Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

“Me Siento Como En Puerto Rico” : Puerto Rican Diaspora Communities’ Placemaking Through Urban Agri-Culture, Zuleima Esmeralda Vázquez-Carrillo

Theses - ALL

Puerto Ricans have a long history of migrating to the U.S., historically laboring as farmworkers, a result of colonial displacement and economic restructuring. Some Puerto Ricans who migrated to the U.S. engage in Urban Agriculture, helping them maintain ties to their cultural identity by growing Puerto Rican foods and creating gardening and farming spaces that resemble the Puerto Rican landscape. While critical food and UA scholars have vastly studied the connections between placemaking and food justice through the experiences of immigrants, the Puerto Rican diaspora has been largely overlooked. Drawing from interviews and landscape analysis from field visits in Puerto …

There Are No Good Landlords: Deconstructing Discourses Of The “Mom And Pop” Landlord In Syracuse, Ny, Natalie Mclaughlin

Theses - ALL

This thesis examines how landlords operating in Syracuse, NY’s high poverty neighborhoods use discourse to legitimize their class interests and reinforce their dominance in a postindustrial, neoliberalizing city. Drawing on interviews and participant observation with members of the Central New York Landlord Association, it explores how landlord narratives are shaped by, and help reproduce, the interconnected structures of urban neoliberalism, racial capitalism, and settler colonialism. While the City of Syracuse promotes redevelopment strategies to attract private capital and raise property values, many landlords continue to profit from long-term disinvestment and tenant confinement to the city’s poorest rental markets. Local landlord …

Alcohol & Substance Abuse Among Youth In South Africa, Carsyn R. Richins

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

South Africa is one of the riskiest drinking countries in the world, and its youth show some of the highest alcohol and substance abuse rates in the nation. In recent years, consumption rates among South African youth have increased while the average age of first use has decreased. This has led to higher levels of binge drinking, addiction, and dependency. This paper explores the root causes and long-term consequences of this growing issue. It argues that three primary factors — early and frequent exposure, poor governmental regulation, and the use of substances as a coping mechanism — have created a …

A Call For Change: Supporting Children With Tourette Syndrome, Matt Reall

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

Tourette Syndrome affects 1 in 100 U.S. children but remains widely misunderstood due to stigma, delayed diagnosis, and media misrepresentation. This neurological disorder is characterized by involuntary tics and often co-occurs with ADHD, anxiety, and sleep disorders. Children with Tourette Syndrome face disproportionate challenges in social, academic, and emotional settings—despite having average or above-average intelligence. One-third engage in self-harm, and suicide rates are four times the national average. Peer-education programs like the Tourette Association of America’s Youth Ambassador initiative have shown promise in reducing stigma, but unequal access and weak institutional support limit their impact. This paper calls for early …

Living Heritage, Resilience And Ethically Informed Infrastructures In Malawi, Martha B. Lerski, Frank Puluputu Mwale

Publications and Research

Rooted in a rural community’s needs, this paper explores how historically, and ethically informed infrastructures can support community engagement towards identification, documentation, and dissemination of local, traditional, and indigenous knowledge relating to climate change. The paper examines climate adaptation and sustainability issues through the lenses of community organizing and Library & Information Science best practices. It draws on a growing body of literature identifying a role for expanded epistemological and subject discipline perspectives. While the impacts of climate on material culture are increasingly recognized, intangible, and biocultural heritage have not received as much attention. Living heritage traditions and knowledge systems …

Correlates Of School Absenteeism: A Systematic Review Of What We Know And What We Don’T, Samantha C. Maguire

Dissertations - ALL

School absenteeism has been referred to as a hidden educational crisis by the United States Department of Education. National data show that chronic absenteeism has doubled since pre-pandemic rates, increasing from about 16% of school students to nearly 30% during the 2021-22 school year. To understand this widespread issue, I conducted a systematic review of the available literature on potential risk factors or correlates associated with school absenteeism. A total of 106 studies published between 2000 and 2023 were included in this review. Coding was completed by me and advanced research assistants to determine how school absenteeism has been defined …

