Digital Commons Network^™

An Analysis Of How Female Business Owners Construct And Communicate Identity, Allison Dawn Weidhaas

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Individuals often get asked: So what do you do? This question can be challenging for those in less traditional work settings, such as stay-at-home-moms and the self-employed. To help women better understand the range of possible responses, this study explores how women in Public Relations respond to identity questions that involve both their work and personal lives. I begin by situating the study within relevant literature on entrepreneurship, female business owners, the history of women in the workplace, work/life issues, Public Relations, the use of language to construct work identity, and structuration theory. I conducted one-on-one qualitative interviews as my …

The Sopranos Experience, Eli Benjamin Weidinger

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

My thesis explores what I call the "Sopranos Experience," which draws upon both the historical conventions of the gangster genre as well as the aesthetics and economics of pay-cable television to complicate The Sopranos' (HBO, 1999-2007) psychological relationship with the 21st-century, neoliberal American audience. The Sopranos Experience explicates how wavering identifications and dis-identifications that develop for the spectator through the series' form and content draw the responsibility of an audience away from moral ultimatums that attempt to finalize their experience with the genre, and towards a more personal ethical entanglement with the characters and their socioeconomic anxieties and desires. The …

Becoming A Teacher In Multiple Voices: An Exploration Of Teacher Identity Formation Among Teachers Of Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Mary E. Wilt

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the formation of teacher identity among four teachers of students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and my own by examining our perspectives, influences, and experiences at different points in our careers and determining the similarities and differences that exist in our professional and educational experiences. This study focused on how teacher identity is defined within the field of education, the current literature on teacher identity formation, and the importance of understanding the formation of teacher identity among teachers of children with autism, as well as how my own teacher identity has been …

The Effect Of Drug Resistance On Plasmodium Falciparum Transmission And Gametocyte Development, Samantha Olivia Aylor

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In order to reduce malaria prevalence worldwide, a better understanding of parasite transmission and the effect of drug resistance is needed. The effect of drug resistance on malaria transmission has been examined for some drugs, but not for mitochondrial inhibitors such as atovaquone and the current basis of malaria therapy, artemisinin. Therefore, the goal of this study was to produce gametocytes, the life cycle stage that transmits from mosquito to human, in several different drug resistant patient isolates as well as to determine the effect of drug resistance on gametocyte development and transmission. Previous studies have shown that the mutation …

Curriculum Gatekeeping In Global Education: Global Educators' Perspectives, Robert Wayne Bailey

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Teaching social studies from a global perspective has been resisted by many since its inception (Kirkwood, 2009). Critics have labeled the theory anti-American and unpatriotic (Schlafly, 1986; Burack, 2001). Others are concerned with its shifting perspectives and apparent lack of core facts (Finn, 1988). Over time, some critics have changed their stance on global teaching and now endorse the idea (Ravitch, 2010). This qualitative case study sought to identify the barriers seven self-proclaimed global educators faced while teaching global themes and to identify the effective gatekeeping strategies for circumventing such obstacles. The goal was to provide a rich, compelling account …

Teachers' Beliefs, Knowledge, And Implementation Of Disciplinary Literacy Pedagogy In Three Advanced Placement United States History Classrooms, Stephanie Bennett

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this inquiry, I investigated three Advanced Placement United State History teachers' beliefs, knowledge, and implementation of disciplinary literacy pedagogy in their Advanced Placement United States History (APUSH) classrooms. My interest in disciplinary literacy evolved from my own experiences as a high school social studies teacher and middle school intensive reading teacher. With the implementation of the Common Core State Standards, whose emphasis is, in part, on discipline-specific literacy, across the United States in 2014-2015, I recognize the need for research relevant to discipline-specific practices in the classroom. I want to contribute further to the understandings of disciplinary literacy pedagogy. …

Model Pt- And Pd-Based Electrocatalysts For Low Temperature Fuel Cells Applications, Selasi Ofoe Blavo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the search for alternative energy technologies, low temperature fuel cells continue to feature as technologies with the most promise for mass commercialization. Among the low temperature fuel cells, alkaline and proton exchange membrane fuel cells are the most popular. Alkaline fuel cells have typically been used for water generation as well as auxiliary power for space shuttles. Their bulkiness however makes them undesirable for other applications, especially in automobiles, where there is a great demand for alternative technologies to internal combustion engines. Proton exchange membrane fuel cells on the other hand possess numerous qualities including their compact size, high …

Rhetorical Spirits: Spirituality As Rhetorical Device In New Age Womanist Of Color Texts, Ronisha Witlee Browdy

