American Studies Commons^™

Physically Meaningful Harmonization Of Tire/Pavement Friction Measurement Devices, Madhura Priyanga Nishshanke Rajapakshe

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Accurate characterization and evaluation of tire/pavement friction is critical in assuring runway and highway safety. Historically, Pavement Friction Measurement Devices (PFMDs) employing different measuring mechanisms have been used to evaluate tire/pavement friction. They yield significantly disparate friction coefficients under the same contact conditions. Currently, an empirically developed data harmonization method based on a reference device (Dynamic Friction Tester (DFT)) is used in an attempt to overcome the disparities between the measurements using various different PFMDs. However, this method, which has been standardized by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM E1960), has been criticized for its inconsistency by researchers …

Relations Among Classroom Support, Academic Self-Efficacy, And Perceived Stress During Early Adolescence, Krystle Kuzia Preece

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to gain insight into the relations between support, academic self-efficacy, and stress during the transition into middle school. Research suggests that early adolescents experience an increase in stress across the middle school transition (e.g., Chung, et al., 1998), due to a mismatch between the individuals' developmental needs and the environment (Eccles et al., 1993). Stress has been found to be a risk factor for mental health disorders among adolescents (Grant et al., 2003). The current study examined if teacher and classmate support and academic self-efficacy served as external and internal resources for buffering stress …

Delinquencies, Bryan Thomas Rice

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Delinquencies brings together forty-eight poems that reflect some of the aesthetic, philosophical and cultural interests I've attended over the last five years or so--namely, ideas related to failure and abhorrent behavior.

Guiding Electric Fields For Electroporation Applications, Jose Rey

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Electroporation is the critical step in an electric field mediated drug or gene delivery protocol. Electroporation based protocols have been successfully demonstrated in cancer clinical trials, however, its impact in other applications is still under investigation. A significant roadblock to long term functioning of implantable biosensors in vivo is the tissue reaction in the form of fibrous encapsulation that results in reduced transport to the sensing element of the biosensor. In vivo gene electroporation has a great potential as a means to modify the transport properties of tissues in the proximity of the sensing element of implantable biosensors.

This dissertation …

Sequential Anaerobic And Algal Membrane Bioreactor (A2mbr) System For Sustainable Sanitation And Resource Recovery From Domestic Wastewater, Ana Lucia Prieto

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

An innovative wastewater treatment technology was developed to recover renewable resources, such as water, energy and nutrients, from sewage. First, a novel synthetic sewage was evaluated for its suitability to serve as an alternative substrate for lab-scale wastewater treatment (WWT) research. Based on granular dried cat food, Complex Organic Particulate Artificial Sewage (COPAS) is a commercially-available, flexible, and easy to preserve feed. Characteristics of COPAS, namely chemical composition, disintegration/dissolution kinetics, and anaerobic biodegradability, were determined. Anaerobic bioassays indicate that COPAS is highly biodegradable at the concentration used to simulate household sewage (1000 mg/L), with more than 72% of the theoretical …

The Effects Of Pre-Exercise Carbohydrate Supplementation On Resistance Training Performance During An Acute Resistance Training Session, Kelly Raposo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

It appears that "carbohydrate loading" may enhance the performance of resistance training, but studies on CHO supplementation prior to a resistance-training bout are limited and have resulted in conflicting findings. PURPOSE: To investigate the effects of pre-exercise CHO supplementation on high-intensity (>75% 1RM) resistance training performance for resistance-trained women during an acute bout of resistance exercise. METHODS: Thirteen resistance trained female participants (21.9 ± 4.8 yrs; 64.5 ± 3.0 in; 137.0 ± 14.8 lbs) came to the Exercise and Performance Nutrition Laboratory on three separate occasions; the day of the Familiarization Trial (FT) and the two Exercise Testing sessions …

Biological Effective Dose (Bed) Distribution Matching For Obtaining Brachytherapy Prescription Doses & Dosimetric Optimization For Hybrid Seed Brachytherapy, Jakub Pritz

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Radioactive seed implant brachytherapy is a common radiotherapy treatment method for prostate cancer. In current clinical practice, a seed consists of a single isotope, such as ¹²⁵I or ¹⁰³Pd. A seed containing a mixture of two isotopes has been proposed for prostate cancer treatment. This study investigates a method for defining a prescription dose for new seed compositions based on matching the biological equivalent dose (BED) of a reference plan.

