American Studies Commons^™

Novel Magnetic Materials For Sensing And Cooling Applications, Anurag Chaturvedi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The overall goals of the present PhD research are to explore the giant magnetoimpedance (GMI) and giant magnetocaloric (GMC) effects in functional magnetic materials and provide guidance on the optimization of the material properties for use in advanced magnetic sensor and refrigeration applications.

GMI has attracted growing interest due to its promising applications in high-performance magnetic sensors. Research in this field is focused on the development of new materials with properties appropriate for practical GMI sensor applications. In this project, we have successfully set up a new magneto-impedance measurement system in the Functional Materials Laboratory at USF. We have established, …

Repression/Incitement: Double-Reading Vita Sackville-West's The Edwardians Through Freud And Foucault, Aimee Elizabeth Coley

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Vita Sackville-West's autobiographical novel The Edwardians lends itself to a double reading: both Freudian and Foucauldian. The Freudian conflict between desire and prohibition plays out in the unresolved Oedipus complex of its protagonist Sebastian, son of the Duchess of Chevron; repression drives Sebastian's behavior in all his relationships. The novel also depicts an upper-class Edwardian society incited to discourse in a Foucauldian sense--a society in which sexual gossip functions as a discourse of power. From a psychoanalytic perspective, this incitement is produced by repression, and functions as a symptom of it. The relationship between repression and incitement suggests the possibility …

Geochemical Systematics Among Amphibolitic Rocks In The Central Blue Ridge Province Of Southwestern North Carolina, Nathan Collins

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Central Blue Ridge sub-province of the southern Appalachian Mountains preserves an unique and complex geologic history. The Cartoogechaye terrane is the westernmost terrane of the Central Blue Ridge sub-province, and is characterized by extensive olistostromal sequences, including mafic-ultramafic massifs, isolated mafic units, and block-in-matrix structures of varying scales. This study investigates the genetic and tectonic relationships, and regional chemical and metamorphic trends of the amphibolitic rocks entrained within units of the Cartoogechaye and nearby terranes, toward constraining the origins of these regional sequences, and examining the rationale for the current Blue Ridge terrane designations.

A distinct compositional variation exists …

Restoration Of Displaced Cast-In-Place Concrete Slabs On Grade With The Use Of The Isb-07 Subsurface Support Bracket, Jose Carlos Busquets

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The restoration of foundations of residential and light commercial structures that have been affected by differential displacement resulting from problematic soil conditions has been an ongoing issue since early times. In Florida, the issue of structures being affected by subsidence of soils related to sinkhole activity has been a problem that has gained more interest and exposure within the last 20 years. Structures affected by sinkholes have been historically addressed by remediating the soil mechanism which caused the structure to displace and then structurally addressing the portions of the structure that have displaced with steel underpins installed on the foundation. …

Inhibition Of P53 Dna Binding Function By The Mdm2 Acidic Domain, Brittany Lynne Cross

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

MDM2 regulates p53 predominantly by promoting p53 ubiquitination. However, ubiquitination-independent mechanisms of MDM2 have also been implicated. Here we show that MDM2 inhibits p53 DNA binding activity in vitro and in vivo. MDM2 binding promotes p53 to adopt a mutant-like conformation, losing reactivity to antibody Pab1620, while exposing the Pab240 epitope. The acidic domain of MDM2 is required to induce p53 conformational change and inhibit p53 DNA binding. ARF binding to the MDM2 acidic domain restores p53 wild type conformation and rescues DNA binding activity. Furthermore, histone methyl transferase SUV39H1 binding to the MDM2 acidic domain also restores p53 wild …

Supercritical Fluid Aided Microencapsulation Of Dry Powders, Raquel Carvallo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Coating of fine particles to produce tailored surface properties is currently a key development for supercritical fluids applications, in different areas such as: pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, cosmetic, agrochemical, electronic and specialty chemistry industries. During the encapsulation process the particles surface can be designed with specific properties by spreading a thin film coating material over the surface of the particles.