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Throughout history African–American women have struggled against oppressions that have stereotyped their identities, scrutinized their character, and ultimately labeled their bodies inferior and inhuman. Despite the debilitating ideologies and barriers African–American women have been forced to operate within, they have fought against these racist, sexist, classist, homophobic environments, crafting their own “new” ethos through writing, as well as entertainment and popular culture. Although Black women remain plagued by history, the New Age of the 1980s as discussed by Akasha Gloria Hull in Soul Talk: The New Spirituality of African–American Women seemed to spark a new spirituality amongst African–American women. During …

Structure, Dynamics, And Evolution Of The Intrinsically Disordered P53 Transactivation Domain, Wade Michael Borcherds

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

in numerous disease states, including cancers and neurodegenerative diseases. All proteins are dynamic in nature, occupying a range of conformational flexibilities. This inherent flexibility is required for their function, with ordered proteins and IDPs representing the least flexible, and most flexible, respectively. As such IDPs possess little to no stable tertiary or secondary structure, they instead form broad ensembles of heterogeneous structures, which fluctuate over multiple time scales. Although IDPs often lack stable secondary structure they can assume a more stable structure in the presence of their binding partners in a coupled folding binding reaction.

The phenomenon of the dynamic …

Spectatorial Shock And Carnal Consumption: (Re)Envisaging Historical Trauma In New French Extremity, Christopher Butler

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

New French Extremity films are violent, transgressive, and break many social taboos in their narratives. However, this genre's directors are intelligent and construct these films with clues to France's past and how it still has implications in the present. This thesis was written to point out how New French Extremity films offer spectators the potential to reincorporate traumatic moments in French history by juxtaposing them against present day social, political, and economic ideologies. The purpose for this course of study was to investigate historical encounters that are present in New French Extremity filmmaking, something that has yet to be addressed …

Disciplinarity, Crisis, And Opportunity In Technical Communication, Jason Robert Carabelli

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis I argue that technical communication as an academic curricular entity has struggled to define itself as either a humanities or scientific discipline. I argue that this crisis of identity is due to a larger, institutional flaw first identified by the science studies scholar Bruno Latour as the problem of the "modern constitution." Latour's argument, often referred to as Actor-Network Theory (ANT), suggests that the epistemological arguments about scientific certainty are built on a contradiction. In viewing the problem of technical communication's disciplinarity through the lens of ANT, I argue that technical communication can never be productive if …

African Americans And Hospice: A Culture-Centered Exploration Of Disparities In End-Of-Life Care, Patrick Dillon

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As the United States' population ages and grows more diverse, scholars and practitioners have grown increasingly concerned about persistent disparities in the cost and quality of end-of-life health care, particularly with regard to African Americans. Although a variety of factors may influence these disparities, most scholars agree that the underutilization of hospice care by this population is an important contributor. Drawing from the culture-centered approach to health communication and narrative theory, the present study explores African American patients and caregivers' experiences with hospice care and takes an initial step toward addressing disparities in end-of-life care. I begin this study, first, …

Accidental Detention: A Threat To The Legitimacy Of Venezuelan Democracy, Mabel Gabriela Durán-Sánchez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The main argument of this thesis is that the penitentiary crisis in Venezuela is brought about an inept criminal justice system whose functioning (or lack thereof) further exacerbates overcrowding in penitentiary facilities as well as violates the most basic human rights. More elaborately, I argue that the unintentional (mis)use of pre-trial preventive detention, one of the consequences of the inept criminal justice system, further exacerbates the overcrowding in prisons and creates serious human rights implications. The purpose of this study is to establish a connection between the penitentiary crisis in Venezuela, with a focus on pre-trial preventive detention, and the …

Cost Of Treatment Of Asthma Attacks In A Tertiary Level Healthcare Hospital In Panama, Nydia Flores Chiari

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Asthma is a chronic respiratory disease characterized by inflammation of the airway and the presence of recurrent attacks (exacerbations) of breathlessness, wheezing, cough, chest tightness, or some combination of these symptoms. In the US, about 53% of people with asthma had an asthma attack in 2008, and 57% of these, were children. One in ten children (10%) had asthma in 2009, and boys were more likely than girls to have asthma. Internationally, the prevalence of asthma varies widely in different countries, but the disparity is narrowing due to rising prevalence in low and middle income countries. Unfortunately, we do not …

Exploring The Motives, Perceptions And Constructed Identities Of The Facilitators For One Regional Council Of A Positive Youth Development Program: Girls On The Run, Ashley Ann Gallentine

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to explore the coaches' perceptions, motives and constructed identities by participating in a regional physical activity-based positive youth development program. There is growing evidence that suggests the success of positive youth development (PYD) programs depend on the environment that is created by caring adult mentors. These coaches are the delivery vehicles for these programs and play an essential role in the development of participating youth. As a result, the characteristics these coaches possess are critical to the success of the PYD implementation. Based on the application of anthropological methods and theory, this study seeks …

