Digital Commons Network^™

A Life-Course Approach To Sexual Offending: Examining The Continuity Of Juvenile Sexual Offending Into Adulthood And Subsequent Patterns Of Recidivism, Maude Beaudry-Cyr

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Current sex offending legislation and public opinion present an image of sexual offenders as specialized predators who are likely to exhibit continued sexually deviant behavior over the life-course. Although sex offending continuity and post-release recidivism has been independently assessed in prior research, the potential link between sex offending continuity and post-release recidivism has yet to be investigated. Using data collected on random samples of sex offenders from a Northeastern state, the present study examines the predictability of sex offender continuity and its potential linkages with general and sex recidivism, as well as identifying distinguishable risk factors related to these outcomes. …

Senate Bill (A) 54-079 Sociology Graduate Student Association, Adam Aldridge

Legislative Branch Publications

No abstract provided.

Turning Water Into Wine: The Political Economy Of The Environment In Southern California's Wine Country, Jason Simms

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines questions of water sustainability in contexts of wine production and state-led neoliberal development in the Temecula Valley, southern California, where wine tourism is at present being harnessed as an engine of economic growth. Natural and anthropogenic forces, such as global climate change, desertification, urban development, and the marketization and commodification of natural resources, affect the distribution and availability of water throughout the globe. As a result, the use of water, and associated political and environmental processes and consequences, in the production of global commodities, including wheat, citrus, and coffee, recently have come under increased scrutiny. Given wine's …

Undergraduate Catalog, 2013-2014, University Of South Florida St. Petersburg.

Undergraduate Catalogs

No abstract provided.

Undergraduate Catalog, 2013-2014, University Of South Florida St. Petersburg.

Undergraduate Catalogs

No abstract provided.

Report, Library Services And Resources In Support Of The Department Of Criminology, 2013, University Of South Florida St. Petersburg. Nelson Poynter Memorial Library

All-Library Assessments Reports, Summaries & Misc Reports

A report assessing library collections that support the Department of Criminology.

Exploring Local Food System Practices And Perceptions: Insights From Florida's Snap-Authorized Farmers' Markets, Leslie Babiak

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite heightened interest in creating local food systems that enhance health of ecologies, economies, and all members of communities, the public space of farmers' markets is far less than inherently equitable. This is particularly concerning given America's unprecedented crisis of food hardship and related disease, which disproportionately affects lower income populations. This research addresses the social justice implications of SNAP (food stamp) operations for locally oriented food systems. Pioneering practices of three of Florida's SNAP-authorized farmers' markets, and the attitudes and behaviors of one-hundred-seventy-six market patrons, were explored through customer surveys, market manager interviews, and environmental assessments. Qualitative and quantitative …

The Relationship Of Perceived Intellectual And Social Attainment To Academic Success Of First-Generation, First-Year College Students Participating In A First Generation Access Program, Dyonne Michelle Bergeron

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to advance understanding of perceived intellectual and social attainment gains of first-generation, first-year college students participating in First Generation Access Programs at the University of South Florida (USF), a large, public research university in Florida. Understanding the self-reported intellectual and personal/social gains of these students in higher education can lead to higher retention rates, creative strategies that promote academic success, affective cognitive and personal development activities and services that meet the needs of this rapidly growing at-risk student population with their persistence and transition to college.

Researchers have sought to examine variables that may …

Disciplinarity, Crisis, And Opportunity In Technical Communication, Jason Robert Carabelli

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis I argue that technical communication as an academic curricular entity has struggled to define itself as either a humanities or scientific discipline. I argue that this crisis of identity is due to a larger, institutional flaw first identified by the science studies scholar Bruno Latour as the problem of the "modern constitution." Latour's argument, often referred to as Actor-Network Theory (ANT), suggests that the epistemological arguments about scientific certainty are built on a contradiction. In viewing the problem of technical communication's disciplinarity through the lens of ANT, I argue that technical communication can never be productive if …

Exploring The Motives, Perceptions And Constructed Identities Of The Facilitators For One Regional Council Of A Positive Youth Development Program: Girls On The Run, Ashley Ann Gallentine