Chitosan, a natural polymer, was used in this work as the encapsulant material. Chitosan is biocompatible, biodegradable to normal body constituents, safe, non-toxic, bacteriostatic, anticancerogen, and versatile polymer. These attributes are among the properties that make Chitosan an attractive component of pharmaceutical …

Analysis Of Ahr Expression And Stability In A Recombinant Yeast Model System, Sarah Elizabeth Cuccinello

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (Ahr) and the aryl hydrocarbon receptor nuclear translocator (Arnt) are well characterized bHLH-PAS transcription factors shown to regulate expression of xenobiotic metabolism genes. Extensive study has shown that upon treatment with certain aromatic hydrocarbons, mammalian cells rapidly activate the Ahr signaling pathway in order to stimulate gene expression and attempt to metabolize the xenobiotic compounds. It has been shown that after DNA-binding, the Ahr but not the Arnt protein, is quickly eliminated from the nuclear compartment thereby attenuating the dose of gene regulation administered by the Ahr*Arnt transcription factor complex. Previous studies have implicated involvement of …

Modeling Roadside Safety Hazards To Predict Annual Crash Cost To Encroaching Vehicles In Rural Road Networks, Isidro Delgado

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Roadside crashes account for a large portion of total fatal crashes that occur annually in the United States. About 30% of those fatalities are the result of single vehicle run-off-road crashes. A large proportion of these fatal crashes occur in rural roads when vehicles depart from the travel lane and collide with trees or other roadside safety hazards. Many of these run-off-road accidents occur in local roads that carry traffic volumes between 1,000 and 20,000 vehicles per day. Many of these roads are part of the jurisdiction of county authorities faced with the dilemma of having too many "potentially dangerous" …

Perceived Leadership Practices Of Student Affairs Professionals: An Analysis Of Demographic Factors., Edwing Delamour Daniel

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Student affairs professionals in higher education are expected to provide leadership in many ways on their campuses. Obtaining a more complete picture of the leadership characteristics of the profession is therefore important in informing those in the profession who provide continuing professional development programming and for those who teach in graduate student affairs programs. The purpose of this quantitative research study was to determine whether there were differences in the perceived leadership practices of student affairs professionals when analyzed by the independent variables of race, gender, level of current position, age, and highest degree earned.

The instrument used in this …

Microbial Landscapes Of Corals And Ctenophores, Camille Arian Daniels

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As technology and engineering allow mankind to survey nature at finer scales, the importance of bacteria has been elucidated in their metabolic diversity, ability to transfer genetic information, involvement in biogeochemical cycling, and sheer abundance. With an individual domain of life unto themselves, this diverse group of microorganisms plays an integral role in facilitating life on land and in the oceans, and is second only to viruses in abundance on Earth. They carve niches in a wide range of environments, including those inhospitable to other life forms, and reside in concert or to the detriment of other microbes and/or hosts …

The Hero Soldier: Portrayals Of Soldiers In War Films, Gavin Davie

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The mythos of the hero has existed within the stories of humanity for as long as we can remember. Within the last hundred years film has become one of the dominant storytelling media of our culture and numerous films, especially war films, about heroes and their inspirational actions have been made. This study focuses on war films and the hero soldiers and their actions portrayed in those films. It uses a narrative analysis of five war films to accomplish this. The findings suggest that the hero soldier has become more human and fallible over time and that heroes are a …

The Dirt On Prehispanic Water Management At Palmarejo, Honduras, Zaida Darley

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Water is an essential resource for human life. Even in the tropical environment of the Maya Lowlands, water scarcity is a concern, because the region cycles between abundant rainfall and seasonal droughts. To understand how societies flourished during periods of water scarcity, archaeologists have studied prehispanic water management in the Maya Lowlands. Yet, water management research has tended to focus predominantly on large urban Maya populations, excluding smaller-scale societies that face the same challenges associated with water scarcity. This study investigates the neighboring non-Maya society of Late Classic (A.D.650-900) Palmarejo in northwestern Honduras to explore how water management was organized …

Adolescence Is An Ocean: A Biocultural Investigation Of Youth Food Consumption In Tanzania, Elizabeth J. Danforth

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates adolescents' relationships with food and other community and household members' perceptions of youth and their food consumption to understand the multifactorial dynamic processes which create nutritional outcomes among urban and rural youth in central Tanzania. Youth are an important and demographically large population in developing countries. The identities created during this distinct stage of cultural production can be reflected in youths' food consumption and relationships with food. Nutrition likely affects how youth transition through a variety of states, including their growth and development stages, primary to secondary to higher education, child to parent, or unemployed to employed. …

More Than "Modern Day Slavery": Stakeholder Perspectives And Policy On Human Trafficking In Florida, Nathaniel Dickey

