Digital Commons Network^™

Ocb Through Cultural Lenses: Exploring The Relations Among Personality, Ocb And Cultural Values, Xian Xu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The present study attempted to explore the role cultural values play on the relations between personality variables and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Specifically, Schwartz' cultural values of hierarchy and egalitarianism and the personality predictors of conscientiousness and agreeableness were examined. It was hypothesized that hierarchy and egalitarianism would moderate the relationship between conscientiousness, agreeableness and OCB. Specific hypotheses concerning the direction of the influence on particular dimensions of OCB were tested. Data were collected from multiple organizations resulting in a sample of 62 pairs of employee-supervisor dyads from the U.S. and 64 pairs from China. Results indicated that agreeableness correlated …

Towards An E-Criture Feminine: Woolf, Duplessis, Cixous, And The Emerging Discursive Tradition In Women’S Online Diaries, Deborah Silverman Bowen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Women are drawing together the concepts of space, style,and medium and using these concepts collectively as a foundation for a new discursive tradition in the online autobiography. This dissertation, positioned in postmodern feminism, draws on a variety of disciplines to argue the development or evolution of a new women's discourse.

While a broad base of material exists which acknowledges the presence of women's discourse (formed by combining women's writing and women's genres), very little information explores its evolution, particularly in/on the new medium of the World Wide Web (WWW).

A combination of extant social and literary theories supports the idea …

Helping Break The Cycle Of School Violence And Aggression: A Program Evaluation Of The Owning Up Curricula, Stephanie T. Mihalas

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study explored the effects of a gender-based violence prevention program called Owning Up on a group of middle school students in Tampa, Florida. The majority of participants were African-American at-risk youth who voluntarily participated in the intervention. This study is novel in that it is one of the first to empirically validate curricula that addresses an array of aggressive behaviors. A mixed methods design was used to gain insight into significant changes over time, as well as treatment integrity throughout the implementation. Findings from the study found females to be more aggressive than males on all forms of aggression …

Adaptation Of The State Trait Anxiety Inventory In Arabic: A Comparison With The American Stai, Qutayba A. Abdullatif

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The main goal of the present study was to develop an Arabic adaptation of the State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI, Form Y, Spielberger, 1983). In addition, cultural and linguistic influences on the experience and expression of anxiety were assessed. The American STAI and fifty initial Arabic items were administered to 286 university students at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon. The American STAI was also administered to 336 university students at the University of South Florida.

Item and factor analyses were conducted on responses of the calibration sample to obtain the final set of Arabic items, which was validated using …

A Stable Isotopic Examination Of Particulate Organic Matter During Karenia Brevis Blooms On The Central West Florida Shelf: Hints At Nitrogen Sources In Oligotrophic Waters, Julie Ann Havens

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Blooms of the red tide dinoflagellate Karenia brevis occur annually on the west Florida shelf. In the late summer/early fall months, background concentrations increase from 10³ cells L^-1 to excesses of 10⁶ cells L^-1. Blooms are most common between Tampa Bay and Charlotte Harbor, and may be maintained for months. The region’s hydrography may play a role in the initiation, maintenance and termination of blooms.

The west Florida shelf is depauperate in inorganic nutrients. Inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus rarely exceed the limits of detection, whereas dissolved organic nitrogen is often present at concentrations of 15 …

Organizational Uncertainty Management: Developing A Framework For Public Relations Practitioner Involvement, Marcia L. Watson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the concept of organizational uncertainty and the involvement of public relations practitioners. Understanding organizational uncertainty is imperative to the success of an organization, but the effects of uncertainty have been relatively undertheorized within public relations.

To close the gap, this study blended multidisciplinary theories pertaining to uncertainty with a triangulated methodological approach. First, this study took a macro-organizational look at uncertainty by analyzing trends in the literature and conducting qualitative in-depth interviews with members of management and employees in an organization. The results of this portion of the study found uncertainty to be multi-layered and the most …

The Development And Validation Of The Verbal Commentary On Physical Appearance Scale, Sylvia Herbozo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study involves the development and validation of a measure of physical appearance-related comments, The Verbal Commentary on Physical Appearance Scale (VCOPAS). Previous research has shown that the development of body image and eating disturbances is greatly influenced by teasing and negative appearance-related feedback. The limited research on positive appearance-related feedback is likely due to the lack of an empirically validated scale of positive appearance-related commentary. Consequently, the VCOPAS was developed to assess the frequency and effect of positive appearance-related comments and other types of appearance-related comments.

