Digital Commons Network^™

The U.S. Department Of State Office Of Faith-Based And Community Initiatives: What Does The U.S. Engage When They Engage `Religion'?, Belgica Marisol Cucalon

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In August of 2013 the U.S. State Department launched the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives with the objective to foster and promote religious engagements in foreign diplomacy. The language used by the architects and proponents of the initiative suggests that even though religion can be a source of great conflict, religion is also a powerful force for good capable of mitigating conflict and fostering progress. The present optimistic belief of American foreign diplomats that religious engagement will foster beneficial partnerships capable of advancing U.S. foreign interests has led scholars to pose the question, "what will the U.S. engage when …

Interregional Interaction And Dilmun Power In The Bronze Age: A Characterization Study Of Ceramics From Bronze Age Sites In Kuwait, Hasan Ashkanani

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Dilmun civilization appeared in the Mesopotamian sources as a land of Eden and a supplier of ivory, copper, pearls and dates whose boats reached Ur ports. After the collapse of the Akkadian power in the second half of the third millennium BC, Dilmun underwent some notable changes in different aspects of life. The presence of planned residential settlements with notable architectural features and numerous burial complexes and `Royal Mounds' in Bahrain marked great economic growth and socio-political development in the early second millennium BC, suggesting the emergence of a stratified social hierarchy.

Furthermore, these changes suggest that a centralized …

Ang 6469 Anthropology Of Food, Roberta Baer

Service-Learning Syllabi

No abstract provided.

Critical Terrorism Studies Since 11 September 2001: What Has Been Learned? Edited By David Miller, Jessie Blackbourn, Rani Dhanda And Helen Dexter. New York, Nt: Routledge, 2014., Mark Roberts

Journal of Strategic Security

Critical Terrorism Studies Since 11 September 2001: What Has Been Learned? Edited by David Miller, Jessie Blackbourn, Rani Dhanda and Helen Dexter. New York, NT: Routledge, 2014. ISBN 978-0-415-83852-8. Graphs. Tables. Sources cited. Index. Pp. viii, 144. $137.75.

Diversionary Foreign Policy In Authoritarian States: The Use Of Multiple Diversionary Strategies By Saddam Hussein During The Gulf War, Kilic B. Kanat

Journal of Strategic Security

The diversionary theory of war has been considered one of the most contested theories that link domestic and external conflicts. Thus far scholarship in this field has focused on one-time single diversionary attacks, which led to the temporary deflection of attention from domestic problems to external ones. This study intends to bring revisions to the assumptions in the center of diversionary theory and demonstrate these through a well-known but underutilized case. This article intends to show that leaders have not one single option but rather a repertoire of different foreign policy actions in their possession to divert the attention of …

Homegrown Muslim Extremism In The Netherlands: An Exploratory Note, Maria M. Komen

Journal of Strategic Security

In his Widening Circles of Disidentification the Dutch sociologist Abram de Swaan argues that enmity and violent conflicts occur most frequently among groups that resemble one another, in transitional phases in which the social differences between these groups are growing smaller. This paper sets out to explore this thesis, in relation to the recent tensions in the Netherlands generated by a trend towards radicalization among second-generation Moroccan youth. Another relevant point that is discussed is the way some ethnic minority juveniles are socialised and integrated in Dutch society. Political radicalism among young Moroccans in the Netherlands seems to be promoted …

Taken For Granted Or Taken With Gratitude? An Examination Of The Differential Effects Of Donations Of Time And Money On Consumers' Evaluation Of Corporate Philanthropy, Ryan Langan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the potential for two forms of corporate philanthropy, donations of time and money, to have differential effects on consumers' response to corporate giving. Drawing upon indirect-reciprocity theory I show that corporate donations of time compared to money elicit a greater desire to reciprocate on the part of consumers. It is found that the influence of corporate donations on consumers' desire to reciprocate occurs through serial mediation, whereby donations of time are perceived as being more effortful than monetary donations. This in turn leads to more altruistic motive attributions, and ultimately greater admiration towards the firm and a …

