Digital Commons Network^™

Are Customers Ready For Tablet-Based Menus? An Analysis Of The Innovation Characteristics That Influence The Intentions To Adopt Tablet-Based Menus, Nataly Suarez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Since the release of the new iPad in 2010, few studies have explored the idea of tablet- based menus in restaurants. Since this is a new topic in the hospitality industry, there has not been literature that explores how personal traits influence the adoption intention of tablet-based menus. This study aims to explain the impact of innovation characteristics and individual differences on customer intentions to adopt tablet-based menus in restaurants of different service levels. With a random sample of 430 participants collected via Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, a regression analysis and an ANOVA test were performed. The results confirmed that only …

The Us Response To Genocide In Rwanda: A Reassessment, Camara Silver

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyzes the US response to the 1994 Rwandan genocide. It argues that in 1994, the US was retooling its stance on humanitarian intervention because of the disastrous US-led Operation Gothic Serpent in Somalia in 1993. Therefore, the American response to the genocide in Rwanda became a casualty of Washington’s reassessment of its humanitarian intervention policy in the 1990s. The reason behind the US adoption of a more muscular humanitarian intervention policy was due in part to the end of the Cold War in 1991. Thus, the US was able to focus on other issues in international affairs, such …

The Effects Of Blog-Supported Collaborative Writing On Writing Performance, Writing Anxiety And Perceptions Of Efl College Students In Taiwan, Hui-Ju Wu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Compared with first language (L1) writing, writing in a second or foreign language (L2) is considered to be more challenging and difficult. The challenges and difficulties may result from both the cognitive and the affective aspects of writing. To mitigate the difficulties of L2 writing and help students master L2 writing, teachers could consider using the pedagogical strategies which can help enhance students' cognition in writing or students' writing performance, and also can help reduce students' fear of L2 writing. One of the pedagogical strategies is online collaborative writing supported by CMC. Collaborative learning helps enhance students' cognitive outcomes, such …

"It Takes Time To Shift Historical Paradigms": Changes In Structure, Governance, Perception, And Practice During A Decade Of Child Welfare Policy Reform In Florida, Amy Catherine Vargo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explored changes in structure, governance, perception and practice within Florida's child welfare system over a ten-year period (2001-2011) inclusive of two concurrent, statewide reform efforts: the privatization of child welfare services and implementation of a Title IV-E Waiver Demonstration. Using an anthropological perspective and holistic approach, the child welfare system is presented as a type of meta-organizational culture inclusive of subsystems and subcultures which are all embedded in historical and socioeconomic context that involves alternations between child safety and family preservation approaches to care.

Guided by a grounded theory approach to qualitative data analysis, content analysis of child …

Effect Of Interactive Digital Homework With An Ibook On Sixth Grade Students' Mathematics Achievement And Attitudes When Learning Fractions, Decimals, And Percents, Jennifer Zakrzewski

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Over the past decade, technology has become a prominent feature in our lives. Technology has not only been integrated into our lives, but into the classroom as well. Teachers have been provided with a tremendous amount of technology related tools to educate their students. However, many of these technologically enhanced tools have little to no research supporting their claims to enhance learning.

This study focuses on one aspect of technology, the iBook, to complete homework relating to fractions, decimals, and percents in a sixth grade classroom. An iBook is a digital textbook that allows the user to interact with the …

Designing Together With The World Café: Inviting Community Ideas For An Idea Zone In A Science Center, William Travis Thompson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation brings attention to the communication processes taking place during design of an Idea Zone at a science center. It focuses on the conceptual phase of design, during which designers seek to integrate the ideas and needs of stakeholders into design processes through such frameworks as Participatory Design (PD). In bringing a focus on communication process to conceptual design frameworks such as PD, I explore the assumed roles behind participatory design processes and the contexts created through those processes during actual design work. As these Idea Zone design efforts took place in a museum and also within the context …

Teaching About Race In Introductory Anthropology Courses: An Ethnographic Study, Jennifer Gilroy Hunsecker

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

American anthropology has focused on issues related to race from the start of the discipline. From past work designed to categorize humans into phenotype-based categories to current work to undo those categorizations, many anthropologists consider race to be one of the most important topics for students to learn. In this dissertation, I use in-depth ethnographic case studies consisting of interviews, observations, and focus groups, to learn about the way in which anthropologists at four institutions of higher education teach the topic to students in their introductory, four-field general anthropology class. I found that anthropologists are committed to sharing anthropological perspectives …

Clinical And Criminal Justice Outcomes In The Jail Diversion And Trauma Recovery (Jdtr) Program, Daniel Harold Ringhoff

