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Cultural Factors And Concepts Of Pollution: Colorectal Cancer And Health Behaviors Among Ashkenazi Jewish Women, Karen Besterman-Dahan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The colorectal cancer (CRC) incidence in Ashkenazi Jews has been found to be highest of any ethnic group in the world (Feldman, 2001). It is currently unclear how culture and religion influence health behaviors of U.S. Ashkenazi Jews, as well as what other socio-cultural factors influence AJ women's attitudes towards CRC risk and screening practices. This study aimed at exploring and describing the cultural and religious influences on health behaviors and beliefs related to CRC in Ashkenazi Jewish women. Research participants included seven key informants (rabbis) and forty-two Ashkenazi Jewish women ages 50 and up. Methods included in-depth, qualitative interviews …

The Social Context Of Cervical Cancer Knowledge And Prevention Among Haitian Immigrant Women, Janelle Marie Menard

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cervical cancer is the primary cause of cancer deaths among Haitian women; however, the social context of cervical cancer among Haitian immigrant women has not been systematically examined. The ways in which women assign meaning to this disease, understand its causality and situate it within the broader context of gynecological health are poorly understood. Further, Haitian immigrant women's perceptions of disease risk, including knowledge and understanding about Human Papillomavirus (HPV), the primary etiologic factor in cervical cancer, have not been explored. Few studies have assessed health behaviors, including culturally mediated feminine hygiene practices, among Haitian immigrant women, which may negatively …

Stable Carbon Isotope Discrimination By Form Ic Rubisco From Rhodobacter Sphaeroides, Phaedra Thomas

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Variations in the relative amounts of ¹²C and ¹³C in microbial biomass can be used to infer the pathway(s) autotrophs use to fix and assimilate dissolved inorganic carbon. Discrimination against ¹³C by the enzymes catalyzing autotrophic carbon fixation is a major factor dictating the stable carbon isotopic composition (δ¹³C = {[¹³C/¹²C_sample/¹³C/¹²C_standard] - 1} X 1000) of biomass. Six different forms of ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase or RubisCO (IA, IB, IC, ID, II, and III), the carboxylase of the Calvin-Benson-Bassham cycle (CBB), are utilized by algae and autotrophic bacteria that rely on the CBB cycle for carbon fixation. …

Perceptions Of Programming: Cultivation And Third Person Influences On College Students, Suzette Marie Fisher

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There have been many studies conducted on television and its effects. Since the 1950's, when television emerged, there has been an influx of patterns and behaviors associated with television viewing and programming. Many researchers are fascinated with television and the reactions of those who are directly affected by it. People have been known to act out in many ways as a result of something they saw on television. Many believe that television viewing directly affects a person's mind.

An analysis of the results of this qualitative study indicates that college students perceive television has an impact on viewers. Throughout the …

Correlates And Predictors Of Cognitive Complexity Among Counseling And Social Work Students In Graduate Training Programs, Christopher Simmons

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

For this study, a web-based survey method was used as a means of collecting data to test a predictive model of education, supervised clinical experience (SCE), age, human services experience (HSE) and cognitive complexity. The theoretical framework for the study was Perry's (1970; 1999) scheme of intellectual development. The sample consisted of 332 counseling and social work students in graduate training programs in four different regions of the United States. The instruments used in the study were a researcher-developed demographic questionnaire and the Learning Environment Preferences (LEP) instrument (Moore, 1987). The results of the hierarchical regression analysis indicated that education …

Disgusted By Food: Explanatory Models Of Anorexia Among Young Taiwanese Adults, Donald E. Mclawhorn Jr.