Religiosity, Spirituality, And Depressive Symptoms In Older Adults In An Active Living Community, Monica D'Adrianne Solomon

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The population of older adults in the United States is steadily rising. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released a call to reduce mental distress in older adults. Research shows that mental distress is associated with depressive symptoms, which are significantly related to many chronic medical conditions, functional impairment, suicide, and all-cause mortality. Depression is a major public health concern. There is an interest in gerontology research on the buffering role of engagement against depressive symptoms such as volunteering, social activities, and religion. Certain religious beliefs and behaviors contribute to maintaining or improving mental health and research …

The Black Experience In The United States: An Examination Of Lynching And Segregation As Instruments Of Genocide, Brandy Marie Langley

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

This thesis analyzes lynching and segregation in the American South between the years 1877 and 1951. It argues that these crimes of physical and social violence constitute genocide against black Americans, according to the definitions of genocide proposed by Raphael Lemkin and then the later legal definition adopted by the United Nations. American law and prevailing white American social beliefs sanctioned these crimes. Lynching and segregation were used as tools of persecution intended to keep black people in their designated places in a racial hierarchy in the United States at this time period. These crimes were two of many …

Resources Matter: The Role Of Social Capital And Collective Efficacy In Mediating Gun Violence, Jennifer Lynne Dean

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

This study explains how community activists make use of available social capital and collective efficacy while attempting to mediate gun violence. It specifically focuses on twelve in-depth interviews of activists' perspectives, processes and rationales to alleviate community gun violence, based on informal social control models. Findings suggest activists must establish trust and respect with youth they work with before mediation begins, which is established through similar life experiences or backgrounds. Once a strong bond is established with youth, activists identified five core processes to reduce violence: 1) improve the mindset, 2) provide life skills, 3) assist youth as their …

Dieting, Discrimination, And Bullying: A Contextual Case Study Of Framing In The National Association To Advance Fat Acceptance, Veronica Kay Doughman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (NAAFA), the largest size acceptance organization (Kwan 2009), recognizes and frames fat as an identity in need of protective policies. This framing is not without complication. Both the framing techniques utilized by this organization and the political context in which this organization exists are extremely complex. As a way to uncover this dynamic relationship, I analyze NAAFA's framing techniques (Snow and Benford 1988). Employing this social movement organization (SMO) as a case study (Snow and Trom 2002), I analyze the way this organization's framing and reframing (Benford and Hunt 2003) shifts across time …

Agenda, General Education Day, University Of South Florida St. Petersburg General Education Committee Meeting, March 21, 2014, University Of South Florida St. Petersburg. Faculty Senate. General Education Committee

USF St. Petersburg General Education Committee Meetings

Agenda from the March 21, 2014, meeting of the General Education Committee of the University of South Florida St. Petersburg's Faculty Senate.

Sterilization And The Mass Media: Representations Of Women In The California State Prison System (2006-2010), Ashley Barbara Jasper

USF St. Petersburg campus Master's Theses (Graduate)

My research analyzes how mass media, specifically mass media journalism, represents women who are incarcerated and their reproductive rights. Grounded in an ideological rhetorical analysis of articles published from the top fifteen United States news sources on permanent sterilizations that occurred in California women’s prisons from 2006-2010, this paper explores how language both creates and reinforces the segregation of women who are incarcerated from the remainder of society. Drawing on media and sociological theories, this analysis begins by examining the diction choices made by news media to convey how the women were asked to receive sterilizations, as well as how …

Managing Family Food Consumption: Going Beyond Gender In The Kitchen, Blake Janice Martin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

How have food identities and practices in upper middle class homes responded to foodie culture? While the majority of the sociological literature focuses on gendered divisions of labor in the kitchen, food security, and healthy eating, my research focuses on how foodie culture discourse has entered the home and shaped food identities and practice. My sample consists of interviews with thirteen parents, both mothers and fathers, with at least one child in the "tween" age range. Using grounded theory, I analyzed and coded the data for recurring themes. I then divided the participants into two groups based on how they …

Predictors Of Success On The Prosthetics Certification Examination, Rebecca M. Miro

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Students who graduate from a practitioner program in prosthetics & orthotics must achieve certification in order to obtain licensure and practice independently in 16 states. In states where licensure is not mandatory, graduates may choose to pursue certification in order assure patients that they are practicing at the highest level as well as to differentiate themselves from competitors. While studies have been carried out extensively regarding predictors of success on the certification exams in other professions, no such study has been carried out to date in prosthetics.

