Digital Commons Network^™

“For Haitian Culture, Being Older [Is] A Blessing”: Perceptions Of Aging, Elderhood, And Dementia In A Haitian Born Sample, Melissa K. Eustache

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates how first-generation Haitian immigrants in the United States understand and interpret dementia within the intersecting contexts of culture, migration, and biomedicine. While dementia is constructed as a pathological “loss of self” and a public health epidemic, in American biomedical and popular discourse, this study examines how Haitian-born individuals—socialized within a non-Western cultural and spiritual framework—make sense of cognitive decline and impairment in ways that diverge from Western biomedical narratives. Guided by theoretical orientations from medical anthropology, including Mark Nichter’s idioms of distress, Margaret Lock’s local biologies, and neuroanthropology, this research explores how cultural models of illness, aging, …

Bonavista Bay Murre Hunters In Newfoundland And Labrador Propose Further Interaction With Biologists And Managers, C. Wayne Humphries, Grant R. W. Humphries, Alexandra M. C. Robbins, Gail S. Fraser

Marine Ornithology

Thick-billed Murres Uria lomvia and Common Murres U. aalge, seabirds with low reproductive rates, delayed reproduction, and high adult survivorship, are hunted in Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) by non-Indigenous residents. The traditional hunt has a complex regulatory history as a result of NL joining Canada in 1949 and the protection of non-game species under the Migratory Bird Convention Act. Thirty hunters from the northeastern region of the island of Newfoundland were interviewed about their knowledge of murres, their hunting practices, and their opinions on current hunting regulations. While the hunters had detailed local species knowledge from the region they hunted, …

Development And Initial Validation Of An Instrument To Measure Teachers’ Socioscientific Issues Instruction Perceptions, Michael Edward Mitchell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Little is known about how high school science teachers perceive Socioscientific Issues (SSI) on a broad scale, including what factors shape their views of a pedagogical shift to adopt SSI. To address this critical gap, I constructed the Teachers’ Socioscientific Issues (SSI) Perceptions Survey (TSPS), the first instrument specifically designed and initially validated to measure teacher perceptions of SSI integration. This study presents the development and validation of the TSPS, offering robust evidence for its reliability, fairness, and construct validity.

Survey development adhered to gold-standard psychometric protocols (Bandalos, 2018; Crocker & Algina, 1986; DeVellis, 2012; McCoach et al., 2013) and …

From Past Pain To Present Unity The Role Of Trauma In Shaping Collective Identity Within Refugee Communities, Shahd Alasaly

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation I explore the social dimensions of trauma and resilience among Syrian refugees resettled in the United States. Drawing on in-depth interviews and focus group data collected at a resettlement center in Tampa, Florida, I aim to understand how displacement reshapes identity, disrupts traditional gender roles, changes social bonds, and how healing occurs within one’s community. I frame my work within Social Identity Theory, Identity Theory, and the sociology of trauma. My research highlights the gendered expressions of trauma, the transformation of masculinity under forced migration, and the role of spirituality in community healing.

This project includes three …

The Ruling Relations Of Care: An Institutional Ethnography Of High-Risk Prenatal Care Experiences, Nicole L. Harris

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Disrespect during pregnancy, labor, and delivery is common in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has estimated that approximately one in five women overall, and over 30% of Black women, report being ignored, dismissed, or verbally mistreated during their care. Public health efforts have primarily focused on individual-level interventions to improve patient-provider communication or reduce provider bias; however, these strategies have been critiqued for their limited scope and effectiveness in shifting outcomes. Instead, researchers and advocates have called for an examination of the structures that shape clinical encounters, including policies, protocols, workflows, and organizational culture. This …

Rattlesnakes And Enlightenment Science: An Unlikely Epistemology Of Early American Herpetology, Sahir Hismiogullari

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the hybrid epistemologies developed by early American naturalists, such as Hans Sloane, Pehr Kalm, John and William Bartram, and Benjamin Smith Barton that blended empirical observation, spiritual frameworks, and Indigenous ecological knowledge. These figures, implicitly or explicitly challenging the dominant mechanistic and reductionist models of Enlightenment science, pioneered a more holistic ecological thinking, even as they operated within colonial power structures.

