American Studies Commons^™

Redefining The Gothic: How The Works Of Carson Mccullers, Tennessee Williams & Flannery O'Connor Retained Gothic Roots And Shaped The Southern Gothic, Sarah N. Koehler

All Student Theses and Dissertations

My aim in this thesis is to explore the commonalities between Carson McCullers, Tennessee Williams and Flannery O’Connor, particularly in terms of three main themes: isolation, the pervasion of American normalcy and gender roles. While each of these authors clearly inserts some autobiographical information into his or her characters, the real commonalities between the fictional characters can be found in their inability to fit into a traditional society; the characters in all three authors’ works are outcasts, pushed to the fringes of their communities or their families because of who they are. Sometimes these characters’ desire to be different is …

Woman At The Top: Rhetoric, Politics, And Feminism In The Texts And Life Of Annie Smith Peck, Hannah Scialdone-Kimberly

English Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this focuses on the autobiographical rhetoric and public identity of Annie Smith Peck, a scholar, mountain climber and woman rhetor from the turn of the century. My qualitative case study of Peck examines how she worked as a woman rhetor to create a popular identity for herself in both mountain climbing and scholarship. I also focus on how Peck worked to identify herself with her audience; here, I use Burke's concept of "identification," as a way of adding to (rather than substituting for) traditional rhetoric. My project brings new findings in that I examine data on Peck …

Shaping Identity: Male And Female Interactions In Cinema, Jonette Lauren Lagamba

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Since the inception of cinema, women have been portrayed with the typical identities of emotionally and physically weak characters; this portrayal led to their subsequent dependence on men. Men were usually the protagonists and/or the heroes, following their archetypal journey. Thus, women's position in early cinema was to exemplify what men were not, placing the former in the diminutive position of the Other. One may conclude that men were often defined by what women lacked, and the women were defined by their relationships with these heroic men. As time progressed in the history of cinema, women's images retained part …

Algorithms For Visual Maritime Surveillance With Rapidly Moving Camera, Sergiy Fefilatyev

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Visual surveillance in the maritime domain has been explored for more than a decade. Although it has produced a number of working systems and resulted in a mature technology, surveillance has been restricted to the port facilities or areas close to the coastline assuming a fixed-camera scenario. This dissertation presents several contributions in the domain of maritime surveillance. First, a novel algorithm for open-sea visual maritime surveillance is introduced. We explore a challenging situation with a camera mounted on a buoy or other floating platform. The developed algorithm detects, localizes, and tracks ships in the field of view of the …

Failed Heroes: Hypermasculinity In The Contemporary American Novel, Josef D. Benson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

My study highlights a link of U.S. American hypermasculinity running through Cormac McCarthy's two novels Blood Meridian (1985) and All the Pretty Horses (1992), Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon (1977), and James Baldwin's Another Country (1960). My literary interpretations of these texts suggest that U.S. American hypermasculine man originated in the American frontier and transformed into a definition of hegemonic masculinity embraced by many southern rural American men. These southern rural American men then concocted the myth of the black rapist in order to justify the mass murder of African American men after Reconstruction, inadvertently creating a figure more hypermasculine …

Electronic Peer Feedback In A Collaborative Classroom, Cassandra A. Branham

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the ways in which frequency and reflexivity affect student engagement with the peer feedback process. I study the peer e-feedback sessions conducted via My Reviewers in a pilot model of Composition 2 at a large research university in the southeast in order to determine if an increased focus on the peer feedback activity might enhance the effectiveness of the process. Through textual analysis and survey results, I determine that an increased focus on electronic peer feedback along with an increase in frequency and reflexivity helps to minimize some common criticisms of the peer feedback process. In this …

Choice, Management, & Modification: Situational Context In Risky Choice, Nathaniel K. Decker

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

We sought to examine the potential differences between different types of risky decisions. While some decisions are easily represented as choices between future alternatives, other decisions may be better represented as the management of a personally owned situation. Schneider (2003) created the risk management task, which manifested these situated improvement decisions, and identified a unique pattern of risk preferences when compared to the standard gambling paradigm. To determine what cognitive processes might be differentially activated for each type of decisions so as to yield these risk preference differences, we incrementally manipulated the gambling paradigm to parse potentially influential elements of …

