Digital Commons Network^™

Prevalence And Influence On Quality Of Life Of Symptoms Caused By Inhaled Odors, Chemicals And Irritants: A Comparison Between Hispanics And Americans, Carmen Perez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Efforts to estimate the population prevalence of chemical sensitivities have been limited and have yielded different estimates of the prevalence of affected individuals. Researchers recognize that people differ in their biological susceptibility to environmental contaminants as well as the amount of contaminant to which they are potentially exposed. Lack of information on the population prevalence of people, who report sensitivity to a chemical or many chemicals, as well as variables associated, has been recognized in previous studies (Kreutzer et al., 1999). In a more recent report, Berg et al., in 2007 reported the prevalence and consequences related to inhalation of …

Does Michelangelo's Poetic Veil Shroud A Secret Luther?, Edith Carolyn Phillips

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The thesis poses a question derived from an unlikely nexus of two prominent figures of the Renaissance and the Reformation: the artist whose creative abilities ostensibly dominate the Vatican and religious art, juxtaposed with the rebel who splintered the dominance of Roman Catholicism. Michelangelo's program of artistic and religious reform in the second quarter of the sixteenth century strikes a chord similar to Martin Luther's theological perspectives set forth in the Reformation. Through the influence of the artist's friendship with the noblewoman, Vittoria Colonna, and subsequent involvement with an elite and cultured Italian reform group called the Spirituali, his later …

An Explanatory Examination Of Relationships Between Measures Of School And Student Socioeconomic Status And Reading And Math Achievement Of Hispanic Limited English Proficient (Lep) High School Students, Osvaldo Piedra

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Hispanics are the largest and fastest growing minority population in the U.S. requiring limited English proficiency services (Guglielmi, 2008). Many schools and school districts place heavy emphasis on high stakes testing. The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 requires all children to have access to a fair, equal, and high-quality education. Many schools and school districts focus on individual students to show grade level performance for small populations such as limited English proficient (LEP) students. The purpose of this study was to examine the question, "What was the relationship between measures of school and student socioeconomic status, and …

Biotopia: An Interdisciplinary Connection Between Ecology, Suburbia, And The City, Jessica Phillips

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In an era when cities and towns are changing rapidly, public spaces are the key to reviving civic engagement. By re-introducing these public realms as ecological environments, we can re-structure the organic growth of civic tissue, re-define the city street into a park environment, and reveal the ecological landmarks that once beautified the landscape. These ecological landmarks will be used as corridors, nodes of circulation and storm water management to not only creates a regenerative landscape but to create a connection between ecology, suburbia and the city. The public realm in America has two roles: it is the dwelling place …

Mentorship Racial Composition And The Judgments Made By Individuals External To The Relationship, Laura F. Poteat

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine how the racial composition of a mentoring relationship influences three types of judgments made by individuals external to the relationship: (1) causal attributions formed to explain successful protégé performance; (2) evaluations of protégé career advancement potential; and (3) reward recommendations for the mentor and protégé. Additionally, the associations among causal attributions, evaluations of potential, and reward recommendations were investigated. A 2 (protégé race: white vs. black) x 2 (mentor race: white vs. black) factorial between-subjects design was used. Mentor and protégé races were manipulated within a written vignette. After reading the vignette, …

Experience + Evolution: Exploring Nature As A Constant In An Evolving Culture And Building Type, Robin Plotkowski

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Throughout time, our natural environment has been one of the only constants in our evolution. While cultures change and evolve, nature's beauty and positive effects on humans have always been present. Unfortunately, our built environment has generated much attention for its profound impact on our natural environment. Buildings in the United States consume a third of our total energy use, raw material use, and waste output, not to mention the negative effects they can have on our well-being, economy, health and productivity. In an effort to protect our natural environment, our built environment must become more responsible to the environment …

Found A Gun In The Woods, Empty, Daniel Purificato

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This is an original work of poetry. There are many forms used in this collection. There are found and cento poems, as well as free verse forms in this collection. Some of the poems are narrative, while others use a dissociative mode. This work represents an extension of postmodernists, like Barth and Pynchon. It also represents an extension of surrealists like Lamantia and Ashbery.