Through historical and textual analysis based on letters, natural histories, and other written sources, the study reveals how these naturalists synthesized multiple ways of knowing, particularly in their encounters with New World peoples and environments. Within …

“From Bars To Becoming”: Exploring Identity Change Across Prison Programming, Evan W. Saunders

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Self-identity plays a pivotal role in one’s day-to-day life, impacting their behaviors and ambitions, but what is conducive to a change in identity is often underdeveloped. Mechanisms that lead incarcerated individuals to both a shift in identity and desistance away from crime are both underdeveloped as well. The current study examines the impact of programming on identity and the relationship between identity and recidivism. A sample of individuals participating in a reentry prison program responded to 16 statements that evaluated their perceptions of their Overall Self-Identity, Current Self, Feared Self, and Positive Possible Self at the beginning and end of …

Crow's Nest, October 20, 2025, Crow's Nest Staff

Crow's Nest

The October 20, 2025 issue of Crow's Nest.

Connectedness And Belonging: An Autoethnography About Military Veteran Transition, Benjamin A. Smet

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Military veterans often face profound challenges transitioning to civilian life, yet prevailing narratives focus narrowly on PTSD and combat trauma. This dissertation uses autoethnography to broaden that view, blending personal narrative with theory to explore seven interrelated transition stressors: grief and bereavement, loss of military identity, autobiographical memory, service-connected nostalgia, moral injury, stereotype threat, and socialized masculinity and stoicism. These layered stories illuminate the cultural, emotional, and relational dimensions of transition, showing how isolation, disconnection, and loss of belonging shape veteran experiences as deeply as trauma. The analysis demonstrates that healing emerges not from prescriptive programs but from relational practices …

"What's A Computer?" Exploring Insurance Agents' Role In Small Business Cyber Insurance Transactions, Dalton A. Crabtree

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This mixed-methods study examined how insurance agents' role identity impacts cyber insurance transactions, addressing gaps in professional practice and academic literature. Small businesses increasingly rely on cyber insurance for protection as cyber risk continues to evolve. The study employed sequential explanatory methodology with 25 interviews across three groups: insurance agents (n=15), corporate cyber insurance professionals (n=5), and small business owners (n=5). Thematic analysis using Katz and Khan's Role Episode Model informed development of the Cyber Insurance Role Identity Scale (CIRIS), tested with 100 agents. Six themes emerged. Key findings reveal that successful cyber insurance transactions require agents to transition from …

Intelligence As An Instrument Of National Power: Lessons Learned From The Tensions Between Serbia And Kosovo, Vadym Chernysh

Journal of Strategic Security

Intelligence activity is unique; it can be a valuable and powerful tool in the hands of state leaders. Leaders should rely not solely on their perception or intuition to leverage the intelligence instrument of national power but rather on understanding this phenomenon and its inherent qualities. Often, political leadership may confuse the functions of intelligence and law-enforcement agencies, leading to the ineffective or inefficient use of national power instruments to achieve strategic goals. Leveraging the intelligence instrument of national power in prolonged conflicts with a larger adversary is a crucial aspect of statecraft. The role of intelligence can be vital …

The Institutional Effect: Democracies, Dictators And Diversionary Foreign Policy, Thomas Reilly

Journal of Strategic Security

The diversionary theory of war remains controversial in International Relations. The extant literature remains dominated by the study of democratic diversions and the use of warfare as the prime diversionary strategy. The sheer amount of work covering democratic diversions has created theoretical biases which are oft transposed to autocratic states, despite being largely unique to democratic processes. This article expands the traditional bounds of diversionary theory to provide a logic of autocratic diversions and diversionary strategies outside of war, presenting a theoretical framework which argues that institutionalization is the primary conduit through which the intended audience, benefit and preferred diversions …

Government Expenditure On Education And Its Impact On Access To Higher Education In The U.S. And Germany, Miguel Barrero Garcia, Minh Anh Nguyen

OneUSF Undergraduate Research Conference

On the surface level there seems to be a discrepancy between access to higher education in the U.S. and Germany, so we would like to explore its connection with government expenditure on education. How does government spending on education in Germany and the U.S. differ and how does it shape access to higher education? The research is being conducted by going over different studies on how each country’s government treats education and spends on it. Research will also be done on access to higher education in both countries and what other factors, aside from government expenditure on education, could affect …

Crow's Nest, September 15, 2025, Crow's Nest Staff

Crow's Nest

The September 15, 2025, issue of Crow's Nest.

