Digital Commons Network^™

Self-Esteem And Academic Achievement: A Comparative Study Of African American Students In A Traditional Public School And A Magnet School, Sheresa L. T Fairclough

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study evaluated whether differences existed in the academic achievement and self-esteem of African American students in a traditional public school and a choice school. The choice school selected was a technology-focused magnet school. All of the participants were in grades 3-5 and were administered the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) during the 2003-2004 school year. The FCAT was used to assess academic achievement in reading and math while the Culture Free Self-Esteem Inventories ñ Third Edition (CFSEI-3) was used to assess their self-esteem. Demographic information was also collected to identify factors other than school type that contribute to differences …

Bottom Albedo Derivations Using Hyperspectral Spectrometry And Multispectral Video, Andrew Scott Farmer

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Remote sensing reflectance data collected with a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) were used to derive bottom albedo and optical properties for a shallow marine environment near Lee Stocking Island, Bahamas. Optical model inversion techniques were applied to hyperspectral measurements of remote-sensing reflectance to derive water absorption and backscatter coefficients. Using these derived water properties, path attenuation and radiance effects were removed from bottom observations to derive bottom albedos. Histograms from multispectral, hyperspatial video images were used to determine the albedo range of optical end members observed in scenes of sand and seagrass. Variations of spectral signatures for optical end members …

The Invisible Handshake: Interpreting The Job-Seeking Communication Of Foreign-Born Chinese In The U.S., Hongmei Gao

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Building upon Granovetter’s well-known study of the job search behaviors of white males, this research extended the degree to which his findings apply across cultures to Chinese minorities, and across time to the Internet age. Using quantitative and qualitative data collected through systematic observation, questionnaire surveys, and in-depth interviews, this research investigated the impact of culture, Internet usage, gender and age on the communication patterns of foreign-born Chinese jobseekers in the U.S.

It is found that jobseekers adopt either one or a combination of traditional (printed publications and direct application), institutional (the Internet, job fairs, and employment agencies), and personal …

Educational Outcomes For Children With Early-Onset Behavior Problems, Allison Gibson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Research has consistently shown a greater likelihood of negative outcomes later in life for children with early-onset behavior problems. Understanding the educational outcomes for these children is essential information that can help educators and families to provide targeted interventions in an effort to positively impact these at-risk children’s school experiences. The current study used archival data and a causal comparative research design to examine the educational outcomes (academic achievement, suspension rates, retention rates, and dropout rates/failure to complete high school) for children identified as at-risk for early-onset behavior problems in grades 1 through 3 for a cohort of children in …

Maximizing The Benefits Of Its Deployments Based On Idas Performance Measures And B/C Ratios, Cuthbert R. Gibson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Traditional transportation planning models are not very sensitive to many of the benefits derived from Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) technologies. With the recent availability of ITS Deployment Analysis System (IDAS), there is an opportunity to conduct detailed cost-benefit analyses of ITS Alternatives. IDAS is able to estimate the impacts, benefits, and costs resulting from the deployment of many ITS components. This is accomplished by comparing the average cost of deploying and integrating the appropriate technologies, to the estimated benefits experienced by the network. The ratio of average benefits to average costs is termed the B/C ratios. While the use of …

Vowel Identification By Monolingual And Bilingual Listeners: Use Of Spectral Change And Duration Cues, Merete Mã¸Ller Glasbrenner

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Recent studies have shown that even highly-proficient Spanish-English bilinguals, who acquired their second language (L2) in childhood and have little or no foreign accent in English, may require more acoustic information than monolinguals in order to identify English vowels and may have more difficulty than monolinguals in understanding speech in noise or reverberation (Mayo, Florentine, & Buus, 1997). One explanation that may account for this difference is that bilingual listeners use acoustic cues for vowel identification differently from monolinguals (Flege, 1995).

In this study, we investigated this hypothesis by comparing bilingual listeners’ use of acoustic cues to vowel identification to …

“Ethnographizing” Service-Learning: Creating Politically Engaged Anthropology, Wendy Ann Hathaway

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Service-Learning is a popular teaching method that is increasingly being adopted by institutions of higher learning throughout the nation and is enthusiastically promoted as a progressive method for mediating the alleged decline in civic responsibility and ameliorating subsequent social ills. Servicelearning courses are also seen as an answer to growing student disinterest by connecting students to “real world” experiences while simultaneously providing much needed community support in the face of receding social services in this “Post-Welfare” moment (Goode and Maskovsky 2001a).

