American Studies Commons^™

Using A Focus Measure To Automate The Location Of Biological Tissue Surfaces In Brightfield Microscopy, Daniel Toby Elozory

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The study of microstructures in brightfield microscopy using unbiased stereology plays a large and growing role in bioscience research. Stereology enables objective quantitative analysis of biological structures within a tissue sample. A first step in the stereology process is to calculate the thickness of a tissue sample by locating the top and bottom surfaces of the sample. The aim of this project is to fully automate this location process by using the relative optical focus measure as an indicator of tissue surface boundary.

The current method for identification of focus bounding planes requires a trained user to manually select the …

Population Biology, Ecology, And Ecosystem Contributions Of The Eastern Oyster (Crassostrea Virginica) From Natural And Artificial Habitats In Tampa Bay, Florida, Michael Drexler

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this project was to document the status of oysters, Crassostrea virginica, from non-reef habitats throughout Tampa Bay, Florida, and assess the ecosystem contributions of those populations relative to reef-dwelling oysters. The aspects of oyster ecology studied here include condition, prevalence and intensity of disease (Perkinsus marinus - dermo), reproductive activity (including stage, fecundity, and juvenile recruitment), adult oyster density, and the faunal community associated with the oysters.

The predominant source of variation was seasonal, with lesser contributions among sites, and in most cases, little or no effect of the habitat type. Oysters populations from each habitat …

Two-Dimensional Computer Model Of Human Atrial Ablation, Samineh R. Esfahani

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A finite-element model of a two-dimensional slice of human atrial tissue for the study of the electrograms and propagation of action potentials is presented. Action potential propagation is described by a reaction-diffusion model coupled with the complex Courtemanche et al. atrial cell model. The effects of recording electrode size and location on electrograms are presented. Action potential propagation as a result of atrial fibrillation ablation therapy is also modeled by defining a lesion area with decreased electrical conductivity. The effect of electrical conductivity and geometry of the lesion was also studied. It is shown that the success rate of atrial …

The Impact Of Supply Chain And Network Structure On The Environmental Performance Of Sustainability-Focused Companies, Ozan Ozcan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this dissertation was to contribute to our understanding of the relationship between supply chain structure and the pursuit of a sustainability-driven corporate strategy. The literature indicates that in order to pursue a sustainability-focused strategy, an increased level of integration across the supply chain is required. However, there are also industry-level dynamics that impact observed levels of vertical integration. That is, some industries are naturally more integrated than others based on the maturity level of the industry. Thus, some firms may experience opposing forces regarding their sourcing strategies once they choose to pursue a sustainability-focused strategy.

To explore …

Does D-Cycloserine Augmentation Of Cbt Improve Therapeutic Homework Compliance For Pediatric Obsessive Compulsive Disorder?, Jennifer M. Park

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

D-cycloserine (DCS), a partial agonist that acts on the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor of the glutamatergic receptor complex, may enhance fear extinction learning during exposure-based therapy. Clinical studies in adults with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and non-OCD anxiety disorders - and a recent trial in pediatric OCD - have shown that DCS can improve treatment response to exposure therapy relative to placebo and exposure therapy. Some have hypothesized that improved treatment response is a function of increased compliance and engagement in therapeutic homework tasks, a core component of behavioral treatment. The present study examined the relationship between DCS and homework compliance in …

New Media Photographic Representations Of Women`S Collegiate Volleyball: Game Faces, Action Shots, And Equipment, Alicia Pack

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Researchers consistently find that mainstream media often represent women athletes in stereotypical ways including trivialization, sexualization, infantilization, passivity, and utilization of camera down-angles. However, research on new media's visual representation of women athletes is still in its infancy. This study adds to the growing literature on new media's representation of women athletes and concurs with previous findings suggesting that new media might be an outlet that can counter old media gender stereotypes. This thesis used mixed methods of qualitative content analysis and photovoice in order to better understand how Big East volleyball players are represented in photographs on websites: Instances …

Middle School Physical Education Programs: A Comparison Of Moderate To Vigorous Physical Activity In Sports Game Play, Marcia Ann Patience

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

It is believed that Flag Rugby may produce physical activity (PA) in middle school students that is more vigorous than other sports. PURPOSE: To examine the effects of different sports on physical activity in middle school students. METHODS: 101 (55 M; 46 F, ages 11-14, grades 6-8 ) middle schoolers were randomly selected to participate in three different sports on three separate days during their regular scheduled PE class. The participants engaged in flag football on day one, basketball on day two and flag rugby on day three of the research study. These days were not consecutive. All physiological-related variables …

