Digital Commons Network^™

Where Christ Dies Daily: Performances Of Faith At Orlando‘S Holy Land Experience, Sara B. Dykins Callahan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This manuscript focuses on performances of place and faith inside the Holy Land Experience (HLE), an edutainment complex nestled in the fantasy nexus of Orlando, Florida. A self-proclaimed living-history museum, the HLE includes animatronic Bible characters and musical dramas. The HLE enacts and embodies evangelical narratives of Christianity and Christian faith, and visitors to the park are asked to join the performances, blurring the distinctions between spectators and professional actors. I argue that visitors' performances of faith invest the space of the HLE with sacredness, while the location and design of the HLE infuses the space with elements of the …

Looking Good And Taking Care: Consumer Culture, Identity, And Poor, Minority, Urban Tweens, Elizabeth Edgecomb

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Looking Good and Taking Care: Consumer Culture, Identity, and Poor, Minority, Urban Tweens is an ethnographic examination of how poor, minority, urban tweens (age 7-14) use consumer culture to create and perform their personal and social identities. Although portrayed in mass media as selfish and hedonistic, this work finds tweens creating profoundly social, giving, and caring identities and relationships through consumption. Their use of consumer culture is also a form of political resistance that subverts their place in the age, class, and race hierarchy. These tweens use “looking good” (attention to grooming, style, and behaving respectably), and not name brand …

Workplace Nutrition And Exercise Climate: Scale Development And Preliminary Model, Joseph J. Mazzola

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Obesity is a major concern in the United States and has a multitude of negative physical and mental health consequences. Proper nutrition and exercise are important elements to initiating and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Since most people spend a large amount of their time working, it is important that organizations create an atmosphere that is conducive to employees being able to eat healthy diets and exercise regularly. The social and environmental climate in terms of health was examined through the construct of a Workplace Nutrition and Exercise Climate (WNEC), defined here as the situational, social, and environmental factors within an …

Heat Stress Evaluation Of Protective Clothing Ensembles, Amanda Lee Pease

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Clothing directly affects the level of heat stress exposure. Useful measures to express the thermal characteristics are WBGT (wet bulb globe temperature) clothing adjustment factor (CAF) or apparent total evaporative resistance (R_e,T,_a). The CAF is assigned through laboratory wear trials following a heat stress protocol in which the air temperature and humidity are progressively increased until the participant clearly loses the ability to maintain thermal equilibrium. The critical condition is the point of thermal transition and from these conditions both the CAF and Re,T,a are computed. The first objective of this study is to compare the …

An Exploratory Study Of The Intrapersonal, Socio-Cultural, And Behavioral Factors That Influence Hiv Risk Behaviors Among Ethnic Subgroups Of Black Heterosexual Men: The Intersection Of The Beliefs And Perceptions Of Black Women, Shalewa Noel-Thomas

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Twenty five years after AIDS was first scientifically described, the disease continues to take its toll on the human population. HIV/AIDS disproportionately affects marginalized groups such as poor, underserved, minority populations. In the United States, Blacks become infected with and die from HIV/AIDS more than any other ethnic or racial group. Despite a vast body of literature on HIV/AIDS, little research has focused on black heterosexual men and even fewer studies have explored the context of risk among subgroups of black men.

Using qualitative research methods and a socio-ecological framework, this study explored the intrapersonal, socio-cultural, and behavioral factors that …

The Security And Foreign Policy Of The Islamic Republic Of Iran: An Offensive Realism Perspective, Bledar Prifti

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study argues that security and foreign policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran is mainly driven by the main principles of the Offensive Realism theory of international relations. While the Iranian political system is considered a theocratic system, based on the Islamic Shi'a ideology, its survival is defined as the ultimate ideology-an ideology that is paramount to any other ideology. Iran's security and foreign policy is determined and shaped by its need to survive in an anarchic international system. Iran's cooperation with "two Satans", Israel and the United States, during the Iran-Iraq war demonstrates that the ultimate ideology of …

Active Surveillance And Incidence Rate Of Dengue Infection In A Cohort Of High Risk Population In Maracay, Venezuela., Carlos Espino

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the absence of an effective vaccine, vector control and surveillance of dengue fever (DF) and dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) are the most important strategies currently used to reduce the impact of these diseases in affected population. The objectives of this study were to estimate the incidence of symptomatic and asymptomatic dengue cases, the prevalence of antidengue antibodies, and to evaluate the laboratory and clinical aspects related to an active surveillance of dengue cases. In this study, active surveillance was incorporated as a part of the study design. At total of 3,255 people from four high risk neighborhoods were followed …

Saving Energy In Network Hosts With An Application Layer Proxy: Design And Evaluation Of New Methods That Utilize Improved Bloom Filters, Miguel Jimeno

