Digital Commons Network^™

Do Expectancies Influence Outcomes For Tailored Smoking Cessation Messages? A Placebo Tailoring Experiment, Monica S. Webb

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study was an effort to replicate and extend findings from our previous research, which suggested that the efficacy of tailored messages is influenced by high levels of content personalization within the message and by individuals trait expectancies about tailored interventions. We tested whether tailoring-related expectancies regarding smoking-cessation booklets could be altered via a brief expectancy-priming intervention, and whether this would enhance the impact of the cessation materials. A 2x2 factorial design crossed personalization level and expectancy priming on evaluation of the intervention content, readiness to quit smoking, cessation self-efficacy, cognitive processing, and progress towards quitting. Smokers (N = 205) …

A Dynamic Simulation Assessment Of English As A Second Language Students' Academic Readiness: An Initial Validation Of A University Admissions Tool, S. "Sha" G. Balizet

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the measurement quality of the Content Learning Experience: Academic Readiness (CLEAR) test, a new measure for university admissions decisions regarding English as a Second Language (ESL) applicants. The CLEAR test measures ability through dynamic simulation: learning opportunities are followed by testing how well students learned the academic content, all modeled on university instructional experiences.

Measured by the CLEAR is academic readiness (AR), the direct, present evidence of ability to learn academic content via the second language as demonstrated during the dynamic simulation. AR is hypothesized to comprise above-threshold academic language proficiency, personal characteristics, topical knowledge, academic skills, …

Three Studies Of Problem Solving In Collaborative Software Development, Madeline Ann Domino

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A potential solution to producing quality software in an acceptable time frame may be found by using the newer, innovative methods, such as collaborative software development. The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the individual developer characteristics, developmental settings, collaborative methods and the processes during development that impact collaborative programming performance and satisfaction outcomes.

Understanding individual differences in performance in the collaborative development setting is important, since it may help us understand how the collaborative setting may raise the lowest level of performance to much higher levels, as well as how to select individuals for collaborative development. Exploring the …

Leadership Style And The Link With Counterproductive Work Behavior (Cwb): An Investigation Using The Job-Stress/Cwb Model, Kari Bruursema

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Relations among job stressors, leadership style, emotional reactions to work,counterproductive work behavior (CWB), and autonomy were investigated. Participants representing a wide variety of jobs were surveyed. Results indicate that transactional leadership style is related to negative emotions and occurrence of CWB. Relationships between variables were mediated by emotions.

The Construct Validation Of An Instrument Based On Students’ University Choice And Their Perceptions Of Professor Effectiveness And Academic Reputation At The University Of Los Andes, Josefa Maria Montilla

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the construct validation of an instrument based on students university choice and their perceptions of professor effectiveness and academic reputation at the University of Los Andes (ULA). Moreover, a comparative analysis was carried out to determine how the selected factors that influence the students decisions and perceptions differ according to student demographic factors such as: gender and university campus.

This instrument was developed with items based on the three domains formulated: university choice process, professor effectiveness, and university academic reputation. To determine the instruments appropriateness to measure the students decisions in university …

Validation Of The Functional Assessment Of Cancer Therapy Cognitive Scale With Bone Marrow Transplant Patients, Sheri R. Jacobs

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Research has demonstrated that cancer patients report problems with cognitive functioning related to their cancer and their cancer treatments. Cognitive complaints refer to subjective reports of problems such as decreased memory, attention, concentration, and language skills. These problems with cognitive functioning can interfere with a person’s quality of life. The current measures of cognitive complaints have poor or unknown psychometric properties. Therefore, the present study sought to examine the psychometric properties of a newly developed measure of cognitive complaints for cancer patients, the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy Cognitive Scale (FACT-Cog). Eighty-two patients were administered a comprehensive battery of neuropsychological …

Assessing Student Reading Progress: A Comparison Of Generic And Basal Curriculum-Based Reading Probes, Kelli S. Henson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to clarify and extend previous research on the comparibility of curriculum-based measurement oral reading fluency results using reading materials from outside of the students’ curriculum for repeated measurement over time. Specifically, this study evaluated the use of generic measurement materials for monitoring student reading growth and expected gains in words read correctly per minute over time at different grade levels. Sixty-four first through third grade students were assessed twice weekly using both AimsWeb and Open Court reading probes. The dependent variables in this study were the level, which is defined as the mean of …

They Shoot Single People, Don't They?, Dianne J. Smith

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

They Shoot Single People, Don't They? is a romantic comedy of errors set in Boston about Lexie, a twenty-five year old pediatric nurse with still perky breasts and lightly dimpled thighs who can figure out pediatric drug dosages, but is so severely relationship-challenged that she can't make any choice at all when it comes to men. Her life becomes a convoluted mess that includes two guys and a tangled web of lies.