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This mixed methods study evaluated clinical and criminal justice outcomes of the Florida Jail Diversion and Trauma Recovery (JDTR) program that utilized compensated veteran peer mentors. Quantitative results showed veteran participation in JDTR improved clinical outcomes, such as PTSD symptoms, function difficulty and depression scores, but not criminal justice outcomes such as re-arrest rates. Study limitations, however, prevent the drawing of conclusions regarding the potential effectiveness of veteran peer interventions improving criminal justice outcomes. Qualitative results showed participants overwhelmingly viewed their assigned veteran peer mentor as a "peer" and rated them as "very important" to their future success. Improvements in …

"Now You Know What You're Reaching For...On The Up And Up": An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis Of Scholar Identity Development Among Black Male Achievers, Coretta Andréa Irby

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Common discourse concerning the educational trajectories of African American males consists of dismal future outcomes due to defective schooling experiences in kindergarten through twelfth grades. There has been a disregard of counter narratives of high academic achievement and overall school success coupled with a highlighting of failure through deficit-based research practices. Consequently, African American males are positioned as delayed or troubled, which serves to perpetuate educational inequity. This study attempts to increase the scarcity of literature by giving voice to the experiences of high achievement among African American adolescent males attending a school designed to support the achievement of impoverished …

Slope Settlement And Post-Disaster Health Needs Of Urban Displacement In La Paz, Bolivia, James Steven Arango

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In 2011, a landslide displaced approximately six thousand people from the urbanized mountain slopes of La Paz, Bolivia. The municipal government of La Paz (GAMLP) managed the displacement by housing thousands of people in displacement camps throughout the city. By 2013, residents were attempting to return to still damaged lands. This research used participant observation and interviews with residents over eight weeks in 2013 to address the following questions: 1) What social, cultural, economic or historic factors influence the settling and then resettling of at-risk slope neighborhoods in La Paz, Bolivia? 2) What are the most pressing health needs of …

Active Tile Self-Assembly And Simulations Of Computational Systems, Daria Karpenko

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Algorithmic self-assembly has been an active area of research at the intersection of computer science, chemistry, and mathematics for almost two decades now, motivated by the natural self-assembly mechanism found in DNA and driven by the desire for precise control of nanoscale material manufacture and for the development of nanocomputing and nanorobotics. At the theoretical core of this research is the Abstract Tile Assembly Model (aTAM), the original abstract model of DNA tile self-assembly. Recent advancements in DNA nanotechnology have been made in developing strand displacement mechanisms that could allow DNA tiles to modify themselves during the assembly process by …

A Conceptual Analysis Of Perspective Taking In Support Of Socioscientific Reasoning, Sami Kahn

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Scientific literacy is concerned with the informed citizens' ability to negotiate scientifically-related societal issues. The suite of skills necessary to negotiate these complex issues is referred to as Socioscientific Reasoning (SSR). SSR requires, among other things, perspective-taking abilities in order to consider the multi-faceted nature of these open-ended, debatable socioscientific issues (SSI). Developing interventions and instruments to foster and measure perspective taking in support of SSR is therefore critical to the promotion of functional scientific literacy through both research and practice. Although widely studied in many disciplines, perspective taking is a particularly tangled construct that has been used to describe …

Mainstreaming Green Infrastructure: The Nexus Of Infrastructure And Education Using The Green Space Based Learning (Gsbl) Approach For Bioretention Plant Selection, Ryan Charles Robert Locicero

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Green Space Based Learning (GSBL) approach builds on a long-term partnership between a Research I university, surrounding community, and local school district, transforming underutilized community green space into an interactive educational tool to addresses national infrastructure and educational challenges. The GSBL approach is an educational platform for engaging K-12 and the local community in engineering design and construction of sustainable Green Infrastructure (GI) projects. GSBL was piloted as a part of a federally funded Research Experience for Teachers (RET) program in which teachers participated in two intensive 6-week summer research experiences and two consecutive academic year components. The summer …

The Political Pilgrim: William Lithgow Of Lanark On God And Country, Philip Anthony Davis

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Travel literature has been understood to comment on the expectations and impressions of the traveler as they encountered foreign spaces, customs, and people. There has been an unspoken understanding, at best, that travelers who wrote their tales used these foreign spaces to engage in debates that were meaningful to their domestic audience. However, the author has been central to much of the analysis, disconnecting travel literature from other linguistic exercises that more directly offered observations that were directly rooted in domestic culture. Author-centered analysis isolates the traveler from the wider world in which they engaged. It also ignores the other …

Gene Expression Analysis Of Upregulated Genes By 20-Oh Ecdysone In Brugia Malayi, Monica Lazaro