La Novelística De Ciencia Ficción En Costa Rica (1899-2024) Con Un Anexo De Las Obras Publicadas, Ivan Molina Jimenez

Alambique. Revista académica de ciencia ficción y fantasía / Jornal acadêmico de ficção científica e fantasía

La novelística de ciencia ficción en Costa Rica fue una producción esporádica, dominada por escritores extranjeros y sin participación femenina en el período 1899-1979. A partir de la década de 1980, este género literario empezó a crecer y a diversificarse, incorporó a algunas mujeres, se nacionalizó y se consolidó como una narrativa dirigida al público adulto que prioriza perspectivas distópicas y muestra un particular interés por la política. Dominada por personas de más de 30 años, con estudios universitarios y dedicadas a diversas ocupaciones profesionales, esta expansión ha dependido fuertemente de la autopublicación. Al no permitir vivir de los derechos …

Bibliometric Analysis Of Tour Guide Performance: Trends, Influential Publications, And Emerging Research Themes, Aybuke Ozsoy, Nese Yilmaz

Journal of Global Business Insights

The quality of tours is significantly influenced by tour guides’ communication skills, regional knowledge, and storytelling abilities. Guide effectiveness depends on factors such as training, skill development, and professionalism in guest care. Given their pivotal role in shaping tour quality and experiences, the literature consistently highlights these effects. The present study aims to make a comprehensive contribution to the existing knowledge in the field by analyzing the academic literature on the performance of tour guides using bibliometric methods. Analysis reveals that the most cited publications on tour guide performance are found in tourism and management journals, such as Tourism Management. …

The Double-Edged Role Of Cognitive Reappraisal: A Moderated Mediation Model Of Manager Support And Emotional Exhaustion Among Hotel Supervisors, Han Chen, Yvette Green

Journal of Global Hospitality and Tourism

Applying the Conservation of Resources Theory and the Affective Event Theory, this study explores the interplay between perceived manager support (PMS), negative emotions, and emotional exhaustion among hotel supervisors. The study also examines the moderating role of cognitive reappraisal strategy on the above relationships. Data were collected from a sample of U.S. hotel supervisors. Results showed that negative emotions play a mediating role in the relationship between PMS and supervisors’ emotional exhaustion. Cognitive reappraisal amplified the negative effect of PMS on negative emotions, the positive relationship between negative emotions and emotional exhaustion, and the indirect effect of PMS on emotional …

Considering What Counts: The Limits Of Proxy Measures, Keith R. Johnson, Joel Best

Numeracy

People working with data adopt proxy measures when they find it difficult to measure something directly. In the U.S., infanticide (fairly easy to count) is used as a proxy for physical child abuse. However, infanticide is harder to count cross-nationally, leading researchers to use sex ratios as a proxy for infanticides

Table Of Contents

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

No abstract provided.

Some Corrections To The Record On Lemkin’S Early Years: The Evidence From Poland, Zachary Mazur

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

This piece addresses some misunderstandings regarding Raphael Lemkin's early years in Poland, his influences and the development of his ideas. While discussing some of the extent published information, I point out what other archival documents from Poland and the League of Nations have to say about Lemkin's past. One of the main points is that Lemkin was an unreliable narrator on his own life, and this has caused confusion.