Ten prostate cancer cases previously treated using single isotope seeds (5 using ¹²⁵I seeds and 5 using ¹⁰³Pd seeds) were selected for this study. Verification of …

Improvements To A Real-Time, Satellite-Derived Surface Current Product (Oscar) And Evaluation In The Intra-American Sea, Mindy Jo Robinson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A method of creating real-time height fields using available gridded altimetry data combined with extrapolated values computed using linear predictive coding for use in the Ocean Surface Currents Analysis, Real-time (OSCAR) is developed and tested. This method is implemented by Earth and Space Research (ESR) to produce operational height fields that are in turn used to calculate the geostrophic component velocity of OSCAR. The gridded altimetry product used in OSCAR is evaluated against sea level measured by tide gauges while the operational total near-surface velocity from OSCAR (geostrophic plus Ekman component velocity) is evaluated using ocean velocities from moored and …

Synthesis And Antimicrobial Activities Of S,S'-Heterosubstituted Disulfides, Praveen Ramaraju

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Antibiotic resistance is a particularly critical health concern and has increased dramatically over the past two decades. For over a decade the Turos laboratory has been designing small molecules to target pathogenic microbes such as Staphylococcus aureus and the resistant variants like methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Previously, N-thiolated Β-lactams, N-thiolated 2-oxazolidinones and aromatic disulfides that were synthesized in Dr. Turos' lab have shown strong activity against these bacteria. The present work describes the synthesis and antimicrobial activities of a related structural class called S,S'-heterosubstituted disulfides. For ages, sulfur (elemental) has been used as an antibacterial for controlling infestation and bacterial …

The Effects Of Item Complexity And The Method Used To Present A Complex Item On The Face Of A Financial Statement On Nonprofessional Investors` Judgments, Linda Gale Ragland

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

My study is motivated by standard setters interest in better understanding (and the gap in research as to) the effects of item complexity and disaggregation across a financial statement on users' decision processes (Bonner 2008; Glaum 2009; FASB 2010b). I examine whether complexity of an item and the method used to present the item on a financial statement influences nonprofessional investors' judgments. Specifically, I examine two issues raised concerning IAS 19 Employee Benefits. The first is to examine whether there are differences in nonprofessional investors' judgments when individual components of a complex item (defined pension cost) are disaggregated across a …

Small Flowerings Of Unhu: The Survival Of Community In Tsitsi Dangarembga's Novels, Dana Rine

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the presence of unhu, a process of becoming and remaining human through community ties, in Tsitsi Dangarembga‟s Nervous Conditions and The Book of Not. Dangarembga interrogates corrupt versions of community by creating positive examples of unhu that alternatively foster community building. Utilizing ecocritical, utopian, and postcolonial methodologies, this thesis postulates that these novels stress the importance of retaining a traditional concept like unhu while also acknowledging the need to adjust it over time to ensure its vitality. Both novels depict the creativity and resilience of unhu amid toxic surroundings.

Apparent Total Evaporative Resistance For Clothing Ensembles At High Heat Stress Levels, Patrick Rodriguez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Donning protective clothing for mitigation of hazard from chemical agents poses a problem in the form of heat stress. When choosing protective clothing, many factors must be taken into account including insulative properties and evaporative resistance. This study calculated and compared R_e,T,a for three clothing ensembles at levels of heat stress past the level of compensation for heat gain to determine if R_e,T,a values varied or remained the same with changes in heat stress level. A three-way mixed model analysis of variance demonstrated significant differences for estimated R_e,T,a values among ensembles, heat stress levels and interactions among …

Egyptian Body Size: A Regional And Worldwide Comparison, Michelle H. Raxter

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Human body size and limb proportions can provide important information about adaptation, population movements, and health disparities. This study investigated changes in body size and limb proportions of adult Egyptians temporally and geographically in relation to climatological, sociopolitical and economic developments. It was predicted that Egyptian groups that experienced more environmental stress would be shorter and exhibit less sexual dimorphism. It was also predicted that Egyptians would be intermediate between higher and lower latitude populations in body form and limb length ratios. The main skeletal sample consisted of 492 males and 528 females, all adults from the Predynastic and Dynastic …

Realizing Virtuality: Tracing The Contours Of Digital Culture, Nicholas Andrew Riggs