Low Level Exposure To Air Pollution And Risk Of Adverse Birth Outcomes In Hillsborough County, Florida, Maria B. Mainolfi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this retrospective cohort from 2002 through 2007, 104,003 singleton live births in Hillsborough County, Florida were analyzed to elucidate the relationship between feto-infant morbidity outcomes and prenatal exposure to six criteria air pollutants. This study is based on three linked databases: The Florida Hospital Discharge database; The vital statistics records of singleton live births; Air Pollution meteorological data from the Environmental Protection Agency. There are six common air pollutants, particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5), particulate matter 10 (PM10), ground-level ozone (O3), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen (NOx), and lead (Pb). These pollutants are harmful to human health and the environment. The …

Rocky Hill [Kentucky] Station Architecture (Fa 75), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 75. “Rocky Hill Station Architecture,” vernacular architecture class project concerning Rocky Hill, Edmonson County, Kentucky (est. 1859). Includes information on architecture, social life, economic life and railroads.

Plant Species Richness And Species Area Relationships In A Florida Sandhill, Monica Ruth Downer

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Pine sandhill are integral pyrogenic communities in the southeastern United States. Though once widespread, habitat destruction, fire suppression and fragmentation have reduced the population to nearly 3%. It is important to learn as much as possible about these unique areas in order to implement best management practices to conserve and restore the existing populations of these communities.

Fire is central to the maintenance of pine sandhill communities and two conceptual hypothesis regarding burn frequency have come to light in maintaining the unique species composition and richness of these areas. The first is the Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis which suggests that intermediate …

Assessing The Microbial Consequences Of Remediation: Surrogate Microbial Screening And Native Metabolic Signatures In Tc(Vii) Contaminated Sediments, Kathryn Lafaye Bailey

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The chemical and physical processes controlling contaminant fate and transport in the vadose zone limit the options for application of many remedial technologies. Foam delivery technology (FDT) has been developed as a potential solution to overcome these limitations for remediating subsurface and deep vadose zone environments using reactive amendments. Although there are many advantages to utilizing FDT for treatment in the deep vadose zone, little information is available on how the addition of these surfactants and remedial amendments affect the indigenous microbial communities in the deep vadose zone as well as the impact of biological transformations of surfactant-based foams on …

Voces Fabuladas Contra Estatuas Míticas: Francisco Herrera Luque Y Su Aproximación Literaria A La Historia Venezolana, Juan Vicente Ayala

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis postulates the narrative of Venezuelan psychiatrist and novelist Francisco Herrera Luque as one that demystifies the official historical discourse of his nation.

Our argument is developed through a two-part analysis. First, we present and examine the author's characteristic method, one that he called "fabled history", and the way it deals with elements of Venezuela's historical past. Secondly, we analyze the way Herrera Luque, while crafting an undoubtedly historical narrative, also analyzes many elements of the Venezuelan idiosyncrasy and identity through the illustration of colonial life in the nation, in particular within the oligarchic social class known as mantuanos, …

Valanced Voices: Student Experiences With Learning Disabilities & Differences, Zoe Dupree Fine

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This feminist oral history project located at the intersections of disability, feminist, body politics, and educational theory presents an analysis of three individual student narratives about their experiences with learning disabilities and learning differences (LD/Ds) at the high school and university levels. This thesis introduces students' accounts of their daily lives, pasts, personal views, experiences, and memories about having learning disabilities and learning differences into the existing scholarship on LDs and reveals how students' narrated experiences might shed light on the ways in which education might be reformed to better meet the needs of students like them. In response to …

Detecting Surface Oil Using Unsupervised Learning Techniques On Modis Satellite Data, Joshua Kidd

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The release of crude oil or other petroleum based products into marine habitats can have a devastating impact on the environment as well as the local economies that rely on these waters for commercial fishing and tourism. The Deepwater Horizon catastrophe that started on April 20th 2010 leaked an estimated 4.4 million barrels of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico over a 3 month period threatening thousands of species and crippling the gulf coast. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) used several satellite remote sensing technologies to manually track and predict the extent and location of oil on …