Unbearable Weight, Unbearable Witness: The (Im)Possibility Of Witnessing Eating Disorders In Cyberspace, Kristen Nicole Gay

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis argues that the recent erasure of digital pro-anorexia ("pro-ana") narratives by websites such as Tumblr, Pinterest, and Instagram represents an attempt to silence female self-starvers and reify the authority of medical associations to speak for female bodies. I draw parallels between these attempts and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak's theory of epistemic violence, since the experiences of women are effectively discredited, through metaphors that render the thin body dangerous, to shore up professional medical authority. As an attempt to privilege the experiences of the self-starvers, I analyze one Tumblr blog with eating disorder content to listen to the letters users …

Development Of Catalytic Technology For Producing Sustainable Energy, Syed Ali Z Gardezi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores catalyst technology for the production of renewable liquid fuels via thermo-chemical conversion of biomass derived syngas. Fischer-Tropsch synthesis is a process for converting syngas, i.e. a mixture of CO and H2, into energy rich long chain hydrocarbons and oxygenated compounds. This synthesis process involves a number of elementary reactions leading to an array of polymeric products. The economic operation of an FTS process lie in the interplay of both catalyst and reactor design. In relation to catalysis, the nature of chemisorbed species, and the fractional availability of active metal sites determines rate, conversion and yield. Similarly, reactor …

Examining The Ontoepistemological Underpinnings Of Diversity Education Found In Interpersonal Communication Textbooks, Tammy L. Jeffries

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This project examines the ontoepistemological underpinnings of diversity education in the field of communication by focusing on the points where diversity, pedagogy and communication intersect. In this study I seek to understand how we come to know what we know about diversity, or the social construction of differentness, and how we share this information with others. I analyzed three popular interpersonal communication textbooks, examining the patterns revealed in the text, in order to address these questions.

This study uses three complimentary methods to reveal the number of occurrences that center on diversity in the text (content analysis), to interpret themes …

Continuous Electrowetting In Passivating And Non-Passivating Systems, Mehdi Khodayari

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Electrowetting is an electromechanical response that can be used to change the equilibrium

shape of droplets on a surface through the application of an electric potential. By applying this potential asymmetrically to a droplet, the droplet can be moved. Typical electrowetting devices use an electrode covered by a dielectric to reduce electrochemical interactions. Successful electrowetting requires electrodes and dielectric layers that can resist damage through many cycles of voltage.

Continuous Electrowetting (CEW) is performed on high resistivity silicon wafers. In this process, when an electric potential difference is applied between the substrate ends, the droplet on the substrate moves towards …

The Role Of Acquired Capability As A Differentially-Specific Risk Factor For Disordered Eating And Problematic Alcohol Use In Female College Students: A Measure Development And Validation Study, Christa D. Labouliere

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Traditional college students are members of an age bracket noted for high levels of risky behavior, and research has shown that certain risky behaviors, such as disordered eating and problematic alcohol use, are particularly common among undergraduates. It is well established that certain events in the learning history predispose vulnerable persons to engage in maladaptive risky behaviors. What is less clear is why some persons facing these events go on to develop maladaptive behavior while others do not, or why people facing similar events develop different varieties of maladaptive behaviors. Current research has focused extensively on risk factors that are …

Modeling Nitrogen Transformations In A Pilot Scale Marine Integrated Aquaculture System, Brian Mccarthy

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Integrated aquaculture systems (IAS) are a type of recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) where the wastewater is treated and returned to the fish tanks. The important difference between the two is that in an IAS, wastes from the aquaculture component are recovered as fertilizer to produce an agricultural product whereas in an RAS, waste organics, nutrients and solids are treated and discharged. A pilot marine IAS at Mote Aquaculture Research Park in Sarasota, FL was studied for this project. Water quality monitoring, measurements of fish health and growth rates of fish and plants were performed over a two-year period to determine …

Understanding Amphibian Decline: The Role Of Pesticides And The Pathogenic Chytrid Fungus On Amphibians And Aquatic Communities, Taegan A. Mcmahon

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Amphibians are the most threatened taxon on the planet. Declines have been associated with over-exploitation, habitat loss, pollution, and pathogenic diseases, but of these factors, pollution and disease have been relatively under-studied. Here, I investigated: 1) the impacts of commonly used pesticides on aquatic communities, 2) the effect of these pesticides on amphibian susceptibility to the pathogenic chytrid fungus, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), and 3) whether there are non-amphibian hosts of Bd and 4) how to best quantify the survival of Bd through ontogeny of the host.

