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A Review Of Manualized Behavioral Parent Training Interventions For Young Children With Problem Behavior, Khendal I. Robinson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Behavioral parent training (BPT) interventions have been developed to aid in the treatment of children with problem behavior. The goals of these interventions are to reduce child specific problem behavior and improve skills, and enhance parenting skills and competence. However, more information is needed on the manualized BPT interventions in particular, on children and parents who benefited from the BPT interventions, any individualized cultural adaptations made for families from diverse cultural backgrounds, and training provided to the parents to help them address their children’ problem behavior during family routines. Therefore, this study reviewed literature on BPT interventions, in particular, single …

Instructional Experiences: A Case Study Of Perceptions Of High School American Sign Language Teachers Who Are Hearing, Rhonda S. Leslie

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A significant gap has been identified in research-based findings and classroom instructional practices of hearing ASL teachers in high schools in the U.S. (Rosen, 2015). Research has shown the absence of standardized ASL instructional guidelines, rules, and procedures has created a significant gap in teaching and learning practices at the high school level, and research-based findings about the most suitable pedagogical approaches that should be used in ASL induction and immersion programs. This study aims to understand hearing teachers’ perceptions of their ASL instructional practices and choices, using a qualitative research approach and a case study design. Based on a …

Activity-Dependent Regulation Of Extracellular Ube3a In A Novel Angelman Syndrome Rat Model, Andie Dodge

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Angelman Syndrome (AS) is a rare genetic and neurologic disorder affecting approximately 1 in every 15,000 people. This disorder is characterized by seizures, absence of speech, motor and cognitive deficits, ataxia, and notably an abnormal happy demeanor with frequent smiling and laughter. A neuron-specific loss of function of the maternal allele of UBE3A, encoding for an E3 ubiquitin ligase, leads to the manifestation of AS. There are currently no cures for AS and few therapeutic options to abate symptoms. Although much investigation is required, research using the null mutation AS mouse model suggests a plausible case for pharmacological intervention.

Major …

Educational Experiences Of Congolese Refugees In West-Central Florida High Schools, Michaela J. Inks

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Since 2016, refugees from the Congo Wars (RFCWs) have been one of the largestpopulations of refugees resettled in the United States. High-school aged RFCW students are, however, dropping out of Florida public high schools are alarmingly high rates. This study uses ethnographic methods such as interviews and participant observation to investigate educational challenges experienced by RFCW youth. This study has three objectives: to learn more about refugees with discontinuous education and the barriers to graduating from public high schools after resettlement; to better understand Tampa bay area programs that serve culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students; and to use ethnographic …

Esol Educational Programs For Secondary Slife: Planning For Educational Equity, Terri L. Mossgrove

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education (SLIFE) are a sub-group of English Learners (ELs). Policies related to the language education programming for secondary SLIFE in United States public brick and mortar schools were examined through applied policy research using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) for document analysis. Documents for this analysis included the 1990 Florida Consent Decree, District English Language Learner (ELL) Plans, as well as district English Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Programs, and a sampling of school based ESOL program information shared on public facing websites. The study focused on current practices in one state related to secondary …

Land Goddesses, Divine Pigs, And Royal Tricksters: Subversive Mythologies And Imperialist Land Ownership Dispossession In Twentieth Century Irish And American Literature, Elizabeth Ricketts

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Land ownership dispossession is a key feature in establishing imperial hegemonies. In the colonial context, limiting access to land concentrates wealth, power, and influence in the hands of a small colonial or neocolonial elite, excluding others from financial independence, accumulation of generational wealth, political representation, and a stable living situation. British imperial activities spanned multiple continents, engaging similar patterns of dispossessing the native population from their land, language, and cultures. In this endeavor, culture and literature in particular, as Edward Said points out in Culture and Imperialism, have been complicit in inculcating imperial ideologies and justifying territorial occupation. As Said …

Corrosion Rate Prediction In Frp-Concrete Repair, Mohammad A. Khawaja

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Research has proven that wrapping structural elements with fiber-reinforced polymers (FRPs) slows down chloride-induced corrosion rate but does not stop it. Although FRP has been used for corrosion repair for over 40 years, predictive corrosion rate models for FRP-concrete systems are limited in literature. This dissertation presents an oxygen diffusion-based predictive framework to estimate corrosion rate in FRP-concrete systems.

