Digital Commons Network^™

"Doamne Milueste": The Life Of A Contemporary Orthodox Christian Monastery, David George Subu

Masters Theses

The Holy Dormition Monastery demonstrates the Orthodox Christian appeal to the tradition and authority of the Church Fathers, Mothers, and the ultimate source of power, the Holy Trinity, which is enacted on the several complimentary and interactive levels of monastic history, spatial and architectural arrangements, personal relationships and community structure, and liturgical or ritual activity cycles. This appeal to authority and power is achieved most notably through a complex system of ritual acts that are typically "embedded" into the many facets of the monastic life which simultaneously orients the monastic participant towards the correct, "Orthodox" relationships with those sources of …

Cultural Considerations In Clinical Reasoning: An Occupational Therapy Case Study, Sandra M. Winter

Masters Theses

This study looked at an occupational therapist's work with clients from varied cultural backgrounds. Qualitative research strategies and a phenomenological approach were used to gather data through interviews with a single respondent and observation of treatment. This methodology was used to examine the process utilized to acquire cultural knowledge and integrate that knowledge into treatment planning. Research focused on: (a) how the cultural background of a client influenced an occupational therapist as she planned and implemented treatment, (b) how the treatment process was influenced by cultural differences between the therapist and the client, and (c) how training or education helped …

Analysis Of The Skeletal Remains From The Knobloch Site, 20ae633, Allegan County, Michigan, Alexandra D. Bybee

Masters Theses

The skeletal remains of at least thirty individuals were recovered from the Knobloch site, 20AE633, Allegan County, Michigan. The site is from the Late Woodland period, a time which saw a variety of strategies for food procurement, including hunting, gathering, fishing, and agriculture. It is not known to what extent these strategies were practiced. The results of trace element analysis of skeletal samples from the Knobloch site assemblage indicate a diet reliant on hunting and gathering.

Latvians In Southwest Michigan: A Transnational Perspective, Andrew K. Dove

Masters Theses

The focus of this study was to look at the Latvian population in Southwest Michigan utilizing the transnational theoretical framework. Transnationalism examines the three-way relationship between the migrant, home community (Latvia), and host community (United States). First and second generation Latvian-Americans were interviewed to assess the nature of their transnational activities with regard to economics, politics, family ties, communication, and organizational membership.

The data were collected through the use of in-depth interviewing. Both an interview protocol and demographic survey were utilized. A total of 16 adult Latvian-Americans (N = 16) were interviewed. Eight were first generation Latvian-Americans (N = 8), …

Perceived Differences Between Male And Female Occupational Therapists’ Treatment And Other Related Gender Issues, Dennis Robert Jones

Masters Theses

This study explored how occupational therapy clients perceive the treatment they receive from male and female occupational therapists. The study was conducted in a qualitative manner. Occupational therapy supervisors who have supervised both female and male occupational therapists were interviewed to gain an initial understanding of the relevant issues. More structured interviews were then conducted with clients who have been treated by both a female and a male occupational therapist. Therapists and clients were also observed during four treatment sessions.

Analysis of the data collected through interviews revealed that supervisors and clients do notice some behavioral differences in male and …

Is The Educational Level Of Technology Coordinators Aligned With International Standards?, Keith Alan Platte

Masters Theses

School districts that employ technology coordinators have not fully implemented standards set by the International Society of Technology in Education (ISTE) for technology coordinators. This research examines the role of the technology coordinator, the ISTE standards for technology coordinators, graduate programs available to technology coordinators, and job descriptions of technology coordinators. This research also includes the results of a self-assessment survey of technology coordinators in southwest Michigan. The average proficiency of technology coordinators on select ISTE benchmarks is 2.54 on a 3.0 scale (3.0 is proficient). However, their proficiency level is considerably lower when most of their skills are attained …

Interpreting Diet By Age, Status, And Gender And Establishing Weaning Patterns Using Trace Element Analysis On Human Remains From Umm El-Jimal, Jordan, Monica Shah

Masters Theses

The intent of this study is to learn about the dietary patterns of early fourth century occupants of a Late Antique site in northern Jordan. Bone samples of 107 individuals from two distinct cemetery· types, assumed to be status differentiated, were chemically examined for their trace element composition. Trace element analysis can potentially investigate groups of individuals to attempt to determine if gender, age, or status influenced access to food resources.

