American Studies Commons^™

Numerical Simulations Of Heat Transfer Processes In A Dehumidifying Wavy Fin And A Confined Liquid Jet Impingement On Various Surfaces, Mutasim Mohamed Sarour Elsheikh

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis consists of two different research problems. In the first one, the heat transfer characteristic of wavy fin assembly with dehumidification is carried out. In general, fin tube heat exchangers are employed in a wide variety of engineering applications, such as cooling coils for air conditioning, air pre-heaters in power plants and for heat dissipation from engine coolants in automobile radiators. In these heat exchangers, a heat transfer fluid such as water, oil, or refrigerant, flows through a parallel tube bank, while a second heat transfer fluid, such as air, is directed across the tubes. Since the principal resistance …

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 Clash Of Heritage And Development On The Island Of Roatã¡N, Honduras, Alejandro J. Figueroa

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The present study examines the spatial relationship between archaeological sites on the island of Roatán, Honduras and their topographical and biophysical location, as well as how these relationships are and continue to be impacted by the island's current socioeconomic context. Despite several studies and explorations conducted on the island's history, archaeology, and geography since the early twentieth century, little is known of its place and role within the larger cultural and socioeconomic spheres of interaction in this region: Mesoamerica and the Intermediate Area. Previous archaeological research has shown that hilltops on Roatán were chosen in prehispanic times for the location …

Examining Reasons For Bottled Water Consumption: A Case Study In Pensacola, Florida, Marina Leigh Foote

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Over-consumption in developed economies undoubtedly puts a large strain on the environment, and many would argue that the damage is irreversible. Current uses and rates of consumption of freshwater resources are also deemed to be unsustainable. A large contributor to the high demand for water is the shift in consumer preferences from tap to bottled water. In the last few decades, bottled water companies have set unprecedented records, surpassing all other types of non-alcoholic beverages to become the second largest beverage market next to soda. Bottled water has been on the rise due to its supposed safety, purity and convenience. …

Cactus Mucilage-Assisted Heavy Metal Separation: Design And Implementation, Dawn Iona Fox

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Natural contamination of groundwater by arsenic (As) has become a critical public health threat in many parts of the world. The well-known regions associated with As contamination of groundwater are Bangladesh and West Bengal, India where approximately 100 million people are exposed to high levels of arsenic by drinking arsenic-contaminated groundwater and about 35 million are already affected. Long-term drinking of arsenic-contaminated water leads to arsenicosis, which is characterized by cancers of the skin, organ disease and certain other types of cancer. Affected developing communities are at higher risk because they may not have access to conventional water treatment facilities. …

Public Perceptions Of Organizational Culture And Organization-Public Relationships, Cherisse Fonseca Rivera

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Almost 30 years ago, public relations scholars began to process the idea that the concept of culture was important to public relations practices. In particular, scholars questioned what influence culture might have on the communication process and relationship building between organizations and their stakeholders. Yet, today culture is still an understudied concept in the public relations literature. The purpose of this study is to analyze how of organizational culture, as defined by Sriramesh, J. E. Grunig, and Dozier (1996), is significant to the relationship outcomes in public relations. The theoretical framework for this study consists of organizational culture theory and …

The Positive Illusory Bias: Do Adhd Symptoms Differ Among Young Adolescents With Accurate Versus Discrepant Self-Perceptions?, Sarah A. Fefer

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to gain insight into whether inattentive, hyperactive/ impulsive, and depressive symptoms differ among young adolescents with negative, accurate, or positive self-perceptions of their academic and social competence. Current literature suggests that elementary-age children with ADHD display overly positive self-perceptions, often referred to as the positive illusory bias (PIB; Owens, Goldfine, Evangelista, Hoza, & Kaiser, 2007). Self-reports of academic and social self-concept were compared to teacher ratings and test scores for 164 middle school students in an effort to determine if the PIB was present within this sample. Inattentive and hyperactive/impulsive symptoms were found to …

Actualizing Empowerment: Developing A Framework For Partnering With Families In System Level Service Planning And Delivery, Kathleen Ferreira