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

One of the most urgent challenges of the 21st century is to investigate new technologies that can enable a transition towards a society with a reduced CO₂ footprint. Information Technology generates about 2% of the global CO₂, which is comparable to the aviation industry. Being connected to the Internet requires active participation in responding to protocol messages. Billions of dollars worth of electricity every year are used to keep network hosts fully powered-on at all times only for the purpose of maintaining network presence. Most network hosts are idle most of the time, thus presenting a huge …

A Program Evaluation Of A Literacy Initiative For Students With Moderate To Severe Disabilities, Carrie F. De La Cruz

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Recently the National Reading Panel concluded that systematic and direct instruction in phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension that is informed by ongoing assessments of student progress results in positive student achievement (NICHHD, 2002). For students with moderate to severe disabilities and students with autism, reading instruction has historically focused on functional sight words. Unfortunately, very little research exists that has examined how the literacy achievement of students with moderate to severe disabilities can be impacted by a more comprehensive, data-driven instructional model.

A special education program that serves students with moderate to severe disabilities and students with autism …

Developing The Nomological Network Of Perceived Corporate Affinity For Technology: A Three Essay Dissertation, David Earl Fleming

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Technology is changing the face of both the sales and service domains. Honebein and Cammarano (2006) note that properly implemented self-service technologies serve dual purposes of decreasing firm overhead costs, while simultaneously engaging the customer in a way encourages the co-create of value for both parties. To get these benefits stakeholders must be willing to adopt and use the technologies that are available.

Traditionally, this has lead to the research question "How do firms do this?" However, according to a recent article by Woodall, Colby and Parasuraman (2007), consumers are now demanding more technology-based options and becoming more technologically savvy. …

Linear And Nonlinear Control Of Unmanned Rotorcraft, Ioannis A. Raptis

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The main characteristic attribute of the rotorcraft is the use of rotary wings to produce the thrust force necessary for motion. Therefore, rotorcraft have an advantage relative to fixed wing aircraft because they do not require any relative velocity to produce aerodynamic forces. Rotorcraft have been used in a wide range of missions of civilian and military applications. Particular interest has been concentrated in applications related to search and rescue in environments that impose restrictions to human presence and interference.

The main representative of the rotorcraft family is the helicopter. Small scale helicopters retain all the flight characteristics and physical …

Promoting Cultural Experiences Through Responsive Architecture, Shabonni Olivia Elkanah

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Dance, costume, and music are all reflective of a heritage that has been intact over three hundred years. The street activities during carnival season on the island of St. Kitts can be described as dynamic excitement between the onlookers, the Masqueraders, a local folklore group, and other carnival players. The interactive play amongst group members of the Masqueraders is one that tells a story of the colonization and perseverance of a nation influenced by Indian, European and African past. There is often, however a disconnection between an outsider, 'the audience', and the culture of the island. Only when the interactive …

The Experience Of Fatigue And Quality Of Life In Patients With Advanced Lung Cancer, Andrea Shaffer

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Fatigue is the most prevalent and distressing symptom experienced by patients with advanced lung cancer and especially among those patients undergoing therapy. Advanced lung cancer and its associated symptoms can significantly impact the quality of life (QOL) of those who have the disease. The primary purpose of this study was to measure fatigue levels, characterize the fatigue experience, and assess for gender differences in perceptions of fatigue and QOL in patients with advanced lung cancer receiving chemotherapy. The secondary purpose of the study was to examine practice patterns in the ambulatory setting regarding the routine assessment of fatigue.

The study …

The Politics Of Space And Place In Virginia Woolf’S The Years, Three Guineas And The Pargiters, Ángel Luis Jiménez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A critique of the social construction of space was fundamental to Virginia Woolf's overall feminist project of decentering patriarchal and imperial values. In A Room of One's Own (1929) Woolf famously emphasized that financial independence and a private space were vital to female creativity. But Woolf was concerned with the politics of space throughout her writing, an aspect of her thought that has not been widely addressed. My thesis examines Woolf's ongoing preoccupation with spatiality in two closely related works of her late career, The Years (1937) and Three Guineas (1938). In these texts, Woolf interrogates the cultural construction of …

An Intermediate Extended Literacy Routine To Support Struggling Third Grade Readers, Jeani Z. Fullard

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Large numbers of children in the United States are not functioning at adequate levels of literacy. Students who have weak reading proficiency skills are identified as at-risk; failure to acquire competency early in their schooling adversely affects performance in all academic fields and limits their potential for achievement in life. There is an extensive knowledge base about the skills and strategies children must learn in order to read well. Effective fluency and comprehension strategies need to be taught to help students become powerful, active readers who are in control of their learning.

