American Studies Commons^™

Exploring Colorectal Cancer Diagnosis Disclosure To First-Degree Relatives: An African American Family Case Series, Kamilah B. Thomas

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second leading cancer killer in the United States and the third most common cancer in African American men and women. Though the overall death rates have declined, this reduction in mortality is smaller for African Americans than for Whites. Factors that are protective against colorectal cancer include occupational or recreational physical activity, a diet high in fruits and vegetables, and colorectal cancer screening with removal of polyps (polypectomy) before they progress to cancer. Compliance with CRC screening recommendations requires people to know if a first-degree relative (parent, sibling, and child) or second-degree relative (aunt, uncle, …

System Identification In Automatic Database Memory Tuning, Tiffany Burrell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Databases are very complex systems that require database system administrators to perform system tuning in order to achieve optimal performance. Memory tuning is vital to the performance of a database system because when the database workload exceeds its memory capacity, the results of the queries running on a system are delayed and can cause substantial user dissatisfaction. In order to solve this problem, this thesis presents a platform modeled after a closed control feedback loop to control the level of multi-query processing. Utilizing this platform provides two key assets. First, the system identification is acquired, which is one of two …

Residual Stress Analysis In 3c-Sic Thin Films By Substrate Curvature Method, Jose M. Carballo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Development of thin films has allowed for important improvements in optical, electronic and electromechanical devices within micrometer length scales. In order to grow thin films, there exist a wide variety of deposition techniques, as each technique offers a unique set of advantages. The main challenge of thin film deposition is to reach smallest possible dimensions, while achieving mechanical stability during operating conditions (including extreme temperatures and external forces, complex film structures and device configurations). Silicon carbide (SiC) is attractive for its resistance to harsh environments, and the potential it offers to improve performance in several microelectronic, micro-electromechanical, and optoelectronic applications. …

The Rebirth Of A Semi-Disintegrated Enterprise: Towards The Future Of Composites In Pre-Synthesized Domestic Dwellings; And The Societal Acceptance Of The Anti-In Situ Architectural Movement, Timothy James Keepers

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The prefabricated home has been said to be the site of innovation, exploration and sometimes spectacular failure since the mid 20th-century (Home Delivery, 8). Despite years of research and advancements in technology, pre-synthesization in the domestic realm has typically remained loyal to past construction methods/materials and banal aesthetic ripostes. As a result, the modern pre-synthesized home suffers in terms of programmatic diversity, spatial feedback, supertemporal expansion (in reference to the supertemporal art movement) and societal acceptance.

Materials and technologies are constantly upgrading in our increasingly technetronic society. Re-marketing the prefabricated home will require a similar modus operandi. Investigating the successes …

Depositional Dynamics In Seagrass Systems Of Tampa Bay, Fl: Influence Of Hydrodynamic Regime And Vegetation Density On Ecosystem Function, Alison Cheryl Meyers

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Many coastal ecosystems around the world are dominated by submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) habitats. These SAV habitats are known to provide many highly valuable ecosystem services such as habitat for commercial important species and increased water clarity. Water flow is an environmental variable which can have measurable effects on the ecosystem services provided by SAV, but is often not considered in studies assessing these services. This dissertation sought to investigate the links between SAV, primarily seagrasses, and hydrodynamics, paying special attention to the effects on sediments and fauna. Three main areas are discussed: (1) the effects of SAV on flow, …

(Im•Print) A Material Investigation To Encourage A Haptic Dialog, Julie Marie Vo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The word impression encompasses a dual meaning which desires to be more fully explored in the built realm. An (im-print) has a powerful impact because the message becomes an indelible mark embedded within the material. Physically, an impression is made by the pressure of one object on or into another, leaving behind a trace of this interaction on the surface. This process has the potential to create a vivid memory within the participant who comes into contact with it.

The idea of imprint can become a part of the process of design both physically and conceptually. As polished concrete can …

Surface-Bonded Sol-Gel Sorbents For On-Line Hyphenation Of Capillary Microextraction With High-Performance Liquid Chromatography, Scott S. Segro

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) is the most widely used analysis technique. However, its sensitivity is limited. Sample preconcentration methods, such as fiber-based solid-phase microextraction (SPME) and in-tube SPME (capillary microextraction) offer improved detection limits. It is, however, difficult to couple fiber SPME on-line with HPLC due to the need for complicated desorption devices. Such coupling is further complicated due to the limited solvent stability of the extracting phase both in the fiber and in-tube formats of SPME. In this research, surface-bonded sol-gel sorbents were developed to provide the solvent stability required for effective on-line hyphenation of capillary microextraction (CME) with …

Phenomenology Of Home, Lidiya Angelova

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The intent of this Master's Thesis project is to investigate the meaning of home through the bodily experience and psychological perception of space.

An inherent ambiguity to the word, as it fails to translate in languages other than those of the Germanic group, causes confusion in defining what home is. In English the word home suggests a deeper understanding and attachment to the surrounding environment, a sort of fusing of the spatial, time and material elements into a single intense experience of being.