The dissertation has three main components. First, a core framework that is referred to as Khawaja-Sen-Bhethanabotla (KSB) model. In the KSB model, statistical methods were used to extend experimental data on oxygen permeation coefficients. These data were for one and two …

The Relationship Between Parenting Stress, Attendance, And Attrition In A Group-Based Parent Management Training Program, David Rubio Jr.

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Disruptive behaviors rate among the most common referral concern for young children to mental health clinics (Kazdin, 2003). The preferred treatment for child behavior problems is parent management training (PMT; Matthys & Lochman, 2017). Raising a child with externalizing behaviors is associated with high levels of parenting stress, which can interfere with treatment engagement (Deater-Deckard, 2004). One negative outcome that has been associated with high levels of parenting stress is dropping out from treatment (Kazdin et al., 1997). Helping Our Toddlers, Developing Our Children’s Skills (HOT DOCS; Agazzi, Childres, & Armstrong, 2017) is a PMT program that has experienced participant …

The Communicative Constitution Of Environment: Land, Weather, Climate, Leanna K. Smithberger

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

My project examines the communicative constitution of environment: how we mediate environment in discursive practice, and arrange chaotic and complex timeplaces into organized relationships of agents and objects which act and are acted upon. Climate scholars across disciplines are calling for a paradigm shift in how we understand, study, inhabit, and relate to Earth’s varied environments. In this dissertation, I demonstrate how communication practices do the work of constituting the environment as we know it, and therefore conclude with the hopeful suggestion that these same practices can be used to do the work of a paradigm shift — that is, …

Hegel And Schelling: The Emptiness Of Emptiness And The Love Of The Divine, Sean B. Gleason

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, I argue that, all appearances to the contrary, Hegel does not attempt to achieve a complete systematization of reason in a self-reflexive sense in his system of philosophy. Quite the opposite, I maintain that the absolute Idea is the actuality of the self-transcendence of the divine. Along these lines, I argue (in agreement with Slavoj Žižek) that the absolute “Idea” is non-total and incomplete; in this sense, Hegel is neither a modern thinker nor a post-modern thinker, but rather he presents a version of thinking that is both modern and post-modern, while neither merely one nor the …

Of Body And Mind: Bioarchaeological Analysis Of Nineteenth And Early Twentieth Century Anatomization And Institutionalization In Siena, Italy, Jacqueline M. Berger

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Institutional bioarchaeology is a growing sub-field within bioarchaeology, particularly social bioarchaeology as informed by the biocultural approach. However, the majority of studies in this vein have primarily addressed English-speaking contexts, to include analyses of institutional assemblages preserved archaeologically, and anatomical collections. The present study examines of the Siena Craniological Collection (SCC) - located in Siena, Italy. The collection was assembled between 1862-1931, and originally contained remains of 1,122 patients from both the general and mental hospitals in operation in Siena during this period (Brasili-Gualandi & Gualdi-Russo, 1989a). In addition to demographic analysis of the Siena Craniological Collection as a whole, …

Reframing The Gothic: Race, Gender, & Disability In Multiethnic Literature, Ashely B. Tisdale

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is about the exploitation and disposability of disabled bodies. I am interested in understanding how some bodies are vulnerable to systems of exploitation by virtue of their race, gender, and disabilities. Chapter one interrogates Alejandro Morales’s The Rag Doll Plagues, where ill and disabled female characters are disposed of during the protagonists’ journey toward national progress. Hanya Yanagihara’s The People in The Trees is the subject of chapter two. In this novel, ill, elderly characters of color are experimented on as their sovereign island is mined by pharmaceutical corporations. Chapter three discusses how James Hannaham’s Delicious Foods portrays …