Anthropological insights, born out of a liberal humanistic tradition, can be employed to critically examine this popular educational and …

Florida's Civil War Soldiers, Jennifer J. Hawley

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis is to chronicle the actions of the soldiers of Florida during the Civil War, both within and without Florida. As there has not been a great deal written on this topic, it is hoped that this thesis will contribute to the discussion and perhaps lead others to study this field.

The soldiers of Florida during the Civil War deserve the same attention given to the soldiers from more prominent states. Those who fought for the Confederacy and stayed to defend their state often had to fight against overwhelming odds. Abandoned for a time by the …

“The Wil Of His Wif:” Discourse, Power, And Gender In Chaucer’S The Tale Of Melibee, Sara D. Jenkins

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the Tale of Melibee, Chaucer gives us an excellent illustration of a point French theorist Michel Foucault would make centuries later: That power is something that moves and shifts between people and within institutions, that it is not fixed nor permanent, that it is used as needed toward specific ends, and that it is enacted through the medium of discourse. In Melibee, Melibee’s wife Prudence achieves a place of authority and influence in her marriage via her use of discourse, and specifically by using a more “male” way of speaking. Chaucer is often considered feminist-friendly due to …

Connected Domination In Graphs, Gayathri Mahalingam

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A connected dominating set D is a set of vertices of a graph G = (V, E) such that every vertex in V − D is adjacent to at least one vertex in D and the subgraph hDi induced by the set D is connected. The connected domination number γc(G) is the minimum of the cardinalities of the connected dominating sets of G. The problem of finding a minimum connected dominating set D is known to be NP-hard. Many polynomial time algorithms that achieve some approximation factors have been provided earlier in finding a minimum connected dominating set. In …

Sorption Of Organic Vapors By Copolymers Of Poly (Styrene-Butadiene) Using A Piezoelectric Microbalance, Anant K. Upadhyayula

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Thickness shear mode (TSM) sensors, also known as quartz crystal microbalances (QCM) are a class of acoustic wave sensors that have been used for gas phase sensing. In this thesis this device is used to measure vapor-liquid equilibrium data for copolymers of poly(styrene-butadiene) at 294K.

Copolymers of poly(styrene-butadiene) with varying percentages of styrene (85%, 45% and 21 %) were studied with benzene, n-hexane, dichloroethane and chloroform as solvents. Literature data for pure polystyrene/benzene and polystyrene/chloroform and polybutadiene/benzene were obtained to complement the measured data.

Obtained experimental data were fit with a modified Flory-Huggins model and compared with the predictions of …

A Future With Hope: The Social Construction Of Hope, Help, And Dialogic Reconciliation In A Community Children's Mental Health System Of Care, Christine S. Davis

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research examines the social construction of hope in a community mental health system of care. Groopman (2004) defines hope as the elevating feeling we experience when we see a path to a better future. A year-long ethnographic study of a children's mental health system of care team found that members of the mental health care team construct hope for themselves and for the family they're helping by cycling through the dialectical tensions of hegemony and equality, marginalization and normalization, relating and othering, empowerment and disempowerment, and control and emotionality. They reconcile these tensions in dialogic moments of empathy toward …

The Benefits Of Clear Speech At Normal Rates For Older Listeners With Normal Hearing, Athina Panagos Panagiotopoulos

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Clear speech is a type of speaking style that improves speech intelligibility for many individuals. For example, one study showed a 17 percentage point increase in intelligibility over conversational speech for individuals with sensorineural hearing loss (Picheny et al., 1985). The clear speech benefit also extends to children with learning disabilities (Bradlow et al., 2003), non-native listeners (Bradlow & Bent, 2002), and other populations. Although clear speech is typically slower than conversational speech, it can be produced, naturally, at normal rates with training. For young listeners with normal hearing, clear speech at normal rates (clear/normal) is more intelligible than conversational …

Performativity And The Latina/O-White Hybrid Identity: Performing The Textual Self, Shane T. Moreman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study is an exploration of Latina/o-White hybrid identity for constructions and negotiations of hybridity as performed in the lives of individuals and as rearticulated in discourse. These discourses are drawn from interviews with nine individuals, stories of my own life, and three published memoirs. Despite these different forms, all the selfidentified Latina/o-White hybrid individuals speak to the difficulty of imagining and enacting a hybrid identity within today’s discourse on race and ethnicity. This study articulates these difficulties as lived experience, theory, and performance come together to argue for and against hybridity as a model for contemporary identity. The project …

Transforming Public Spaces Through Performance, Anthony G. Valentine

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is study about how public spaces can be transformed through performance within them.

