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Low Documented Risk Cesarean Sections And Late-Preterm Births: The Florida Experience, Heather Breeze Clayton

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There are increasing concerns about the excessive use of cesarean delivery in the United States, as cesarean deliveries have been associated with adverse maternal and infant health outcomes. Currently, the cesarean section (C/S) rate for Florida is the second highest in the nation. Furthermore, preliminary reports from the Florida Department of Health (FDOH) have implicated the increasing rate of cesarean delivery to an increase in the rate of late preterm births (PTB) in Florida (births at 34 to 36 weeks gestational age). Information on the impact of late PTB associated with cesarean delivery on the rate of maternal and infant …

Faculty Perspectives On Doctoral Student Mentoring: The Mentor‘S Odyssey, Carol A. Burg

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, mentoring has emerged as a research domain, however, the preponderance of mentoring research has been situated first, in the business or organizational settings and second, in the K-12 educational setting, focusing on protégé experiences, using quantitative survey instruments to collect data. Thus, mentoring research literature includes a paucity of formal studies in the arena of graduate education.

Situated in the higher education setting, this study investigated the perspectives of faculty-mentors who provided mentoring to doctoral students who completed the doctoral degree, employing the qualitative research methodology known as phenomenology, as an orthogonal but complimentary epistemology to previous …

Lived Experience: Near-Fatal Adolescent Suicide Attempt, Phyllis Ann Dougherty

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Adolescent suicide has become a national health crisis. Suicide now ranks as a leading cause of adolescent death in the U.S. In response to this, the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention (2001b) recommended the promotion and support of research into suicide and prevention, particularly high-risk groups such as adolescents. However, due to concerns for safety and liability, there have been few studies of highly suicidal individuals, specifically adolescents. Leading suicidologists have agreed that studying the qualities of the near-fatal suicide attempt can most resemble the completed suicide.

This case study explored the phenomenon of the near-fatal suicide attempt through the …

Active Surface Topographies In Constrained Hydrogel Films For Biomedical Applications, Ophir Ortiz

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Lung cancer has the highest mortality rate relative to all types of cancers, and unfortunately there still exist numerous challenges towards decreasing this rate. One of these challenges is gaining a clear understanding of why metastatic lung cancer cells attach and detach to colonize other areas of the body. Reports suggest that the attachment of cells to secondary tumor sites does not occur randomly. It is theorized that both the physical and chemical properties of the tissue are able to create a suitable environment for their adhesion. Therefore, the motivation for the work presented herein is to use dynamic thermoresponsive …

Statistical Learning And Behrens-Fisher Distribution Methods For Heteroscedastic Data In Microarray Analysis, Nabin K. Manandhr-Shrestha

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The aim of the present study is to identify the di®erentially expressed genes be- tween two di®erent conditions and apply it in predicting the class of new samples using the microarray data. Microarray data analysis poses many challenges to the statis- ticians because of its high dimensionality and small sample size, dubbed as "small n large p problem". Microarray data has been extensively studied by many statisticians and geneticists. Generally, it is said to follow a normal distribution with equal vari- ances in two conditions, but it is not true in general. Since the number of replications is very small, …

Experiences Of Foreign Language Teachers And Students Using A Technology-Mediated Oral Assessment, Jeannie Ducher

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The development of the speaking skill at the lower levels of proficiency is seldom assessed as a matter-of-fact in the foreign language classroom, for reasons of impracticality and difficulty of implementation. Although the practice of the speaking skill is an important part of current approaches to the teaching of foreign languages, issues of time and logistics often prohibit the direct evaluation of the skill in a manner consistent with best practices, which purport that practice and assessment must be closely aligned, and that students benefit from self-evaluation and teacher feedback. Classroom research has shown that a skill that is not …

A Study Of Selected Teachers‘ Perceptions Of Grade Retention In A Florida School District, Julius L. Wynn

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examined and analyzed selected middle school teachers' perceptions of grade retention, and informed teachers about current and past research on grade retention. Through analysis of teacher interviews and using a Likert scale instrument, responses indicated that teachers continue to support and to use retention when students do not master required objectives for promotion. Because of the new Florida retention policy and the No Child Left Behind policy, it was critical to measure teachers' levels of understanding and perceptions of grade retention.