Bench Strength: How Powerful Are Supreme Courts In Common Law Countries Really?, Nilesh Sinha

Dissertations - ALL

This thesis examines the extent of judicial power exercised by the top constitutional courts in common law countries, using judicial review as a proxy for this power. I analyze three apex constitutional courts—the supreme courts of the United States, India, and Canada—as they all engage in strong-form judicial review and have been referred to at different times by various scholars as “the most powerful court in the world.” To frame my analysis, I explore how these courts have evolved in power throughout their histories. I employ comparative historical analysis (CHA) and construct a typology that accounts for how these courts, …

Stepping Into Who I Fully Am: A Creative Exploration Of Autistic Menopause, Mx Rose Matthews, Christine A. Jenkins, Margaret Janse Van Rensburg, Miranda J. Brady, Rachel L. Moseley, Julie M. Gamble-Turner

Faculty and Staff Publications

Research suggests that perimenopause can compound existing struggles for some Autistic people, with potentially catastrophic consequences. Barriers to self-expression due to communication differences are also well-documented. Acknowledging this, our neurodiverse research team invited creative submissions themed around Autistic experiences of menopause, receiving works from six Autistic participants including paintings, poetry, and graphic works. Engaging with the six creative submissions, Autistic Community Researchers on our team produced reflexive, polytextual response works. Creative exploration of Autistic menopause encouraged emotional catharsis, self-understanding, and activism/artivism. Autistic Community Researchers noted transcendent, almost “magical” dimensions of connecting with other Autistic people’s lived experiences. Our creative emancipatory …

Editorial: The Gendered Impact Of Covid-19: Communicating Risks, Hope, Opportunities, And Challenges, Satarupa Dasgupta, Sudeshna Roy, Marissa Joanna Doshi, Ruma Sen

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

It Was Always Designed To Kill Us: How Discrimination, Biopolitics, Necropolitics, And Orientalism Shape The Design Of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, Ash Cavalcanti

Theses - ALL

This thesis is an analysis of how necropolitics, discrimination, and Orientalism shape the design of the game Dragon Age: The Veilguard (2024). In examining how the game depicts race, gender, and sexuality, I explore the tension between the game’s intended progressive message and the design decisions that run counter to it. The first chapter explores how the game’s design shapes the player character and their allies into citizens and defenders of the status quo, and the problematic implications of connecting citizenship to humanity. This chapter goes into depth about how this defense of the status quo naturalizes some forms of …

Reparative Justice In Late Twentieth Century Africa: The O.A.U, Durban, And Accra Reparations Conferences, Franklin Donudenu Adorsu

Theses - ALL

This thesis explores the evolution of African-led transnational reparations campaigns from the final decade of the twentieth century through the early decades of the twenty-first. It examines how reparative justice initiatives have emerged in response to the enduring legacies of slavery, colonialism, and systemic racial oppression, and how these campaigns reflect both historical memory and contemporary demands for justice by Africans and people of African descent worldwide. While early reparations discourse often centered on the diaspora, this research argues that recent mobilizations on the African continent in attempts to seek redress for historical injustices, particularly the 1993 Abuja Conference, the …

Academic Summaries (Human Rights Violations Issue), Erica Jensen

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

No abstract provided.

Do Anterior-Posterior Lumbar Fusions Provide More Short-Term Value Than Posterior-Only? An Application Of The Operative Value Index, Steven R. Glener, Advith Sarikonda, D. Mitchell Self, Ashmal Sami, Danyal Quraishi, Emily Isch, Arbaz A. Momin, Cheritesh R. Amaravadi, Jack Jallo, Joshua Heller, Ashwini Sharan, Alex R. Vaccaro, Srinivas K. Prasad, James Harrop, Nicholas J. Clark, Ahilan Sivaganesan

Department of Neurosurgery Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: Lumbar fusion is a common treatment for degenerative spine changes. Although both anterior-posterior (AP) and posterior-only approaches are used, their cost-effectiveness remains uncertain. This study aims to compare the costs and short-term "value" (outcomes per dollar spent) of AP and posterior-only lumbar fusions using time-driven activity-based costing and patient-reported outcomes.