Statistical tests found that significant differences of trace element concentrations were evident in an inter-burial area study for all adults and subadults, and when examining intra-burial area males and …

Definition And Evaluation Of The Mississippian Lithic Assemblage From The Wymer-West Knoll (20 Be 132), Berrien County, Michigan, Sean R. Brown

Masters Theses

Analysis of the lithic assemblage from the Wymer-West knoll site was undertaken with the following objectives: (1) to define the lithic technology of the Mississippian occupational component of the site, (2) to compare length, width and width/length ratios of triangular projectile points from the Wymer-West knoll with other Mississippian sites to clarify the cultural affiliation of the Wymer-West knoll, and (3) to use site function, from the perspective of the overall Wymer-West knoll material culture in general and the Mississippian lithic technology in particular, as a framework to better understand the Wymer-West knoll's place in the regional culture history.

A …

Age, Status And Gender: Mortality Patterns And Mortuary Practice At Umm El-Jimal, Jordan, Melissa Cheyney

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study is to identify trends in both burial practice and mortality patterning at the Late Antique site of Umm el-Jimal in northern Jordan, through a combined emphasis on mortuary contexts and human skeletal evidence. Data were analyzed and interpreted in three main areas involving: ( 1) the demographic evaluation of biological profiles comprised of sex, age and pathology estimations; (2) life table calculations for crude mortality rates, life expectancies, probability of death and number of individuals dying in time-successive age intervals; and (3) sex-, age- and status-specific patterns in demography and burial structure. These evaluations were …

A Statistical Analysis Of The Ceramics From The Dieffenderfer Site (20sj179), St. Joseph County, Michigan, Mark A. Steeby

Masters Theses

The Dieffenderfer site, located in Constantine Township, St. Joseph County, Michigan, is a multi-component site situated in the middle St. Joseph River valley. Calibrated radiocarbon dates from several features at the site suggest multiple re-use during the Late Woodland period from A.D. 1000 to A.D. 1400, with the most intensive occupations occurring during the 12th through 14th centuries. These dates are supported by a large Late Woodland ceramic assemblage in association with three spatially discrete activity areas; two of these activity loci are represented by housefloors, suggesting a degree of permanence by the residents.

A cluster analysis performed on the …

History, Mission, And Visitors At The Kalamazoo Valley Museum In Kalamazoo, Michigan: A Study Of The Museum As Cultural Practice, Lynnette Z. King

Masters Theses

This study investigates the interrelationship between the museum, its mission, and its visitors. The history of museums in general and the Kalamazoo Valley Museum in particular shows how the mission developed in relationship to culture, community, and individuals. Observations and ethnographic interviews of visitors and staff, as well as drawings made by school children who had visited the museum were used to identify viewers' perceptions of the museum and its mission. The museum is guided by an official stated mission as well as various staff and administrative interpretations of the mission. Although the museum and its mission have changed through …

Technological Analysis Of Ceramic Surface Treatments At The Wymer-West Knoll (20be132), A Mississippian Site In Southwestern Michigan, Suzannah Greve-Brown

Masters Theses

Red-slipped and blackened, burnished, shell-tempered ceramics from the Wymer-West knoll are described and analyzed. Such ceramics have not been previously recognized or detailed in south west Michigan. Similar ceramics do occur, however, at Mississippian sites in the upper Illinois and the Mississippi River valleys. The Wymer-West knoll ceramics are thus considered to be possible trade items. An X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy test is utilized in order to compare the red-slipped ceramics with ceramics having other surface treatments. A petrographic thin section analysis is also used to distinguish the potentially imported ceramics from shell-tempered, cordmarked ceramics presumably produced at the site. Results …