More Than Words: Rhetorical Devices In American Political Cartoons, Lawrence Ray Bush

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis argues that literary theory applied to political cartoons shows that cartoons are reasoned arguments. The rhetorical devices used in the cartoons mimic verbal devices used by essayists. These devices, in turn, make cartoons influential in that they have the power to persuade readers while making them laugh or smile. It also gives examples of literary theorists whose works can be applied to political cartooning, including Frederick Saussure, Mikhail Bakhtin, and Wolfgang Iser. Not only do those theorists' arguments apply to text, they also apply to pictorial representations.

This thesis also discusses changes in the cartoon art form over …

Member Perceptions Of Informal Science Institutions Graduate Certificate Program: Case Study Of A Community Of Practice, Lois A. Ball

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

This research attempted to understand the experiences of a cohort of informal and formal science educators and informal science institution (ISI) community representatives during and after completion of a pilot graduate certificate program. Informal science educators (ISEs) find limited opportunities for professional development and support which influence their contributions to America's science literacy and school science education. This emergent design nested case study described how an innovative program provided professional development and enabled growth in participants' abilities to contribute to science literacy. Data were collected through interviews, participant observations, and class artifacts. The program by design and constituency was …

The Impacts Of Population Density, And State & National Litter Prevention Programs On Marine Debris, Melissa Rose Brogle

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Marine debris is improperly disposed of solid waste, also called litter, which is deposited in the marine environment (NOAA, 2010). Litter prevention techniques such as fines, cleanups, incentives, and others, can help to decrease litter, and ultimately decrease marine debris. This research analyzed 2000 and 2010 International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) data obtained from The Ocean Conservancy to ascertain whether certain litter prevention techniques did reduce amounts and types of marine debris found in coastal areas. The litter prevention techniques analyzed included state bottle bills, voluntary monofilament fishing line recycling programs, and the Keep America Beautiful (KAB) cigarette butt litter prevention …

Critical Heat Stress Evaluation Of Two-Layer Clothing Ensembles And The Contributionof A Full-Face Negative Pressure Respirator, Oclla Michele Fletcher

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Protective clothing ensembles are worn by workers as a barrier to chemical and physical hazards, but can restrict heat loss and increase worker heat stress. The question of whether a respirator adds to heat stress or strain burden is a continuing concern among occupational health professionals. The purpose of this study was to determine if there are differences in heat stress or strain among the current Toxicological Agent Protective (TAP) ensemble and two ensemble variations used in demilitarization of chemical weapons. Four acclimatized adult males wore five ensembles in a balanced design while walking in a climatic chamber at a …

The Impact Of Continuous And Discontinuous Cycle Exercise On Affect: An Examination Of The Dual-Mode Model, Sam Greeley

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Low-volume, high-intensity interval training has been garnering attention in the exercise physiology literature recently due to its proposed time-efficiency. Also, recent work comparing continuous exercise to high-intensity interval training demonstrated superior ratings of perceived enjoyment following interval training. However, the dual-mode model suggests that exercise above ventilatory threshold (VT) done continuously will result in an almost homogenous decline in affect, which may reduce adherence.

Numerous studies confirm the dual-mode model's prediction of reduced affect when exercising above VT, but no research to date has applied the model's predictions to interval training. The purpose of this study was to examine the …

Assessing The Link Between Coastal Development And The Quality Of Fish Habitat In Mangrove Tidal Tributaries, Justin Micheal Krebs

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

To assess the potential influence of coastal development on the quality of estuarine habitat for nekton, we characterized land use and the intensity of land development surrounding small tidal tributaries of Tampa Bay. Based on this characterization, we classified tributaries as undeveloped, industrial, urban or man-made (i.e., mosquito-control ditches). Over one-third (37%) of tributaries were determined to be heavily developed, while fewer than one-third (28%) remain relatively undeveloped. We then examined the nekton community from eleven tributaries in watersheds representing the defined land-use classes. Whereas mean nekton density and species richness were both independent of land use, nekton-community structure differed …