METHODS: A retrospective review of AP and posterior lumbar fusions from 2017 to 2022 was conducted. Time-driven activity-based costing was used to assign intraoperative costs based on resource utilization, and the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) was collected preoperatively and 3 months postoperatively. The Operative Value Index (OVI) was defined …

The Political Philosophy Of Habitude: Conservatism Analytically Explained, Kyle S. Hodge

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Conservatism is both undertheorized and poorly understood in philosophical political theory; all extant theories have proven deficient. They either conflate what is contingently associated with conservatism with its essence, draw mistaken generalizations from apparently conservative behavior, or else are explanatorily incomplete.

To avoid these deficiencies, I develop a rigorous, theory-neutral groundwork for evaluating theories of conservatism. This groundwork utilizes both traditional methods of analytic philosophy and, for the first time in the field, historiometry. Philosophical analysis determines the formal requirements of a successful explanation while empirical, historiometric data determines the most salient conservative exemplars whom any such theory must explain. …

Belonging, Identity, And Reintegration In India: Two Generations Of Us Women Return Migrants, Jenna Sikka

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation examines how generational differences among Indian returnee women shape their experiences of reintegration into Indian society, highlighting how migration and return are embedded in broader socio-historical, cultural, and gendered contexts. Focusing on two cohorts- women who migrated before India’s 1991 economic liberalization and those who migrated after- the study draws on qualitative interviews to explore how returnees navigate the tensions between values acquired abroad and the social expectations they face upon returning. The older cohort of returnee women, many of which were influenced by Gandhi’s ideals, often view their reintegration as a process of reconnecting with familiar values, …

Leaning In: Diversity, Dialogue, And Whiteness At A Quaker Independent School, Mauricio Thomas Torres

Dissertations - ALL

Diversity has emerged as a hallmark of institutional excellence in several fields. At the same time, it has been vilified and maligned by conservative pundits and politicians as Donald Trump has worked to frame diversity as un-American and unmeritocratic. This tension makes diversity worthy of sociological analysis. Though there is an emerging critical sociology of diversity, much of that work has been primarily concerned with the discursive, ideological, and symbolic dimensions of diversity. In contrast, this dissertation examines how diversity moves through and is contested and supported within the organization and cultural context of Friends Prep (FP), a progressive Quaker …

Cultivating Post-Soviet Gardens: Seed Saving And The Household Plot In Rural Tajikistan, Katherine Macdonald

Dissertations - ALL

Over the last five years, local NGOs across Tajikistan have established community-based seed banks to support households cultivating agrobiodiverse kitchen gardens. While social movements to preserve local crop varieties are well-documented in other rural contexts, they are new to Central Asia and had gone without study. This dissertation brings together insights from political ecology, feminist political economy, and critical agrarian studies to explore how and why this effort emerged and what rural women’s participation in it signals about life-making in Tajikistan’s post-Soviet countryside. Drawing on qualitative fieldwork and document analysis, I argue that community-based seed banks are a response to …

The Effect Of Bike Lanes On Commuting Patterns And Non-Commuting Perspectives In Cities, Zhuoran Shang

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation studies how bike lanes affect cities on commuting and non-commuting margins. The first chapter analyzes the impact of bike lanes on commuting behavior, including mode shares, commuting flows, and travel times. Using data from Seattle spanning 2000 to 2012, this chapter employs several reduced-form estimations. Instrumental variable regressions reveal that the provision of bike lanes reduces car mode shares but does not significantly affect bike mode shares. By introducing a novel treatment variable that captures both the proximity and coverage of bike lanes, I find that bike lanes encourage more people to commute by bike, but also contribute …

