American Studies Commons^™

An Evaluation Of The Implementation Of "The Happiest Toddler On The Block" Parenting Strategies By Young Mothers, Amye Elizabeth Bock

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Young parents and their children are considered a high-risk population as they are more likely to lack social support networks, have limited access to opportunities to enhance parenting skills, and are often financially dependent. Young children whose mothers have poor parenting skills are more likely to have persistent problem behavior. Three young mothers living in a transitional housing facility participated in this study. The purpose of this study was to determine if these mothers could implement parenting strategies that are a part of a commercially available parenting book and DVD. This study found that: (1) mothers were able to correctly …

Learning Without Being Taught: A Look At How Schools, The Home And The Neighborhood Influence "Race" Conceptualization, Owen Christopher Gaither

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Where do we get our ideas about the concept of `race'? The conceptualization of `race' has long been a topic of interest in the social sciences and society in general. The word `race' has been used and defined in different ways and different purposes throughout U.S. history. The definition of `race' therefore is arbitrary, changing according to the situation, but the consequences of how the word `race' is used are concrete and effect peoples lives daily. This research, in accord with much of the literature on the topic, shows that public schools play a major role in the conceptualization …

Investigation Into The Mechanism Of Salicylate-Associated Genotypic Antibiotic Resistance In Staphylococcus Aureus, Nada Salah Helal

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Growth of Staphylococcus aureus with the NSAID salicylate increases phenotypic resistance (SAPAR), and the frequency at which heritable resistance occurs to various antibiotics (SAGAR). This study describes the effect of salicylate on heritable and phenotypic resistance to a set of antibiotics for laboratory and multi-drug resistant strains of S. aureus and investigates the link between resistance and SAGAR. Drug gradient plates were used to determine phenotypic resistance to antibiotics targeting DNA replication, transcription, translation and the cell wall in the presence or absence of salicylate. To measure heritable resistance, mutation frequencies were determined for each antibiotic in the presence and …

Training And Assessment Of Toothbrushing Skills Among Children With Special Needs, Rachel A. Brown

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The success of applied behavior analysis (ABA) interventions relies heavily on adherence to measures of social importance. One area identified by caregivers, educators, and researchers as having social importance is the area of daily living skills; particularly in populations of children with special needs. A number of studies employed the use of a task analysis to objectively measure toothbrushing, with various training procedures utilized. Behavioral Skills Training (BST) is an effective procedure used to train a variety of skills. Further, research indicates the addition of an in situ assessment promotes generalization of trained skills. The current study examined the use …

Toward A Working Theory Of Neurorhetorics, Jeffrey L. Honnold

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This piece makes the claim that rhetoric is first philosophy--before philosophy, epistemology, ontology, or any other field--or that rhetoric is, at the least, on equal footing as these fields because:

empathy--and thusly the impulse for communication--is physiologically hardwired into humans; special distinctions between human and animal are largely artificial constructions, as is evidenced by neurosciences; "hard" science, in the form of neurosciences, is providing entrance points & opportunities for rhetoric to raise its status within the academy; and said neurosciences, in addition to empathy studies, have shown strong evidence supporting linguistic and evolutionary links between humans and other species, thereby …

"A Shade Too Unreserved": Destabilizing Sexuality And Gender Constructs Of The New Negro Identity In Harlem Renaissance Literature, Renee E. Chase

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Much of the Harlem Renaissance artistic movement was directly intertwined with the New Negro social movement of the time. Race leaders spoke to and influenced artistic trends, while artists often engaged with the New Negro race issues and social debates through their works. Wallace Thurman, Nella Larsen, and Zora Neale Hurston used their own fictional works to explore the New Negro construct being promoted. In examining the constructed nature of this New Negro identity, these artists strove to destabilize the social "norms" upon which the identity was based. As they thematically and stylistically explored such social constructs through their fiction, …

Voices On Campus: Tina Merdanian And The Red Cloud Indian School

Bridgewater Review

No abstract provided.

