Digital Commons Network^™

Assessing Druze Identity And Strategies For Preserving Druze Heritage In North America, Chad Kassem Radwan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research study focuses on promoting historical, religious, and cultural knowledge among transnational Druze. The Druze are a relatively small, tightly knit religious community from the Middle East who practice endogamy and accept no converts. In the diaspora, Druze have often established their own communities based on their collective ancestral and familial ties and through the establishment of groups such as the American Druze Society. This study works to allow individuals to discuss their Druze identity, identify the community's social problems, and recommend possible approaches or solutions. My research experience as an insider doing ethnography among fellow Druze has in …

Agriculture And Tampa Bay News: How Do Local News Media Frame Agribusiness?, Alex R. Ritzheimer

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose for this thesis was to explore a dynamic between the news media, their subjects, and their audience. I investigate whether everyday news media frame the information they deliver in such a way as to potentially direct the audience on how to respond to news stories. The setting for this research question is in the Tampa Bay area of Florida and the subject matter deals specifically with agriculture, its practitioners, how they do business, and how the local news media report about it. The issue will be explored from an applied anthropological perspective, basing conclusions on field research and …

An Experimental Investigation Into The Impact Of Crisis Response Strategies And Relationship History On Relationship Quality And Corporate Credibility, Camille Roberts

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates the influence of different crisis response strategies and relationship history on corporate credibility and the dimensions of the organizational-public relationship. The relationship dimensions examined were trust, commitment, satisfaction and control mutuality. An experiment was conducted among undergraduate students drawn from an introductory mass communication class. Results indicate that when an organization's relationship history with its publics is positive, the public is more likely to view the post-crisis relationship quality and organizational credibility as positive than negative. Additionally, more accommodative crisis response strategies have a greater impact on relationship quality than less accommodative strategies. Crisis response strategy does …

Transdiscursive Cosmopolitanism: Foucauldian Freedom, Subjectivity, And The Power Of Resistance, Joanna Rozpedowski

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The following project will consist in the study and examination of the concepts and theories that lie in the domain of political theory. The enquiry into the dimensions and complexities of the socio-political organization and the political substance of individual human agents will be conducted with the intellectual assistance of the postmodernist turn of thought. I will interrogate and develop a specifically Foucauldian reading of international politics and the emerging global world order as well as situate Foucault's insights and theorizing in a cosmopolitan framework, which calls for a progressive re-conceptualization of the dimensions of power and the modalities of …

School Work Environment: Transition From Education To Practice, Shane Ross

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Learning how to learn as opposed to obtaining the experience to practice any field of professionalism creates a great disconnect between education and careers. Many educational programs do not have the curriculum or a building to transition students into a work atmosphere. When the design of a building and its program creates an environment that bridges the gap between school and work, the psychology and standard of an average graduate greatly increases. Students learn from being taught and personal experience. There are programs that require an internship or similar practice as a mandatory factor of the degree. Apprenticeships connect the …

Seeing It, Knowing It, Elizabeth M. Glazer

Hofstra Law Faculty Scholarship

In When Obscenity Discriminates, I argued that the First Amendment's obscenity doctrine has generated discriminatory collateral effects against gays and lesbians, and that those collateral effects generate a need to refine the obscenity doctrine in light of the Supreme Court's decision in Lawrence v. Texas. In his response, If Obscenity Were to Discriminate, Professor Barry McDonald agrees with my essay's "core insight--that the Miller obscenity test should be applied in a manner that is neutral as to the sexual orientation of the pertinent actors," and notes that this insight "appears to have substantial support in basic principles of the Court's …

Stopping For Death: Re-Framing Our Perspective On The End Of Life, Ruth C. Stern, J. Herbie Difonzo

Hofstra Law Faculty Scholarship

How we die is increasingly becoming a matter of law and public policy. We grapple with issues of patient autonomy, the proper parameters of doctor-patient discussions on the end of life, the right to hasten death, and the right to control our own medical treatment. But it is physicians and patients, not judges and legislators, who are the principal actors in events at the end of life. Palliative medicine is just beginning to probe the multi-dimensional totality of suffering in dying and seriously ill patients. What we learn will influence our options at the end of life and tell us …

Whatever Happened To The Search For Truth, Monroe H. Freedman

Hofstra Law Faculty Scholarship

In a recent case,Gutman v. Klein, the court ordered the defendant to turn over his laptop so that it could be copied by the plaintiff’s lawyer and an expert. When the lawyer and the expert arrived at the appointed time, there was a two-hour delay. When they finally got the laptop, they found that it was hot to the touch and was missing a screw from the hard-drive plate, which made them suspicious.