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Anorexia as a nosological category has developed in a western context and is now being applied to people around the world. In order for researchers to know they are asking the right questions about AN as knowledge expands, it is important to understand what meanings Anorexia carries and how those meanings manifest locally. The present study to aid in that understanding by employing a mixed methods (survey and in-depth interviewing) research approach in answering the following question: In what ways are Taiwanese students' explanatory models of anorexia nervosa (AN) congruent with or different from professional understandings derived from the western …

Narratives And Sensemaking In The New Corporate University: The Socialization Of First Year Communication Faculty, Andrew F. Herrmann

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

I examined what brand new Ph.D.s in Communication experience when they start their first, entry-level, tenure-track assistant professor position at a new university. Through the lens of scocial construction, I review vocational and organizational socialization, individual agency by newcomers, academic socialization processes, and the concept of the academic career in the current climate of university change and transformation. Then, I present the method of research, including the population and sampling method, and rationales for utilizing a narrative approach, interactive interviewing, and autoethnographic writing. After presenting the participants' narratives, I revisit both within- and between-case issues, beginning with socialization from the …

Creative City And Fields Of Cultural Production: Ethnographic Perspectives Of “The Arts” In Tampa, James Kuzin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Stimulated by the economic theories of Richard Florida (2005), the City of Tampa established the Office of Creative Industries (OCI) to oversee efforts to strengthen the presence and visibility of "the arts." This thesis presents ethnographic research focused on practices, and perspectives among members of the OCI's service population. From July 2006 to July 2007, I conducted fieldwork among a diverse group of stakeholders possessing a unique connection to the aims of the OCI. The central problem addressed in this research looks at the degree to which cultural change occurs from participatory, grass-roots initiatives, rather than ones emanating from "the …

Fashion Advertising, Men’S Magazines, And Sex In Advertising: A Critical-Interpretive Study, Jennifer Ford

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examines sexualized portrayals of women in fashion advertising found in metro-sexual men's magazines as visual rhetoric. Historically, studies on sexual images of women in advertising have focused on content analyses of these images and how they affect women. This study asks how sexualized imagery of women functions rhetorically as part of a branding message designed to sell products. The exemplar advertisements were chosen specifically for their sexual imagery from an earlier study by the researcher on sexual images of women in fashion advertisements found in men's magazines.

The messages interpreted within the visuals of this study reveal a …

High School Outcomes Of Middle School Bullying And Victimization, Marissa A. Feldman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Previous research has revealed that bullying behaviors are negatively related to psychological, behavioral, social, and academic development. However, much of what is known has been determined from cross-sectional or year-long longitudinal studies conducted in elementary or middle school. The present study examined the longer-term correlates of bullying and victimization during the critical transition from middle to high school. Archival data from a large southern school district examined the longer-term implications of bullying and victimization of a middle school cohort (N=1,249). Results revealed that, during the initial survey year and over the following four-year period, self-identification as a bully was related …

Perceptions Of Effective Teaching And Pre-Service Preparation For Urban Elementary General Music Classrooms: A Study Of Teachers Of Different Cultural Backgrounds In Various Cultural Settings, Lisa J. Lehmberg

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examined perceptions of effective, urban, elementary general music teachers concerning effective teaching and pre-service preparation for urban, elementary general music classrooms. The study was conducted in two phases: survey and interview. Survey phase participants were experienced, urban, elementary general music teachers from different geographical areas of the United States, who had been identified as effective teachers by music teacher educators or music supervisors. Interview phase participants comprised a subset of survey participants who achieved high levels of potential cross-cultural adaptability on the Cross-Cultural Adaptability Inventory (Kelley & Meyers, 1995). A comprehensive interview instrument was administered to each participant …

Participatory Fandom In American Culture: A Qualitative Case Study Of Dragoncon Attendees, Katherine L. Fleming

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With the rise of the mass media over the last century, fame and celebrity seem to have evolved into ever-growing phenomena. Likewise, audience members have sought increasing involvement with people or activities related to the focus of their interest. These individuals are not content to simply watch their favorite actors or films from home. Instead, they take a more active approach, engaging in activities related to their fandom as well as seeking interaction with each other in organized groups (in person and on the Internet), attending conventions, and seeking interaction with celebrities.