High School Students’ Descriptions Of How Smartphones Affect Their Online Learning During Covid-19, Tiffany K. Southwell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In March of 2020, many schools including the high school where I teach in the southwest United States, shut down and moved all students to online learning due to a coronavirus. At the time, this virus (referred to as COVID-19) was just starting to pose a significant threat to the United States, yet had already claimed lives in other parts of the world including Europe and China. In an effort to slow spread of the virus, many school districts in the United States closed school buildings and abruptly shifted to online learning.

My inquiry was designed to discover how my …

A Transcendental Phenomenological Study Of Supervision In Teacher Preparation In Saudi Arabia, Shahad Babaeer

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Teaching is a challenging and complex profession. Teacher preparation programs are facing wide criticism. Several organizations have called for the reform of teacher preparation programs to meet the requirements of the 21st-century world (AACTE, 2018; NCATE, 2010). The purpose of this phenomenological study (Husserl, 1970; Moustakas, 1996) is to gain an in-depth understanding of the lived experiences of Saudi Arabian university supervisors regarding supervision in teacher preparation and how these experiences have shaped their conceptualization of supervision. The study utilized purposeful and homogenous sampling strategies. Data collection included three semi-structured individual interviews per participant. The study relied on traditional phenomenological …

Mental Illness Diagnosis And The Construction Of Stigma, Katie Lynn Walkup

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores how mental health legislation and related policy documents contribute to identification, diagnosis, and stigmatization. Using a mixed methods approach including content and stylometric text analysis with R as a heuristic for close and critical reading, I demonstrate how these documents normalize mental health concerns as a public threat. To do this work, I analyze how the Florida Mental Health Act (Chapter 394) and the Florida Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act (SB 7026) circulate and sustain dominant narratives about mental illness. I trace where these narratives are distributed into Florida school districts’ mandatory mental health …

Saudi Special Education Teachers’ Perspectives On The Use Of Ipads To Enhance Communication Skills For Students With Autism, Adil Alghamdi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study explored teachers’ perceptions of rough-and- tumble (R&T) play in early childhood education in Saudi Arabia. The literature on rough-and-tumble play in Saudi Arabia is limited in scope, and more research is needed to explore teachers’ perceptions on this type of play for early learners. The pertinent literature reveals that R&T play, which includes running, jumping, fighting, wrestling, chasing, pulling, pushing, and climbing, among other rough playful activities, can positively impact learning and development across psychosocial, emotional, and cognitive domains. Teachers’ understanding of R & T play is key, and the attitudes of Saudi early childhood teachers who are …

Intersections Of Race And Place In Short Fiction By New Orleans Gens De Couleur Libres, Adrienne D. Vivian

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Although New Orleans joined the United States following the Louisiana Purchase, the city’s French colonial period continued to influence New Orleanians. The lives and writing of nineteenth century New Orleans gens de couleur libres, free people of color, document continued exchanges with France and the Caribbean despite the city’s increasing Americanization. Drawing from Westphal’s theoretical work on geocriticism, Intersections of Race and Place in Short Fiction by New Orleans Gens de Couleur Libres locates sites of transgressivity and their representations in writers Michel Séligny, Adolphe Duhart, and Victor Séjour’s French language short stories. Chapter One examines New Orleans’s historical and …

Arab Undergraduate Students' Perceptions Of Their Transition To Learn Mathematics In English In The United States, Annetta Hastings

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The number of students who choose to pursue higher education outside their home country has continued to grow, and one of the most popular international destinations is the United States. International students, whose home language is not English, can find this educational opportunity to be academically challenging. Institutions of higher learning can admit international students and expect them to adjust to the linguistic, cultural, and social differences in a new educational system without appropriate support. To better support international students in undergraduate mathematics, researchers have focused on how language and culture affect mathematical understanding (Barton & Neville-Barton, 2003; Durand-Guerrier et …