Bradenton, Fl: A Patchwork City, Rebekah G. Brightbill

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The City of Bradenton is a patchwork city, whose neighborhoods vary greatly in quality. While its neighborhoods differ in type based on consumer preference, they vary in quality because of federal, state, and local planning and urban policy. These policies have resulted in inequality of place and race, clustering racial minorities in center city neighborhoods with deteriorated infrastructure and income inequality. This impacts the ability of the City to be competitive with other cities as a metropolitan whole. The City's economically and racially segregated neighborhoods are not the inevitable outcome of market forces, but rather reflect decades of federal, state, …

Meriwether Family Papers (Mss 44), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 44. Typed copies of personal and legal papers, 1791-1840 (43) of Charles Meriwether, a pioneer doctor of Christian County, Kentucky; family letters of Caroline Gordon Tate, author and educator, 1938-1947 (18); and family letters of newspaper columnist Elizabeth Meriwether Gilmer (“Dorothy Dix”), 1930-1949 (13).

The Meeting School: An Alternative Mode Of Education, Hallel Parsons

Capstone Collection

What role do spirituality, community, and farming play in contemporary US education? As a farm and faculty intern at a small, private, Quaker boarding high school in rural NH I gained an interesting perspective on this subject. Using Robert G. Hanvey’s working thesis: An Attainable Global Perspective: Education for a Global Perspective as a standard by which to measure my experience at The Meeting School, I explore the implications of an education founded upon the Quaker values of simplicity, peace, integrity, community, and equality (SPICE), within the context of an intentional community committed to organic farming as a means to …

Essays On Mental Accounting And Consumers' Decision Making, Ali Besharat

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is structured in the form of two empirical essays, each investigating one type of irrational decision caused by mental accounting. The first essay, titled "Managing the Cost of Multiple Debt Accounts: A Behavioral Perspective", explores why many people pay off credit cards' with the lowest rate first when rationally speaking they should repay the debt with the highest rate most quickly. This essay suggests that irrationality emerges when people seek to close `mental accounts' associated with their credit cards and reduce the total number of outstanding loans rather than decrease the amount of total debt among all credit …

On The Efficiency Of Us Equity Markets, Mikael Carl Erik Bergbrant

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Most papers in empirical finance implicitly or explicitly assume the same price of risk, for each priced systematic risk factor, across all risky assets within a given domestic market. In doing so, they rely on the assumption that markets are domestically integrated and, as such, that the price of risk is determined independently of individual investors attitude towards risk. This is true in frictionless markets where investors have complete information, homogenous beliefs, and hold the mean-variance efficient combination of the market portfolio and a risk-free asset. However, investors might not hold the market portfolio because of exogenous reasons. In fact, …

Philips, Emanie (Nahm) Sachs Arling, 1893-1981 - Relating To (Sc 2533), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 2533. Typewritten remarks, author unknown, about Emanie Nahm’s 1924 novel, Talk. The reviewer speculates on the people and places in Nahm’s home town of Bowling Green, Kentucky on which the novel may have been based, and refers to a reported visit to Nahm in Bowling Green by the author Rebecca West.

Citizen Action, Power Relations And Wetland Management In The Tampa Bay Urban Socio-Ecosystem, Cornelius Owusu Adjei

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Wetlands are vital ecosystems that provide ecological, economic and social benefits to societies. In the Tampa Bay region in West Central Florida, a growing population has put immense pressure on wetlands. The situation has not gone unnoticed in the public domain with concerns raised about the need to formulate policies that would protect them. However, it has been difficult to ascertain the level of citizen involvement in the decision making process.

This study aimed at investigating whether the perceptions and concerns of citizens drove them to influence local water policy. Questionnaires were used to collect data from residents living in …

Predictors Of Latino Mothers' Involvement In Their Children's Education, Liza Maria Arango

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Parental involvement has a major influence on students' academic and overall success; however, Latino parents tend to be less involved than non-Latino parents. Additionally, Latino students have higher dropout rates than other ethnic groups, and their continued underachievement is of great concern to many educators. The purpose of this study is to better understand Latino mothers' involvement and identify the precursor factors that may influence these mothers' involvement in their children's education. Specifically, the study investigated specific family factors that may potentially impact Latino mothers' involvement at school and at home (i.e., mothers' number of years residing in the U.S., …