Their perceptions gave insight into their thoughts and beliefs about the practice. Survey responses of 326 teachers …

Manifestations Of Hidden Curriculum In A Community College Online Opticianry Program: An Ecological Approach, Barry Hubbard

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Understanding the influential factors at work within an online learning environment is a growing area of interest. Hidden or implicit expectations, skill sets, knowledge, and social process can help or hinder student achievement, belief systems, and persistence. This qualitative study investigated how hidden curricular issues transpired in an online learning environment's institutional and organization systems using an ecological paradigm. A phenomenological approach rooted in a case study context was used to explore the experiences and perceptions of a group of students, faculty, and administrators involved with an online academic program (opticianry) at a community college. Interviews, non-participant observation, and a …

An Interpretive Policy Analysis Of Bullying Law And The Development Of Bullying Policy In A Central Florida School District, Scott D. Richman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Bullying has been an issue in schools and became a major concern for school leaders over the past two decades. Olweus (1993) defined three characteristics of bullying behavior: intent to harm another, repeated offenses, and a perceived or real power imbalance. This study examined the law's provisions concerning bullying in schools; specifically examining the Florida Jeffrey Johnston Stand Up for All Student Act (2008), and the required policy implemented in Hillsborough County Public Schools (HCPS). Discourse theory framed the study, as defined by Habermas (1996) and the derivative Interpretive Policy Analysis was used to analyze the district policy, as defined …

Writing To (Re)New Orleans: The Post-Hurricane Katrina Blogosphere And Its Ability To Inspire Recovery, Daisy Pignetti

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Nearly every website or software application these days features a feed to subscribe to, a network to join, or a social timeline to track—all of which do their part to influence public opinion, promote products, and bring people closer together. Being a blogger since 2003 exposed me to these user-generated trends, but never did I expect my blog space, or any others, to play such an important role in my emotional well-being; not until Hurricane Katrina hit. Sharing my story as a transplanted New Orleanian watching the disaster unfold from afar in a public forum quickly linked me to other …

School Psychologists Involvement And Perceived Preparedness In The Provision Of Suicide-Related Services: A Comparison Of Practitioners Serving Different School Levels, Jennifer M. Cunningham

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

While the manifestation of suicidal thoughts and/or behavior is more common among adolescents, children are capable of, and do experience, suicidal ideation as well as demonstrate suicidal behaviors. Suicide is the sixth leading cause of death among children aged 5-14 years (Center for Disease Control [CDC], 2008). However, children may not always be referred or brought to the attention of the school psychologist, as their threats may be considered immature and unfounded. The purpose of this study is to provide data that clarifies the need for the provision of suicide-related services for children in elementary school. An archival dataset of …

The Rebirth Of A Semi-Disintegrated Enterprise: Towards The Future Of Composites In Pre-Synthesized Domestic Dwellings; And The Societal Acceptance Of The Anti-In Situ Architectural Movement, Timothy James Keepers

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The prefabricated home has been said to be the site of innovation, exploration and sometimes spectacular failure since the mid 20th-century (Home Delivery, 8). Despite years of research and advancements in technology, pre-synthesization in the domestic realm has typically remained loyal to past construction methods/materials and banal aesthetic ripostes. As a result, the modern pre-synthesized home suffers in terms of programmatic diversity, spatial feedback, supertemporal expansion (in reference to the supertemporal art movement) and societal acceptance.

Materials and technologies are constantly upgrading in our increasingly technetronic society. Re-marketing the prefabricated home will require a similar modus operandi. Investigating the successes …

Exploring Colorectal Cancer Diagnosis Disclosure To First-Degree Relatives: An African American Family Case Series, Kamilah B. Thomas

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second leading cancer killer in the United States and the third most common cancer in African American men and women. Though the overall death rates have declined, this reduction in mortality is smaller for African Americans than for Whites. Factors that are protective against colorectal cancer include occupational or recreational physical activity, a diet high in fruits and vegetables, and colorectal cancer screening with removal of polyps (polypectomy) before they progress to cancer. Compliance with CRC screening recommendations requires people to know if a first-degree relative (parent, sibling, and child) or second-degree relative (aunt, uncle, …

Imagined Realities, Defying Subjects: Voice, Sexuality And Subversion In African Women's Writing, Sarah Namulondo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The privileging of man in African societies has involved an erasure of identities and subjectivities of many women, holding them to an assumption of female inferiority. To counter the injustice, African women writers have engaged in rhetorical and performative strategies designed to reconstitute the cultural erasure as they try to claim status as individuals. But in the process, various cultural expectations such as their maternal roles act as constant bottlenecks to return them back to their prescribed roles as subordinate beings. This dissertation, “Imagined Realities, Defying Subjects: Voice, Sexuality and Subversion in African Women’s Writing” explores the methodologies of cultural …

Motivational Factors And Worldview Dimensions Associated With Perceptions Of Global Education Initiatives By U.S. College Professors, Emmanuel Jean-François