The American Board for Certification in Prosthetics, Orthotics, & Pedorthics (ABC), established in …

The United States Prison System: A Comparative Analysis, Rachel O'Connor

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Throughout history the penal system has been viewed as the paramount means of dealing with criminals, though its function has transformed throughout time. It has served as a pit for detaining suspected criminals, a home for the vagrant, an institution for the insane, a dreaded place of repute, quarters for cleansing and renewal, and an establishment of cataloged charges. The trials and transformations of history have developed and shaped the institution that we recognize today. Presently, the United States prison population far exceeds that of any other country in the world. The political climate, tough on crime policies, determinate sentencing, …

Checking Out: A Qualitative Study Of Supermarket Cashiers' Emotional Response To Customer Mistreatment, Michael E. Lawless

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In Western culture, and especially the United States, the increasingly service based economy focuses on creating an emotionally positive experience for customers. This leads to increasing pressures on service workers to hide and suppress their emotions even when mistreated by customers, in order to meet their employers', and general cultural, customer service standards. This thesis investigates the questions of what kinds of emotional challenges supermarket cashiers experience as a result of mistreatment from their customers, how do they manage to cope with these challenges, and whether there are any differences in challenges or coping strategies between younger and older cashiers, …

Motherhood Bound By State Supervision: An Exploratory Study Of The Experiences Of Mothers On Parole And Probation, Kaitlyn Robison

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With an influx of women entering the incarcerated population comes an increase in the number of children who have a mother serving time. As these mothers are released from prison or jail they immediately enter into the parole or probation system. This research focuses on the experiences of these women within state supervision, but also on what it means to be a mother. Through thematic analysis of 8 in-depth interviews with women who are currently on or were recently released from probation or parole, this study explores how women manage the combined identity of "mother under state supervision." There are …

Agenda And Minutes, University Of South Florida St. Petersburg General Education Committee Meeting, March 7, 2014, University Of South Florida St. Petersburg. Faculty Senate. General Education Committee

USF St. Petersburg General Education Committee Meetings

Agenda and minutes from the March 7, 2014, meeting of the General Education Committee of the University of South Florida St. Petersburg's Faculty Senate.

Student Identity Considerations And Implications Associated With Socioscientific Issues Instruction, Mitchel James Ruzek

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this investigation was to explore how aspects of identity, perceived levels of controversy, and the strength of a student's attachment to their controversial identity relate to conceptual understanding and knowledge acquisition during socioscientific issues (SSI) based instruction in a biology classroom. The knowledge gained from this study will have the capacity to enhance our understanding of the role that attachment to identity plays during SSI negotiation. Additionally, insight was gained into the role played by aspects of identity in conceptual understanding of scientifically controversial topics during SSI based instruction.

This study contributed to the existing knowledge base …

Do Social Biases Impede Auditor Reliance On Specialists? Toward A Theory Of Social Similarity, Rina Maxine Limor

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Does social similarity between the auditor and a specialist induce social biases that impair the auditor's reliance on the specialist? It is important to examine potential impairments to reliance since auditors do not possess expertise in many of the areas examined during the audit. One type of specialist that is increasingly relied upon by the auditor is the IT specialist.