After Marcus dumps her with a post-it note taped to her refrigerator door, Lexie thinks that her five-year plan to get married and have a baby are back …

From Wounded To Woman: The Demasculinization Of Hemingway’S Wounded Male Characters, Myla B. Morris

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

During his time of service in the Italian Army in World War I, Ernest Hemingway was injured. He received a non-life-threatening wound and was forever changed. In his article, "Ernest Hemingway: The Life as Fiction and the Fiction as Life," Jackson J. Benson proposes the idea of Hemingway's "wounding what if?" that follows this course of thought: "What if I were wounded and made crazy?, what would happen if I were sent back to the front? I was only wounded in an accident, what do the really brave ones think of me? (351)" Shortly following the war, Hemingway was wounded …

A P300-Based Brain-Computer Interface: Testing An Alternative Method Of Communication, Eric W. Sellers

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The current study evaluates the effectiveness of a Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) system that operates by detecting a P300 elicited by one of four randomly presented stimuli (i.e., YES, NO, PASS, END). Two groups of participants were tested. The first group included three ALS patients that varied in degree of disability, but all retained the ability to communicate; the second group included three Non-ALS controls. Each participant participated in ten experimental sessions during a period of approximately 6 weeks. Sessions were conducted either at the participant's home or in the lab. During each run the participant's task was to attend to …

African American Women With Type 2 Diabetes: Understanding Self-Management, F Bridgett Rahim-Williams

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Prescribed self-management behaviors have been found to be important factors affecting the rates of morbidity and mortality in multiple medical conditions including chronic diseases such as diabetes, a condition that disproportionately affects high health risk populations such as African Americans.

This study focused on understanding health behaviors, beliefs, and associated factors such as support systems and access to care that played a role in diabetes self-management and glucose control. The study also explored diabetes self-management education and its role in diabetes self-management. The research conducted in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties in Florida, included twenty-five African American women between the ages …

Globalization, Ecotourism, And Development In The Monte Verde Zone, Costa Rica, Edgar Allan Amador

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Ecotourism has been promoted globally as a model for sustainable development because it simultaneously benefits the environment and the residents of the given destination. However, many conservationists have questioned the long term sustainability of ecotourism as it is difficult to mitigate the impact of even low levels of tourism on a particular ecosystem. Further, social scientists including anthropologists have similarly questioned whether most residents of a particular destination actually benefit significantly from the alternative tourism economy.

The Globalization Research Center in cooperation with the Monteverde Institue in the Monte Verde Zone, Costa Rica, is undertaking a longitudinal study -- dubbed …

The Effects Of Militant Press On Nigeria's Democratic Evolution, Oluwaniran Malaolu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This is an in-depth study of the Nigerian press, the ubiquitous behemoth which called itself the "defender" of Nigeria's national independence and the last "hope" of the common man. It's a bold attempt to critically examine its antecedents, its evolution or development especially the historical, political, technological and socio-economic events that had impacted its growth, its world views and ideologies. It's a thorough assessment of the press' influence on Nigeria's socio-economic and political development, as well as the suitability of its tactics and posturing toward attaining its set goals of economic and political emancipation of Nigerians. Most importantly, this study …

Copd Dyspnea Management By Family Caregivers, Loris A. Thomas

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

An estimated 14 million people in the United States currently have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). This nonreversible illness causes progressively decreasing airflow and is manifested by frequent episodes of acute and chronic dyspnea. The purposes of this study were: 1) to examine the relationships between mastery (MS), negative affectivity trait (NA), perceptions of patient dyspnea severity (DSI), and perceptions of which dyspnea interventions are effective (DE) among family caregiver-COPD patient dyads and 2) to examine the degree of agreement between the dyad members regarding dyspnea assessment and management. The study subjects were elderly (patients = 71.6 years, caregivers = …

Colombian Immigrant Children In The United States: Representations Of Food And The Process Of Creolization, María Claudia Duque-Páramo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation research is to study the experience of adjustment of Colombian immigrant children to living in the U.S. In order to understand the changes they have experienced as immigrants, the research focuses on the ways in which they talk about the food they eat hereand on the foods they ate in Colombia. Because of the symbolic importance of food in the construction of ethnic and personal identities, a study of how the children talk about food illuminates the process of blending elements from the immigrant culture with those of the U.S.