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The engagement of families of children and adolescents with Serious Emotional Disturbance (SED) as full partners in individual treatment, organizational, and system level decision making has become an important focus for systems of care (SOCs) serving youth with emotional and behavioral challenges. SOCs typically include cross-agency partnerships with mental health, child welfare, juvenile justice, and education for the purpose of providing services and supports for youth with SED who have multi-agency needs. Implementation of a federal mandate requiring family driven care (FDC) within systems of care funded through the Children's Mental Health Initiative (CMHI) has revealed that most system of …

Cataloguing Diseases And Pests In Captive Corals, Adrienne George

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Stony corals (Order Scleractinia) are susceptible to a variety of diseases, which can occur from abiotic or biotic factors, or a combination of both. Public aquaria provide opportunities to study coral disease. Because coral mucus is the first line of defense against disease, the Biolog EcoplateTM is a useful tool to detect differences in microbial assemblages in the surface mucopolysaccharide (mucus) layer when comparing healthy and diseased corals. Histological examination is essential to document structural changes in coral tissue in response to diseases. This study identifies and characterizes diseases in captive corals through visual recognition, characterization of carbon utilization by …

Interface Engineered Diamond Coatings For Dry Machining Applications, Humberto Arturo Gomez Vega

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Several studies have been propose to improve the adhesion of diamond films on cemented carbide tool materials, however a systematic study in identifying the role of the factors that affect the final diamond adhesion and the resulting machining performance of the tool under real manufacturing conditions is still unexplored. CVD diamond film's extraordinary qualities bring little benefit if the film fails to adhere sufficiently to the substrate. Inadequate adhesion undermines tool performance and longevity, causing unpredictable behavior under load and possibly leading to unexpected failure of the tool in the production line. This dissertation investigates the effects of different surface …

Safety Evaluation Of Roadway Lighting Illuminance Levels And Its Relationship With Nighttime Crash Injury Severity For West Central Florida Region, Enrique Gonzalez-Velez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The main role of roadway lighting is to produce quick, accurate and comfortable visibility during nighttime conditions. It is commonly known that good lighting levels enable motorists, pedestrians and bicyclists to obtain necessary visual information in an effective and efficient manner. Many previous studies also proved that roadway lighting minimizes the likelihood of crashes by providing better visibility for roadway users.

Appropriate and adequate roadway lighting illuminance levels for each roadway classification and pedestrian areas are essential to provide safe and comfortable usage. These levels are usually provided by national, or local standards and guidelines. The Florida Department of Transportation …

Archaeology And Indigeneity, Past And Present: A View From The Island Of Roatã¡N, Honduras, Whitney Annette Goodwin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Project Roatán was initiated in 2008 as a collaboration between the University of South Florida (USF) and the Honduran Institute of Anthropology and History (IHAH) to investigate the prehistory of the island of Roatán, Bay Islands, Honduras. Based on data from the 2009 field season of Project Roatán, this study examines the ways in which native islanders of the Postclassic period (A.D. 900-1500) expressed their social identity and cultural affiliations with contemporaneous groups on northeastern mainland Honduras through their ceramic traditions. These initial investigations serve to evaluate the relationship between islanders and mainland groups and any major differences in terms …

Middle School Transition: How It Affects The Achievement Of Hispanic Students Relative To Ell Status, Socioeconomic Status, Gender, And Previous Test Scores, Kevin D. Gordon

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the phenomena of middle school transition and achievement as it relates to Hispanic students. According to the 2000 U.S. census, there are more than 35 million registered Hispanic citizens. Of those, 3.6 million are public school students. The literature indicated that there was a marked regression in student achievement during the transition to middle school.