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to explore the coaches' perceptions, motives and constructed identities by participating in a regional physical activity-based positive youth development program. There is growing evidence that suggests the success of positive youth development (PYD) programs depend on the environment that is created by caring adult mentors. These coaches are the delivery vehicles for these programs and play an essential role in the development of participating youth. As a result, the characteristics these coaches possess are critical to the success of the PYD implementation. Based on the application of anthropological methods and theory, this study seeks …

Examining The Ontoepistemological Underpinnings Of Diversity Education Found In Interpersonal Communication Textbooks, Tammy L. Jeffries

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This project examines the ontoepistemological underpinnings of diversity education in the field of communication by focusing on the points where diversity, pedagogy and communication intersect. In this study I seek to understand how we come to know what we know about diversity, or the social construction of differentness, and how we share this information with others. I analyzed three popular interpersonal communication textbooks, examining the patterns revealed in the text, in order to address these questions.

This study uses three complimentary methods to reveal the number of occurrences that center on diversity in the text (content analysis), to interpret themes …

Fertile Ground For A Social Movement: Social Capital In Direct Agriculture Marketing, Elizabeth A. Murray

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Building from existing literature on anthropology of food, political economy of food and consumption, and social movement theory, I examine the direct agriculture network of Tampa Bay Florida through a mixed-method ethnography. The research consisted of one year of field-work, with 6 months and over 100 hours of active participant observation, open-ended interviews with eight local producers, and short surveys with 100 market patrons. This thesis is an analysis of the results of this rigorous qualitative and quantitative work and, perhaps more importantly, an account of my own personal struggles in joining the direct agriculture network and my ultimate commitment …

The 2008 Candlelight Protest In South Korea: Articulating The Paradox Of Resistance In Neoliberal Globalization, Huikyong Pang

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

My dissertation is a speculative analysis of the historical contexts of a social protest, based on the notion of "articulation" advanced in the field of cultural studies. Focusing on the 2008 candlelight protest against U.S. beef in South Korea, my goal is to explore the historical contexts of the protest, which formulate the identity of the protest. Since the U.S. beef deal was approved by the Korean government as a precondition for the Free Trade Agreement between Korea and the United States, the protest has been considered (notably by leftists in Korea) as a resistance against post-colonial overtones and fascist …

Cultivating Local: Building A Local Food System In Western North Carolina, Allison S. Perrett

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines a movement in Western North Carolina to build a local food system, one grounded in the conditions and relationships of place. In 2000, Mountain Family Farms launched the Local Food Campaign to raise public awareness about the region's farms and farming heritage, to educate consumers about the benefits of buying food grown by local farms, and, ultimately, to build markets for locally grown food to sustain the region's farms. The campaign sparked a social movement and over a decade later local farms and locally grown food are a palpable feature of life in the mountains of Western …

Negotiating Race-Related Tensions: How White Educational Leaders Recognize, Confront, And Dialogue About Race And Racism, Amy Jo Samuels

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite exposure of educational disparities for students of color, as well as the notion that educational training rarely discusses race and racism, there continues to be a lack of discourse on race, racism, and anti-racism in educational leadership. Subsequently, it is important to challenge deficit thinking and encourage further examination of the deeply-rooted foundation of oppression. The study explored personal narratives of white educational leaders who oppose racial inequity to heighten awareness about conceptualizations of race, racism, and anti-racism. The research involved interviewing educational leaders in three groups: 1) aspiring, 2) currently-practicing, and 3) recently-retired. Eight participants were selected to …

Beyond The Door: Disability And The Sibling Experience, Morgan Violeta Sanchez Taylor

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the experiences of adult siblings of individuals with impairments. It expands on the existing literature by exploring the complexity of the sibling experience of disability while moving beyond the concepts of burden and maladjustment that have characterized much of the previous literature. In addition, it expands upon and extends to the sibling experience an emerging view of disability by examining the ways in which themes identified in sibling narratives cross lines between the Medical and Social Models of Disability. Building on work by Mark Priestly and Tom Shakespeare, I call this emerging view the Interactional Model of …

The Influence Of Campus Culture On Mental Health Help-Seeking Intentions, Jason I. Chen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Mental health issues are widespread on college campuses. However, the majority of these individuals do not seek help. Prior research suggests many factors which may be related to mental health help-seeking including age, gender, and prior treatment experience. There has however been little work considering the context of the college campus on mental health help-seeking, specifically the influence of campus culture. Accounting for the context of mental health help-seeking may help to determine which social groups have the greatest influence on mental health treatment processes.

