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Maintaining Biodiversity With A Mosaic Of Wetlands: Factors Affecting Amphibian Species Richness Among Small Isolated Wetlands In Central Florida., Jackie Guzy

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The biodiversity value of a wetland is linked not only to its position in the landscape relative to other wetlands, but also to its habitat characteristics. I monitored amphibian species richness among 12 small, isolated, and undisturbed wetlands (which occur on lands permitted for phosphate mining) in central Florida during the 2005 and 2006 breeding seasons. I used seven habitat and landscape variables to characterize the environments of the wetlands and generalized linear models to determine which of these variables had the greatest influence on the occurrence of seven amphibian species (Anaxyrus terrestris, Gastrophryne carolinensis, Hyla gratiosa …

Perspective Taking And Relative Clause Comprehension: A Cross-Modal Picture Priming Study, Nicola C. Jones

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Fourteen young adults participated in a cross-modal picture priming study. Perspective shift processing, in four types of relative clause sentences and in control sentences, was assessed using reaction times. Predictions were: 1) the easier the perspective shifts, the faster the reaction times and 2) subject relative clauses would reveal a priming effect versus attenuated or no priming in object relative clauses due to difficulty following perspective. A priming effect was observed for 1- switch relative clause sentences and for control sentences, while no priming effect was observed for 0 switch, 1+ switch, or 2 switch sentences. Results suggest that variations …

Foraging Decisions Of Nocturnal Mice Under Direct And Indirect Cues Of Predation Risk, Robbin G. Capers

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The perception of increased predation risk by nocturnal mice and other small mammals has been shown to reduce activity levels, particularly in foraging effort. Various cues of predation risk have been used in previous studies, but few have assessed the potential interactions between different types of cues. I conducted field, laboratory, and enclosure experiments using predator scents, artificial light, and microhabitat variables to determine the effects of direct and indirect cues of predation risk on foraging behavior in wild nocturnal mice. Experimental foraging trays served as artificial resource patches, and giving-up densities were measured in order to test for foraging …

School Psychologists Engagement In Parent Training/Education Activities With The Parents Of Children With Chronic Behavior Problems, Rebecca K. Sarlo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purposes of this research were to determine the rate at which school psychologists engage in parent training/education with the parents of children with chronic behavior problems and to determine the relationships between school psychologists’ demographic variables, professional practice, training, and perception of barriers and their engagement in such activities. These variables have been found to be related to types of service delivery practices and were hypothesized to also be related to the rate and type of engagement in parent training/education activities by school psychologists.

Five hundred school psychologists were randomly sampled from the membership of the National Association of …

Experimental Translocation Of The Florida Sand Skink (Plestiodon [=Neoseps] Reynoldsi): Success Of A Restricted Species Across Diverse Microhabitats, Nicholas Paul Osman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The fossorial Florida Sand Skink (Plestiodon [=Neoseps] reynoldsi) inhabits a restricted range of scrub and sandhill fragments on the ridges of central Florida. The high rate of urban and agricultural development in this area necessitates conservation strategies other than land acquisition and management because of the limited remaining Florida Sand Skink habitat available. This study tests the viability of translocation as a conservation strategy for this species and assesses which features of a recipient site contribute to the successful establishment of a population. In 2007, 300 individuals were collected and moved from an intact scrub habitat, …

Hydric Life: A Nietzschean Reading Of Postcolonial Communication, Elena F. Ruiz-Aho

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation addresses the question of marginalization in cross-cultural communication from the perspectives of hermeneutic philosophy and postcolonial theory. Specifically, it focuses on European colonialism‘s effect on language and communicative practices in Latin America. I argue colonialism creates a deeply sedimented but unacknowledged background of inherited cultural prejudices against which social and political problems of oppression, violence and marginalization, especially towards women, emerge—but whose roots in colonial and imperial frameworks have lost transparency. This makes it especially difficult for postcolonial subjects to meaningfully express their own experiences of psychic dislocation and fragmentation because the discursive background used to communicate these …

Regulatory Mechanism Of Myeloid Derived Suppressor Cell Activity, Cesar Alexander Corzo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC) are a major component of the immune suppressive network that develops during cancer. MDSC down-regulate immune surveillance and antitumor immunity and facilitate tumor growth. The ability of MDSC to suppress T cell responses has been documented; however the mechanisms regulating this suppression remain to be understood. This work proposes a biological dichotomy of MDSC regulated by the tumor microenvironment. In peripheral lymphoid organs MDSC cause T-cell non-responsiveness that is antigen-specific. These MDSC have increased expression of NOX2, enabling them to produce large amounts of reactive oxygen species. Since the transcription factor STAT3 is substantially activated in …