Sustainable Advertising And Brand Engagement: The Role Of Consumer Minimalism And Scepticism, Hesham O. Dinana, Donato Masi, Reza Marvi, Farbod Fakhreddin

Faculty Journal Articles

Recognizing the significance of sustainable advertising practices and their influence on consumer behaviour, this study explores their capacity to not only enhance consumer engagement with the brand but also strengthen brand reputation. Additionally, it examines how these practices can promote more conscious consumption patterns, contributing to broader sustainability goals. In this line, we propose a theoretical conceptual model highlighting how customers perceive sustainability-related activities and how these perceptions can influence brand engagement, ultimately enhancing brand reputation and fostering mindful consumption. Furthermore, we also investigated the moderating roles of consumer minimalism, scepticism towards advertising, and brand value congruence in relation to …

Keynote 2: The Rebirth Of The Santiago Way As A Model And Parameter For The Creation Of Cultural Itineraries, Paolo Caucci Von Saucken

International Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Conferences

The revival of pilgrimages to Santiago de Compostela was driven by a complex set of factors that converged and solidified in the second half of the twentieth century. Chief among them was the role of the Catholic Church and the regular celebration of Holy Years, proclaimed whenever July 25th—the feast of the Apostle James—falls on a Sunday. Each occasion, supported by modern and effective means of communication, has served to rekindle and promote the pilgrimage to Compostela. A pivotal moment in this revival was the declaration of Pope John Paul II during the Holy Year of 1982, in which he …

F2) Seeking Zion: Motivations Behind Latter-Day Saint Pilgrimage-Like Travel To Religious Heritage Sites, Daniel H. Olsen

International Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Conferences

This presentation examines the motivations behind pilgrimage-like travel among members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) to religious heritage sites such as Palmyra, Nauvoo, and Salt Lake City. Although LDS doctrine does not include a formal theology of pilgrimage, these journeys fulfill spiritual, social, and pedagogical functions that align closely with traditional pilgrimage frameworks. Drawing from the interdisciplinary fields of pilgrimage studies, religious tourism, and Latter-day Saint theology, this research conceptualizes LDS heritage travel as a form of modern, constructed pilgrimage grounded in processes of place-making, memory, identity, and faith reaffirmation.

Through qualitative synthesis of existing …

E3) Developing A Model For Religious Tourism Governance: Comparing The Soumela Monasteries In Turkey And Greece, Dino Bozonelos, Nuray Turker

International Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Conferences

The growth in religious tourism, through people of faith and cultural tourism, is in contradistinction with the global decline in religious attendance. While many increasingly secularized individuals are less involved with organized religion, the desire for spiritual experiences has continued. This leads many to travel to sacred sites, valued for their authenticity. This growth necessitates good governance when it comes to sacred destination sites. But what does good governance actually look like when it comes to religious tourism and pilgrimage? How does this occur when the sacred space serves the needs of multiple visitors, including pilgrims, religious tourists, and cultural …

E1) Revisiting The Bocaue Pagoda Tragedy In The Philippines: Personal Reflections And Lessons Learned Thirty Years After, Katherine Arceta

International Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Conferences

The Bocaue Pagoda Festival has been celebrated annually in the Philippine province of Bulacan since the 1850s to honor a miraculous event in history, where a local woman was saved from drowning in a river by holding onto a floating cross. Since then, the fluvial parade, which consisted of ceremonial barges held every first Sunday of July, steadily gained popularity and attracted pilgrims from within and outside the locality. On July 2, 1993, however, an unfortunate event struck when a large pagoda carrying hundreds of pilgrims and devotees sank due to overloading that resulted in the deaths of 266 people. …

E2) Killing Bali (Part Ii), Pierre Fournie

International Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Conferences

Tourism is growing and growing fast. Before the pandemic, in 2018, the number of arrivals worldwide reached 1.4 billion arrivals from less than 600 million, twenty years earlier. In Indonesia, after being elected in 2014, former President Joko Widodo emphasized the importance of tourism, considered as a strategic sector. It had to become the largest exchange currency contributor bypassing rubber, coal, oil and gas.