Since firms have two approaches to the organization of IT personnel (decentralized vs. centralized) and often use professional designations as a hiring criteria for specialists, I examine two dimensions of social similarity: domain knowledge distinctiveness and spatial distance. Using a …

Ghosts, Orphans, And Outlaws: History, Family, And The Law In Toni Morrison's Fiction, Jessica Mckee

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores Toni Morrison's most prevalent motifs: the ghost, the orphan, and the outlaw. Each figure advances a critique of dominant narratives, specifically those that comprise history, family, and the law. In Chapter One, I argue that Morrison's ghost stories contrast two methods of memory, one that is authoritative and another that is imaginative, in order to counter the official renderings of history. Her ghosts signal forgotten aspects of American history and provide access to another storyline--one that lies in the shadows of the novel's principal narrative. This chapter compares the ghosts of Love and Home in order to …

Agenda And Minutes, University Of South Florida St. Petersburg General Education Committee Meeting, February 21, 2014, University Of South Florida St. Petersburg. Faculty Senate. General Education Committee

USF St. Petersburg General Education Committee Meetings

Agenda and minutes from the February 21, 2014, meeting of the General Education Committee of the University of South Florida St. Petersburg's Faculty Senate.

Organizing Disability: Producing Knowledge In A University Accommodations Office, Shelby Forbes

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As it is generally conceived, knowledge belongs to the individual: we imagine how a lightbulb suddenly illuminates above the scientist's head, a muse whispers in the philosopher's ear, cogs slide into place as wheels turn in the thinker's mind, and, "Eureka!" an idea is born. As an individualistic experience, knowledge is secure in the repository of the mind, a "steel trap" as it is so often referred, which can only be breached by the most sophisticated and precise methods. From these popular representations of knowledge, one can extrapolate further to conclude that knowledge is not made, it is received. All …

Ay 2013/2014 Fs Meeting Minutes, 2014-02-19, Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Archives

No abstract provided.

Crow's Nest, February 11, 2014, Crow's Nest Staff

Crow's Nest

The February 11, 2014, issue of the Crow's Nest.

Public Knowledge And Sentiments About Elite Deviance, Cedric Michel

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A growing body of research has revealed that the financial cost and physical harmfulness of elite deviance overshadow the impact of street crime on society (Knowlton et al., 2011; Landrigan et al., 2002; Leigh, 2011; Lynch & Michalowski, 2006; Herbert & Landrigan, 2000; Rebovich & Jiandani, 2000; Reiman & Leighton, 2010). However, despite such discrepancies, crimes of the poor continue to outshine white-collar offenses in the news media (Barak, 1994; Barlow & Barlow, 2010; Ericson et al., 1991; Lynch & Michalowski, 2006; Lynch, Nalla & Miller, 1989; Lynch, Stretesky & Hammond, 2000), the criminal justice system (Calavita, Tillman, & Pontell, …

Crow's Nest, January 27, 2014, Crow's Nest Staff

Crow's Nest

The January 27, 2014, issue of the Crow's Nest.

How The Mass Media Use Numbers To Tell A Story: The Case Of The Crack Scare Of 1986, Jerome L. Himmelstein

Numeracy

Scholars, notably Joel Best and Milo Schield, have emphasized the importance of incorporating social construction into the study of quantitative literacy. Studying social construction involves examining how numbers are produced, how they travel into the mass media, and how the media use them to depict a social problem or discuss an issue. This article presents a case study in the last of these. It asks in particular how important numbers really are in media constructions of a social problem. It focuses on the “Crack Scare” of 1986 in the United States and a classic study in social construction, Orcutt and …

Building Rhizomatic Social Movements? Movement-Building Relays During The Current Epoch Of Contention, Peter N. Funke

Government and International Affairs Faculty Publications

This article investigates the movement building dynamics of contemporary social movement milieus (such as particular protests, social forums or occupations). It develops the concept of the “relay” to introduce four ideal-type movement building relays understood as distinct movement milieus: clustering relay, networking relay, organizing relay, and transforming relay. Each ideal-type captures different points on a continuum of increasing movement building and thus for generating commonalities, shared understandings and identities, mobilizations and strategies. Focusing on what I call the current “rhizomatic movement epoch,” which ranges from roughly the Zapatistas to the recent occupy-type protests, the relay framework can provide a larger …