In my first research chapter, I quantified the effects of environmentally relevant concentrations of …

Fertile Ground For A Social Movement: Social Capital In Direct Agriculture Marketing, Elizabeth A. Murray

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Building from existing literature on anthropology of food, political economy of food and consumption, and social movement theory, I examine the direct agriculture network of Tampa Bay Florida through a mixed-method ethnography. The research consisted of one year of field-work, with 6 months and over 100 hours of active participant observation, open-ended interviews with eight local producers, and short surveys with 100 market patrons. This thesis is an analysis of the results of this rigorous qualitative and quantitative work and, perhaps more importantly, an account of my own personal struggles in joining the direct agriculture network and my ultimate commitment …

The Strong Black Woman, Depression, And Emotional Eating, Michelle Renee Offutt

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

Eighty percent of all black women are overweight or obese which can lead to greatly increased morbidity and mortality, increasing healthcare costs and loss of healthy years of life. While multiple factors may contribute to obesity in black women, the cultural persona of the Strong Black Woman (SBW), an ideology that promotes unflagging toughness and denial of self-needs, may be the basis for behaviors that contribute to steady state obesity in this group. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between the SBW persona, depression, and emotional eating.

Two predominately black churches in Florida were approached …

The 2008 Candlelight Protest In South Korea: Articulating The Paradox Of Resistance In Neoliberal Globalization, Huikyong Pang

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

My dissertation is a speculative analysis of the historical contexts of a social protest, based on the notion of "articulation" advanced in the field of cultural studies. Focusing on the 2008 candlelight protest against U.S. beef in South Korea, my goal is to explore the historical contexts of the protest, which formulate the identity of the protest. Since the U.S. beef deal was approved by the Korean government as a precondition for the Free Trade Agreement between Korea and the United States, the protest has been considered (notably by leftists in Korea) as a resistance against post-colonial overtones and fascist …

Compassionate Storytelling With Holocaust Survivors: Cultivating Dialogue At The End Of An Era, Chris J. Patti

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

We live in a frantic, fractured, ever-quickening, and violent world that is at the end of the era in which we will be able to talk with survivors of the Shoah. To date, there have been approximately 100,000 recorded interviews of Holocaust survivors. The vast majority of these interviews--such as the 52,000 done for Steven Spielberg's and USC Shoah Foundation Archive--have used traditional, single-session, and "neutral" methods of oral history interviewing to "capture" and "preserve" the legalistic, historical "testimonies" of survivors. The present study responds to this situation and unique moment in time by slowing down, listening, speaking repeatedly and …

Impacts Of U.S. Foreign Policy And Intervention On Guatemala: Mid-20th Century, Patricia M. Plantamura

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

International Relations theory includes realist concepts of sovereign nation-states interacting in an anarchic world as they rationally determine their own national interests based upon ever-changing competition for power. In this interplay for power, nation-states may affect each other politically, economically, ideologically or militarily. This thesis focuses on effects of U.S. foreign policy and U.S. intervention in Guatemala in the time period surrounding the Guatemalan Revolution (1944-1954), with its "liberation" in 1954, and then into the early 1960s as the Guatemalan state began to be militarized. In this thesis I will answer the following question:

How did the United States affect …

Socioeconomic Factors' And Water Source Features' Effect On Household Water Supply Choices In Uganda And The Associated Environmental Impacts, Christine M. Prouty

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Over the last twenty years or more, Uganda has benefitted from significant strides in water and sanitation initiated by the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals. While the rapid progress towards development has been vastly beneficial, it is also important that it does not occur at the expense of the environment. The environmental impacts of these water sources must be evaluated and understood. However, to develop a robust understanding of the impact requires inclusion of the community members who use these sources and their perceptions of them. Consequently, the goal of this research is to investigate the interrelationships between socioeconomic factors, …

Cultivating Local: Building A Local Food System In Western North Carolina, Allison S. Perrett

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines a movement in Western North Carolina to build a local food system, one grounded in the conditions and relationships of place. In 2000, Mountain Family Farms launched the Local Food Campaign to raise public awareness about the region's farms and farming heritage, to educate consumers about the benefits of buying food grown by local farms, and, ultimately, to build markets for locally grown food to sustain the region's farms. The campaign sparked a social movement and over a decade later local farms and locally grown food are a palpable feature of life in the mountains of Western …

Negotiating Race-Related Tensions: How White Educational Leaders Recognize, Confront, And Dialogue About Race And Racism, Amy Jo Samuels

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite exposure of educational disparities for students of color, as well as the notion that educational training rarely discusses race and racism, there continues to be a lack of discourse on race, racism, and anti-racism in educational leadership. Subsequently, it is important to challenge deficit thinking and encourage further examination of the deeply-rooted foundation of oppression. The study explored personal narratives of white educational leaders who oppose racial inequity to heighten awareness about conceptualizations of race, racism, and anti-racism. The research involved interviewing educational leaders in three groups: 1) aspiring, 2) currently-practicing, and 3) recently-retired. Eight participants were selected to …