Digital Commons Network^™

A Mechanized Horseback Riding Simulator As An Aid To Physical Therapy, Jennifer Lott

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Equine-assisted therapy is a nontraditional form of physical therapy that involves riding horses as a form of rehabilitation. Limited access to these riding programs justifies a need to develop a horseback riding simulator capable of simulating the gaits, bend, and collection of the horse. Research involving the development of horseback riding simulators is limited, but the available research does show promising results in the ability to aid in physical therapy.

A two-dimensional model and simulation was developed using MATLAB. Using the results from the simulation, a horseback riding simulator was designed, fabricated and tested. The physical simulator was capable of …

The Reaction To Economic Globalization In Latin America: A Case Study Of Argentina, Lisa A. Warner

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Since Washington Consensus policies became predominant in the 1980s, two sides of the economic globalization debate have developed: advocates claim that trade liberalization, deregulation, privatization and reduced state spending increase growth and therefore reduce poverty, while critics claim that levels of poverty and income disparity have worsened at the same time that social welfare and education programs have suffered budget cuts. Over the past decade, as many Latin Americans have failed to see promised results to alleviate poverty stemming from the "lost decade" of the 1980s (and beyond), they have elected "leftist" presidents that campaigned on anti-economic globalization (or anti-neoliberal) …

The Role Of Organizational Culture In The Delivery Of Humanitarian Assistance And Inter-Organizational Collaboration, Jamie Antoinette Wilke Corvin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The international community has seen a dramatic increase in the complexity of aid operations, with increasing numbers of donors participating in humanitarian aid endeavors. Therefore, it is essential to determine factors that contribute to successful aid delivery. In an effort to guide more effective and efficient aid operations, this study investigated organizational culture in three distinct types of humanitarian organizations: (a) the U.S. military, (b) the International Federation of the Red Cross, and (c) a sampling of local and indigenous non-governmental organizations. Being a relatively unexplored area, this study took an exploratory approach, utilizing qualitative methods to analyze humanitarian aid …

Establishing A Functional Analysis Protocol For Examining Behavioral Deficits Using Social Withdrawal As An Exemplar, Melissa Penaranda Walters

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to establish a functional analysis protocol for examining behavioral deficits, using social withdrawal as an exemplar. A review of the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis over the past 10 years found that although the current behavior analytic literature contains extensive studies that functionally analyze behavioral excesses, there is a limited amount of studies that analyze deficits. The rationale behind this study was the notion that although behavioral deficits are rarely studied, the fact that the participant is capable of the behavior yet fails to engage in it leads to the idea that certain events …

The Acquisition Of Functional Sign Language By Non-Hearing Impaired Infants, Kerri Haley-Garrett

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Research shows that young children, typically developing with no developmental delays, hearing impairments or visual impairments, can acquire sign language to communicate their wants or needs prior to their ability to communicate through spoken language. However, much of the research reviewed focused on whether it was normative for young children to use signs or symbolic gestures to represent objects, make requests, or to express other wants or needs. In addition, many of the studies reviewed lacked scientific rigor and were primarily anecdotal in that much of the data relied on parent reports of his/her child's production of signs or symbolic …

Measuring Social Competence In Preschool-Aged Children Through The Examination Of Play Behaviors, Eun-Yeop Lee

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

For young children, a primary component of social competence is establishing effective interactions with peers during play. To inform the development of practices that promote this competency starting in early childhood, quality assessment measures are needed. These instruments must have the capacity to establish linkages between the home and school as well as utilizing multiple informants. A promising early childhood assessment measure is the Penn Interactive Peer Play Scale (PIPPS), which is a rating scale created with parent and teacher versions. Previous research has established its validity for preschoolers from among various populations.

The purpose of this study was to …

Spatial And Temporal Patterns Of Feeding And Food In Three Species Of Mellitid Sand Dollars, Susan Elizabeth Hilber

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Sand dollars are abundant and conspicuous macroinvertebrates in sandy habitats in the Gulf of Mexico. They ingest sediment and associated organisms. Given their high abundances, size, and deposit feeding, they likely are the most important consumer coupling primary productivity with the rest of the food chain in these habitats. Moreover, sand dollars bioturbate sediments and affect species diversity and community structure.