As a result, the court ordered its own expert to examine the laptop.The court’s expert found that numerous files had been deleted and were unrecoverable, …

Interview With Commissioner Of Police George Asiamah, Ghana National Police Service Interviewed By Gordon A. Crews And Angela D. Crews, Gordon A. Crews, Angela D. Crews

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

In January of 2007, Drs. Gordon and Angela Crews traveled with their graduate assistant, Mr. Kofi Annor Boye-Doe, and Ghanaian Fulbright Scholar, Mr. Ken Aikins, to Ghana, West Africa, in order to conduct a research study. The original research plan was to conduct a three part examination of: 1) the blend of indigenous government (rooted in religious practices and strongly associated with spirituality and mysticism) and state government in the Ghanaian justice system; 2) the treatment of women and children within these systems; and 3) the alternative dispute resolution, restorative justice, and conflict resolution strategies within the two systems.

During …

Trust On The Internet: A Virtual Reality?, Adam Clark, '09

Honors Projects

Social capital has recently gained popularity, but it is not a new topic. The relationship between civic engagement and trust has been well tested, and it has been used in the past to help diagnose the well being of a society. Unfortunately with evolving technology, some of this research may be now obsolete. The Internet has changed the way that people communicate and learn. Since the Internet has reached such high proliferation rates, especially among the younger generations, it is likely to have an effect on the relationship between civic engagement and trust. Using NES survey data from 1996 to …

Access And Innovation: A Study Of Two Ngo Schools In North India, Christy Ivie, '09

Honors Projects

Using data collected from two NGO schools in North India, this study presents two case studies that will shed some light on how NGOs in India are increasing access and innovation in the primary education system. By comparing and contrasting the two organizations, this study will also highlight the diversity of NGOs involved in primary education in India. Instead of making broad generalizations about the role and contributions of NGOs in primary education in India, this study aims to provide perspectives on two different organizations and raise questions about NGO schooling in India.

Why Can't We Be Friends?: The Effects Of Disclosure And Severity On Typical Students' Attitudes Toward Peers With Autism Spectrum Disorders, Jacqueline M. Dowjotas, '09

Honors Projects

The autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are characterized by deficits in social interaction, communication, and restrictive and repetitive behaviors and interests. Although many children with autism desire social interaction, they tend to have a difficult time mastering conversation skills and socially appropriate behavior. In addition, they have fewer and lower quality friendships when compared to typical peers, and they often face negative stigma from their typical peers. The current study was used to investigate typical students' attitudes toward hypothetical peers with varying degrees of ASDs. Participants (N = 61) read and responded to vignettes that depicted adolescents, in which severity of …

The Effects Of Medial Septal Modification On The Theta Rhythm Of The Amygdala, Colleen E. Mcshane, '09

Honors Projects

The theta rhythm is a 3- 1 2 Hz electroencephalographic (EEG) oscillatory phenomenon that has been recorded from the hippocampus of small animals during large motor movements, periods of arousal, and memory tasks. Theta denotes the amount of brain synchrony occurring, with higher theta amplitude corresponding to more synchrony among individual neurons. The proposed pacemaker of the hippocampal theta rhythm is the medial septal area (MSA), which consists of neurons that fire rhythmically in frequencies corresponding to the theta rhythm. Despite the proven physical connection between the MSA and the amygdala, there is uncertainty as to whether the MSA serves …

A Campaign For Male Beauty: The Influence Of Advertisement On Dimensions Of Male Body, Michelle Meehan, '09

Honors Projects

Distorted body image perception is a growing problem in today' s society, with advertisements that display a "thin-ideal" having a significant effect on the issue. Recent advertising campaigns have been designed to improve self perceptions of body image and are now the fo cus of research. Dremonas (2008) concluded from her research of the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty, that such a campaign actually decreased self perceptions of body esteem in females. Adding to the research of Dremonas (2008), the present study utilized 50 male, undergraduate students to examine the effects of the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty on men. …

A Comparative Study Of Organisational Commitment Of Bank Employees In Ireland And China, Helen Chen

Conference papers

Organisational commitment has been extensively researched in the Western and non-Western contexts. However, little has been conducted to approach it from a cross-cultural perspective. This paper sets out to fill in the gap by examining bank employees’ organisational commitment in Ireland and China. Data was collected in two American banks, one in Ireland and the other one in China in June 2008. Research results showed interesting and dynamic differences of the three dimensions of the Irish and Chinese bank employees’ organisational commitment with regards to the effects of income, gender and tenure. Implications for managers in Ireland and China are …