Making Sense Of Schools: Perceptions Of Student Teacher Interns, Laura Holyoke, Albert H. Fein

Northwest Journal of Teacher Education

Pre-service teacher education programs focus on pedagogy, often with little attention to the school environment. During internships, pre-service teachers experience unique school cultures without understanding that these vary, consequently, completing the internship with the mistaken notion that all schools are like their intern experiences. An assignment to help pre-service teachers understand the nature of schools drew upon The Truth About School Violence: Keeping Healthy Schools Safe, by Jared Scherz. Interns wrote about everyday situations they observed at their schools and linked these to elements of healthy schools identified by Scherz: adaptability, infrastructure, and climate. Students described and classified their observations …

A Journey Of Change In A Comprehensive At-Risk High School, Kathleen Wolfley

Northwest Journal of Teacher Education

It all started with 7th grade reading WASL (Washington Assessment of Student Learning, used to meet state and federal testing requirements) scores. We had just finished the annual staff meeting of humiliation in which yet another year of the results of our non-progress on the annual state assessments in reading, writing and math had been presented to us. I was teaching social studies in a low-income urban middle school where our low WASL reading scores had not budged in several years. I knew I had personally been trying to help my social studies students read and write better by having …

What Happens To Class When A Language Dies? Language Change Vs. Language Death, George Tucker Childs

Applied Linguistics Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper presents the first documentation of the noun class system of the dying language Mani (buy), Bullom So in Ethnologue, a.k.a. Mmani, Mandenyi, etc. spoken in Guinea and Sierra Leone. Mani has some few hundred speakers, all of whom speak either Soso (sus) or Temne (tem) as their everyday language. The Mani are concentrated in a restricted coastal area straddling the border between Guinea and Sierra Leone near the town of Morebaya, Kambia District, in Sierra Leone. A few other speakers are scattered in the littoral region from Conakry to Freetown.

Practices For Dispreferred Responses Using "No" By A Learner Of English, John Hellermann

Applied Linguistics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Responding in a manner that does not align with an action or affiliate with a stance implicated in just prior talk is potentially sensitive work. Conversation Analysis (CA) has shown that participants orient to the sensitive nature of sequences of talk used to project responses that do not align, or, are dispreferred (Pomerantz 1984) in some way. This paper examines such responses, especially with the use of no tokens. The talk comes from the interactions of one adult learner of English in a language learning classroom over the course of five ten-week terms. The findings show that the participant’s use …

Let's Speak Bom! The First Bom Primer: A Graphic Introduction To The Bom Language Of Sierra Leone, Hannah Sarvasy, George Tucker Childs

Applied Linguistics Faculty Publications and Presentations

A graphic introduction to the Bom language of Sierra Leone, based on the stories of Bom community elders. Compiled and illustrated by Hannah Sarvasy, with editorial assistance from Tucker Childs.

The Mashup As Resistance? A Critique Of Marxist Framing In The Digital Age, Adam Rugg

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis critiques contemporary scholarly approaches to the modern musical mashup that rely on outdated and over-generalized Marxist frameworks. These frameworks stem from an Adornian view of the culture industries that places consumers and producers in distinct and opposing roles. The mashup is therefore seen as little more than a subversive weapon for a resistant consumer class in its fight against the hegemonic structure of the mass media. A case study of the prominent mashup artist Girl Talk is presented to illustrate how the mashup can actually function as a celebratory form and how modern technological advances have destabilized traditional …

Cultural Response To Totalitarianism In Select Movies Produced In Czechoslovakia, Hungary And Poland Between 1956 And 1989, Kazimierz Robak

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examines resistance against totalitarian propaganda in select movies produced in regions subjected to Soviet-imposed totalitarian system. From 1939 to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Central-Eastern Europe has experienced two of the most devastating and genocidal political systems in the history of the humankind. Nazism was destroyed with the end of WWII, and met widespread condemnation. Sovietism, commonly known as Communism, survived WWII and the Soviet totalitarian empire rose to the position of the world's second superpower. Effective and organized Soviet propaganda generated a new convincing image of Sovietism as a harmless, friendly and progressive system. …

Characterization Of Nprc And Its Binding Partners, Abdel A. Alli

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The C type natriuretic peptide receptor (NPRC) also known as NPR3 is a widely expressed single transmembrane-spanning protein. NPRC functions as a homodimer at the cell surface for the metabolic clearance of a broad range of natriuretic peptides from circulation. The intracellular domain of NPRC is coupled to inhibitory G proteins and is involved in mediating signal transduction. In order to further elucidate the role of NPRC in signal transduction a proteomic approach was taken to identify putative protein binding partners for NPRC in different cell-types. An interrogation of the molecular association between NPRC and its identified protein binding partner(s) …

Relationships Between Participation In Athletics And Substance Use Among School Students, Kevin M. Stockslager