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between perceived peer, student body, …

Polysemy, Plurality, & Paradigms: The Quixotic Quest For Commensurability Of Ethics And Professionalism In The Practices Of Law, Eric Paul Engel

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

According to many, the legal industry is currently suffering from a professionalism problem. The following dissertation is a response to the question, "What can be done about incivility in the practice of law in Florida?" It begins by exploring the literature examining ethics and professionalism, specifically focusing on the role communication plays in the production and reification of patterns of meaning and action. After contextualizing the professionalism problem socio-culturally and historically, the dissertation next provides an overview of some relevant aspects of the Coordinated Management of Meaning (a theoretical communication framework employed to help make sense of the existing state …

The Dynamics Of Alcohol Consumption In The Russian Federation: Implications Of Using Price Related Policies To Control Alcohol Use, Arseniy Pavlovich Yashkin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation models the dynamics of alcohol use in the Russian Federation with an emphasis on identifying policy implications most likely to be effective at controlling alcohol use. Utilizing data from The Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey, models of alcohol consumption are estimated using both myopic and rational specifications via ordinary least squares, fixed effects two stage least squares and, the focus of this study, two-step system generalized method of moments. Alcohol consumption is studied both as a composite good and as a distinct beverage category (wine, beer, and hard liquor). Furthermore, equations stratified by gender and rural status are included …

Factors Prospective Students Consider When Selecting An Mba Program, Lorie Plyler Briggs

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This paper adds to existing literature regarding MBA selection processes and helps identify and better understand the needs that motivate consumers to pursue an MBA degree. Through a series of qualitative, one-on-one interviews with 17 brand-new MBA students or prospective students, this research found that while many people have "always wanted" to earn the advanced degree, most have toyed with the idea of a graduate business degree for many years. The most frequent reasons that people cite regarding their decision to seriously consider an MBA at a large southern university centers around four desires. These are, not surprisingly, the desire …

"It's This Simple, You Really Have To Want To Be Together": A Qualitative Study Of African American Military Couples, Emelda Curry

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Recent studies have reported that African American couples in the military are less likely to divorce than their civilian counterparts. This dissertation was designed to document the experiences of African American military couples in order to understand the challenges they face while serving in the armed forces and the strategies they have used to maintain their marriages. A grounded theory approach was utilized to produce 12 main themes that categorize experiences of both the individual and the couple within the context of their respective military branch. Photo-elicitation was incorporated into semi-structured interviews with 10 couples to identify what they consider …

Survivorship, Infertility And Parenthood: Experiencing Life After Cancer In Puerto Rico, Karen Elizabeth Dyer

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

While incidence rates are increasing for many cancers in Puerto Rico, mortality rates are declining (Torres-Cintron, et al. 2010), resulting in growing numbers of survivors and creating a situation in which long-term survivorship concerns are beginning to emerge as priorities. The importance of quality-of-life among survivors of cancer is increasingly being recognized among healthcare providers, although there remains a gap in knowledge of how young adult survivors cope with long-term treatment-related physical effects, such as infertility, and of the impact of cancer on survivors' social relationships and future goals.

Because understandings of "cancer survivorship," as well as of reproduction, vary …

The Efficacy Of Aggression Replacement Training With Female Juvenile Offenders In A Residential Commitment Program, Jody Anne Erickson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Female adolescents are increasingly being charged with crimes of violence, and the literature is lacking as to how best to reduce their aggressive tendencies. In the past, girls represented a small portion of all youths involved in criminal justice systems, and studies involving effective treatment options for them were rarely conducted.