Three species of sand dollars in the family Mellitidae,

Mellita tenuis, Encope michelini and Encope aberrans, were studied off the West Coast of Florida. Food and feeding of these sand dollar species were studied to understand their relationship …

Understanding Eating Boundaries: A Study Of Vegetarian Identities, Susan Kremmel

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

My research uses participants' understandings to look at how people define and use the identities and categories of "vegetarian" and "meat-eater." My research examines what it means to be vegetarian, how ideals and moral hierarchies are understood, and how issues of identity importance, social support, and boundary work are components of vegetarian identity construction processes. My research highlights the unmarked character of the meat-eating identity and investigates the variations and complexities of eating behaviors and identities. Learning more about how both vegetarians and meat-eaters construct vegetarian identities contributes to our understanding of identities and how, despite ambiguities, people experience identities. …

An Investigation Into The Antifungal Activities Of N-Thiolated Beta- Lactams Against Selected Candida Species, Marci Culbreath

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

β-lactam antibiotics have long been a reliable course of treatment for bacterial infections. However, with recent increases in resistance and rising populations of immunocompromised patients new β-lactams have been synthesized and tested. The Turos laboratory has recently discovered novel β-lactams that have a mode of action distinct from penicillin and other β-lactam antibiotics as cell lysis is not observed. In the current investigations, these compounds are shown to also have antifungal properties. The rising incidence and prevalence of invasive fungal infections has become an increasing concern. The most common fungal pathogens involved in these infections are species in the genus …

Impacts Of Rainfall Events On Wastewater Treamtent Processes, Erin K. Mcmahan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Current research is revealing that stormwater can carry pathogens and that this stormwater is entering wastewater treatment facilities. During periods of intense rainfall, not only can stormwater carry higher amounts of pathogens, but it also increases the flow rate to the wastewater treatment facility. In many instances, the flow rate exceeds the facilities' treatment capacity and can impact treatment performance. The purpose of this study was to identify whether wastewater treatment is impaired during periods of increased rainfall, and to compare current policies that address this issue. The study was conducted using a case study approach to analyze historical precipitation …

Vision And Disease In The Napoleonic Description De L’Egypte (1809-1828): The Constraints Of French Intellectual Imperialism And The Roots Of Egyptian Self-Definition, Elizabeth L. Oliver

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study analyzes the travel conventions manifest in the engravings of the

thirty-volume

Description de l’Egypte produced as a result of the Napoleonic campaign

to Egypt in 1798 and published between 1809 and 1828. The first chapter examines the

discourse established on Egypt in travelogues throughout the eighteenth century prior to

the invasion of the country. I argue that the perceptions developed around the country

did not stem from actual experience, but from political and economic motivations that

cast Egypt in a light favorable for occupation.

I examine how this perception was challenged during the collapse of distance

between the …

The Development Of Leibniz’S Substance Ontology From 1666-1688, Justin Sean Davis

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Leibniz’s early conception of individual substance ontology is one of the most puzzling, and fascinating, within the history of philosophy. It is the purpose of this paper to show that: 1) Leibniz did develop a coherent scheme that embodied his substance ontology, 2) the exposition of his early substance ontology is in A Specimen of the Discoveries of the Admirable Secrets of Nature in General, written in 1688 and, 3) the scheme is not sufficiently represented in the Discourse on Metaphysics.

Leibniz slowly developed a multifaceted view of substance within the twenty years previous to the writing of the Discourse. …

Animal Husbandry At Tell El Hesi (Israel): Results From Zooarchaeological And Isotopic Analysis, Shannon Marie Peck-Janssen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Located in today’s southern Israel, Tell el Hesi provides archaeologists with important clues to political and social changes in the ancient Near East. Zooarchaeological and stable isotopic analyses were conducted to evaluate shifts in animal husbandry practices during changing socioeconomic and sociopolitical conditions in the southern Levant.

During the Early Bronze Age, Tell el Hesi thrived as an agricultural grain producing center for the southern Levant. The acropolis served as both a storage and redistribution center for the inhabitants of Tell el Hesi. Coinciding with the collapse of the southern Levant, Tell el Hesi was abandoned throughout the Middle Bronze …

Before The Inca: Prehistoric Dietary Transitions In The Argentine Cuyo, Nicole Shelnut

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A dietary reconstruction was performed in order to understand changing prehistoric subsistence patterns in the Central Andean geographical area of the Argentine Cuyo that includes the provinces of San Juan and Mendoza. Archaeologically, the Cuyo is also known as a boundary between Andean agriculturalists and the foragers of Patagonia. One hypothesis being tested is whether this area was one of the last South American cultural groups to convert to maize cultivation, probably around 2000 BP. The process of stable isotope analysis is used to reconstruct the diets of individuals, as it reveals the relative proportions of C3 and C4 plants …

Modeling The 100-Year Flood Using Gis: A Flood Analysis In The Avon Park Watershed, Alan Stephen Booker

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Using hydraulic modeling and Geographic Information System (GIS) software, the 100-year flood was delineated for the municipality of Avon Park located in Highlands County, Florida. A detailed and rigorous approach was undertaken to first collect and develop an extensive spatial database to store the data collected that is pertinent to the model. This analysis combined ArcGIS version 8.3 and the Interconnected Channel and Pond Routing (ICPR) model version 3.02 to develop hydraulic models that assigned regulatory flood elevation within the watershed. The model results were post processed and brought into GIS to delineate the 100-year flood.The steps outlined in this …

