Muir, Cather, and Berry imaginatively developed the Puritan theological tradition to propose practical, physical means by which humans should live and worship within the natural temple of God’s creation. They reshaped Puritan dualism, each according to the particular needs of his or her own ecological and cultural contexts, into a theology that demands care for the entire created community. While differing in their approaches and respective ecological ethics, the four authors Bilbro examines all share the conviction that God remains active in creation and that humans ought to relinquish their selfish ends to participate in his wild ecology.

Loving God’s Wildness fills a critical gap in literary criticism and environmental studies by offering a sustained, detailed argument regarding how Christian theology has had a profound and enduring legacy in shaping the contours of the American ecological imagination. Literary critics, scholars of religion and environmental studies, and thoughtful Christians who are concerned about environmental issues will profit from this engaging new book.

Thomas Kuntzleman

By on April 11, 2015 in Faculty Publications

Kuntzleman, Thomas S., Nathan Ford, Jin-Hwan No, and Mark E. Ott. “A Molecular Explanation of How the Fog Is Produced when Dry Ice Is Placed in Water.” Journal Of Chemical Education 92, no. 4 (April 2015): 643-648. doi:10.1021/ed400754n

Abstract: Everyone enjoys seeing the cloudy white fog generated when solid carbon dioxide (dry ice) is placed in water. Have you ever wondered what physical and chemical processes occur to produce this fog? When asked this question, many chemical educators suggest that the fog is produced when atmospheric water vapor condenses on cold carbon dioxide gas that sublimes through the water. But this explanation is incorrect, as shown by Luck and co-workers in an article previously published in J. Chem. Educ. Herein, we extend this previous work by presenting some simple experiments and explanations that provide a model for how the fog forms when dry ice is placed in water. Many of these experiments can be carried out using materials found at the pharmacy, grocery store, or hardware store. The explanations involved draw from many concepts taught in general chemistry such as vapor pressure and Le Châtelier’s principle.

George Griffin

By on March 31, 2015 in Faculty Publications

Griffin, George, Maia Noniashvili, and Nino Enukidze. “Consumer Behavior in The Republic of Georgia regarding FMCG Products: The role of Russia in affecting Consumer Behavior after reaching DCFTA with EU countries.” Journal of Eastern European and Central Asian Research 2, no. 1 (2015).

Abstract: Until 2008, Russia was one of the major importers of Free Market Consumers Goods (FMCG) products from Georgia as well as a major exporter of FMCG products to Georgia. After conducting a large-scale aggression against Georgia in August, 2008; occupation of two territories in Georgia, ethnic cleansing of people in those territories; and giving recognition of independence to these two territories; Georgia terminated diplomatic relations with Russian Federation on September 2, 2008. After Russo-Georgian war in 2008 the amount of imported food products from Russia decreased. The aim of the research is to study Georgian consumer behavior; identify the factors which influence consumer behavior as a result of the Russo-Georgian War and The European Union Association Agreement; and to analyze the impact of the occupation of the Georgian territories had on trade relations with Russia.

Michael Buratovich

By on March 31, 2015 in Faculty Publications

Amin, Amr and Michael Buratovich.”The Anti-Cancer Charm of Flavonoids: A Cup of Tea Will Do You Good!.” In Frontiers in Anti-Cancer Drug Discovery, edited by Atta-ur-Rahman and M. Iqbal Choudhary, 552-587. N.p.: Bentham Science, 2015. 

Transformative Curriculum Design and Program Development: Creating Effective Adult Learning by Leveraging Psychological Capital and Self-Directedness through the Exercise of Human AgencyHormone-dependent cancers of the breast, prostate and colon have, in the past decade, become the leading causes of morbidity and mortality. Billions of dollars have been spent to study cancers like these, and tremendous advancements in the understanding and treatment of cancer have been made. Nevertheless, as effective cures for a variety of cancers continue to elude us, natural protection against cancer has been receiving a great deal of attention lately not only from cancer researchers and patients, but also from physicians. Phytoestrogens, plantderived secondary metabolites, are diphenolic substances with structural similarity to naturally-occurring human steroid hormones. Phytoestrogens are normally divided into three main classes: flavonoids, coumestans and lignans. Flavonoids are found in almost all plant families in the leaves, stems, roots, flowers and seeds of plants, and are among the most popular anti-cancer candidates. Flavonoidic derivatives have a wide variety of biological actions that includes antibacterial, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, and antiallergic activities. Some of these benefits are explained by the potent antioxidant effects of flavonoids, which include metal chelation and free-radical scavenging activities. However particular phytoestrogens show a marked ability to induce programmed cell death in specific cancer cells, and delay or prevent the onset of discrete cancers altogether. Patent applications regarding flavonoids range from protocols for extraction and purification from natural resources and the establishment of various biological activities for these extracts to novel methods for the production and isolation of flavonoids with known biological activities. This review will bring the reader up to date on the current knowledge and research available in the field of flavonoids and hormone-dependent cancers, and some of the submitted patents that exploit flavonoids.