Childhood Health And Nutrition: An Exploration Of Enamel Hypoplasia Studies Using The Milwaukee County Institutional Grounds Cemetery, 1882-1925, Maura K. Polli

Masters Theses

The focus of this study is the dentition of a Midwestern United States historic almshouse population, the Milwaukee County Institutional Grounds cemetery (MCIG), 1882-1925. A survey of linear enamel hypoplasia (LEH) in the anterior dentition of a subsample of this population has been conducted to demonstrate incidences of childhood stress. LEH is symptomatic of extended periods of disease or nutritional stress experienced during the formative years of tooth development.

A subsample of 140 individuals was examined for LEH. The labial surface of the anterior dentition was examined for the frequency and chronological distribution of LEH. The frequency of LEH ranges …

Acculturation Differences Among International Students At Western Michigan University, Kemal Aydin

Masters Theses

The acculturation of international students at Western Michigan University was studied in this thesis. Acculturation variables of perceived prejudice, observance of cultural practices and social ties, and language usage were measured. The results of this study shows that in terms of perceived prejudice, Western Michigan University's international students (except European and Hispanics students) tend to move away from a stimulus. Acculturation and language usage, however, indicate that there is no significant acculturation differences among the respondents. International students at Western Michigan University seem to prefer integration as reflected in a commitment to pluralism. In summary, international students at Western Michigan …

Responsibility, Submission, And Power: Social Factors Which Influence Rural Out-Migration Among Women In Southern Vietnam, Jeffery D. Wright

Masters Theses

This paper examines the circumstances that affect the decisions of young women living in rural southern Vietnam to move to Ho Chi Minh City in search of employment. Issues of power, submission, and responsibility that underlie interpersonal relationships in Vietnam will be discussed with special attention to the way they affect the lives of Vietnamese women. It has been widely suggested that rural out-migration in developing countries is largely economically driven. My own field research in Vietnam during the summer of 1996 suggests that the migration of women in southern Vietnam is not simply an attempt to make more money. …

Kanpo Consumption Among Japanese Students At Western Michigan University: Case Studies In Medical Pluralism, Joseph Paul Siuda

Masters Theses

Many societies have pluralistic medical systems in which biomedicine and alternative therapies coexist. Some anthropologists view medical pluralism adaptively, where the strengths of various therapies complement each other. Others highlight the hegemonic power of biomedicine and its tendency to suppress or co-opt alternative therapies. To understand medical pluralism, one must examine alternative therapies in particular cultural contexts.

Kanpo, or Japanese herbalism, has survived political and legal suppression resulting from Japan's 19th century attempts at westernization and now poses a challenge to the biomedical model of health and illness. Since the 1970's more Japanese are turning to kanpo rather than …

"Time Is One": The Temporal Aspect Of The Hopi Language And Its Experimental Application In Postmodernist Novels, Peter Buru

Masters Theses

My thesis examines the relationship between the temporal aspects of the language of the Hopi Indians, based on Benjamin Lee Whorf’s linguistic analyses, and postmodernist narrative theory. Within postmodernism itself, the study focuses on the narratives' handling of time and space, as illustrated by the following novels: Sexing the Cherry by Jeanette Winterson; Time's Arrow by Martin Amis; Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.; and Almanac of the Dead by Leslie Marmon Silko.