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

People connect digitally through social media, fusing their relationships with meaning in a non-space of relational potential--a translucent and fluctuating enclave where the self becomes elastic. This thesis explores how I have formed bonds in virtual space through ritual interaction. Looking at the ways I learned to use technology through the progression of a close personal relationship, I suggest that social media use is a performance of identity--a virtuality that exposes how people negotiate the digital enclosure of contemporary society. My story is one of digital nativity and reclaiming love through virtual performance. I show how these performances have had …

Sub-Cooled Pool Boiling Enhancement With Nanofluids, Elliott Charles Rice

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Phase-change heat transfer is an important process used in many engineering thermal designs. Boiling is an important phase change phenomena as it is a common heat transfer process in many thermal systems. Phase change processes are critical to thermodynamic cycles as most closed loop systems have an evaporator, in which the phase change process occurs. There are many applications/processes in which engineers employ the advantages of boiling heat transfer, as they seek to improve heat transfer performance. Recent research efforts have experimentally shown that nanofluids can have significantly better heat transfer properties than those of the pure base fluids, such …

Characterization Of Aminopeptidase Pepz In Staphylococcus Aureus Virulence, Tiffany Marie Robison

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Staphylococcus aureus is a remarkably successful pathogen, accounting for an estimated 95,000 invasive infections annually in the U.S. alone. The burden of MRSA infections on public healthcare continues to rise, particularly with the continued spread of antibiotic resistant strains and the hyper-virulent CA-MRSA strains. The pathogenic nature of S. aureus can be attributed to the cache of virulence factors encoded within the genome of this organism. Typically, these are secreted toxins which directly interact with the host during infection, and facilitate pathogenesis. A previous screen in our laboratory investigating proteases in S. aureus identified a mutant in aminopeptidase Z as …

Gaming Literacy: Construct Validation And Scale Construction, Kenneth Allen Rosenberg

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is the first attempt to construct a standardized measure of literacy for the medium of video games, filling a gap in the literature by synthesizing various items of skills, behaviors, and affective components from existent studies and determining their correlations through analyzation of survey data. The five categories that were derived from conceptual review and factor analysis have high measures of internal consistency: Information and Systems Management; Exploration and Enjoyment; Teamwork; Design; and Socialization. To test for external consistency and reliability, the proposed gaming literacy model was compared to the Novak and Hoffman (1997) construction of flow, using …

The Culture Of Mean: Gender, Race, And Class In Mediated Images Of Girls' Bullying, Emily Davis Ryalls

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines narratives about female bullying and aggression through mediated images of "mean girls." Through textual analysis of popular media featuring mean girls (television shows such as Gossip Girl and films like Mean Girls), as well as national news coverage of the case of Phoebe Prince, who reportedly committed suicide after being bullied by girls from her school, this feminist examination questions how the image of the mean girl is raced and classed. This dissertation values an interdisciplinary approach to research that works to make sense of the forces that produce bodies as gendered, raced, and classed.

One of …

Secreted Factors From Human Umbilical Cord Blood Cells Protect Oligodendrocytes From Ischemic Insult, Derrick Rowe

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Oligodendrocytes (OL)s are the dominant cell type in the white matter and are integral for synaptic transmission essential for proper neuronal communication between brain areas. Previous studies have shown that intravenous administration of the mononuclear fraction of human umbilical cord blood (HUCB) cells in rat models of stroke reduced white matter injury, gray matter injury and behavioral deficits. Yet the mechanisms used by HUCB cells remain unknown in ischemic injury. These studies will investigate both in vitro and in vivo approaches to elucidate this mechanism in OLs. When mature primary OLs were coincubated with HUCB cells, HUCB cells secreted soluble …

Computational Discovery Of Phenotype Related Biochemical Processes For Engineering, Andrea M. Rocha

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Application of bioengineering technologies for enhanced biological hydrogen production is a promising approach that may play a vital role in sustainable energy. Due to the ability of several naturally occurring microorganisms to generate hydrogen through varying metabolic processes, biological hydrogen has become an attractive alternative energy and fuel source.

One area of particular interest is the production of biological hydrogen in organically-rich engineered systems, such as those associated with waste treatment. Despite the potential for high energy yields, hydrogen yields generated by bacteria in waste systems are often limited due to a focus on microbial utilization of organic material towards …