Through the use of descriptive statistics and regression analysis, sixth grade Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) reading and math developmental scale scores (DSS) were analyzed to determine if the mean achievement improved or declined after the transition …

Apparent Total Evaporative Resistance Values From Human Trials Over A Range Of Heat Stress Levels, Brian Grace

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Clothing can influence heat stress depending on the design and its ability to act as a barrier. The progressive heat stress protocol permitted the collection of data to empirically estimate the apparent total evaporative resistance (R_e,T,a). Five different clothing ensembles were evaluated, which included work clothes, cotton coveralls, and three limited-use protective clothing ensembles including a pthesis-barrier ensemble, (Tyvek^® 1424), water-barrier, vapor-permeable ensemble (NexGen^® LS 417), and a vapor-barrier ensemble (Tychem QC^®). The study design called for three metabolic level's: low, moderate, and high (L, M, & H) and three heat stages: compensable, transitional, …

From Dna To Protein: A Study Of Genomic Instability Candidate Genes During Zebrafish Development, Kristine Griffett

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The zebrafish, Danio rerio, is a type of freshwater minnow often used to model human diseases including cancer, anxiety and aging diseases. The overall biology of zebrafish is strikingly similar to that of humans, allowing these fish to be used for drug discovery and toxicology studies for preclinical trials. In this study, zebrafish embryos were used to identify and characterize several candidate genes within two known regions of genomic instability on chromosome 18 and chromosome 4. This fish that were used in this study had been previously classified as genomic instability (gin) mutants due to increased incidence of somatic mutation …

A Case Study Of Selected Female Elementary School Leaders' Perspectives On The, Julie D. Hasson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The transition from the comfort of a familiar role, that of teacher, to the discomfort of a new role, that of school administrator, is a transformative process. Transforming oneself requires leaving what is known and venturing into the unknown. Researchers have illuminated women's struggle to attain school leadership positions, but the transformation of females making this change in professional roles is seldom addressed in leadership literature. Although context cannot be ignored, there are some challenges common to many women undergoing this transformation.

Situated in the elementary education setting, this study investigated the perspectives of female, early-career administrators who recently experienced …

A Cross-Cultural Adaptation Of The Irrational Beliefs Inventory From English To Icelandic, Gudmundur Torfi Heimisson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Irrational Beliefs Inventory (IBI) was built to measure self-defeating beliefs as conceptualized in Rational-Emotive Behavior Therapy. The IBI has five factors: worrying, rigidity, problem avoidance, need for approval, and emotional irresponsibility. A three-phase cross-cultural study was conducted to translate and adapt the IBI from English to Icelandic, and a Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) approach was used for a test of factorial validity and cross-cultural invariance.

In Phase 1, the IBI was translated from English to Icelandic, using a forward-translation and back-translation. Two forward-translators and two back-translators were recruited. In Phase 2, qualitative interview methods were used in both the …

Relative Abundance And Spatial Distribution Of Lepomid Sunfishes In The Peace River, Justin Henry Heller

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examines spatially continuous sampling data in order to investigate patterns of abundance and distribution of three recreationally important sunfish species (bluegill, redear, and spotted sunfish) along the main-stem of the Peace River, a large softwater river located in southwest Florida. A total of 467 electrofishing transects were sampled biannually from spring 2008 to spring 2010. Sampling sites ranged from the headwaters of the Peace River in Polk County, FL to the oligohaline waters located in Charlotte County, FL. All fish were collected with boat mounted electrofishing gear, and aquatic habitat and physiochemical water quality measurements were recorded at …

Diamond Based-Materials: Synthesis, Characterization And Applications, Qiang Hu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The studies covered in this dissertation concentrate on the various forms of diamond films synthesized by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method, including microwave CVD and hot filament CVD. According to crystallinity and grain size, a variety of diamond forms primarily including microcrystalline (most commonly referred to as polycrystalline) and nanocrystalline diamond films, diamond-like carbon (DLC) films were successfully synthesized. The as-grown diamond films were optimized by changing deposition pressure, volume of reactant gas hydrogen (H2) and carrier gas argon (Ar) in order to get high-quality diamond films with a smooth surface, low roughness, preferred growth orientation and high sp3 bond …

Friendship Networks, Perceived Reciprocity Of Support, And Depression, Ryan Francis Huff

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Using social network analysis as a theoretical framework, the current study examined the associations between self-reported egocentric network characteristics and depression among a sample of United States college students. It is important to understand factors related to depression among this population due to the severity of its potential outcomes (e.g., suicide and interpersonal problems at school). Drawing inspiration from a recent study conducted by Christina Falci and Clea McNeely (2009), the current investigation used OLS regression to test for both linear and curvilinear relationships between egocentric network size and depression. Potential interactions between network size, density, and gender were also …