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Brugia malayi is a filarial nematode causing lymphatic filariasis in humans characterized by swelling of the lower extremities. The aim of this study was to conduct a real time PCR (qRT-PCR) to verify gene expression levels of Brugia malayi nematodes treated with 20 hydroxyecdysone. Transcriptome analysis was previously performed resulting in the identification of 44 genes that were upregulated by exposure to 20-hydroxyecdysone. Based on transcriptome results, known GO Terms and functions, four genes and one endogenous housekeeping gene were chosen for validation by RT-PCR. Induced samples showed a mean increase of microfilarie by 2.2 fold. Induced wells exhibited a …

Trash Talk: Understanding Food Waste At A Charter Elementary School In Florida, Steven A. Williams

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Waste as a topic for anthropological investigation has enjoyed a recent resurgence in interest, mirroring burgeoning discussion among policy-makers and the general public about questions of environmental impacts, economic costs, and social detriments of contemporary waste management paradigms. While waste management in the United States has largely focused on technical and organizational solutions typically considered the domain of environmental planning and engineering (such as source reduction, recycling, and reuse), anthropology and the social sciences have become more prominently involved in efforts to inform policy-makers and researchers about the social and behavioral factors influencing waste norms and habits, particularly in educational …

Engaging-Up: Compromised Spaces And Potential Partners, Jennifer Necole Webb

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The anthropology of public policy critically examines policy and its processes and the myriad ways in which power is exercised. To explore these power dynamics, anthropologists studying policy often study up, or study through a particular policy field. This entails the risky work of studying powerful people, whose ability to retaliate against the researcher and others create methodological and ethical dilemmas and contradictions, as well as potentially harmful consequences. Politicians, bureaucrats, employees of powerful non-profits, and, in the public-private neoliberal reality, even the head decision makers within corporations are all prospective research participants--an intimidating prospect for most anthropologists. In contrast, …

Retail Investors' Perceptions Of Financial Disclosures On Social Media: An Experimental Investigation Using Twitter, Neal Michael Snow

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Historically, companies disseminated financial information via the press release. The ability to disseminate information now exists on multiple "new media" channels beyond just the press release, with each channel reaching a different audience. With the different channels of communication come different connotations and associations that people have about the channels, which may affect the interpretation of the message, thereby altering management's ability to effectively communicate with stakeholders. I investigate whether retail investors' processing of financial information disclosures is dependent upon the fit between the channel and the type of information sent on the channel. Using the Elaboration Likelihood Model, I …

Responding To A Rumor: How Crisis Response Strategies Influence Relationship Outcomes, Bo Breuklander

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the effects of crisis communication messaging strategies on the relationship between an organization and its key publics. This study found that none of the strategies tested had a significant impact on the relationship between an organization and its publics, however some strategies consistently influenced a relationship more than others.

Direct-To-Consumer Messaging: A Phenomenological Examination Of Dtc Best Practices, Nicholas Dominick Fancera

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study is designed as the building of a foundation in standardizing best practices when designing Direct-to-Consumer messaging. With this being a new and expanding field of marketing and advertising for the high visibility pharmaceutical industry, an establishment of conceptual templature, around which Direct-to-Consumer messaging campaign can be built, offers an opportunity to build a new and vibrant branch on the well-established messaging field. This is particularly important when recognizing the unique needs and requirements of both the pharmaceutical industry and its audience in learning of and about new products.

This study attempted to identify current perception of Direct-to-Consumer practices …

Facilitating Motivation In A Virtual World Within A Second Language Acquisition Classroom, Andrew Warren Gump

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

An Analysis Of Technology Applications In The Restaurant Industry, Muhittin Cavusoglu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the utilization of Front of House and Back of House technology applications by U.S. restaurants across different types of restaurants along with their level of IT management style, and the importance of these technology applications to the restaurants' operations. This study used secondary data. The survey data collected from 500 randomly selected restaurant technology managers who are current subscribers of Hospitality Technology Magazine as of January 2013. Response rate was 27.2% and these sample groups represented 67,299 restaurant units. The data analysis was organized into 3 parts (descriptive, factor analysis and independent …

Food Insecurity And Hunger Experiences And Their Impact On Food Pantry Clients In The Tampa Bay, Nora Brickhouse Arriola

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Since 1999, there has been a significant increase in the number of food insecure individuals in the United States. The Great Recession (2007-2009) and slow economic recovery has led to additional increases in rates of food insecurity and the usage of emergency food assistance programs. Thirty qualitative interviews with individuals seeking emergency food assistance at a Tampa Bay food pantry were conducted. Interviews focused on collecting the life experiences of participants, the barriers they face in having food security, their strategies to cope with limited food budgets, and how food insecurity impacts their household's overall health and wellbeing. Recommendations for …