Arts & Literature: The Destruction Of Smyrna In 1922: A Conversation With Petros Pourliakas, Author Of Salty Silk, Petros Pourliakas

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

In 1922, the once-cosmopolitan city of Smyrna—modern-day Izmir—was engulfed in flames, marking the end of a centuries-long Hellenic presence in Asia Minor. The catastrophe, which followed the Greco-Turkish War and occurred amidst the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands and the displacement of hundreds of thousands more. In his 2022 book Salty Silk, Greek author Petros Pourliakas recounts the tragedy, focusing on the humanitarian heroism that emerged in the midst of horror. I spoke with Pourliakas about his research, the moral complexities of recounting a national trauma, and the legacy of a …

Book Review: Capitalism, Colonisation And The Ecocide-Genocide Nexus, Merle Kooijman

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

No abstract provided.

Durkheim’S Structural Functionalism And The Integration Of Genocide In His Sociological Framework, Anthonie Holslag

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

No abstract provided.

Full Issue 19.1

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

No abstract provided.

Where Are The Criminologists?: The Persistent Absence Of The Field In Genocide Research, Grace Allbaugh, Susan A. Woollen, Jacqueline L. Schneider, Joanne Savage

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

The rallying cry of “Never Again” was heard worldwide after the Nazis’ annihilation of Jews and other victims were discovered after WWII. The global community promised that the crime of genocide would be prevented and signatory parties of the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide (December 9, 1948) would do everything in their power to prevent another Holocaust from occurring. Unfortunately the “crime of all crimes” remains an almost permanent fixture in international news while signatory parties remain reluctant to call the ongoing conditions genocide. The field of genocide studies is built upon an interdisciplinary field …

Book Review: Genocide Culture: Cultural Habitus, Ethnic Engineering And Religious Doxa, Michael M. Gunter

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

No abstract provided.

Reviews: Vagrancy In Birds (Lees, A., & Gilroy, J.); Audubon At Sea: The Coast And Transatlantic Adventures Of John Jame Audubon / With A Forward By Subhankar Bangerjee (Irmscher, C. & King, R.J.); New(Ish) And Noteworthy: Neptune’S Laboratory: Fantasy, Fear, And Science At Sea (Adler, A.); Down To Earth: Politics In The New Climatic Regime (Latour, B.); Birds And Us: A 12,000-Year History From Cave Art To Conservation (Birkhead, T.); Seabirds Of Southern Africa, Second Edition (Ryan, P.), Ginger A. Rebstock, Romaric Moncrieffe, Eric Wagner

Marine Ornithology

No abstract provided.

When Ornithology Meets Ethnology And Archeology: The Birds Of The Bird-Cult At Rapa Nui (Easter Island) And Their Demise, Manuel Marín

Marine Ornithology

The disappearance of the bird species involved in the bird-cult of Rapa Nui (Easter Island) was examined. The cult was a contest in which the winner gathered the first seabird egg of the year from a near-shore islet, allowing the winner to become the Tangata Manu, or Birdman. This title provided a heightened status, bringing social and economic benefits and a way of being closer to their gods. Three seabird species were involved in the bird-cult: Great Frigatebird Fregata minor, Sooty Tern Onychoprion fuscatus, and the Spectacled Tern Onychoprion lunatus, none of which currently breed in the area. Rock art …

Reviews: The Art Of The Bird: The History Of Ornithological Art Through Forty Artists (Lederer, R.J.); Vanishing Fish: Shifting Baselines And The Future Of Global Fisheries (Pauly, D.); Ta Life On Our Planet: My Witness Statement And A Vision For The Future (Attenborough, D.), Abby Mcbride, Michelle Paleczny, Phillip Taylor

Marine Ornithology

No abstract provided.

Modeling Breeding Habitat Preferences Of Tahiti Petrel Pseudobulweria Rostrata On Ta‘Ū, American Samoa, A. J. Titmus, C. A. Lepczyk

Marine Ornithology

Understanding the prevalence and use of breeding habitat of seabird species is important for evaluating appropriate conservation and management strategies. Seabirds are one taxonomic group for which we have relatively few species distribution studies, particularly on remote islands. To address this limitation, the goals of this study were to (1) build and use a species distribution model to identify which differences in habitat structure, physical characteristics, and environmental conditions affect Tahiti Petrel Pseudobulweria rostrata nesting presence on the island of Ta‘ū, American Samoa; and (2) evaluate how important nesting habitat characteristics can identify the fine-scale extent and location of suitable …