Characterization And Evaluation Of Performance Of A Whole-Body Human Exposure Chamber, Luis F. Pieretti

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to characterize and evaluate the performance of a whole-body human exposure chamber for controlled test atmospheres of gases and particulates. The chamber was constructed from Plexiglass, has a volume of 75 ft

3, operated at a flowrate of 33.8 CFM, and both the makeup and exhaust air are HEPA filtered. Fly ash dust was generated using a Wright Dust Feeder. An elutriator was used to eliminate particles larger 8 μm aerodynamic diameter from the airstream. A direct reading instrument, the Rupprecht and Patashnick PM-10 TEOM, was used for determination of particle concentration. Particle size …

Clinical Decision-Making In Aphasia Therapy: A Survey Of Perceived Levels Of Evidence For Common Treatment Approaches, Erin T. Rowe

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The past three decades have produced a surge of interest in the role of evidence-based practice (EBP) in the clinical decision-making of speech-language pathologists and other healthcare professionals in delivering optimally effective patient care. A review of the literature revealed several studies investigating potential barriers to EBP implementation and attitudes toward EBP. However, few studies have been designed to probe what treatment approaches to neurogenic communication disorders clinicians are currently implementing and the rationales behind their use. Furthermore, a review of the literature failed to reveal any surveys designed to probe the correlation between what clinicians perceive to be evidence …

Functional Nanomaterials With An Electrochemistry-Based Approach To Sensing And Energy Applications, Jessica Eileen Weber

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the past decade, the use of nanotechnology as a tool to develop and fabricate new structures and devices for biological sensing and energy applications has become increasingly widespread. In this work, a systematic study has been performed on one-dimensional nanomaterials, with a focus on the development of miniaturized devices with a "bottom up" approach. First, members of the nano - carbon family are utilized for biosensing applications; in particular, carbon nanotubes as well as nitrogen - doped and boron - doped nanocrystalline diamond (NCD) films. These carbon - based materials possess several unique electrochemical properties over other conductive materials …

A Canine Audience: The Effect Of Animal-Assisted Therapy On Reading Progress Among Students Identified With Learning Disabilities, Julie Omodio Griess

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study explored the use of animal-assisted therapy with students identified with a learning disability and limited reading success. Initially, reading progress was defined as the participants' comprehension rate obtained from an oral Informal Reading Inventory (IRI) passage. The nature of the Informal Reading Inventory requires the introduction of more difficult reading passages as the student's comprehension rate increases, potentially masking the overall effect of the intervention. Due to this factor and erratic student performance, which is a common characteristic of students with learning disabilities, obtaining consistent comprehension rates was difficult. Therefore, progress was defined only as total amount of …

An Anatomical Investigation Of Higher Visual Structures In The Pigeon (Columba Livia), Tadd B. Patton

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Early visual processing in the avian brain has been studied extensively, the retina and midbrain in particular. However, a clear understanding of the higher visual centers in the forebrain (the telencephalon and thalamus) remains poor. Two structures located within the avian visual telencephalon, the entopallium (E) and the lateral portion of the intermediate nidopallium (NIL), merit extensive investigation based on their critical role in visual processing. The goal of the current study was to further clarify the anatomical characteristics of E and NIL. Visual information that reaches these telencephalic structures is mostly from the contralateral retina. Thus, blocking visual input …

Politics And Poetry: Not So Separate Spheres (Voice Of The Minority Muse), Denice N. Traina

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis contributes to continuing assessments of women writers and their political activities during the long eighteenth century. Analyzing works by Aphra Behn, Hannah More, and Anna Letitia Barbauld, I assert that these writers projected their voices into public affairs, and I explore their treatment of poetic forms. Through writing, they claimed equality with fellow authors and participated as equals beside the period's political leaders, debating about and commenting upon a wide array of concerns like the Glorious Revolution, the abolition of the slave trade, British military expansion, and religious and political liberties. This thesis argues that Behn, More, and …

Emergent Morphogenetic Design Strategies, Dawn Gunter

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Emergent morphogenetic designs provide a superior architectural response to programmatic, technical, structural, environmental and spatial requirements that conventional unit based architectural forms are too inflexible to fully address.

Architecture has reached an exciting stage in its development, where structures are attempting to behave more like nature, which does not function as a static state, but as a complex grouping of symbiotic processes which are constantly evolving to adapt to environmental changes.