The Internet As Playground And Factory, Robert T. Scholz

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

"Free labour" is central to the Internet. Traditional exploitation of labour was complemented by the monetization of attention between the 1880s and 1950s and then by the commoditization of networked publics starting in the 1980s. Today, commercial interests have colonized the Internet and "labour" is being performed online by hundreds of millions of people. Without being recognized as "labour", it turns profits for corporations. Playful, virtual volunteerism, and social production, driven by the desire for praise, entertainment, and peer recognition, has become a significant driving force of consumer capitalism. I am introducing the term "interactivity labour" to discuss the complex …

Memory And Metamemory In Patients With Temporal Lobe Epilepsy, Charlotte Emma Howard

School of Psychology Theses

It is well established that patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) commonly report memory difficulties. The aim of this thesis was to use a novel approach adopting Nelson & Narens' (1990) theoretical framework to investigate whether metacognitive knowledge and memory performance were differentially disrupted in patients with TLE. More specifically, investigating to what extent poor memory in TLE could result from inadequate metamemory monitoring, inadequate metamemory control or both. Experiment I employed a combined Judgement-of-Learning and Feeling-of-Knowing task to investigate whether participants could monitor their memory successfully at both the item-by-item and global levels. The results revealed a dissociation between …

Iterative Approaches To Planning And Strategizing: Learning From The Architectural Studio Model, Shannon Chance

Conference papers

This paper investigates linear and non-linear strategies for organizing and planning, and explores how these strategies correlate to both higher education and architectural education. The study reveals that the strategies for planning and designing typically employed in the field of architecture reflect the sort of non-linear, iterative, and synthesizing processes scholars recommend universities use to improve the effectiveness of strategic planning (Birnbaum, 1988; Cutright, 2001; Presley & Leslie, 1999; Rowley, Lujan, & Dolence, 1998; Swenk, 2001). Opportunities abound for using design processes to enhance various institutional operations as explored in Proposal for using a studio format to enhance institutional advancement …

To Give Is Better Than To Receive: The Benefits Of Peer Review To The Reviewer’S Own Writing, Wendy Baker, Kristi Lundstrom

Faculty Publications

Although peer review has been shown to be beneficial in many writing classrooms, the benefits of peer review to the reviewer, or the student giving feedback, has not been thoroughly investigated in second-language writing research. The purpose of this study is to determine which is more beneficial to improving student writing: giving or receiving peer feedback. The study was conducted at an intensive English institute with ninety-one students in nine writing classes at two proficiency levels. The ‘‘givers’’ reviewed anonymous papers but received no peer feedback over the course of the semester, while the ‘‘receivers’’ received feedback but did not …

Do Emotions Have Distinct Vocal Profiles? A Study Of Idiographic Patterns Of Expression, Bruce L. Brown, Matthew M. Spackman, Sean Otto

Faculty Publications

Research on vocal expressions of emotion indicates that persons can identify emotions from voice with relatively high accuracy rates. In addition, fairly consistent vocal profiles for specific emotions have been identified. However, important methodological issues remain to be addressed. In this paper, we address the issue of whether there are individual differences in the manner in which particular emotions may be expressed vocally and whether trained speakers’ portrayals of emotion are in some sense superior to untrained speakers’ portrayals. Consistent support was found for differences across speakers in the manner in which they expressed the same emotions. No accompanying relationship …

Catchment Modelling Tools And Pathways Review, Zeinab Bedri, Michael Bruen

Reports

No abstract provided.

Antenna Optimization With A Computationally Efficient Multiobjective Evolutionary Algorithm, Matthias John, Max Ammann

Articles

An efficient multiobjective evolutionary algorithm is described for optimizing a novel spline based printed monopole antenna. The antenna geometry is based on spline outlines. Both radiating element and groundplane are simultaneously optimized by the algorithm. The resulting antenna performance is evaluated. It is shown that the evolutionary algorithm and the spline geometry can be used to efficiently generate ultrawideband antennas on limited computing resources.

Emitter-Wrap-Through Photovoltaic Dipole Antenna With Solar Concentrator, Maria Roo Ons, S. Shynu, Max Ammann, Sarah Mccormack, Brian Norton

Articles

A novel photovoltaic dipole antenna employing a solar concentrator as a reflector is proposed. Four identical emitter-wrap-through rear contact solar cells connected in series as a folded dipole are simultaneously used for power generation and as the antenna radiating element, which is located in the focal line of a parabolic solar concentrator. The parabolic structure acts as a solar concentrator for the photovoltaic cells as well as a reflector for the folded dipole antenna. Full-wave electromagnetic simulation with supportive experimental work validates this design. The measured fractional impedance bandwidth and gain were 21% and 11.1 dBi, respectively. The antenna/solar arrangement …

Generalised Design Process For Fiber-Bend-Loss-Based Edge Filters For A Wavelength Measurement System, Pengfei Wang, Gerald Farrell, Yuliya Semenova

Articles

We investigate and present a generalized methodology for the design of a fiber-bend-loss-based edge filter, starting with the task of evaluating and selecting suitable fibers and then considering the design of a fiber-bending-loss edge filter. As an example to illustrate the methodology, a Corning SMF28e fiber with a 900 μmdiameter is selected and two sample edge filters are designed for experimental verification. The designed edge filters are compact, easy to fabricate, meet target spectral specifications, and show low polarization-dependent loss, confirming the effectiveness of the proposed methodology for fiber-bend-loss-based edge filter design.