This study presents a discussion of fame, celebrity, …

Standing Up With The King: A Critical Look At Stephen King's Epic, Jenifer Michelle D'Elia

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, it is my intention to show how Stephen King transcends genre, creates and maintains a viable Secondary Reality, and treats capably those literary techniques that critics expect of a serious writer. In addition, I will discuss the ways in which King has secured the loyalty of his Constant Reader. The primary means of my analysis will be through a close reading of the "expanded and uncut" version of The Stand, one of the classics in King's arsenal.

I will begin with an overview of the general set-up in the novel---the start in Arnette, Texas, the actions …

Identity Politics: Postcolonial Theory And Writing Instruction, Toni P. Francis

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation I intend to apply postcolonial theory to primary pedagogical and administrative concerns of the writing program administrator. Writing Program Administrators, or WPAs, take their responsibilities seriously, remaining cognizant of both the negative and positive repercussions of the pedagogical decisions that take shape in the scores of composition classrooms they administer. This dissertation intends to infuse the WPA position with the ethos of scholarly praxis by historicizing and contextualizing the field of composition, and by placing the teaching of writing within the historical memory of slavery and colonialism. Sound WPA research is theoretically informed, systematic, principled inquiry that …

Cellmap: An Automated Multielectrode Array Cell Culture Analysis System Based On Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy, Abdur Rub Abdur Rahman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this research is to develop fundamental understanding of cell-substrate (CS) and cell-cell (CC) interactions in the culture space for time evolving cell cultures. Space resolved CC and CS interactions are important indicators of cell-density distribution, localized cellular behavior, and multiple cell-layers which are differentiators of normal and abnormal cell behavior. In this research, CS and CC interactions and the variations therein due to a) Cell growth, 2) cell-drug interaction, and 3) effect of Cytotoxin were studied using multielectrode, multi-frequency Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS). Contemporary impedance based methods sense either CC or CS interaction as a space averaged …

The Effects Of Ambiguous Appearance-Related Feedback On Body Image, Mood States, And Intentions To Use Body Changes Strategies In College Women, Sylvia Herbozo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Previous research has demonstrated the influential role of physical appearance-related feedback in the development of body image and eating disturbances. Teasing and negative feedback have been established as strong correlates and predictors of body dissatisfaction, maladaptive eating behaviors, and psychological distress. However, very little is known about ambiguous appearance-related feedback and its impact on others. The current study sought to explore this area with an experimental study to examine the effects of ambiguous appearance-related feedback on body image, mood states, and intentions to use body change strategies. Undergraduate women (N=146) were randomly assigned to an ambiguous appearance-related or ambiguous nonappearance-related …

Ecological Art: Ruth Wallen And Cultural Activism, Susan Birchler

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Twentieth century modernity has provoked multiple problems ranging from environmental degradation to human rights violations. Globally, diverse communities of people have organized to promote, not just reactive reforms, but a fundamental alteration of the foundational worldview underlying these issues. Radical activists committed their work to promoting an alternative ethos based on egalitarian, democratic, and ecologically-wise concepts. An array of methodologies emerged from these endeavors. More radical political groups focused on cultural tools to engage people in the construction of an alternative worldview. Radical activists utilized two forms of cultural politics: prefigurative politics, the physical presentation of an envisioned future and …

Shakespearean Spin-Offs: Mindless Entertainment Or Conversations With Critics, Amy Anderson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Literature is always in a state of evolution. Words change; the way writers write changes. Even actual literary works transform. William Shakespeare manipulated numerous classic works of literature to make extraordinary dramas for both his lifetime and eras since. Much as Shakespeare adapted literature to suit his purposes, writers today are constantly utilizing story lines introduced by the bard over four-hundred years ago in various modern-day mediums. Shakespeare wrote most of his works for the entertainment of the masses; Shakespeare's works are adapted today for both entertainment and academic endeavors. Certainly, a Klingon (Star Trek) version of arguably …

How Individual Values And Trait Boredom Interface With Job Characteristics And Job Boredom In Their Effects On Counterproductive Work Behavior, Kari Bruursema

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine relationships among individual values, trait boredom, job boredom, job characteristics, and CWB. Job boredom and trait boredom were expected to be positively related to CWB. Individual values and job characteristics were expected to moderate the relationship between boredom and different types of CWB.