Interpretations Of Educational Experiences Of Women In Chitral, Pakistan, Rakshinda Shah

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This feminist oral history project records, interprets, and analyzes the educational experiences of seven Ismaili college women in Chitral, Pakistan. Chitral is a part of the world where educating girls and women is not a priority. Yet in the scarce literature available one can observe an increase in the literacy rates, especially amongst the Ismaili Muslims in the North of Chitral District. This thesis introduces students' accounts of their personal educational journeys. I argue that the students' accounts exemplify third space feminism. They negotiate contradictions and social invisibility in their daily lives in quiet activism that shadows but changes the …

Risk-Taking Characteristics As Explanatory Variables In Variations Of Fatality Rates In The Southeastern United States, Jodi Anne Godfrey

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Traffic fatalities accounted for 1.24 million lives lost in 2013 worldwide, and almost 33 thousand of those fatalities were in the U.S. in 2013. The southeastern region of the nation stands out for continuously having higher fatality rates per mile driven than the national average. If one can establish compelling relationships between various factors and fatality rates, then policies and investments can be targeted to increase the safety on the network by focusing on policies that mitigate those factors. In this research effort risk-taking characteristics are explored. These factors have not been as comprehensively reviewed as conventional factors such as …

Abjection, Telesthesia, And Transnationalism: Incest In Park Chan-Wook's Oldboy, Daniel L. Holland

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Many consider Oldboy be the defining film of the most recent wave of South Korean cinema, with scholars such as Terrence McSweeney and Kim Kyun Hyun arguing the film's representation of South Korean culture through collective memory, trauma, and Westernization. However, most of the current scholarship that surrounds the film does not adequately address the film's prominent theme of incest. My thesis explores the anxious implications of the film's incestuous imagery and reads it as a figure for the film's transnational presence. Specifically, in my project, incest is the nucleus on which I build each argument outward. First through abjection …

Staring Down The Mukhabarat: Rhizomatic Social Movements And The Egyptian And Syrian Arab Spring, Stephen Michael Strenges

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Unable to enact change through the existing political institutions of their authoritarian regimes, and consistently repressed by state security forces (the mukhabarat), activists in Egypt and Syria relied on street activism to challenge their conditions. This study analyzes the Arab Spring uprisings in Egypt and Syria through the conceptual lens of a rhizome. Rhizomatic movements are horizontal, grassroots, and allow for the networking of local community-specific grievances, into larger national movements. This networking allows opposition members groups to build solidarity, construct collective identities, and develop a set of shared goals, strategies, and tactics. Furthermore, it provides for the transcendence of …

Using Gamification To Increase Adherence To Daily Living Routines, Lisa S. Kadison

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Gamification, the use of game elements in non-game contexts, is an increasingly popular way to incentivize self-management procedures. Despite the growing popularity of such programs, little objective research has been done in the area. This study evaluated the use of a web-based gamification program called HabitRPG through a multiple-baseline across participants design. HabitRPG is designed to increase the productivity of its users. Baseline procedures included parental scoring of task completion. Intervention consisted of training on using HabitRPG. Target behaviors were scored with data sheets provided to parents of the participants. The intervention increased the percentage of compliance for all participants.

Myths And Miracles In Mexico City: Treatment Seeking, Language Socialization, And Identity Among Deaf Youth And Their Families, Anne Elaine Pfister

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation research investigates the experience of deafness among deaf youth, adults, and their families in Mexico City, Mexico. Deaf children cannot fully access the spoken languages of their hearing families and mainstream society. Hence, participating families embarked upon extensive treatment-seeking pilgrimages, encountering myths about deaf lifeways and the promise of miracle cures that formed Mexico City's cultural system for coping with childhood deafness. This ethnography uncovers persistent misconceptions in medical and mainstream discourse, including strong recommendations against exposure to sign language, which directly impacted participants' access to relevant communities of practice, the social networks that proved most significant to …

Auteurs At An Urban Crossroads: A Certain Tendency In New York Cinema, Rene Thomas Rodriguez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Perhaps more than any other major American city in the 1970s, New York represented the decline of an urban existence. Job loss from factors related to deindustrialization and intense crime occupied local and national news, reflecting the increasing anxiety of America's future. New York City was positioned at the center of this frightening chaos. Films made during this period, known by film scholars and journalists as the "New Hollywood" captured the collective temperament of the people and the physical space they inhabit during its disintegration. The depiction of New York during the 1970s has been widely discussed in the writing …