Viva Wallace Tampa Latins, The Politics Of Americanization, And The Progressive Party Campaign Of 1948, Jared G. Toney

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research deals with the presidential election of 1948 and the questions it raises concerning issues of ethnic identity and the experiences of working-class migrants in the U.S. South. Central to the discussion is the unprecedented success of third-party challenger Henry Wallace and his Progressive campaign in the immigrant enclaves of Tampa, Florida. Stigmatized by controversial foreign and domestic programs which drew disabling connections between Wallace and the Communist Party, the Progressive Party campaign hardly got its proverbial feet off the ground before falling victim to virulent criticism and widespread opposition. Carrying just over two percent of the votes nationwide, …

Breaking Down The Wall: An Examination Of Mental Health Service Utilization In African American And Caucasian Parents, Idia O. Binitie

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the influence of parents' gender, race, and psychopathology on barriers and attitudes to mental health utilization for themselves and for their children. It was hypothesized that mothers and Caucasian¹ parents would have more positive attitudes and would perceive fewer barriers to mental health services than fathers and African American² parents. A total of 194 African American and Caucasian parents were recruited from the community to participate in this study. Parents completed measures on barriers and attitudes toward treatment for themselves and their children, utilization of mental health services for themselves and their children, and their own current …

Cicero And St. Augustine's Just War Theory: Classical Influences On A Christian Idea, Berit Van Neste

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The theology of Saint Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, and the origin of his theory of Just War are subjects of serious scholarly debate. Just War involved the use of the state army to eliminate heresy by killing heretics who refused to convert to mainstream Christianity. The purpose of this paper is to argue that Augustine primarily based his theory of Just War on Cicero's own theory of Just War.

Augustine was quite heavily influenced by Cicero. He credited Cicero with his own conversion to Christianity. He drew heavily from Cicero's works as a basis for many of his own writings, …

The Enthymeme’S Role In Modern Discourse, Ryan Meehan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this paper, I wish to demonstrate how enthymemic argument pervades modern discourse. First, I will define the enthymeme in Aristotelian terms and compare its qualities to its sibling, the syllogism. Next, I will attempt to demonstrate how the enthymeme functions, paying close attention to its psychological effects as well as analyzing how the media helps promote enthymemic discourse. Finally, I will propose a way that composition instructors can harness the idea of the enthymeme to facilitate critical thinking in the classroom. The purpose of the paper is to provide evidence that a rebirth of this classical term is in …

Investigation Of Cretaceous Molluscan Shell Material For Isotopic Integrity: Examples And Implications From The Baculites Compressus/Cuneatus Biozones (Campanian) Of The Western Interior Seaway, Ashley Da Silva

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Whether a global greenhouse interval is a distinct or distant future, it is important to understand the dynamics of a greenhouse system. During such intervals the oceans, in the absence of sizeable polar ice caps, flood the continental shelf. The stratification and circulation of these epicontinental seas are open to debate, because there are no Recent analogs. The carbon and oxygen stable isotope record of fossil molluscan shell from epicontinental seas has the potential to reveal their stratification and seasonal cycles. As a study sample, mollusks from the Baculites compressus and Baculites cuneatus biozones of the Western Interior Seaway of …

Image Restoration Theory: An Empirical Study Of Corporate Apology Tactics Employed By The U.S. Air Force Academy, Glen F. Roberts

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Adverse relationships between an individual or corporation and its publics can destroy credibility, relationships, marketability, and economic welfare. As such, a genre of discourse is needed to help individuals and organizations respond to charges of wrongdoing. Therefore, the study of image restoration is worthwhile because it provides insight into an important function of our lives. For this thesis study, a content analysis was conducted of media releases and stories produced by the U.S. Air Force regarding a series of sexual assaults at the Air Force Academy in 2002. The purpose of the study is two-fold. First, it determines the image …

Feminine Beauty And The Cancerous Beast: Appearance Management At The Cancer Hospital Salon, Andrea Wagganer

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

When we choose to alter or manipulate our physical appearance we also manage our presentation of self; we communicate to others about our identity. Salons are typical social spaces for women to engage in body-changing, enhancing or disguising practices and thereby manage their identity. The following ethnographic research explores the intersection of female cancer patients' who request salon services while undergoing appearance altering medical treatments and female cosmetologists who provide such services.