Based on the symbolic interactionism …

Sports And The American Sacred: What Are The Limits Of Civil Religion?, Frank Ferreri

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines whether American civil religion, in its enactment in daily American life, is cosmological. That is, it questions whether the sacred behind American civil religion is present in the physical-material realm and not in a transcendental principle or being. It is interested in why, seemingly, what is sacred in American culture is always what is happening here and now. This is evidenced by and manifested in multiple vehicles of the sacred in American culture. These vehicles include a range of institutions from economics to politics to religion to education. They also include entities such as the mass media, …

Examining The Handbooks On Environmental Journalism: A Qualitative Document Analysis And Response To The Literature, Lisa Rademakers

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis addressed the question, "How should journalists cover the environment, according to the conversation between the scholarship on environmental journalism and the handbooks on environmental journalism?" Do the handbooks, written for practicing journalists, agree with the academic scholarship on environmental journalism?

The conversation between the literature and handbooks is important to examine, as the handbooks are tools journalists may use when reporting on the environment. The handbooks could influence a journalist, who influences the public, who make decisions in a democracy. As well, examining the conversation between the literature and the handbooks reveals whether or not the academy and …

Modelling Distance Functions Induced By Face Recognition Algorithms, Soumee Chaudhari

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Face recognition algorithms has in the past few years become a very active area of research in the fields of computer vision, image processing, and cognitive psychology. This has spawned various algorithms of different complexities. The concept of principal component analysis(PCA) is a popular mode of face recognition algorithm and has often been used to benchmark other face recognition algorithms for identification and verification scenarios. However in this thesis, we try to analyze different face recognition algorithms at a deeper level. The objective is to model the distances output by any face recognition algorithm as a function of the input …

The Stress Response, Psychoeducational Interventions And Assisted Reproduction Technology Treatment Outcomes: A Meta-Analytic Review, Karen Rose Mumford

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The psychological impacts of infertility have been well documented in the literature, providing evidence to support that at least some women who confront infertility are at risk for heightened distress and depressive symptoms. In response to this accumulated evidence, it has been argued that psychoeducational interventions may provide an important component to the treatment of infertility. While several theoretical models postulate the effects of stress on infertility treatment outcomes, results of these investigations have led to conflicting conclusions. However, a synthesis of the accumulated data examining the effects of stress on ART treatment outcomes was nonexistent until the conduct of …

Efficient And Effective? The Hundred Year Flood In The Communication And Perception Of Flood Risk, Heather Bell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In response to the rising costs of floods, the United States has adopted sophisticated programs to mitigate the loss of life and property. However, the efficient implementation of certain aspects of flood policy has taken precedence over effective communication. The scope of the National Flood Insurance Program and the efficient coding of "the 100 year flood" have led to a pervasive use of the term in both formal and informal risk communication. When officials began consciously communicating flood policy to the public, they assumed a narrow "engineering" model and did not fully anticipate the influence of informal communication on the …

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 …

Relation Between Weight Status, Gender, Ethnicity And The Food And Activity Choices Of Adolescents, Heather Leanne Curtiss

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The present study examined the relationship between the variables weight status (expected weight, overweight), ethnicity, and gender and the dependent variables dietary intake and physical activity behaviors among adolescents. The data presented in this study were collected using the Nutrition Questionnaire for High School Students, which was completed by 199 adolescents in a high school in southwest Florida in February of 2004. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used to identify differences in dietary intake and physical activity behaviors between weight status groups.

The primary questions in this study related to interactions and main effects between the variables weight category, …

The Effects Of Graphic Display And Training In Visual Inspection On Teachers' Detection Of Behavior Change, Allana Duncan Luquette

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Although a number of researchers have attempted to evaluate the variables that affect teacher's acceptability of behavioral interventions, few have examined the influence of treatment effectiveness on teacher decision making. Interestingly, effectiveness information in the form of graphic feedback has been shown to improve treatment integrity, however little has been done to assess the effects of graphic feedback on teacher's ability to accurately recognize behavior change. This study assessed the effects of graphic display and training in visual inspection of graphed data on the ability of teachers to accurately recognize and report changes in student behavior. In addition, the researcher …