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate motivational factors and worldview dimensions associated with perceptions of global education initiatives by college professors in the United States. The concept of "perceptions of global education initiatives" is used in this study to refer to attitudes toward institutional support for global education, internationalizing curriculum, campus and community activities to increase global awareness, and international experiences and cooperation. The term college professor in this study is used to designate full-time assistant professors, associate professors, and full professors teaching at a regionally accredited private or public four - year college or university in the …

(Im•Print) A Material Investigation To Encourage A Haptic Dialog, Julie Marie Vo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The word impression encompasses a dual meaning which desires to be more fully explored in the built realm. An (im-print) has a powerful impact because the message becomes an indelible mark embedded within the material. Physically, an impression is made by the pressure of one object on or into another, leaving behind a trace of this interaction on the surface. This process has the potential to create a vivid memory within the participant who comes into contact with it.

The idea of imprint can become a part of the process of design both physically and conceptually. As polished concrete can …

Architecture As Canvas, Monika Blazenovic

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cities are increasingly becoming vessels of consumption, while various opportunities for production of space and public expression are taken away from the city's inhabitants. New architectural interventions often disregard a site's previously developed character and further aid in wiping away memories closely related to a city's cultural past. Banja Luka, the second largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, has been an important cultural center, even through years of unrest. Within the city's main plaza stands an unfinished concrete structure (Fig. 3), built with pre-war conceptions of a hotel. The structure's location within the city of Banja Luka has provided for …

Phenomenology Of Home, Lidiya Angelova

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The intent of this Master's Thesis project is to investigate the meaning of home through the bodily experience and psychological perception of space.

An inherent ambiguity to the word, as it fails to translate in languages other than those of the Germanic group, causes confusion in defining what home is. In English the word home suggests a deeper understanding and attachment to the surrounding environment, a sort of fusing of the spatial, time and material elements into a single intense experience of being.

In languages that do not contain the word the notion of home is expressed in poetry through …

Women And Architecture: Re-Making Shelter Through Woven Tectonics, Kirsten Lee Dahlquist

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Weaving and architecture, conceived simultaneously with cave paintings, are two ancient forms of craft used to enclose space and provide shelter harmoniously with nature. In its basic composition, a useable textile is the interlacing of two members, warp and weft, at right angles to create structure and surface respectively. Textile artist Anni Albers of the Bauhaus attributes the organization of weaving to the skills of an ancient goddess. Her understanding of prehistoric cultures further links women closer to the overall creation of structure, though perceived as a masculine endeavor. Consequently, early advancements in architecture, the structural organization of shelter, are …

A Comparative Study Of The Plants Used For Medicinal Purposes By The Creek And Seminoles Tribes, Kimberly Hutton

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Previous studies in Native American ethnobotany on the shared use of medicinal and cultural plants between communities fail to clearly reveal if these shared uses are part of changing culture or remain a stabilizing connection between old and new tribes. During the late 1700's to early 1800's, various factions of the Creek tribes of Georgia migrated into Florida, forming a new tribe called the Seminoles. This event provides the unique opportunity to study the changing cultural and medicinal uses of plants by a new tribe in a new geographic location, revealing if cultural purposes were passed from one group to …

Leadership Competencies For College Leaders Of Public Small, Rural, Single-Campus And Large, Urban, Multiple-Campus Colleges, Joseph M. J Kools

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research examined how two decidedly different groups of community college presidents from across the United States viewed the competencies, characteristics, and professional skills identified by the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) (2005) as important for effective community college leadership. The two groups participating in the research were from small, single-campus colleges serving rural populations and from large, multiple-campus colleges serving urban populations. The participants were asked to identify those activities and experiences that they found helpful in developing the AACC leadership competencies. The results from this research suggest that community college presidents from both sizes of college campuses …

Evaluation Of Video Modeling For Teaching Abduction Prevention Skills To Children Diagnosed With Autism And Aspergers Disorder, Danielle Godish

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Abduction prevention skills are crucial for any child to have. Unfortunately there has been a lack of research on teaching children with autism and aspergers these skills. Video modeling has been shown to be an effective method to teach children with autism various skills. Video modeling has also been shown to be cost efficient and easily implemented across various people and settings. The purpose of the present study was to assess the effectiveness of the video modeling technique for teaching children with autism and aspergers abduction prevention skills. The second purpose of the present study was to investigate the effectiveness …

Enclosure, Transformation, Emergence: Space And The Construction Of Gender Roles In The Novels Of Charlotte Brontë, Michelle Dawn Lattanzio

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

I am interested in the construction and meaning of space in Charlotte Brontë 's novels, and more specifically the idea of enclosure, in abstract and concrete terms. In a concrete sense, I wish to investigate the physical spaces the women in Charlotte Brontë 's novels inhabit: their homes, gardens, workplaces, clothing, and their bodies. In an abstract sense, I wish to investigate the cultural, psychic, gender, and linguistic spaces they inhabit: the cultural images and conventions women are enclosed within, the psychic space of the mind, and the narrative spaces they inhabit (and create).

Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar, in …

Feral Cats And The People Who Care For Them, Loretta Sue Humphrey

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Sociologists have described the characteristics of individuals who become involved in social movements, their motivations for becoming involved, and the methods used to recruit participants. One group that has been underrepresented in the existing literature is feral cat caretakers. The purpose of this study is to examine the traits of this group, information which would be valuable to groups dedicated to educating the public about the plight of feral cats, groups which offer information and resources to caretakers, individuals wishing to network with other feral cat caretakers, and policy makers in need of knowing what options exist to deal with …

The Fiction Of The Rime: Gaspara Stampa’S “Poetic Misprision” Of Giovanni Boccaccio’S The Elegy Of Lady Fiammetta, Ellan B. Otero

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study maintains that although Gaspara Stampa's Rime (1554) appears to straddle two popular literary genres-lyric poetry and autobiography-analysis of the Rime within its cultural context demonstrates that while Stampa (1523-1553) used Petrarchan conventions, she also both borrowed and swerved from Giovanni Boccaccio's Elegy of Lady Fiammetta (1334-1337) to imagine a non-Petrarchan narrative of an abandoned woman. In the Renaissance, lyric poetry and autobiography were distinguished not only by their style-prose vs. verse-but, more importantly, by the treatment of their distinctive subject matter. Lyric poetry focused on those emotions involving love, whereas Renaissance autobiography shunned emotions. A comparative analysis of …

The Effect Of Land-Use Controls On Urban Sprawl, Marin V. Geshkov

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Chapter 1 provides a discussion of definitions, criticisms, and measurements of urban sprawl. Land-use controls are surveyed in Chapter 2. In Chapter 3, we present the monocentric urban model, followed by a discussion of extensions of that model to include land-use controls. Chapter 4 is a survey of previous empirical analysis of the monocentric model, while Chapters 5 and 6 present our own empirical work.

In general, our empirical results support the theoretical predictions as well as providing support for policies to control sprawl. In particular, the results support the use of maximum lot-size zoning, urban growth boundaries, and density …

Testimony Of Trauma: Ernest Hemingway’S Narrative Progression In Across The River And Into The Trees, Kathleen K. Robinson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Specifically, the study of the progression focuses on examining Hemingway's Across the River and into the Trees for evidence of traumas' effects on Hemingway's development of narrative structure. Throughout his career, Hemingway pinpoints the importance of witnessing and experiencing war on a writer. I endeavor to demonstrate-in detail, achieved by close reading, and with solid evidence-how the imbrication of trauma in Across the River and into the Trees represents a vital moment in Hemingway's progression as a writer. My assertion, a new calculus of subjectivity and objectivity appearing in the narrative structure via the protagonist, viably counters previous critical dismissal …

Metal-Organic Materials: From Design Principles To Practical Applications, Mohamed H. Alkordi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The works presented herein outline rational design approaches towards construction of solid state materials with great potentials to answer some of current demanding applications. Specifically, the materials targeted are metal−organic materials with desirable structural features and functional properties. Metal−organic materials are constructed from organic linker molecules and metal ions under relatively mild solvothermal reaction conditions that preserve the structural features of the relatively simple building blocks. Therefore, it is feasible to conceive a retrospective pathway of the reaction and thus deconstruct the desirable structures into simple, chemicallyrelevant, building blocks in an approach known as the molecular building block approach. Due …

Understanding Organizational Adoption Theories Through The Adoption Of A Disruptive Innovation: Five Cases Of Open Source Software, Delmer Nagy

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation seeks to understand how organizations adopt a disruptive technology, open source software. Five cross-sectional case studies at municipal governments were performed using a theoretical model based off of eight organizational adoption theories. Results of the case studies highlight how each construct from each theory was present at the organizations. However each construct was of variable influence based upon organizational characteristics and the time or stage of adoption.

Spelling Errors In Children With Autism, Khalyn I. Wiggins

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this study was to examine the spelling errors of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) when asked to spell morphologically complex words. Specifically, this study sought to determine if percent accuracy across morphological areas would be similar to patterns noted in typical developing children, correlate with participant age, and correlate to performance on standardized measures of achievement. Additionally, the study wanted to highlight the types of errors made by children with ASD on homonyms and the specific linguistic patterns noted when spelling derivational and inflectional word types.

Participants included 29 children diagnosed with Autism, PDD-NOS, and Asperger’s …