Mark Edwards

By on March 20, 2015 in Faculty Publications

Edwards, Mark T. “Cold War Transgressions: Christian Realism, Conservative Socialism, and the Longer 1960s.” Religions 6, no. 1 (2015): 266-285.  doi:10.3390/rel6010266

Abstract: This essay examines the convergence of the Protestant left and traditionalist right during the 1950s. Reinhold Niebuhr and the World Council of Churches challenged Cold War liberalism from within. As they did, they anticipated and even applauded the anti-liberalism of early Cold War conservatives. While exploring intellectual precursors of the New Left, this essay forefronts one forgotten byproduct of the political realignments following World War II: The transgressive politics of “conservative socialism.” Furthermore, this work contributes to growing awareness of ecumenical Christian impact within American life.

Amy James and Robbie Bolton

By on February 23, 2015 in Faculty Publications

James, Amy and Robbie Bolton. “Hanging Out with Google” In  The Complete Guide to Using Google in Libraries: Instruction, Administration, and Staff Productivity, edited by Carol Smallwood, 65-72. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2015.

Transformative Curriculum Design and Program Development: Creating Effective Adult Learning by Leveraging Psychological Capital and Self-Directedness through the Exercise of Human AgencyIn 2011, Google gave up yet another failed attempt at building a social network, replacing Google Buzz with Google+. Google has had a healthy list of failed forays into the social network market (McCracken 2014). Even though the reviews of Google+ have been mixed, at best, it has survived for three years now. Google+ claims a half billion active monthly users but most estimate the number to be closer to half that (Miller 2014). With more than a billion active monthly users, Google+ is not much of a threat to Facebook’s dominance in the social media market (Ha 2014). However, some have speculated that challenging the social media market is not Google’s endgame (Miller 2014). The merits of Google+ can be debated, but the brightest star of all the features is its video conferencing tool, Google Hangouts.

John Obradovich

By on January 12, 2015 in Faculty Publications

Gill, Amarjit, Nahum Biger, and John Obradovich. “The Impact of Independent Directors on the Cash Conversion Cycle of American Manufacturing Firms.” International Journal of Economics and Finance 7, no. 1 (2015): 87-96. doi: 10.5539/ijef.v7n1p878

Abstract: This study examined the impact of independent directors on the cash conversion cycle of American manufacturing firms. A sample of 189 American manufacturing firms listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) for a period of five years (from 2009–2013) was used. The findings indicate that the presence of independent directors on the board of directors shortens the inventory period and cash conversion cycle of manufacturing firms. The study contributes to the literature on the factors that shorten the cash conversion cycle of the firm. The results may be used by financial managers and operations managers.

Sharon Norris

By on December 16, 2014 in Faculty Publications

Norris, Sharon E.”Learning and Knowledge Creation under Perpetual Construction: A Complex Responsive Approach to Applied Business Research.” In Handbook of Research on Scholarly Publishing and Research Methods, edited by  Victor C. X. Wang, 205-203. Hershey, PA: IGI Global, 2015. doi:10.4018/978-1-4666-7409-7

Transformative Curriculum Design and Program Development: Creating Effective Adult Learning by Leveraging Psychological Capital and Self-Directedness through the Exercise of Human AgencyOrganizations are changing places where learning and knowledge creation is under perpetual construction. In order to keep pace with these changes, applied business research courses for graduate business students need to go beyond the ideology that business decision making is a tidy and rational process. To portray business decision making as a strictly goal-oriented and rational process overlooks the reality of the complexity of contemporary organizations, and this perspective may result in rigid thinking and single-loop learning. The purpose of this chapter is to present a complex responsive approach to applied business research that encourages flexible thinking and double-loop learning. The most comprehensive applied research studies in the future will be those where researchers become immersed in the research process and engage with participants in the process of learning and knowledge creation. Through this process, researchers help unleash the creative potential of the organization and gain a valuable learning experience.