A Cross-National Analysis Of The Human Papillomavirus, Sexually Transmitted Infections, And Sexual Behavior Among Men, Euna Marie August

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There is a paucity of research on the risk for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and sexual behavior among general populations of men. Research with male populations predominantly has focused on those subgroups considered to be at high risk of disease transmission, such as gay and bisexual men, injection drug users, and adolescents/young adults. Considerably fewer studies have examined factors among men, in general, and heterosexual men, specifically. Therefore, I conducted analyses with a cross-national sample of adult, sexually active men in Brazil, Mexico, and the United States to investigate sexual behaviors and risk factors associated with the human papillomavirus (HPV) …

Differentiation Of Knowledge Types And Behavior Change In Youth In A School Based Suicide Prevention Program, Anabelle Ornelas

Honors Thesis and Capstone Projects

No abstract provided.

Distinguishing The Types Of Knowledge And The Relationship To Behavioral Intentions And Referral Behavior, Gabriela Romero

Honors Thesis and Capstone Projects

No abstract provided.

Dissolved Inorganic Carbon Uptake In Thiomicrospira Crunogena Xcl–2 Is Atp–Sensitive And Enhances Rubisco–Mediated Carbon Fixation, Kristy Jae Menning

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Many autotrophic organisms living in environments with episodically low dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) concentrations compensate for these fluctuations by employing a carbon concentrating mechanism (CCM). By utilizing a CCM, these organisms can generate intracellular DIC concentrations much higher than extracellular, thereby providing sufficient substrate for carbon fixation. Carbon concentrating mechanisms have been well-studied in cyanobacteria but studies are lacking in other autotrophs. The gammaproteobacterium Thiomicrospira crunogena XCL-2 is a hydrothermal vent chemolithoautotroph that has a CCM, which is functionally similar to that of cyanobacteria. At hydrothermal vents, DIC concentrations and pH values fluctuate over time, with CO2 concentrations ranging from …

Biomechanical Testing On Cadaveric Spines For Different Treatments That Affect Lumbar Stability, Sabrina Alejandra Gonzalez Blohm

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Stenosis is one of the most common causes for spinal surgery. Laminectomy decompression and fusion are surgical procedures prescribed for this condition. The intention of this work was to investigate the effects of a laminectomy decompression, followed by fusion, on a lumbar functional spinal unit (FSU) through in vitro dynamic (±8Nm at 0.125Hz) and quasi-static (±7.5Nm at 0.1Hz) biomechanical tests, for flexion, extension, bending and rotation motions.

Six FSUs where disarticulated from four human cadaveric lumbar spines (63 ± 12 years) and were tested under the following sequence: (1) intact, (2) laminectomy decompression, and (3) Pedicle Screw System (PSS), using …

A Lone Nut In Compton:Lessons In Community Engagement With Treepeople In South Los Angeles, Jason Schlatter

Capstone Collection

The following study was conducted as an exploration of the community engagement practices of the Los Angeles based nonprofit organization, TreePeople. The intention of this study was to foster a deeper understanding about the theories and practice of the “outsider” TreePeople’s community engagement initiatives in the region of South Los Angeles, with particular emphasis on the communities of Compton, Inglewood, and historic South Central. I attempted to synthesize a collective narrative about the way TreePeople interacts with its constituents and community partners by drawing upon the experiences and perceptions of TreePeople staff, community partners, and community members. The individual experiences …

Lost In Space No Longer: The Visionary Union Of 'The Wire', Brett Dupré

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

In its serial space, David Simon’s The Wire season two relates the seemingly “disconnected” union men, foreign sex worker women, and African-American drug traders and crosses constructed boundaries of race, gender, sexuality, and geography to evoke the possibility of a transnational working class. The Wire’s serialized narrative trespasses the limitations of money and numbers games and of individual characters to build, scene by scene, what Roderick Ferguson calls in Aberrations in Black: Toward a Queer of Color Critique “the location for new and emergent identifications and social relations” (108).