Informal Karst Education In The United States And Internationally, Leslie A. North

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite the abundance of karst terrains and the important role they play in a wide variety of roles including supplying freshwater drinking supplies, no single, comprehensive study investigates the role of informal education for the improved understanding and protection of the terrains. Commonly overlooked anthropogenic karst disturbances partially occur because of the poor dissemination of scientific information to the general populace and policymakers and budgetary and time constraints of municipalities, thus generating a need to use informal education to fill these shortcomings. The purpose of this study was to: 1) establish the status of and quantify the amount of karst-related …

An Examination Of Demographic Variables And Their Relationships With Perceived Stress Among Caregivers Beginning A Parent Training Program, Amy Heath Patenaude

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate how levels of stress among caregivers beginning a behavioral parent training program are related to caregiver and child variables. Research questions were answered using archival data collected from 474 caregivers who participated in HOT DOCS, a behavioral parent training program, between January 2009 through July 2010. The three objectives of the study were to (a) examine caregivers' perceived stress in relation to caregiver demographic variables (i.e., gender, marital status, level of education); (b) examine caregivers' perceived stress in relation to child demographic variables (i.e., levels of externalizing and internalizing behavior and …

"We Have Never Known What Death Was Before"--A Just War Doctrine Critique Of U.S. History Textbooks, Mark Pearcy

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Textbooks are a significant element of the social studies curriculum and teacher pedagogical choice (Apple, 2004; Apple & Christian-Smith, 1991). Students' views of American history are dramatically affected by the textbook narratives to which they are exposed, and teachers often tilt their curricular choices based on the textbooks available to them (Luke, 2006; Schug, Western & Enochs, 1997). The history of our nation's armed conflicts is often presented, through our textbooks and our pedagogy, as a history of reluctant violence, which promotes a particular moral agenda that exerts control over our students' future beliefs and decisions. This is particularly important …

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Irrigation Restrictions Within Key Communities In Tampa, Florida, Lin Allen Ozan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The City of Tampa, Florida has instituted water restrictions over the past decade that have been primarily aimed at mitigating non-essential usage of water resources by limiting domestic lawn irrigation. The mandatory restrictions are enforced by the issuance of citations to violators, which is intended to promote compliance and deter from subsequent violations. This thesis provides a thorough investigation of historical water restriction with relation to compliance in order to determine which factors might be related to high rates of water usage within key Tampa communities. The objectives are to: (1) develop a GIS data set that can be used …

Meta-Analysis Of Single-Case Data: A Monte Carlo Investigation Of A Three Level Model, Corina M. Owens

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Numerous ways to meta-analyze single-case data have been proposed in the literature, however, consensus on the most appropriate method has not been reached. One method that has been proposed involves multilevel modeling. This study used Monte Carlo methods to examine the appropriateness of Van den Noortgate and Onghena's (2008) raw data multilevel modeling approach to the meta-analysis of single-case data. Specifically, the study examined the fixed effects (i.e., the overall average baseline level and the overall average treatment effect) and the variance components (e.g., the between person within study variance in the average baseline level, the between study variance in …

My Bad Romance: Exploring The Queer Sublimity Of Diva Reception, Blake Paxton

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study explores the historic relationship between pop music divas and gay male fandom. It charts fan experiences from the early 60s with Judy Garland to contemporary times with pop diva Lady Gaga. This project also gives a description of the embodied experience of Brett Farmer’s “queer sublimity of diva reception.” Farmer (2005) argues that diva worship among gay men has become a queer sublimity, “the transcendence of a limiting heteronormative materiality and the sublime reconstruction, at least in fantasy, of a more capacious, kinder, queerer world” (p. 170). Using the methods of participant observation in drag performance and karaoke …

Captivating The Captors: Re-Defining Masculinity, Identity And Post-Colonialism In Plutarch's Parallel Lives, Andrea Lea Pittard

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates 1st-2nd century CE biographer and philosopher, Plutarch's, manipulation and construction of gender ideals in three sets of his Parallel Lives, Coriolanus and Alcibiades, Pelopidas and Marcellus, and Phocion and Cato the Younger in which he presented his particular version of the ideal man and route to manhood. Plutarch discouraged traditional paths to gaining masculine status and simultaneously promoted a type of masculinity that benefited other aspects of his identity, particularly promoting his social and economic position and ethnicity. He asserted throughout that martial men were not in control of their emotions and therefore were incomplete men. …