In Study 1, 50 undergraduate female students of ages 18 to 25 completed …

The Social Construction Of Workplace "Diversity", Brenda G. Shawver

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This is a study of "workplace diversity" from a social constructionist perspective. The perspective holds that while human meaning is socially created, it is the social order which gives us resources for making this meaning. There is much literature about workplace diversity from objectivist standpoints that takes for granted the term "diversity." What is missing is a comprehensive understanding of diversity: what does this term mean? What does it conceal? I attempt to contribute to a better understanding of diversity by interrogating its construction in popular culture.

I analyze the content of an advertising supplement called "Diversity Works," published in …

Weblogs And The Technology Lifecycle: Context, Geek-Chic And Personal Community, James M. Milne

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Weblogging is an Internet social practice that became known as a technology. This project investigated weblogging (blogging) as an example of a media technology that arose under particular historical circumstances. To investigate this, blogs were examined in detail, participant-observation was used to construct and run a blog, and practicing bloggers were interviewed. The study found that blogging, like all technology, originates within existing social practice (context); has a diffusion process that causes it to spread between people (Geek-Chic); and leads to certain social outcomes (Personal Community). This is seen as a general pattern for the lifecycle of technology, serving to …

Film In The Classroom: Toward A More Effective Pedagogy, Jonathan Godwin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The postmodern critique has effectively called on anthropologists to reevaluate ethnographic authority when representing others. However, what is often found lacking in this criticism is an exploration of the ways in which audiences interpret anthropological knowledge. One crucial area that can be easily researched is audience reception of film in introductory anthropology classes. As professors of anthropology increasingly rely on film for illustrating anthropological concepts, we must have an understanding of how this medium is interpreted by student audiences. Film's ability to convey complex information without additional contextualization has yet to be substantiated and previous research has indicated that visual …

Music Programs That Engage Our Communities: Making A Stronger Connection, La Gretta Snowden

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to review a significant body of literature that related to music and arts education in the context of community engagement. An examination of the literature identified several issues affecting the engagement of communities in arts education pertaining to arts education policies, the role of arts organizations and the relationship between schools and communities. The summation of this research included an overview of models of successful collaborations between the public school and community institutions at national, state, and local levels in the United States with implications of future reform to the arts education policy.

With …

Inhibitory Effects Of Food Matrices On Inhibition Real-Time Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction Detection Of Foodborne Viruses, Kevin Patrick Mcmullen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated 23,000,000 cases of viral gastroenteritis caused by Norovirus in 2000, 40% of which were transmitted by food including: a variety of fresh produce, cake, deli meats, fruit salad, cheeses and ice. (CDC, 2003). An estimated 83,391 cases of Hepatitis A virus was reported in 2000, of which 5% was attributed to foodborne transmission (CDC, 2003). These figures underscore an urgent need for a method that can isolate virus from a variety of food matrices.

The aim of this study was to develop an overall assessment of the inhibitory effects of a variety …

An Assessment Of Cognitive And Sensorimotor Deficits Associated With Appsw And P301l Mouse Models Of Alzheimer's Disease, Marcos F. Garcia

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Behavioral characterization of animal models for Alzheimer's Disease is critical for the development of potential therapeutics and treatments against the disease. While there are several known animal models of AD, three current models--APPsw, P301L, and APPsw+P301L--have not been well characterized, if at all. This study, therefore, aimed to perform a full behavioral characterization of these three models in order to better understand the impairments associated with each one. Between 5 and 8.5 months of age, animals were behaviorally tested in a variety of sensorimotor, anxiety, and cognitive tasks. The number of tau+ neurons in the forebrains of P301L mice was …

A Comparison Of Job Stressors And Job Strains Among Employees Holding Comarable Jobs In Western And Eastern Societies, Cong Liu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this study, comparisons on job stressors and job strains have been made between American and Chinese employees. Data were collected from two jobs differing in social status: university professors and university administrative and support staff. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used. The quantitative part involved traditional Likert scales for measuring job stressors (e.g., lack of job autonomy, interpersonal conflict, and organizational constraints), and job strains (e.g., turnover intention, frustration, negative emotions, job dissatisfaction, depression, and physical symptoms). The qualitative part was an open-ended questionnaire asking about a stressful job incident. Independent t-tests were used to compare the United …