The study investigates how these postmodernist novels experiment with the application of a timeless temporal scheme. This scheme originates from what I refer to as Benjamin Lee Whorf’s …

"Permit Me Then Good Friends To Sing": Reflections, Reactions, And Manipulations In Civil War Songs, Joanne Thomas

Masters Theses

Musicologists, folklorists and historians agree that the music of the Civil War was a significant means of communication for Americans in all regions and classes. The popularity of music soared during the war, with songs about the war holding center stage. This study moves beyond the acknowledgment that these songs were an important means of communication to seeing what messages were being communicated by both professional and amateur songwriters. These lyricists criticized and praised behaviors, often pointing out the social acceptance or exclusion that could result from individual behaviors, made assumptions about and passed moral judgements on female, male, and …

Job Satisfaction Of West Michigan Certified Nurse-Midwives: A Qualitative Study Of Autonomy And Empowerment In The Provision Of Health Care, Martha M. Shafer-Thyen

Masters Theses

Certified Nurse-Midwifery provides optimal health care service to women through all stages of the reproductive cycle. In order to ensure continued growth of this field of health care, prospective students must see it as an occupation which can offer them high levels of job satisfaction, and certified nurse-midwives (CNMs) must be satisfied in their job or they will not continue to practice. In this qualitative study of West Michigan CNMs, two main factors are identified that determine high levels of job satisfaction: (1) The ability to autonomously care for a woman, with recourse to supportive comanagement of the woman's care …

The Introduction Of E-Mail And Its Effect On The Expanded Use Of Computers Among Teachers In The La Porte Schools, David M. Randall

Masters Theses

Despite a major investment in technology by the LaPorte, Indiana school district, some teachers were not using the computers installed in their buildings and classrooms. Consequently, they were not using instructional applications. This project is intended to demonstrate that where building level e-mail had been introduced, there was an increase in the number of teachers using computers and instructional applications.

Data were collected with a survey of teachers to determine the extent to which computers, computer applications, and other technology were being used in the district. Extent of use was analyzed for two groups: (1) teachers who had e-mail, and …

Volunteer Fire Departments: A Neglected American Voluntary Association, Michelle C. Akers

Masters Theses

This thesis explores the social and cultural dimensions of volunteer fire departments (VFDs) in West Michigan. Through interviews and observations of four VFDs, important dimensions of social cohesion and variability within and between the departments and communities are revealed. An emphasis is placed upon the gender relations within the departments and their effect upon the relations in the larger community. From these companies, a sketch of a small West Michigan community is derived. If used as a companion with other research of Midwestern communities of a greater scope and sample size, an understanding of social organization and social structure may …

Families And The Co-Construction Of Shared Experiences: A Narrative Approach, Angela S. Jacobs

Masters Theses

This study examines how families co-construct joint accounts of shared experiences. Two foster families participated in the study, and were asked to recall information about the decision-making process of becoming a foster family. Through the use of narrative, each foster parent created an individual, detailed chronology of events that took place, including emotional reactions to events, types of decisions made, conversations held with each other as well as all outsiders, and any conflicts that arose during this process. Through conversational discourse, each family transformed individual experiences into one co-created story.

To understand how these individuals came to create such experiences, …

A Rhetorical Criticism And Analysis Of President Ronald Reagan's Inaugural Address: Applying The Burkeian Dramatistic Pentad Approach, Marzuki Jamil Baki Bin Haji Mohamed Johar Bachik

Masters Theses

It is no accident that Ronald Reagan rose to the pinnacle of power at a moment when there was a rising wave of intellectual pessimism. Numerous theories were being offered as to why the trajectory of the American experiment has passed its apogee. Reagan's greatest gift to his country has been his soaring sense of possibilities. To see where he got it, look at what he has seen in a long life. However, a great communicator will communicate complicated ideas, hard choices and bad news. Reagan has had little aptitude and less appetite for those tasks. But, then, communication is …

Class And Gender In Southwestern Michigan: Interpreting Historical Landscapes, Deborah L. Rotman

Masters Theses

The gardens, houses, and barns that comprise the cultural landscape embody information about their makers. Because the built environment is not static, it actively serves to create, reproduce, and transform relations of class and gender. Members of society use space to reinforce and resist relations of power, authority, and inequality. For example, the organization of the landscape facilitates the activities and movements of some segments of society, while at the same time it constrains others. Material dimensions of form and space are differentially acknowledged by members of society because individuals occupy multiple roles simultaneously. Material responses to the social world …