Aggression Replacement Training® is a 10-week, evidence-based, group treatment intervention designed to advance moral reasoning, improve social skills, and manage angry feelings. Numerous outcome studies of Aggression Replacement Training® with both offending and non-offending male adolescents and with male and female adolescents together have yielded mixed results. The question …

The Underrepresentation Of African American Women Faculty: A Phenomenological Study Exploring The Experiences Of Mcknight Doctoral Fellow Alumna Serving In The Professoriate, Dionne Jones Ferguson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

While African American women have been participating in higher education for more than a century, they remain significantly underrepresented among college and university professors in America. This study was pursued in an attempt to address the underrepresentation of African American women faculty at public and private universities within the State of Florida. More importantly, the study aimed to examine the role of the McKnight Doctoral Fellowship program (MDFP) in assisting McKnight Doctoral Fellow alumna in doctoral degree attainment, preparing them for the professoriate and contributing toward their professional success. A phenomenological methodological approach was used for this study, which was …

The Role Of Consumer Gender Identity And Brand Concept Consistency In Evaluating Cross-Gender Brand Extensions, Laura Rose Frieden

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cross-gender brand extensions are a developing and valuable strategy that has quickly grown to become a vital component of strategic communications management. The goal of this study is to gain a greater insight on what makes for a successful cross-gender brand extension. In order to expand upon the Basic Model of Brand Extension Evaluation (Doust & Esfahlan, 2012), this study examines how marketing factors, more specifically product positioning, combined with consumer gender roles and brand concept, affect how consumers evaluate cross-gender brand extensions. In the past gender and brand concept have been studied within cross-gender brand extension research. Yet, the …

Constructing Legal Meaning In The Supreme Court Oral Arguments: Cultural Codes And Border Disputes, Jeffrey Forest Hilbert

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Culture plays a part in the construction of legal understandings in the Supreme Court contrary to much legal scholarship. The oral argument of the Supreme Court is a unique way for Justices to gather information beyond the formalized briefs and prior written opinions. In the oral argument the Supreme Court Justices utilize cultural codes as tools to probe, shape, negotiate and challenge the legal meanings and boundaries of the case before them. Using the oral argument transcript in a 2010 Supreme Court case on the issue of whether California has the right to censor the sale of violent video games …

An Analysis Of Self-Directed Learning Of First-Year, First-Generation College Students, Patricia Lynne Linder

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the reflective essays of first-year, first-generation college students for evidence of self-directed learning at the conclusion of their first semester at the university. A phenomenological qualitative method was employed and a content analysis rating rubric used to identify and code evidence related to four themes: Self Awareness, Decoding and Pattern Fit, Autonomy/Responsibility, and Academic Success.

The study findings indicated that first-year, first-generation college students have the capacity to take ownership of their learning in ways exemplified by self-directed learners. Participants demonstrated deep reflection and metacognition and their essays revealed unexpected student vulnerability …

Faculty Handbook, Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Archives

No abstract provided.

The Acquisition And Usage Of The Sodas Problem Solving Method Among Adults At-Risk For Homelessness, Collin Edward Streetman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Individuals experiencing extended homelessness face multifaceted risks in physical health, nutrition, substance use, mental health, continuing unemployment, and incarceration. Some of these adults may benefit from learning a problem-solving decision-making method to assist them in dealing with everyday problems they encounter. This study taught three men with extensive histories of homelessness, but who were currently housed, the SODAS problem-solving decision-making method, and assessed their ability to learn it and guide another adult in the use of the method in simulated role-play problem situations. The acquisition of SODAS from behavioral rehearsal training was evaluated using a multiple-baseline design across participants' role …

Applications Of Agent Based Approaches In Business: A Three Essay Dissertation, Shankar Prawesh

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this dissertation is to investigate the enabling role that agent based simulation plays in business and policy. The aforementioned issue has been addressed in this dissertation through three distinct, but related essays. The first essay is a literature review of different research applications of agent based simulation in various business disciplines, such as finance, economics, information systems, management, marketing and accounting. Various agent based simulation tools to develop computational models are discussed. The second essay uses an agent-based simulation approach to study important properties of the widely used most popular news recommender systems (NRS). This essay highlights …