In the collective awareness of tourists, Bali remains the place to go. International visitors praise the beautiful landscapes and paddy fields of Bali, the uniqueness of its Hindu and Buddhist cultures. In 2018, the “island of …

F1) Hermitage And Digital Storytelling: A Case Study For Sustainable Visitorship, Antonio Lenzo

International Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Conferences

Hermitage and tourism may appear to be potentially unrelated, even antithetical. And yet, hermitage practices, both historical and current, have often elicited a strong attraction for the movement of people towards rural areas especially in the context of pilgrimage and religious tourism. While in some cases this activity has led to overtourism, storytelling related to hermitage practices may also be pivotal in the fostering of sustainable tourism practices.

The UNESCO World Heritage site of Monte San Giorgio, at the border between Italy and Switzerland, presents a long-standing history in which the movement of people has been heavily shaped not only …

F3) From Religious Sites To Cinematographic Sets. The Symbolism Of Religious Cultural Heritage In The Italian Serie “Lolita Lo Bosco”., Antonietta Ivona, Lucrezia Lopez

International Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Conferences

Religious cultural heritage is a fundamental pillar of territorial identity, especially in regions with a deep historical heritage such as Apulia, in the South of Italy. In addition, it has historically been a key element in the construction of audiovisual narratives, providing symbolic depth to the stories and enriching their aesthetics. The Italian series Lolita Lo Bosco, A Tv series set in Apulia (Italy), takes advantage of these sacred spaces not only as physical scenarios, but also as vehicles of cultural and symbolic significance, historical memory, traditions and tensions between modernity and cultural heritage.

This presentation analyzes the use of …

"I Wasn’T Believed": The Aftermath Of Psychological And Sexual Abuse From Former Seventh-Day Adventists, René Drumm, Thomas Arcaro, Duane Mcclearn, Jeff Wright, Petr Cincala

Adventist Human-Subject Researchers Association

This presentation features data from a study of over 1,000 former Seventh-day Adventists. The analysis reveals the prevalence of psychological and sexual abuse that respondents experienced or were aware of, as well as the aftermath of the church’s response to the abuse.

Stigma Towards Depressive-Like Symptoms Across Academic Disciplines, Audryl Jo Anne B. Opao, Chamique Carthy Gay H. Aguillon, Rubon Eve C. Cruzada, Jana Cassandra M. Ondap

Adventist Human-Subject Researchers Association

This study explores how undergraduate students’ academic specializations influence their perceptions and stigma toward mental illness. It examines the relationship between educational background and attitudes, highlighting differences in understanding and empathy. Findings aim to inform strategies for reducing stigma and promoting mental health awareness across diverse academic fields.

Vicarious Traumatization – The Potential Achille’S Heel Of Critical Incident Stress Management Responders: The Importance Of Spiritual Well-Being, Resilience, And Basic Psychological Needs, Harvey O. Burnett Jr

Adventist Human-Subject Researchers Association

This study examined the importance of spiritual well-being, hope, Psychological Body Armor TM (PBA), and basic psychological needs in predicting low vicarious traumatization among trained Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) responders. Results showed that spiritual well-being, PBA, and autonomy were significant predictors of lower vicarious trauma.

Accessibility To Communities Of Faith: Overcoming Unequal Access For People With Disabilities, Shannon M. Trecartin, Terrance P. Trecartin, Ernesto Douglas Venn

Adventist Human-Subject Researchers Association

This presentation explores the religious experiences of Adventist members with disabilities worldwide, focusing on their access to SDA education and participation in community practices like small groups, prayer meetings, and evangelism. It concludes with recommendations for congregations and church leaders to enhance inclusion and engagement.