Zambian Nurses And The Aids Crisis: Towards A Socio-Cultural Analysis Of Hiv/Aids, Alicia Worley

Masters Theses

This study addresses the need for AIDS research that goes beyond quantitative in formation to deal with the complexities of local context. Sociocultural analyses have been frequently lost in a sea of research that is rooted in a biomedical/quantitative paradigm. As a result of this, issues of political economy, culture, and human agency are often handled at best, tangentially-this to the detriment of prevention and control programs. This study underscores the factors involved in the spread of HIV that lie outside the realm of physiology and medical "fact." The perception and responses of Zambian nurses at a governmental training hospital …

Wintertime Observations On Pig (Sus Scrofa) Decomposition, David Glynn Mcbride

Masters Theses

Detailed knowledge of the behavior of insects and other arthropods associated with decomposing remains is essential to estimate the time since death. To date, many studies have been conducted on human and animal decomposition rates in warm and/or humid climates, but little is known about decomposition rates in a northern wintertime environment. This study was undertaken to document the progression of decay and arthropod activity under these conditions and provide data that can be utilized for estimating time since death in such climates.

Six stillborn pigs (Sus scrofa Linnaeus) were placed in cages in a woodlot near Western Michigan …

Gender Differences In Higher Education: A Comparison Of Males And Females Applying To Graduate School, Lynda Bennett

Masters Theses

The objective of this study was to determine in what ways male and female applicants to graduate school are similar or different. Secondary analysis was conducted on survey data which described attitudes and behavior of students admitted to graduate programs at Western Michigan University. The purpose was to assess the relationship between gender and curricula selected, likelihood of applying for and receiving financial aid, and the influence of marital status. Gender did have a statistically significant relationship with curricula selection and influence of marital status. Furthermore, it appeared that women graduate students find marriage to be a more limiting factor …

The Al-Murrah Tribe In Qatar: Political Impact, Ali A. Hadi Alshawi

Masters Theses

Tribes and tribalism play significant roles in the Arabian Gulf. The focus of this study is on the Al-Murrah tribe, one of the largest tribes in East Saudi Arabia and Qatar. This study will provide an analysis of the Al-Murrah political structure and their relationship with the Gulf states.

This study gathered information using three methods. This researcher visited about 30 majlis (sitting rooms for men) and listening to over 900 tribesmen respond to issues provided by the researcher. Historical and official documents were investigated and personal observation and experience were also used.

Al-Murrah have strong kinship ties which leads …

The Education Of Pregnant Adolescents And Adolescent Parents, Margie Christine Moore

Masters Theses

The enormity and seriousness of the problem of adolescent pregnancy in Kent County, in Michigan, and in the United States is documented, with implications given for future generations. Past and present perceptions of the problem are explored, and significant publications by professionals are reviewed. The needs of the young mother are identified. Educational, financial, legal, medical, physical and mental health, housing, and employment are among a confluence of issues confronting the adolescent who bears and rears her child. A variety of current educational programs appropriate for pregnant and parenting adolescents are then presented and summarized. The components of each program …

Ella Sharp's Hillside Farm: Expressions Of Class And Gender In Nineteenth Century Rural Michigan, Carol A. Nickolai

Masters Theses

This study examined ways in which social class and gender were expressed in the landscape and material culture of the Merriman-Sharp Farm, a nineteenth century upper class farm owned by women in Jackson, Michigan. Material culture studies, landscape architecture, and architectural history were used in addition to available documents to focus on how the Merriman-Sharp family reflected their class and gender affiliations.

The social construction of reality is an ongoing process at the Merriman-Sharp farm through the Ella W. Sharp Park and Ella W. Sharp Museum. The ways in which the Ella W. Sharp Park and Ella W. Sharp Museum …