This study evaluated a structured classroom model …

Redesigning The Megachurch: Reintroduction Of Sacred Space Into A Highly Functional Building, Javier Valencia

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

"Megachurches offer a unique way of being religious in modern society; one that fits the social and religious context of many people says Scott Tumma “Beyond Megachurch myths”. These Massive congregations of two to fifteen thousand participants occupy an undeniable space in the religious and social landscape. It is not only their massive buildings, locations, activities or television broadcasts that make these churches important. It is the role that they play in changing society (Hartford, 2006)” Architecturally the Megachurch has failed today, it has become a “big box”, a well developed building which houses thousands of members and provides them …

Striving And Surviving: The Phenomenology Of The First-Year Teaching Experience, Michael D. Smith

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite the enduring relative popularity of teaching as a career, the research literature on teacher preparation suggests that there is growing concern about the state of the field. With each passing year, the demographic realities within k-12 classrooms bring new challenges for the teacher preparation enterprise. Shortages in high need communities and increasing numbers of provisionally certified (or uncertified) teachers represent two areas of concern. Notwithstanding the extraordinarily increasing cultural and linguistic diversity now found among the student population, the teacher population has failed to diversify in kind. The number of new teachers who are ill-prepared to respond to this …

Shifting Paradigms: The Development Of Nursing Identity In Foreign-Educated Physicians Retrained As Nurses Practicing In The United States, Liwliwa Reyes Villagomeza

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A unique breed of nurses for the US market is emerging-the Physician-Nurses. They are foreign-educated physicians who have retrained as nurses. The purpose of this study was to generate a theory that can explain the development of their nursing identity. Specific aims were to discover barriers that participants perceived as problematic in their transition to nursing and catalysts that influenced how they addressed the central problematic issue they articulated. Grounded theory methodology guided by the philosophical foundations of symbolic interactionism was used. Twelve Physician-Nurses were interviewed. Transcribed interviews were imported to ATLAS.ti. Text data were analyzed by constant comparative method. …

Measurement Of Dissolved Gas Concentrations In Natural Waters Utilizing An In-Situ, Membrane Inlet, Linear Quadrupole Mass Spectrometer, Peter Wenner

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Since its creation in the late 19th century, mass spectrometry has evolved into one of the most versatile analytical methods in science. To chart this evolution this thesis includes a historical overview of mass spectrometry and a description of the role of mass spectrometry in oceanography. The development and deployment of underwater mass spectrometers (UMS) at the University of South Florida's Center for Ocean Technology has made possible the collection of real-time data with greatly increased spatial and temporal density. The UMS was deployed via both remotely guided surface vehicles (GSV) and ship's cables to monitor a suite of dissolved …

Comparing Reef Bioindicators On Benthic Environments Off Southeast Florida, Ryann A. Williams

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A goal of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is to develop protocols applicable to coral reefs to distinguish between the effects of local water quality and those associated with regional to global environmental change. One test case is the current-dominated southeast coast of Florida where the Delray Outfall delivers 30 million gallons per day (114,000 cubic meters per day) of secondary-treated sewage into the ocean. Five study sites were established at depths between 15 and 18 m, and at distances between 1 and 18 km distance from the outfall, where the Stony Coral Rapid Bioassessment Protocol (RBP) was conducted to …

Spatial And Temporal Trends In Water Quality In The Alafia River Watershed, Jennifer M. Aragon

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Water quality data and land use information were analyzed within the Alafia River watershed in Florida to determine spatial and temporal trends in these variables over a 16 year time period from 1991-2006. Monthly water quality data (for dissolved oxygen, turbidity, fecal coliform, total phosphorus, and total nitrogen) were statistically analyzed using the modified seasonal Kendall nonparametric test for trends that accounts for serial correlation. The statistical trend analysis was conducted for the entire study period, but monthly, seasonal, and land use trends were also examined. Land use information was examined using Geographic Information Systems to determine the percent change …

Pegylation Of Niosomes, John A. Elliott

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The research presented in this dissertation describes the creation and characterization of a novel antibody-vesicle conjugate modified with polyethylene glycol (PEG) that possesses enhanced binding to and uptake by inflammation-activated endothelial cells with improved storage stability and longer shelf-life and potential reduction in immunogenic potential compared to previous designs.

