2020 Honors Program Theses
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Item “You Throw Like a Girl!”: A Sociological Analysis of Media Representation and Viewership of Women’s Sports(Honors Program, The University of Tampa, 2020-11-09) Maziarz, Tiffany A.Motivated by the sociological theories of Symbolic Interactionism and Contemporary Feminism, this research explores the intersections of gender, the media, and sports on a southeastern college campus. Undergraduate students were recruited from various sections of Introduction to Sociology to complete a 38-question survey administered through Qualtrics. The final sample size was 85 (n = 85). Bivariate analyses were conducted using RStudio and SPSS simultaneously, and any relationship that was found to be significant (p = .05) was analyzed using a Cramer’s V coefficient test to determine the strength of association. Trends that stood out in the research were 1) There are differences in perspective between men and women college students; 2) There are not many differences in opinion between those who participate in sports and those who do not; and 3) There were differences between viewership frequency (this could also be tied to the amount of sports coverage watched by each gender, however, multivariate analysis was not conducted).Item Perfectionism and The Efficacy of Mindfully-Based Coping Interventions(Honors Program, The University of Tampa, 2020-04-24) Simon, Alia R.; Dr. Michael StasioTwo studies investigated links among perfectionism, stress, and mindfulness. An exploratory pilot study (N = 297) showed correlations among perfectionistic tendencies, stress levels, and mindfully-inclined thinking. The main study (N = 69) asked whether mindfulness interventions are effective at reducing stress and increasing mindfulness for those with different types of perfectionism (high standards vs. maladaptive, as measured by the Revised Almost Perfect Scale). Participants completed a stressful task and then were randomly assigned to complete a mindfully-inclined journaling exercise, art exercise or control condition, which were all developed by the author. The primary dependent variables were pre-post exercise changes in mindfulness scores measured by the State Mindfulness Scale (SMS) and stress scores measured by the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). Findings supported increased state mindfulness and decreased stress levels following treatment, regardless of treatment condition or variations in perfectionism. Notable interactions and future implications were explored and discussed.Item The Origins of Racial Discrimination in Public Health: The 1793 Yellow Fever Epidemic of Philadelphia(Honors Program, The University of Tampa, 2020-05-21) Nelson, Abigail L.; Kacy TillmanAt the start of the yellow fever epidemic of 1793 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the first public health doctrines were being formulated into proper legal documents as the city struggled to stem the outbreak. This paper argues that the origins of discriminatory rhetoric in public health can be traced back to the racist ideas of Matthew Carey and Benjamin Rush.Item Stomach Content Analysis of the Invasive Mayan Cichlid (Cichlasoma urophthalmus) in the Tampa Bay Watershed(Honors Program, The University of Tampa, 2020-04-08) Tharp, Ryan M.Throughout their native range in Mexico, Mayan Cichlids (Cichlasoma urophthalmus) have been documented to have a generalist diet consisting of fishes, invertebrates, and mainly plant material. In the Everglades ecosystem, invasive populations of Mayan Cichlids displayed an omnivorous diet dominated by fish and snails. Little is known about the ecology of invasive Mayan Cichlids in the fresh and brackish water habitats in the Tampa Bay watershed. During the summer and fall of 2018 and summer of 2019, adult and juvenile Mayan Cichlids were collected via hook-and-line with artificial lures or with cast nets in seven sites across the Tampa Bay watershed. Fish were fixed in 10% formalin, dissected, and stomach contents were sorted and preserved in 70% ethanol. After sorting, stomach contents were identified to the lowest taxonomic level possible and an Index of Relative Importance (IRI) was calculated for each taxon. The highest IRI values calculated for stomach contents of Mayan Cichlids collected in the Tampa Bay watershed were associated with gastropod mollusks in adults and ctenoid scales in juveniles. The data suggest that Mayan Cichlids in Tampa Bay were generalist carnivores.Item The Retinal Pigments of Filter-feeding Sharks (Rhincodon typus, Cetorhinus maximus, and Megachasma pelagios) and their Role in Foraging Ecology(Honors Program, The University of Tampa, 2020-04-08) Serba, Katherine M.; Dr. Jeffry FasickThe spectral tuning properties of the whale shark (Rhincodon typus), basking shark (Cetorhinus maximus), and megamouth shark (Megachasma pelagios) rod (Rh1) and longwavelength sensitive (LWS) cone visual pigments were examined to determine whether these retinal pigments have adapted to the broadband light spectrum available for surface foraging, or to the narrowband blue-shifted light spectrum available at depth. Recently published whale shark Rh1 and LWS cone opsin genes were used to design primers for amplification and sequencing of the opsin proteins from basking and megamouth sharks. Basking and megamouth shark Rh1 and LWS cone coding sequences were PCR amplified and sequenced to identify amino acid residues critical for spectral tuning. The predicted absorbance maxima (λmax) for the whale, basking, and megamouth shark Rh1 visual pigments were 496 nm, 496 nm, and 488 nm, respectively. The deduced amino acid sequence for both the whale and basking shark LWS cone opsins resulted in predicted λmax values near 500 nm. Although Rh1 λmax values near 500 nm are typical of terrestrial vertebrates and surface foraging fish, it is uncommon for vertebrate LWS cone pigments to be so greatly blue-shifted. We propose that the spectral tuning properties of the Rh1 and LWS cone pigments in whale and basking sharks are most likely an adaptation to the broadband light spectrum available at the surface, while the megamouth shark Rh1 pigment is most likely an adaptation to the narrowband light spectrum available in deeper waters.Item Class and Access to Governance in Burkina Faso(Honors Program, The University of Tampa, 2020-04-07) Ingram, Julia R.This paper explores how individual differences in socioeconomic status can influence an individual's cognitive mapping of governance, that is whether they pursue a formal or informal mechanism of governance. This research shows a positive relationship between socioeconomic status and formality of governance so that those of a higher socioeconomic status pursue formal mechanisms of governance to address needs more than those of a lower status.