In languages that do not contain the word the notion of home is expressed in poetry through …

Architecture As Canvas, Monika Blazenovic

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cities are increasingly becoming vessels of consumption, while various opportunities for production of space and public expression are taken away from the city's inhabitants. New architectural interventions often disregard a site's previously developed character and further aid in wiping away memories closely related to a city's cultural past. Banja Luka, the second largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, has been an important cultural center, even through years of unrest. Within the city's main plaza stands an unfinished concrete structure (Fig. 3), built with pre-war conceptions of a hotel. The structure's location within the city of Banja Luka has provided for …

Application Of Luminescence Sensors In Oxygen Diffusion Measurement And Study Of Luminescence Enhancement/Quenching By Metallic Nanoparticles, Sanchari Chowdhury

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The first part of this dissertation deals with the application of a luminescence quenching method to measure diffusion and permeation coefficients of oxygen in polymers. Most luminescence oxygen sensors do not follow linearity of the Stern-Volmer (SV) equation due to heterogeneity of luminophore in the polymer matrix, thus the complexity of data analysis is increased. To circumvent this limitation, inverted fluorescence microscopy is utilized in this work to investigate the SV response of the sensors at the micron-scale. In these diffusion experiments, oxygen concentration is measured by luminescence changes in regions with high SV constants and good linearity. Thus, we …

Women And Architecture: Re-Making Shelter Through Woven Tectonics, Kirsten Lee Dahlquist

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Weaving and architecture, conceived simultaneously with cave paintings, are two ancient forms of craft used to enclose space and provide shelter harmoniously with nature. In its basic composition, a useable textile is the interlacing of two members, warp and weft, at right angles to create structure and surface respectively. Textile artist Anni Albers of the Bauhaus attributes the organization of weaving to the skills of an ancient goddess. Her understanding of prehistoric cultures further links women closer to the overall creation of structure, though perceived as a masculine endeavor. Consequently, early advancements in architecture, the structural organization of shelter, are …

Motivational Factors And Worldview Dimensions Associated With Perceptions Of Global Education Initiatives By U.S. College Professors, Emmanuel Jean-François

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate motivational factors and worldview dimensions associated with perceptions of global education initiatives by college professors in the United States. The concept of "perceptions of global education initiatives" is used in this study to refer to attitudes toward institutional support for global education, internationalizing curriculum, campus and community activities to increase global awareness, and international experiences and cooperation. The term college professor in this study is used to designate full-time assistant professors, associate professors, and full professors teaching at a regionally accredited private or public four - year college or university in the …

A Comparative Study Of The Plants Used For Medicinal Purposes By The Creek And Seminoles Tribes, Kimberly Hutton

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Previous studies in Native American ethnobotany on the shared use of medicinal and cultural plants between communities fail to clearly reveal if these shared uses are part of changing culture or remain a stabilizing connection between old and new tribes. During the late 1700's to early 1800's, various factions of the Creek tribes of Georgia migrated into Florida, forming a new tribe called the Seminoles. This event provides the unique opportunity to study the changing cultural and medicinal uses of plants by a new tribe in a new geographic location, revealing if cultural purposes were passed from one group to …

Leadership Competencies For College Leaders Of Public Small, Rural, Single-Campus And Large, Urban, Multiple-Campus Colleges, Joseph M. J Kools

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research examined how two decidedly different groups of community college presidents from across the United States viewed the competencies, characteristics, and professional skills identified by the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) (2005) as important for effective community college leadership. The two groups participating in the research were from small, single-campus colleges serving rural populations and from large, multiple-campus colleges serving urban populations. The participants were asked to identify those activities and experiences that they found helpful in developing the AACC leadership competencies. The results from this research suggest that community college presidents from both sizes of college campuses …

Play: A Process-Driven Study Of Design Discovery, Kuebler Wilson Perry

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Frequently, in architecture and in other professions, a results-oriented approach to design truncates the creative process. Architecture is a man-made intervention, ultimately involving a fair bit of destruction in order to eventually arrive in a state of hopefully coherent grace in the lives of its users and the built or natural context (Clark 2000, 10). It is unacceptable to proceed hastily into such complex territory-without a degree of rigor and process-driven creativity commensurate with the gravity of creating large scale, reality-altering, life-affecting structures.

A process-driven inquiry requires many hours of experiment, revision, and meandering about that may initially have no …

Page, Benjamin H., 1859-1916 - Letter To (Sc 2223), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 2223. Letter to Benjamin H. Page, in Mud Lick, Monroe County, Kentucky, from Lou Ann Nichols, Randolph, Metcalfe County, Kentucky. She discusses their individual living and economic situations in the absence of any firm decision to marry, and asks him to keep her letters confidential.

That Other Club, 1966-2010 (Sc 2222), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 2222. Minutes, brief history by James D. Harris, Jr., and sundry correspondence related to That Other Club, a men's literary club founded in Bowling Green, Kentucky in 1966. Minutes are brief and generally include those in attendance and the program topic.

Page, J. C. (Sc 2224), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid, scan and typescript (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 2224. Letter, 15 April 1928, to J. C. Page, in Bloomington, Indiana, from Raymond Propes, Glasgow, Kentucky. He writes of work and of his interest in a young lady, and asks to be sent some "cowboy books."

Evaluation Of Video Modeling For Teaching Abduction Prevention Skills To Children Diagnosed With Autism And Aspergers Disorder, Danielle Godish

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Abduction prevention skills are crucial for any child to have. Unfortunately there has been a lack of research on teaching children with autism and aspergers these skills. Video modeling has been shown to be an effective method to teach children with autism various skills. Video modeling has also been shown to be cost efficient and easily implemented across various people and settings. The purpose of the present study was to assess the effectiveness of the video modeling technique for teaching children with autism and aspergers abduction prevention skills. The second purpose of the present study was to investigate the effectiveness …

Theoretical And Experimental Simulation Of Passive Vacuum Solar Flash Desalination, Mohammad Abutayeh

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Experimental and theoretical simulations of a novel sustainable desalination process have been carried out. The simulated process consists of pumping seawater through a solar heater before flashing it under vacuum in an elevated chamber. The vacuum is passively created and then maintained by the hydrostatic balance between pressure inside the elevated flash chamber and outdoor atmospheric pressure.

The experimental simulations were carried out using a pilot unit built to depict the proposed desalination system. Theoretical simulations were performed using a detailed computer code employing fundamental physical and thermodynamic laws to describe the separation process, complimented by experimentally based correlations to …