Over a period of 6 months, I volunteered weekly at Hannah's, a hairstyling salon located in a large cancer research and treatment hospital in southern Florida. The following …

The Effects Of A Parent Training Course On Coercive Interactions Between Parents And Children, Lezlee Powell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Coercion within parent/child relationships can have lasting effects on the behavior

of children. The Family Safety/Applied Behavior Analysis Initiative at the University of

South Florida is part of a statewide project designed to serve foster parents and the

children in the foster care system, has developed a training program entitled .Parenting

Tools for Positive Behavior Change.. To date, the effectiveness of the parenting course

has been evaluated in two ways. First, parents have been tested in role-play situations

before and after training, and have shown improvements in their use of positive parenting

skills. Second, frequency of foster home placement disruptions …

Stormtroopers Among Us: Star Wars Costuming, Connection, And Civic Engagement, Dava L. Simpson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to examine the bonds that form between people as consumers of popular visual media and to discuss the relationship and impact of the resulting subcultures on the larger culture. Star Wars costumers offer a magnified glance at some of the ways in which people engage with images. As reflections of popular culture, costumers display their textual devotions and opinions; they embody spectatorship by reincarnating their favorite characters and contexts from text-bound sources. Moreover, they embrace modes of visual representation by performing the roles of both image consumer and image producer. I strive to understand …

“Fit For The Reception Of Ladies And Gentlemen”: Power, Space, And Politeness In Eighteenth-Century Anglo-Atlantic Playhouses, Troy Thompson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Eighteenth-century English men and women ventured to the playhouse for a night of festive revelry and entertainment. Despite the raucousness (compared to our vision of a night at the theatre), theatergoing was a polite endeavor and as such equipped with the material pleasantries of bourgeois society. But unlike other spaces reserved for the middle and upper classes, all manner of people could and did attend the theatre. Thus, particular methods of physically and visually separating social classes arose within the eighteenth-century playhouse.

In this thesis, I investigate these material phenomena, particularly the ways in which theatre managers, players, as well …

The Application Of A Modified Human Development Index: Spatial Modeling Of Socioeconomic Well-Being For Florida Counties, Clay Kelsey

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis uses the United Nations Human Development Index as a model for comparing a selected set of socioeconomic indicators across Florida’s sixty-seven counties. Whether for urban planning, hazards mitigation, transportation forecasting, or other county-level and state-level functions, information and understanding of socioeconomic conditions are keys to efficient planning and policy making, both in the early development stages as well as during implementation. A summary overview of socioeconomic well-being and its distribution across a given area offers a distinct advantage in terms of deciding where planning or policy changes are most needed and where they will prove most beneficial.

This …

An Inquiry Concerning The Teaching Of Critical Thinking In An Advanced Placement Literature And Composition Class, Minnette Northcutt

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This project is intended to serve as an exploratory investigation of inquiry-based teaching in an Advanced Placement (AP) literature and composition course. The rigid curricular constraints of AP courses and the assessment-based guidelines for teaching such courses can challenge the value placed in teaching students to think critically. This project seeks to draw attention to the difficult terrain that teachers navigate when trying to foster environments that facilitate inquiry-based learning while at the same time holding students to the standards set by the curriculum. As an exploratory study, the project aims to identify important issues and questions concerning inquiry-based learning …

The Effects Of Role-Playing On The Development Of Adaptive Skills In A Parent Training Program, Chantell A. Rodriguez-Del Valle

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Parent training programs are widely used to remediate ineffective strategies being

used by parents of children with maladaptive behaviors. While there are a multitude of

parenting workshops available, it has been estimated that over half have no established

effectiveness. The purpose of this study was to advance our knowledge regarding the

effects of modeling and role-playing (in an experimentally controlled design), used to

supplement the parent workshop called “Winning at Parenting” and enhance development

of adaptive parenting skills of participants.

This study trained parents in the behavioral techniques of clear communication,

differential attention, and time-out procedures via modeling by the …

An Analysis Of The United Nations: Two Peace Operations In The Congo, Sofia Fargo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis studies the peacekeeping, peace enforcement and peace-building efforts undertaken by the United Nations (UN) in the Congo. Part one investigates the UN mission in Congo 1960 to 1964 and the second part looks at the current mission that started in 1999 which is currently ongoing. The final part makes a comparative analysis of the two case studies.

Peacekeeping, peace enforcement and peace-building are some of the approaches the UN uses in order to manage and settle conflict. While these concepts are often related to one another, they possess certain characteristics making them distinguishable. I solemnly use these concepts …

Production And Perception Of Place Of Articulation Errors, Adrienne M. Stearns

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Speech errors have been utilized since the beginning of the last century to learn more about how speech is produced, both physically and cognitively. Collection of speech errors has progressed from writing down naturally occurring speech errors to recording experimentally induced speech errors to current studies, which are using instrumentation to record acoustic and kinematic information about experimentally induced speech errors. One type of instrumentation being used in articulatory research is ultrasound. Ultrasound is gaining popularity for use by those interested in learning how speech is physically produced because of its portability and noninvasiveness. Ultrasound of the tongue during speech …