Completed online questionnaires were received from 211 participants, and 112 co-worker matches also submitted online surveys. The Schwartz Value Survey, Job Descriptive Index, Job Boredom Scale, and Boredom Proneness Scale were used to assess independent variables. The Counterproductive Work Behavior Checklist measured the dependent variable. Results were analyzed using …

Measurement Equivalence Of The Center For Epidemiological Depression Scale In Racially/Ethnically Diverse Older Adults, Giyeon Kim

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation study was designed to examine measurement equivalence of the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression (CES-D) Scale across White, African American, and Mexican American elders. Specific aims were to identify race/ethnicity-, sociodemographic-, and acculturation and instrument language-related measurement bias in the CES-D. Three studies were conducted in this dissertation to accomplish these aims. Two existing national datasets were used: the New Haven Established Populations for Epidemiologic Studies of the Elderly (EPESE) for the White and African American samples and the Hispanic Established Populations for Epidemiologic Studies of the Elderly (H-EPESE) for the Mexican-American sample. Differential item functioning (DIF) analyses …

A Paradox Of Diversity: Billions Invested, But Women Still Leave, Rebekah S. Heppner

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In 2005, women made up 46.4 percent of the United States labor force but only 1.6 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs (Catalyst 2006). Although gains have been made since the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964, there is clearly something stopping women from equal representation at the top. Since the late 1980s, businesses have spent billions of dollars on initiatives designed to assist them in dealing with the anticipated increase in the "diversity" of their workplaces (Lubove 1997; Stodghill II 1996; Johnston and Packer 1987). Is there potential for diversity initiatives to help women conquer the "glass ceiling?" …

My Lord Lackbeard: Enfranchisement And Expressions Of Beardlessness In Shakespeare’S Canon From 1594 To 1601, C R. Junkins

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

William Shakespeare employs a series of male characters specifically described as beardless in those plays performed from 1594 to 1601. Will Fisher argues that such characters reveal early modern conceptions of masculinity; the beard was used in conjunction with other forms of material such as dress and weaponry to construct gender. Mark Albert Johnston notes that beards performed as currencies of exchange, denoting not just masculinity but economic power as well. Rather than signifying a lack or deficiency, the hairless chin is an active participant in a deeply complex tangle of competing political, economic and religious ideologies. Shakespeare's commentary on …

Moving Thumos: Emotion, Image, And The Enthymeme, Eric D. Mason

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation connects classical theories regarding the enthymeme and thumos (a Greek word commonly translated as "heart," "mind," or one's "capacity for emotion") to modern theories of images and emotion in order to reconsider the central role of visual discourse in persuasion, ideology, and subject formation. Since "enthymeme" comes from en and thymos, meaning "in heart," etymologically the enthymeme is an argument that is realized in an individual's thumos.

This dissertation thus attempts to establish the notion of thumos in rhetorical studies by developing a theory of visual enthymemes.The understanding of the enthymeme used within this dissertation works less from …

Meaning Makers Make It: Ambivalence About Ambiguity In Academic Discourse, David Haldane Lee

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is a broad survey of the uses of ambiguity in academic discourse. I note the uses of ambiguity in literary criticism, linking ambiguity with epistemic relativism. Then I pose the question, is the notion of "reframing" in psychotherapy analogous to the concept of "spin" in propaganda, advertising and public relations? In a consideration of theories that posit the social construction of reality, I examine articles by Judith Butler and Ian Hacking, noting the ambiguous reception of performativity and nominalism, respectively, within academia. In 1996 a physicist named Alan Sokal published an article which argued that reality is a …