Digital fabrication and materials engineering have promoted an explosion in formal architectural typologies. By utilizing these digital tools and enhanced materials to embrace a morphogenetic design strategy, architecture can …

"Speaking" Subalterns: A Comparative Study Of African American And Dalit/Indian Literatures, Mantra Roy

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

“Speaking Subalterns” examines the literatures of two marginalized groups,African Americans in the United States and Dalits in India. The project demonstrates how two disparate societies, USA and India, are constituted by comparable hegemonic socioeconomic-cultural and political structures of oppression that define and delimit the identities of the subalterns in the respective societies. The superstructures of race in USA and caste in India inform, deform, and complicate the identities of the marginalized along lines of gender, class, and family structure. Effectively, a type of domestic colonialism, exercised by the respective national elitists, silence and exploit the subaltern women and emasculate the …

Effects Of Monoclonal Anti-Abeta Antibodies On The Amyloid Beta Peptide Fibrillogenesis And Their Involvement In The Clearance Of Alzheimer's Disease Plaques, Jeffy Pilar Jimenez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common cause of senile dementia worldwide. AD is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the loss of memory and language skill, collapse of the cognitive function, and distortion of social behavior. As of today, the onset mechanisms of AD and cure are unknown; however, three hallmarks are commonly encountered: extra and intracellular accumulation of amyloid beta (A!) peptide plaques, formation of intracellular neurofibrillary tangles, and inevitable neuronal death. Hypothetically, a possible scenario provoking or involved in the onset of AD is a cascade effect that starts with an imbalance in the production and clearance of …

Ecotourism And Water Quality: Linking Management, Activities And Sustainability Indicators In The Caribbean, Ken Darrie Thomas

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Ecotourism from its genesis and founding theories has been set out to conserve and preserve the environment through sustainable operation that includes surrounding communities in efforts to reduce their poverty levels. Over the years ecotourism has been hypothesized to have departed from this ideal with several researchers, through social, qualitative analyses, have said that these non-sustainable ecotourism operations are simply due to poor management. This work sought to test this central hypothesis as a first approach to quantitatively linking ecotourism activities to management with surface water quality as the key indicator of sustainable ecotourism as a complex system through systems …

Examining The Interface Between Alcohol Expectancies, Psychophysiological Reactivity To Alcohol Picture Cues, And Risk For Substance Use Disorders, Ashlee C. Carter

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The study examined the overlap between cognitive and affective measures of alcohol expectancies as they related to risk for developing alcohol use disorders. It was hypothesized that cognitive-based, paper-and-pencil measures and appetitive psychophysiological reactivity to alcohol cues would correlate and independently correlate to drinking behavior in a sample of college drinkers. It was also hypothesized that genetic risk would impact the relationship between upstream and downstream expectancy measures, given that children of alcoholics displayed blunted reactivity to appetitive cues.

A sample of 137 college drinkers (67 males; mean age = 20.23 ± 1.61) reporting a range of drinking behavior (mean …

Goddesses And Doormats, Elizabeth Kicak

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The following is a collection of original poetry written over a span of two years while attending the University of South Florida. The poetry is divided into three numbered sections, marking the major thematic divisions. Preceding the poetry is a critical introduction to the work which outlines the author's developing thematic ideology.

Sound Production And Behavior Of Red Grouper (Epinephelus Morio) On The West Florida Shelf, Misty D. Montie

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Red grouper (Epinephelus morio) are long-lived, commercially important, soniferous fish belonging to the family Epinephelidae. Found throughout the western North Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico, they are protogynous hermaphrodites, and peak spawning occurs from March through May. Unlike many grouper species, red grouper do not form large spawning aggregations; rather, they form small polygynous groups, and remain in relatively close proximity to rocky depressions excavated in the sandy bottom by males. This excavation activity creates structure and habitat for a wide variety of species, and as a result, red grouper are a keystone species on the West Florida Shelf. While …

Human-Wildlife Conflict Across Urbanization Gradients: Spatial, Social, And Ecological Factors, Amanda H. Gilleland

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As suburban and exurban residential developments continue to multiply in urban areas, they encroach on wildlife habitats leading to increased human-wildlife interactions. The animals involved in direct conflict with homeowners are often relocated or exterminated by the homeowners. Often the homeowners contact state licensed wildlife trappers to eliminate the problem animal. In this study I examined how landscape, ecological, and social factors influence the incidence of human-wildlife conflict of thirty two residential areas in the Tampa, Florida metropolitan area. These residential areas, totaling over 300 km2, are part of the urban development gradient representing a range of urban land use …

Dust, Ash, And The Sublime: Tracing Kant's Aesthetics In Cormac Mccarthy's The Crossing And The Road, Ben Gerdts

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

My thesis entails an examination into the presence of the sublime in two novels by Cormac McCarthy: his postmodern western The Crossing and his apocalyptic work The Road. I draw on Kant's aesthetic theory of the sublime, specifically focusing on the Dynamical and Mathematical sublime in relation to the settings of these two narratives. For the sake of brevity, I limit my study to nature's and religion's relation to the sublime in these works. Areas of particular interest to me include: a) How/why the characters of each novel appear unaffected by or even resigned to the lack of control …