Hope And Despair: The Farm Security Administration Photographs, Marjorie Jo Hunter

Student Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation analyzes the Farm Security Administration's photographic record of the Mississippi Delta region in Arkansas primarily in the Blytheville to Helena corridor. Each chapter analyzes the images captured by such renowned photographers as Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans, and Carl Mydans as they traveled extensively throughout the South to document the American experience during the Great Depression. Natural disasters such as the 1937 Ohio-Mississippi River flood contributed greatly to the need for federal assistance in eastern Arkansas. Raging waters destroyed crops, homes, and livestock in record amounts. The images reflect economic hard times for Arkansas residents compounded by a devastating …

Walking Los Angeles, Zoe R. Carlberg

Pomona Senior Theses

This paper is about my experience walking through Los Angeles County. My principal motivations were to explore what it means to be a pedestrian in an urban landscape that generally does not recognize walkers and to give value to often overlooked spaces. The paper includes a brief history of the Los Angeles region, methodology, an analysis of some other art projects that have been done about walking, and a vignette of the experience.

The Action Of Grace In Territory Held By The Devil: Flannery O’Connor And Cormac Mccarthy, Scott A. Singleton

The Kennesaw Journal of Undergraduate Research

This paper compares the lives and work of Flannery O’Connor and Cormac McCarthy. The two authors share similarities in their backgrounds, careers, and work. The paper begins with an examination of biographical information of both authors to contextualize their work and note commonalities in their lives and careers. The central idea is that Flannery O’Connor and Cormac McCarthy both create grotesque characters to reveal the depraved condition of humanity in order to highlight the need for redemption and the possibility of divine grace. To prove this, examples are discussed from multiple pieces of work by O’Connor and McCarthy including The …

A Location-Based Incentive Mechanism For Participatory Sensing Systems With Budget Constraints, Luis Gabriel Jaimes

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Participatory Sensing (PS) systems rely on the willingness of mobile users to participate in the collection and reporting of data using a variety of sensors either embedded or integrated in their

cellular phones. Users agree to use their cellular phone resources to sense and transmit the data of interest because these data will be used to address a collective problem that otherwise would

be very difficult to assess and solve. However, this new data collection paradigm has not been very successful yet mainly because of the lack of incentives for participation and privacy concerns. Without adequate incentive and privacy guaranteeing …

Daily Experiences Of Older Adults With Mild Cognitive Impairment, Elizabeth Hahn

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Rationale and study aims: Persons with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) experience declines in everyday functioning and cognitive performance greater than what is experienced in normal aging but less than that of dementia. Daily stress and daily memory complaints associated with cognitive deficits may contribute to greater psychological distress in the day-to-day experiences of persons with MCI. However, research examining the occurrence of daily stressors, daily memory complaints and psychological distress in MCI is limited, and it is not clear how the daily processes of stress and affect in persons with MCI compare to cognitively healthy older adults. This dissertation examined …

A Framework For Participatory Sensing Systems, Diego Mendez Chaves

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Participatory sensing (PS) systems are a new emerging sensing paradigm based on the participation of cellular users in a cooperative way. Due to the spatio-temporal granularity that a PS system can provide, it is now possible to detect and analyze events that occur at different scales, at a low cost. While PS systems present interesting characteristics, they also create new problems. Since the measuring devices are cheaper and they are in the hands of the users, PS systems face several design challenges related to the poor accuracy and high failure rate of the sensors, the possibility of malicious users tampering …

Two Essays On The Sell-Side Financial Analysts, Xi Liu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the first essay titled "The Information Role of Analysts' Contrarian Revisions," I study a special group of revisions: contrarian revisions, defined as recommendation changes that are inconsistent with sizable stock price movements during the past week. I find that contrarian revisions are relatively more informative than trending revisions. In particular, contrarian revisions are associated with a both statistically and economically larger post-announcement drift. I also find contrarian downgrades are less likely to be issued by all-star analysts and analysts with more experience. After implementation of Regulation RD, the market reaction to contrarian revisions issued by all-stars significantly decreases, indicating …

American Made: Ansel Adams And The Bishop National Bank's "The Islands Of Hawaii", Lauren Walton

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.