The Mass Is The Medium: Marshall Mcluhan And Roman Catholic Liturgical Change, Ashil D. Manohar

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The liturgical changes of Vatican II sought to bring a period of renewal to the Catholic laity by encouraging active participation and making the Mass more simple to understand. However, the time after the Council was characterized by confusion and disengagement by the laity. I will be discussing three significant changes to the liturgy at this time, The change from Latin to the vernacular, the change in the orientation of the altar and priest, and the change in acoustics, sound, and music. I will be examining all of these changes through the media theory of Marshall McLuhan, famous for coining …

The Dream Act And Daca: A History Of Immigrant Children, Sofia Paschero

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis writes the history of the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM ACT) and the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). Chapter One gives a background history on immigration reforms in the 20th century. Chapter Two focuses on the history of the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM Act). Chapter Three is the immigrant children story. This chapter is an oral history. My main argument is immigrants have always been and still are, easy targets. Politicians create immigrants as scapegoats in order to avoid the social, political, cultural, and economic issues that are affecting people …

The Perceived Utility Of Direct-To-Consumer Genetic Testing Marketed For Athletic Ability, Katherine L. Zimmerman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Factors that influence the public’s interest in pursuing genetic testing to determine athletic ability are not yet known. The purpose of this study is to compare interest in genetic testing marketed for athletic ability and susceptibility to sports-related injuries among athletes and the general public. Additionally, this study aims to determine if genetic determinism, knowledge and elements of perceived utility influence their overall intention to use the results of such genetic testing. Participants were recruited through social media platforms to complete an online survey measuring their intention to pursue testing under various circumstances, intention to use the results to change …

Empress Nur Jahan And Female Empowerment: A Critical Analysis Of A Long-Forgotten Mughal Portrait, Angela N. Finkbeiner

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is a study of a seventeenth-century watercolor portrait of the Mughal EmpressNur Jahan (r. 1611-1627). Titled Nur Jahan Holding a Musket and created by court painter Abu’l Hasan, the painting has not been the subject of a scholarly work before. In this unorthodox depiction of a female, Nur Jahan is shown sporting androgynous attire while actively loading a matchlock musket. Through visual and textual analysis, I read this portrait as a symbol of an empowered female and argue that once its meaning is decoded it can serve as a complex historical document that complicates Nur Jahan’s persona. Moving …

White Too Long: Christianity Or Nationalism?, Rachel E. Osborne

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Tension, racism, and violence being enacted in the name of Christianity have brought new attention to the work of many scholars of religion who have documented and analyzed the relationship between white Christianity and racism in the U.S. In his 2020 book White Too Long, Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) director and religious studies scholar Robert P. Jones states unequivocally that “[i]n survey after survey, white Christians stand out in their negative attitudes about racial, ethnic, and religious minorities (especially Muslims), the unequal treatment of African Americans by police and the criminal justice system, their anxieties about the changing face …

A Critical Exploration Of The Enactment Of Successful Leadership Practices Used To Achieve Increasing Academic Achievement In A High Poverty Urban School With High Percentages Of Students Of Color, Lateesa A. Allen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

For decades, America’s K-12 public schools have struggled with closing the achievement gap between black and brown students and their white counterparts. High-poverty schools with high percentages of students of color are often low-performing schools. These marginalized populations of students lack equitable access to the rigorous academic curricula and instruction that is accessible to their white peers (Goings & Ford, 2018; Lewis et al., 2012; Nadelson et al., 2020).