Documenting Dylan: How The Documentary Film Functions For Bob Dylan Fans, Theodore G. Petersen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to explore the role of the documentary film in the relationship between the artist and the fan; specifically how Bob Dylan fans use the documentary films Dont Look Back, directed by D.A. Pennebaker, and No Direction Home, directed by Martin Scorsese. Dylan, Pennebaker, and Scorsese are three important figures in American popular culture, and these are the two most prominent films about Dylan. These films discuss relatively the same time period, yet delineate two different versions of Dylan's identity. Dont Look Back, released in 1967, documents Dylan's 1965 tour of England. Because of Pennebaker's …

"A Woman's Face, Or Worse": Otto Rank And The Modernist Identity, Michael L. Shuman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Otto Rank is a significant but generally overlooked figure in the early history of psychoanalysis, and his work provides an illuminating context for the study of subjectivity and modernist culture. The "modernist identity" of my title is intended to represent, first, the concept of the individual self identified and expressed during this period and, secondly, the unique identity of modernist culture developed by artists through creative acts and emanating as the intellectual ambiance of the era. Through an examination of Rank's later theories and the work of prominent modernist artists, including Lawrence, Yeats, and Eliot, this dissertation will show that …

Local Strategies In A Global Network: Disability Rights Advocacy In Jamaica, Joan A. Tucker

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The declaration of the International Year of Disabled Persons in 1981 and the international activism of persons with disabilities resulted in the globalization of disability, which involved a new framework for the treatment of PWDs. Although disability activism was being played out globally, it has been about PWDs gaining equality and full participation in their local societies. Therefore, at the heart of an international movement was the strategic organization of PWDs, most of who live in the developing world. This dissertation is based on a case study of activism for disability rights in one particular developing society, Jamaica. The Jamaican …

Philosophy Of New Jazz: Reconstructing Adorno, Dustin Bradley Garlitz

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Theodor W. Adorno, the towering twentieth century German intellectual figure and distinctive musical thinker, was legendary for being over-critical of jazz music. Through a consideration at his admiration for avant-garde chamber and symphonic music, I plan to develop a position that, surprisingly, points towards a theory of unacknowledged acceptance of jazz. The style of jazz that will be the newly constructed musical idiom of admiration for Adorno will be of the heterodox variety. My method of reconstruction will be to interrogate the inconsistencies in Adorno's critical musical writings, and negate such negations with factual evidence of affirmation found in the …

Comprehensive School Reform In The Wake Of No Child Left Behind: Teacher Perceptions In Dodgeland, Allyson Regina Haag

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is an analysis of teacher perceptions of the implementation of their school's comprehensive school reform, and the George W. Bush administration's federal educational policy, the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). Data were collected by a research team as a part of the National Longitudinal Evaluation of Comprehensive School Reform (NLECSR), a project under the direction of the American Institutes for Research (AIR). The thesis is a supplemental qualitative analysis by the author who was part of the NLECSR research team from 2004 through 2005. The NLECSR had a quantitative component (called the Core Study) consisting of a …

Investigation Into Workplace Culture For Medication Error Reporting In Pharmacy, Tamala Lavelle Gulley

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study determined impacts on reported medication errors in pharmacy by analyzing the culture in an undisclosed pharmacy in Florida. SPSS Statistical Software was used to determine the relationship between medication errors and workplace culture. Workplace culture was analyzed by distributing a 43-question culture survey to the pharmacists. There were two treatment groups, Control and Intervention, and the culture survey was two-fold, pre-survey and post-survey, utilizing identical questions to note the difference in a comparative analysis. During the pre-survey, the pharmacists in the Intervention Group received an informational sheet which contained information on a non-punitive culture as well as information …