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, Florida has acquired a reputation as fertile ground for human trafficking. On the heels of state and federal anti-human trafficking legislation, a host of organizations have risen to provide a range of services. In this thesis, I discuss findings from 26 interviews conducted with law enforcement, service providers, legal representatives and trafficked persons to contextualize the variability in the way anti-trafficking work is conceptualized by stakeholders across the state. Additionally, I explore how conflicting organizational policies on the local, state, and federal levels impact stakeholder collaboration and complicate trafficked persons' attempts to navigate already complex processes of …

Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactor (Anmbr) For Treatment Of Landfill Leachate And Removal Of Micropollutants, Anh Tien Do

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

To date, most studies on the fate and removal of endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) and pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) in wastewater focus on their fate in municipal wastewater treatment plants, and mostly under aerobic condition. There are limited studies related to anaerobic condition and (to our knowledge) no study on the removal of EDCs in landfill leachate by AnMBR. Moreover, for most studies under anaerobic condition, the removal of EDCs was only reported in the liquid phase; solid phase extraction was not reported, thereby preventing mass balance in the studies.

This research was conducted to investigate the potential …

Development Of A Non-Invasive Electrode For Intradermal Electrically Mediated Dna Vaccination, Amy Lynn Donate

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Current progress in the development of vaccines has decreased the incidence of fatal and non-fatal infections and increased longevity. However, new technologies need to be developed to combat an emerging generation of infectious diseases. DNA vaccination has been demonstrated to have great potential for use against a wide variety of diseases. Alone, this vaccine technology does not generate a significant immune response for vaccination, but combined with delivery by electroporation (EP), can enhance plasmid expression and immunity against the expressed antigen. Most EP systems, while effective, can be invasive and painful making them less desirable for use in vaccination. Our …

Apparent Total Evaporative Resistance Values From Human Trials Over A Range Of Metabolic And Heat Stress Levels, Matthew David Dooris

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Failure to maintain thermal equilibrium can cause uncontrollable increases in body core temperature beyond critical upper limits. In selecting clothing, consideration must be given to the heat transfer properties of clothing that may restrict the cooling capacity of the human body under heat stress conditions, most importantly, apparent total evaporative resistance (R_e,T,_a). This study calculated and compared R_e,T,_a for five clothing ensembles under varying heat stress conditions, including three relative humidity (RH) levels and three stages of heat stress to determine if R_e,T,_a values varied or remained the same with …

The Tyranny Of Plot: Anzia Yezierska's Struggle To Free The Voices Of Her Community Through The Autobiographical Self, Kristie Kelly Dowling

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the very different ways that both the novel and autobiography mediate individual and group identities by comparing Anzia Yezierska's novel Salome of the Tenements to her autobiography Red Ribbon on a White Horse. Yezierska's texts establish the inherent difference between the novel and autobiography in that her novels contribute to the dominant ideology by colluding with the capitalist narrative of individualism while her autobiography resists that very narrative. In calling forth the multiple voices of her community, her autobiography reveals, in a series of metatextual comments, the fictional nature of the self and autobiography. Comparing these …

Postnatal Dental Mineralization: A Comparative Analysis Of Dental Development Among Contemporary Populations Of The Southeastern United States, Meryle Akeara Dotson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Due to the strong genetic component of dental development, research has shown that mineralization patterns of the human dentition are relatively buffered against environmental influences that normally affect bone growth and development. It is because of this resistance to environmental factors and the continuous growth of the permanent dentition throughout childhood and adolescence that the evaluation of dental development patterns has become the preferred method of age estimation in living and deceased children.

Researchers (Harris and Mckee 1990; Tompkins 1996; Blankenship et al. 2007; Kasper et al. 2009) have suggested that the timing of dental development varies by …

The Archaeology Of Yon Mound And Village, Middle Apalachicola River Valley, Northwest Florida, Jeffrey Patrick Du Vernay

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A growing trend in Mississippian research in the archaeology of the southeastern United States stresses the need to shift away from categorizing generalizations (e.g., the concept of chiefdoms) that have been used to characterize Mississippi-period (A.D. 1000-1600) societies and advocates elucidating the unique occupational histories of Mississippian communities. This dissertation follows this trend with the goal of identifying and interpreting the particular historical and developmental trajectory of the Yon mound and village site (8Li2), a Fort Walton Mississippian site situated in the middle Apalachicola River valley, northwest Florida. Since its initial recording by Clarence Bloomfield Moore at the turn of …