Elevating Communication, Thao Thanh Nguyen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The products of vehicular transportation have led the modern traveler into a crisis of place. The modern journey that is held within ceaseless flux, confine movement to edges facilitating prompt passage yet negating active participation. These edges govern movement, highlighting points of destination while simultaneously obscuring our journey in between travels. The limited participation and extended observation of one's place within the concurring boundaries renders the senses dormant, causing passivity and reluctance to participate or communicate with the city. These lines of movement, demanding our attention toward beginning and end but omitting the middle, transforms the city, home, and place …

“An Indescribable Sound” In William Faulkner’S The Sound And The Fury, Lynn Ramsey

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Sound and the Fury is a noisy book. Through the audible, the barely audible, and the silence, William Faulkner supports his narrative design with sound beyond dialog to inform and inflect the destabilizing narrative voices. This essay explores Faulkner's use of the sound and noise of the novel as another narrative voice. Faulkner's rich use of sound as a recurring motif, almost a persona or narrator itself, functions not merely to animate the action, the characters, and the title; it also speaks in the "hush" and the freighted "stiffly sibilant" whispers of those who dare not speak, or are …

Neuroprotection With Anesthetics In Two Models Of Cerebral Ischemia, Rafael Eduardo Chaparro Buitrago

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Neuroprotection with anesthetics has been studied for many decades; important advances in this field have modified the way Anesthesiologists treat patients in the operating room. Animal models have played an important role in the study of ischemia in the operating room. Recent studies have demonstrated that the effect of anesthetics seems to be different in different animal models. We decided to evaluate anesthetics in a well-known model of cerebral ischemia and also in hypotensive models designed by us. We used a model of cerebral ischemia (MCAO) to test anesthetics neuroprotective effect in a two-week period. Then, we used a model …

Shamanism, Spiritual Transformation And The Ethical Obligations Of The Dying Person: A Narrative Approach, Ellen W. Klein

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The person experiencing chronic or protracted illness is confronted with a complex array of physical, emotional and spiritual trials. This thesis explores how chronic illness can be viewed through the lens of the shamanic experience of dismemberment and re-memberment and shows how clinical, narrative, and relational models on their own are insufficient to speak meaningfully to illness experiences, but the integration of aspects of each of these models when coupled with shamanic initiation experience creates an innovative model for patients and those with whom they are in relationship.

Haole, Shawn Alff

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Just after midnight on a chilly April night in 2005, the author finds himself homeless in Hawaii, searching for a place to sleep. The account that follows is the true story of a young man's misadventures on the road as he attempts to reconcile his wanderlust with a need for order and security. This work of creative nonfiction reconstructs the first half of the summer the narrator spent wandering Hawaii. Specifically, this section concentrates on the author's experiences on the island of Oahu. There, the narrator, who constantly changes his name, is stuck at a crossroads; he is torn between …

Sports Fans’ Media Usage At A Kansas City Chiefs’ Fan Club, Robert J. Huebert

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The media play a major role in every part of American society by distributing content that has value to individuals, and a National Football League (NFL) sports fan club is no different. This study examines how members of a Kansas City Chiefs' fan club use media to stay connected to their team and socialize with fellow members. Social identification theory explains that when an individual comes together with one or more individuals with like-minded interests, they form social bonds. Their shared interests allow them to disseminate Chiefs' information through content gathered from media usage. To understand how the Chiefs' fans …

Architectural Symbiosis, Tim Kimball

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The world is facing two fundamental problems. The first problem is a rapidly increasing demand for energy. The second problem is increasing greenhouse gas emissions that are directly resulting from our energy consumption. The primary greenhouse gas in question here is carbon dioxide produced from the burning of fossil fuels. It has been demonstrated through scientific articles and studies that carbon dioxide is directly linked to rising atmospheric temperatures. Buildings represent a significant percentage of this CO2 production.

Many architectural theses and treatises have been written advocating architecture that is more energy efficient and which uses sustainable materials and processes …

Upgrading Design: A Mechatronic Investigation Into The Architectural Product Market, Matthew Gaboury

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

It was first stated 200 years ago, and reiterated numerous times since, that "architecture is frozen music". While this romantic analogy sufficiently satisfies many in the realm of architecture, it actually is a sad way of defining an idea so inherently lively. Goethe's quote conjures up the notion of a world that is silent, one in which we can see the notes but never hear the music because we are trapped by stasis in time. Like the note admired on a piece of paper, architecture in this world is static regardless of the changing conditions around it.

What if the …