The educational policy landscape has made numerous shifts between national reform models designed to increase opportunities and provide access to equitable education for underrepresented and disenfranchised groups of students. The national …

Evaluation Of A Spanish-Language Educational Tool For Inherited Cancer, Stefania Alastre

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A web-based educational tool designed to cover pre-test genetic counseling elements for multi-gene hereditary cancer panel testing increased knowledge and decisional empowerment among an English-speaking cohort actively seeking information about genetic testing. The purpose of this study was to pilot a Spanish-language version of this tool using a pre- post- survey design to assess for changes in knowledge and informed decision making about genetic testing and obtain additional feedback using semi-structured interviews. Spanish-speaking individuals were recruited online. Although several participants expressed that the tool was informative, interesting, and that they liked it, time stamps for the post-survey suggested that most …

Review Of The Use Of Differential Reinforcement In Skill Acquisition, Hannah E. Efaw

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this paper was to review and synthesize the literature investigating the impact of differential reinforcement on skill acquisition. Specifically, the aim of this review was to determine the most efficient differential reinforcement arrangement for skill acquisition in individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities. Researchers synthesized the results of 12 articles with the following categories: (a) participant characteristics (i.e.,, age, sex, diagnosis, verbal repertoire, communication modality, receptive and imitation skills, prompt dependency), (b) target behavior information (i.e., target behavior, measurement system), (c) pre-evaluation assessments (i.e., preference assessments, reinforcer assessments, magnitude edible and size assessments), (d) teaching procedures (i.e., …

Young Adolescents’ Opportunity To Develop Concept Images Of Polygons In Middle School Mathematics Textbooks, Megan N. Cannon

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Young adolescents build notions of figures through experiences. When young adolescentsbegin middle school mathematics, they already have prior assumptions and conceptualizations about shapes (Herbst, Fujita, Halverscheid, & Weiss, 2017). Over years of experiences, interactions, and exposures with a particular concept, these students develop concept images consisting of all the visual information, pictures, mental images, or properties associated with the particular mathematical concept (Vinner, 1983). Seminal works in the field of mathematics education research found that without an opportunity to engage with varied representations, young adolescent students may not develop robust concept images (Aspinwall, Shaw & Presmeg, 1997; Hasegawa, 1997; Mesa, …

This Is It: Latina/X Representation On One Day At A Time, Camille Ruiz Mangual

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the tensions between contemporary Latina/x representations and problematic tropes in the sitcom, One Day at a Time (2017-2020) [ODAAT]. ODAAT centers of Elena, Penelope, and Lydia, three generations of a Latina/x family. Many entertainment reviewers and fans praised the series for its progressive and nuanced portrayals of Latina/x characters. However, I argue that while ODAAT depicts Latina/x characters that transcend some United States mainstream media tropes about Latinas/xs, the series also relies on conventional markers of Latina/x identity as tools with which to communicate progressive messages around identity. I expand upon scholarship in Latina/o media …

¿De Dónde Eres?: Negotiating Identity As Third Culture Kids, Sophia Margulies

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Sparked by David C. Pollock's (1988) concept of "third culture kids" (children of government officials and military personnel), this thesis uses autoethnography to examine "white-passing" Latinx identity and gender passing as it relates to individuals who identify as transgender to understand what it means to "pass" within these communication contexts. I situate the study at the intersections of queer, trans, and Latinx theories. Ultimately, I argue that the communicative and identity practices inherent to the liminal spaces in which third culture kids perform create the conditions for performances as transnational subjects. What the contexts of place and home are like, …

Assessing Prompting And Prompt-Fading Strategies In Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Ashley L. Frankenfield

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by restricted interests, repetitive behaviors, and deficits in social and communication skills. In order to help a person with ASD improve their communication skills, behavior analysts should place emphasis on teaching intraverbal skills. Each person has a unique learner history, meaning that different prompts and prompt-fading techniques will result in the most accurate and efficient mastery of intraverbal skills for different people. Assessments were used to identify each participant’s most efficient combination of prompt and prompt-fading procedures in order to maximize one’s potential for learning new skills. Participants’ most efficient prompt/prompt-fading combinations resulted in …