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Substance use among high school students has become an increased concern for administrators, parents, and community members. Previous research has demonstrated relationships between adolescent substance use and numerous negative outcomes. This study investigated the relationship between athletic participation and substance use using self-report data from a sample of 139 high school students. Specifically, the current study examined the relationship between frequency and setting of participation in athletic activities (e.g., football, baseball, soccer) and multiple types of substance use (e.g., alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, other illicit drugs) in adolescents. The results of this study indicate that nonathletes reported significantly more marijuana use …

The Importance Of Benthic Habitats As Reservoirs Of Persistent Fecal Indicator Bacteria, Brian D. Badgley

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Enterococci are fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) that are used worldwide for water

quality assessment. However, evidence of high densities and extended survival of

enterococci in sediments and submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) has caused uncertainty

about their reliability in predicting human health risks from recreational activities in

environmental waters. To address the concern that sediments and SAV may harbor large

reservoirs of enterococci that can affect water column concentrations, aquatic mesocosms

and environmental sampling were employed to investigate patterns of enterococci

densities and population structure across the Tampa Bay watershed.

In mesocosm experiments and environmental samples, SAV harbored higher

densities of …

Calculating The Volume Of The May 18, 1980 Eruption Of Mount St. Helens, Dâvid Nuñez Wickham

Environmental Science and Management Professional Master's Project Reports

The May 18, 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens created a massive amount of sediment and debris, thought to be as much as 5.5 billion cubic yards. This sediment causes infill of river stretches and collects along levees protecting southwest Washington State. The sediment must be removed to ensure these areas do not flood. The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACOE) is tasked with flood protection for southwest Washington State and the levees protecting the cities of Castle Rock, Lexington, Kelso, and Longview. The Sediment Retention Dam, opened in 1989 is able to filter out larger particulate but fine grain …

Downspout Disconnection Suitability And Incentives Analysis For The City Of Gresham, Oregon, Brian C. Fletcher

Environmental Science and Management Professional Master's Project Reports

The City of Gresham is developing a Downspout Disconnection Program, which encourages homeowners to disconnect their roof downspouts from the storm sewer system and divert the stormwater onto their lawn or rain garden. Downspout disconnection is being evaluated for its effectiveness to help the city meet stormwater discharge requirements in their NPDES-MS4 permit from Oregon DEQ. This study reviewed current Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) soil data and developed a suitability map showing High, Medium and Low suitability zones for on-site stormwater management. To validate the map, 55 soil textural classes and 11 infiltration rates were determined at residences throughout …

Immigrant-Established Resident Interactions In Miami, Florida, Alex Stepick, Carol Dutton Stepick

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article examines factors that affect interethnic relations in Miami, Florida. The theoretical framework, based on the ‘contact hypothesis’ argues that better interethnic relations stem from not only contact, but also contact in which individuals from opposing groups share equal status and a stake in outcomes, and when contact activities require cooperation. The contact hypothesis, however, does not address the factors that produce inequality in social relations. To address these factors ideas from international migration research are used to argue that those with power must create structures in which other groups feel welcome rather than rejected and that leaders must …

Better To Have It All?: Employment, Motherhood And Women’S Psychological Well-Being, Hyeyoung Woo

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

While there have been dramatic increases in the labor force participation among women with minor children, our understanding about their psychological consequences is limited. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979, this study addresses a question of how employment and motherhood are associated with women’s psychological well-being. It also assesses variations in the associations by occupational characteristics and age of children. Results show that the positive effects of employment on women’s psychological well-being are contingent upon family status by providing partial support for the work and family conflict perspective. While the overall association between motherhood and psychological …

Esl Placement And Schools: Effect On Immigrant Achievement, Rebecca Callahan, Lindsey Wilkinson, Chandra Muller, Michelle Frisco

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

In this study, the authors explore English as a Second Language (ESL) placement as a measure of how schools label and process immigrant students. Using propensity score matching and data from the Adolescent Health and Academic Achievement Study and the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, the authors estimate the effect of ESL placement on immigrant achievement. In schools with more immigrant students, the authors find that ESL placement results in higher levels of academic performance; in schools with few immigrant students, the effect reverses. This is not to suggest a one-size-fits-all policy; many immigrant students, regardless of school composition, …

The Impact Of Adolescent Neighborhood And School Context On Asian And Latino Young Adults’ Native Language Use With Family, Lindsey Wilkinson