Targeted drug delivery provides an effective means of delivering therapeutic concentrations of a drug to the site or organ of action. The drug is delivered using a niosome, a vesicle with an aqueous core and a bilayer membrane composed of non-ionic surfactants and cholesterol. Antibodies that recognize specific cell antigens are …

Training Teamwork In Medical Teams: An Active Approach With Role Play And Feedback, Matthew S. Prewett

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Recent reports in the field of medicine have recommended the use of teamwork training to reduce the number of injuries and fatalities from human error. Teamwork training in the field of medicine appears promising, but few empirical evaluations of such programs have confirmed their effectiveness. Existing teamwork training studies have tended to use a traditional, lecture approach to training, with positive but modest results upon teamwork attitudes and behaviors. The current study developed and evaluated a more active teamwork training protocol for trauma resuscitation teams. The training protocol supplemented several medical and non-medical role plays with a lecture and guided …

An Assessment Of A Naturalistic In-Home Training Protocol To Establish Joint Attention Responding With Children Diagnosed With Autism Spectrum Disorders, Heather Burris

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Children with autism have deficits in social interactions and verbal and nonverbal communication and engagement in rigid and repetitive activities and/or interests (ASA, 2008). A joint attention (JA) repertoire has been identified as a behavioral cusp for later social development and thus, JA deficits serve as an early indicator for diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (Vismara & Lyons, 2007; Whalen & Schbreibman, 2003). A JA repertoire consists of both responses to- and initiations for-bids for coordinated attention. Previous research has shown teaching strategies such as pivotal response and discrete trial training for joint attention skills to be effective (Vismara & …

Memory - Ness: The Collaboration Between A Library And Museum, Kelsey Doughty

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Picture a historical library and a historical art museum coming together to challenge the interaction between each other to help experience, explore, and discover the past within the present. While it sounds like a good idea, it is rare to see a library and museum under one roof.

With the increasing population of tourists looking to visit places and buildings that reconnect with history, there is a higher demand for places to be able to 're-live the past' through art and literature. People enjoy visiting places where history was made and where it becomes part of a city's identity. With …

Designing Community: The Application Of New Urban Principles To Create Authentic Communities, Margaret Embry

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research is an exploratory investigation of the potential of New Urbanist planning and design principles to create thriving and successful neighborhoods. New Urbanism is an urban design movement started in the early 1980s that promotes the development of walkable, compact, and diverse neighborhoods. It is the objective of this research to shed light on the value of creating a higher quality of life and more time for ourselves and our families. I hypothesize that New Urbanism may pave the way for recapturing commute time for time with family, creating authentic and successful communities, and engaging with neighbors. Furthermore, by …

Development And Deployment Of An Underwater Mass Spectrometer For Quantitative Measurements Of Dissolved Gases, Ryan J. Bell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Manual collection and processing of seawater samples for dissolved gas analyses are technically challenging, time consuming and costly. Accordingly, in situ analysis techniques present attractive alternatives to conventional gas measurement procedures. To meet the demands of sustained, high-resolution chemical observations of the oceans, the University of South Florida and SRI International developed underwater mass spectrometer systems for quantitative measurements of dissolved gases and volatile organic compounds. This work describes the influence of variable in situ conditions on the performance of a membrane introduction mass spectrometer used for measurements in both the water column and sediment porewater.

Laboratory experiments to simulate …

The Effect Of Corporate Social Responsibility: Exploring The Relationship Among Csr, Attitude Toward The Brand, Purchase Intention, And Persuasion Knowledge, Duangkaew Chaisurivirat

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to test the general belief that CSR leads to positive attitudes toward a brand and results in an increase in consumers' purchase intentions on the basis of the Affect Transfer Hypothesis (ATH). This study replicates and extends previous research by examining the effect of consumers' persuasion knowledge, based on the Persuasion Knowledge Model (PKM), as one variable that can affect consumers' attitudes toward CSR initiatives and brands. A post-test only experiment was conducted using stimulus materials derived from Starbuck Coffee Company. Four of the stimulus materials containing CSR messages corresponded with four CSR initiative …

Exploring The Effects Of Bmi Health Report Card Letters Among 6Th Grade Students And Parents: An Application Of The Social Cognitive Theory, Jenna M. Kaczmarski

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In response to the growing child and adolescent obesity epidemic, some states and local school authorities are mandating the measurement of Body Mass Index (BMI). However, there is limited research addressing whether schools are an appropriate setting and the intended as well as unintended effects of sharing this information with parents. Furthermore, there is yet to be conclusive evidence that shows that BMI screening in the school setting is an effective way to improve student BMI status. Therefore, the purpose of this research study was to explore the effects of BMI Health Report Card Letters among 6th grade students and …

Urban-Eco-Filter: Introducing New Lungs To The City Of Beijing, Carlos Gil

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

It is evident that several cities in China have experienced a variety of global impacts. Beijing for instance, has become synonymous with mass-migration over the years. The immense scale of projected rural migration, the unmanageable intervention of new housing urban developments, and the high levels of air pollution in Beijing have become a global dilemma. In order to alleviate Beijing's critical ecological conditions, the introduction of "new lungs", as an urban environmental design to the city should be examined. This thesis project illustrates how urban productive landscape and bike infrastructure can be essential in urban development through the implementation of …