Microstrip-Fed Dual-Frequency Annular-Slot Antenna Loaded By Split-Ring-Slot, Xiulong Bao, Max Ammann

Articles

A compact dual-band annular-slot antenna loaded by a concentric split-ring-slot is presented. A stepped microstrip feedline enables the control of the coupling and provides good matching. The annular-slot is connected to the split-ring-slot by a rectangular slot, which increases the surface of the current path, thus notably reducing the resonant frequency for a given size. The embedded split-ring-slot structure allows many resonant modes to be realised. By tuning the key parameters, these operating modes and their bandwidths can be controlled. A wide bandwidth can be realised for either the lower band, upper band or both bands simultaneously, depending on the …

Sms Fibre Structure For Temperature Measurement Using A Simple Intensity-Based Interrogation System, Agus Hatta, Ginu Rajan, Yuliya Semenova, Gerald Farrell

Articles

A singlemode–multimode–singlemode (SMS) fibre structure for temperature measurement that utilises a simple intensity-based interrogation system is proposed. The temperature dependence of the SMS fibre structure utilised as a sensor is investigated numerically and experimentally. It is found that a strong temperature dependence for the SMS fibre structure exists at selected wavelengths. The temperature characteristic at such wavelengths is linear in nature and can be used for temperature measurements. The proposed temperature sensor offers a high resolution and accuracy, and also benefits from a simple configuration and low cost when compared to other fibre-optic temperature sensors.

Use Of A Single-Multiple-Single-Mode Fiber Filter For Interrogating Fiber Bragg Grating Strain Sensors With Dynamic Temperature Compensation, Qiang Wu, Muhammad Hatta, Yuliya Semenova, Gerald Farrell

Articles

An interrogation technique for fiber Bragg grating (FBG) strain sensors with dynamic temperature compensation using a single-multiple-single-mode (SMS) fiber filter as a temperature compensating element is presented. Experimental results show that this technique offers a resolution of better than 3:4 με for strain measurements in the range from 0 to 1667 με, and the temperature induced error is as low as 34 με in the temperature range from 10 to 60 °C. The temperature induced error could be further reduced if the temperature sensitivity (the rate of temperature induced wavelength shift) of the SMS filter was closer to that of …

Analysis Of Assessment Strategies Used In A Level 7, Year 1 Engineering Subject, Aidan O'Dwyer

Conference papers

This contribution critically analyses the assessment strategies used on the core Electrical Systems subject in the first year of a three-year, Level 7, degree programme in Electrical Engineering at Dublin Institute of Technology. An evidence-based approach is taken, by analysing the assessment data in detail.

Estimating Dysphonia Severity In Continuous Speech: Application Of A Multi-Parameter Spectral/Cepstral Model, Christopher Dromey, Shaheen N. Awan, Nelson Roy

Faculty Publications

The purpose of the study was to identify a sub-set of spectral/cepstral-based analysis methods that would most effectively predict dysphonia severity (as estimated via auditory-perceptual analysis) in samples of continuous speech. Acoustic estimates of dysphonia severity were used as an objective treatment outcomes measure in a set of pre- vs post-treatment speech samples. Pre- and post-treatment continuous speech samples from 104 females with primary muscle tension dysphonia (MTD) were rated by listeners using a 100 point visual analogue scale (VAS) and analysed acoustically with spectral/cepstral-based measures. Stepwise linear regression produced a three-factor model consisting of the cepstral peak prominence (CPP); …

Laryngeal-Level Amplitude Modulation In Vibrato, Christopher Dromey, Lorie Reese, J Arden Hopkin

Faculty Publications

Summary: The goal of this investigation was to test a new methodology for measuring amplitude modulation (AM) at the level of the vocal folds during vibrato in trained singers, because previous research has suggested that AM arises in large part as an acoustic epiphenomenon through an interaction of the harmonics in the laryngeal source with the resonances of the vocal tract as the fundamental frequency oscillates. A within-subjects model was used to compare vocal activity across three pitch and three loudness conditions. Seventeen female singers with a range of training and experience were recorded with a microphone and an electroglottograph …