Imitation And Its Reciprocity In The Treatment Of Autism, Roxana I. Nedelcu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examined, within a multiple baseline design, the development of generalized imitative repertoires and the occurrence of contingency testing in children with autism. Generalized imitation refers to an imitative response class maintained by a conditioned reinforcer: similarity. In the case of imitation, a response class is established by reinforcement of sufficient exemplars of different imitations; the results is a general repertoire of imitating novel responses on their first presentation. Generalized imitation was facilitated through reinforcement procedures involving shaping and fading. Multiple experimenters and multiple settings have been involved to promote the generalization of imitation. Contingency testing, which has been …

Racial Equity In Exclusionary Discipline Practices, Mary M. Tremper

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The present study examined whether external (out-of-school) suspensions are applied equitably to students of different ethnic backgrounds who commit violent and nonviolent offenses. The hypotheses presented in this study were addressed through secondary analysis of disciplinary records from a large metropolitan school district in Florida.

The results indicate that, for the group of 1,667 tenth grade students included in this analysis, racial equity was related to the type of offense, as well as to the student's socioeconomic status. Racial differences were found when SES was not considered, with African American students more likely to be suspended from school for status …

Predicting Low Income Children's Kindergarten Readiness: An Investigation Of Parents’ Perceptions Of Their Children's Development And Connections To The Educational System, Nakeba N. Finlayson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The current study sought to explore the relationship between four parent variables and children's Early Screening Inventory-Kindergarten (ESI-K) scores among families from low socioeconomic status backgrounds. The four parent variables were 1) parents' perceptions of school readiness, 2) parents' education, and 3) parents' attitudes towards their child's school, 4) the child's early development. The participants were 63 parents and their kindergarten children from three schools in Hillsborough County Florida. Results showed that parents are relatively good predictors of their children's readiness for school, with that variable alone accounting for 18% of the variance in ESI-K scores. The four variables together …

Relationship Between Curriculum-Based Measurement Reading And Statewide Achievement Test Mastery For Third Grade Students, Erin Elizabeth Ax

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The ability to read is highly valued in American society and important for social and economic advancement. One of the best strategies to prevent reading difficulties is to build basic literacy skills, thereby ensuring that all children are readers early in their educational careers. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between third-grade students' oral reading rate and scores on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test.

The present study examined the relationship between the independent variables of Curriculum-Based Measurement Reading (R-CBM), ethnicity and socioeconomic status and the dependent variable of performance on the reading portion of the Florida …

Effects Of Participant Engagement On Alcohol Expectancies And Drinking Outcomes For A Computerized Expectancy Challenge Intervention, William Michael Hunt

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the present study was to examine the effect of varying the amount of participant engagement on alcohol expectancy and drinking outcomes during a social/sexual expectancy challenge based on Darkes and Goldman's (1993, 1998) protocol. This study was also intended to provide a test of the efficacy of administering an alcohol/placebo expectancy challenge outside of a live drinking scenario through video presented as part of a computerized intervention.

One hundred fifty-eight male participants across three sites were randomized into a no-intervention control group that received non alcohol-related information in a minimally interactive computerized format, a low-level engagement experimental …

Creating A Distributed Field Robot Architecture For Multiple Robots, Matthew T. Long

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis describes the design and implementation of a distributed robot architecture, Distributed Field Robot Architecture. The approach taken in this thesis is threefold. First, the distributed architecture builds on existing hybrid deliberative/reactive architectures used for individual robots rather than creating a distributed architecture that requires re-engineering of existing robots. Second, the distributed layer of the architecture incorporates concepts from artificial intelligence and software agents. Third, the architecture is designed around Suns Jini middleware layer, rather than creating a middleware layer from scratch or attempting to adapt a software agent architecture. This thesis makes three primary contributions, both theoretical and …

The Relationship Among Various Learner Characteristics And Reading Achievement As Measured By The Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, Amanda A. Privé

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The present study examined the relationships among various learner characteristics and reading achievement, as measured by the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT). Using a multiple regression, the independent variables grade, gender, ethnicity, and motivation to read were used to predict the dependent variable, reading achievement. Participants in this study consisted of 585 students from nine elementary, nine middle, and nine high schools across three districts in Florida.

Using archival data from a database composed by the Florida Center for Reading Research, the FCAT and Motivation to Read Profile were used to compute reading achievement and motivation to read, respectively. FCAT …