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

While opponents of immigration often claim that the new immigrants are failing to learn English and thus to assimilate, a growing body of research suggests otherwise. In fact, Anglicization, or loss of mother tongue, is occurring at a rapid rate across all groups of new immigrants (Alba et al. 2002; Lopez 1999; Portes and Hao 1998; Veltman 1983) and continues to follow the three generation pattern observed among earlier waves of European immigrants (Fishman 1965). However, there is evidence that this shift is occurring more rapidly for Asian immigrants than for Latinos (Alba et al. 2002; Lopez 1999), due in …

Breaking The Silence: Parents' Experiences Of Courtesy Stigmatization In The Workplace, Eileen M. Brennan, Julie M. Rosenzweig, Anna M. Malsch

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article discusses "courtesy stigmatization," defined as the prejudices, negative judgments, and discrimination extended to others -- particularly partners, family members, and close friends -- who are caring for, or significantly connected to, an individual with a mental health disorder. The author explores how this affects parent, caregivers and the workplace, and brings to light an area of study that human resource professionals are just beginning to address.

Pathways Across The Work-Life Boundary: How Parents With Children With Mental Health Challenges Avoid Stigmatization And Reach Flexibility, Lisa Maureen Stewart, Anna M. Malsch, Julie M. Rosenzweig, Eileen M. Brennan

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Slides from a presentation delivered at the 13th annual conference of the Society for Social Work and Research, Research that Promotes Sustainability and (Re) Builds Strengths, New Orleans, LA.

Taking It On: Disclosure, Stigmatization, And Self-Esteem, Eileen M. Brennan, Anna M. Malsch, Lisa Maureen Stewart, Julie M. Rosenzweig, John Conley

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Employed parents of children with emotional or behavioral disorders face many potential challenges when striving to find balance between their work and family responsibilities. While responding to the demands of the workplace, they must also attend to the unique caregiving needs of their children such as facilitating on-going treatment, responding to frequent emergencies, and arranging adequate child care (Rosenzweig, Brennan, Huffstutter, & Bradley, in press). These parents often develop strategies to gain the flexibility at work they need in order to care for their child while still maintaining a high level of job performance (Rosenzweig, Brennan, & Ogilvie 2002). Whether …

A Professional's Guide To Supporting Families Of Children With Mental Health Disorders, Eileen M. Brennan, Julie M. Rosenzweig, Anna M. Malsch, Lisa Maureen Stewart, Kayti Mills

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

PDF version of a presentation given at Building on Family Strengths: Research and Services in Support of Children and their Families, Portland, OR, June 2009.

Differences In Physical And Mental Health Symptoms And Mental Health Utilization Associated With Intimate Partner Violence Vs. Child Abuse, Christina Nicolaidis, Bentson H. Mcfarland, Maryann Curry, Martha Gerrity

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background: There is ample evidence that both intimate-partner violence (IPV) and childhood abuse adversely affect the physical and mental health of adult women over the long term. Objective: The authors assessed the associations between abuse, symptoms, and mental health utilization. Method: The authors performed a cross-sectional survey of 380 adult female, internal-medicine patients. Results: Although both IPV and childhood abuse were associated with depressive and physical symptoms, IPV was independently associated with physical symptoms, and childhood abuse was independently associated with depression. Women with a history of childhood abuse had higher odds, whereas women with IPV had lower odds, of …

The 2009 Portland National Youth Summit Report, Rebecca Strachan, L. Kris Gowen, Janet S. Walker

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

The following report outlines the planning process, the agenda, and the outcomes of the 2009 Portland National Youth Summit. The purpose of the Youth Summit was to invite systems-experienced youth (e.g., those who have been involved with the services such as mental health, child welfare, and/or juvenile justice systems) together to create a “Call to Action” that outlines positive solutions to improve the mental health services they receive. This Summit took place in conjunction with the Research and Training Center’s (RTC) Building on Family Strengths Conference, Monday, June 22, 2009. A Youth Summit Advisory Board comprised of four young members …

Stigma And The Cycle Of Avoidance: Why Young People Fail To Seek Help For Their Mental Distress, Lucy Biddle, L. Kris Gowen

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Illness behavior is the set of purposeful actions taken by someone when faced with being unhealthy. According to Dingwall,3 the three stages of illness behavior are: evaluating symptoms, deciding to act, and monitoring the effects of the chosen actions. Although presented in a linear fashion, these stages are in fact cyclical, as reassessment occurs when symptoms change or unsuccessful actions require new approaches.

However, it is common that people never act, or delay acting, on their symptoms; this is especially true for people experiencing mental distress. Young people in particular are unlikely to seek professional care for mental health concerns—it …