Role Of Protein Kinase C-Iota In Neuroblastoma And The Effect Of Ica-1, A Novel Protein Kinase C-Iota Inhibitor On The Proliferation And Apoptosis Of Neuroblastoma Cells, Prajit P. Pillai

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Protein Kinase C-iota (PKC-é), an atypical protein kinase C isoform manifests its potential as an oncogene by targeting various aspects of cancer cells such as growth, invasion and survival. PKC-é confers resistance to drug-induced apoptosis in cancer cells. The acquisition of drug resistance is a major obstacle to good prognosis in neuroblastoma. The focus of the dissertation was three-fold: First to study the role of PKC-é in the proliferation of neuroblastoma. Secondly, to identify the efficacy of [4-(5-amino-4-carbamoylimidazol-1-yl)-2,3-dihydroxycyclopentyl] methyl dihydrogen phosphate (ICA-1) as a novel PKC-é inhibitor in neuroblastoma cell proliferation and apoptosis. Finally, to analyze whether PKC-é could self-regulate …

Palaeoclimatic Significance Of Perennial Ice Accumulations In Caves: An Example From Scarisoara Ice Cave, Romania, Aurel Persoiu Tiritu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Stable isotopes in ice cores drilled in the polar and high-mountain region have been used intensively to reconstruct past climatic changes and atmospheric dynamics. However, no similar studies have been conducted on perennial ice accumulations in caves due to a limited understanding of the links between the external and cave environments, and the way in which the climatic signal can be recorded by the cave ice.

In this thesis, we successfully designed and build a research methodology for the reconstruction of past climatic changes based on perennial ice accumulation in caves, using as example the Scarisoara Ice Cave, Romania. The …

Carbon Nanotubes Interactions: Theory And Applications, Adrian Popescu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A theoretical framework describing the carbon nanotubes interaction, involving two distinct approaches, is presented. Based on the results obtained practical applications using carbon nanotubes are further proposed.

First a classical approach is employed for different geometrical configurations, such as parallel or concentric carbon nanotubes. For all the cases analytical expressions for the systems potential energies are derived.

The results obtained using the classical approach are used to propose a few practical applications. These applications include a non-contact device for profiling surfaces and a custom telescopic double wall carbon nanotube for nanolithography applications. It is expected that such devices can be …

An Investigation Into High Quality Leader Member Exchange Relationships And Their Relation To Followers' Motivation To Lead, Michael Rossi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research further investigates the motivation to lead (MTL) construct and its antecedents. While existing research has investigated culture, personality, and direct experience as an antecedent to MTL, the indirect experience of observing an effective leader has not been studied. It was hypothesized that having an effective supervisor would be related to followers' leadership self efficacy and MTL. It was also hypothesized that this relationship would be moderated by the quality of the relationship between leader and follower. Little evidence was found supporting these hypotheses. In addition, the existing research into MTL has failed to establish the link between MTL …

The Relationship Of Principal Resiliency To Job Satisfaction And Work Commitment: An Exploratory Study Of K-12 Public School Principals In Florida, Jason Pepe

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate characteristics associated with resilient school leaders. Principals juggle multiple responsibilities and work under increasingly stressful conditions. Despite recent role changes, added job responsibilities, and increased accountability, some principals remain remarkably resilient while working in a tumultuous environment. Using Henderson and Milstein's (2003) definition, principal resiliency was described as "the capacity to spring back, rebound, successfully adapt in the face of adversity, and develop social, academic, and vocational competence despite exposure to severe stress or simply to the stress that is inherent in today's world" (p. 7). This empirical study tested the theory …

A Case Study Of Women Educational Administrators And Their Perspectives On Work And Life Roles, Krissy Perkins

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Women are persistent in their pursuits to obtain advanced degrees in higher education, as evidenced by the growing percentage (53% in 2009 according to NCES, 2010). Their purposes for degree attainment are multiple and varied, as are their experiences in higher education. This case study investigated the perspectives of five females managing the roles of woman, mother, educational administrator, and doctoral student. Previous research has paid little attention to women who manage three roles, let alone four. Feminist Standpoint Theory undergirds this study and allows a conversation about power relations within the broader social order, allows the asking of questions …