More specifically, this study involves two public venues: The Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI), Tampa, FL and The University of South Florida (USF), Tampa, FL in that within these public venues, not only do performances take place, but they transform the space they are performed in and the spaces in-between the public spaces into performance spaces.

Development Of A Ctd System For Environmental Measurements Using Novel Pcb Mems Fabrication Techniques, Heather Allison Broadbent

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The development of environmental continuous monitoring of physicochemical parameters via portable small and inexpensive instrumentation is an active field of research as it presents distinct challenges. The development of a PCB MEMS-based inexpensive CTD system intended for the measurement of environmental parameters in natural waters, is presented in this work. Novel PCB MEMS fabrication techniques have also been developed to construct the conductivity and temperature transducers. The design and fabrication processes are based on PCB MEMS technology that combines Cu-clad liquid crystal polymer (LCP) thin-film material with a direct write photolithography tool, chemical etching and metallization of layers of electroless …

The Impact Of Privatization Of Primary Care Programs In Large County Health Departments In Florida, Arlesia Lynn Brock

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Since the mid-1970s, top managers, politicians, and officials in both public and private institutions have promoted contracting-out services (privatization) as a means of increasing efficiency, flexibility, and quality. The privatization trend has occurred in many public sector organizations particularly in city services and prisons. Public health services are not immune to this trend. Today many county health departments have contracted the provision of public health services like womens health, primary care, and laboratory services. However, very few studies have analyzed the impact of these privatizations on cost, access, and health outcomes. Proponents favoring the private provision of these services argue …

Corrective Feedback In Online Asynchronous And Synchronous Environments In Spanish As A Foreign (Sfl) Classes, Martha E. Castañeda

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation reports on an investigation of corrective feedback provided by instructors to learners in sixteen online asynchronous and synchronous interactions. The overarching objective of this study was to examine the provision of corrective feedback in computer-mediated communication (CMC) environments. This study also sought to examine the frequency of corrective feedback types and the relationship between learner error and corrective feedback provision. Finally, this study investigated what types of corrective feedback led to repaired learner responses.

Over the course of one university semester, the instructors and students in four second-semester Spanish courses participated in bulletin board and chat room discussions …

A Co-Orientational Analysis Of Public Involvement Perceptions In The Transportation Process: A Case Study, Kristen E. Carson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study explored public involvement within the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) using the co-orientational theory. Effective public involvement gives the public opportunities to be involved early in the planning and implementation of transportation projects that directly affect or may concern them. The co-orientational model looks at what an organization (FDOT) thinks about an issue (public involvement), what the public thinks of the issue, what the organization thinks the public thinks about the issue, and what the public thinks the organization thinks about the issue.

This study investigated whether the FDOT management has an accurate understanding of the perceptions of …

Social Construction Of Cervical Cancer Screening Among Women In Panama City, Panama, Arlene Calvo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

To learn how to address health issues specific to Hispanic cultures in an effort to address health disparities, learning from cultural aspects that affect health from the countries of origin would be most useful. Community programs built on rigorous and systematic research prove to be more powerful than ad-hoc programs. Qualitative research techniques offer powerful alternatives for public health professionals to develop adequate and directed programs at the community level, especially among underserved communities and those represented by oral/spoken traditions. The study was conducted among 132 working class single and married Mestizo women between the ages of 20-40 living in …

Eros, Paideia And Arête: The Lesson Of Plato’S Symposium, Jason St. John Oliver Campbell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Commentators of Plato’s Symposium rarely recognize the importance of traditional Greek conceptions of Eros, paideia and arête in understanding Plato’s critique of the various educational models presented in the dialogue. I will show how Plato contests these models by proposing that education should consist of philosophy. On this interpretation, ancient Greek pedagogy culminates in a philosophical education. For this new form of education, the dialogical model supplants the traditional practices of kléos and poetic mimēsis, inextricably bound to archaia paideia and traditional forms of education. Plato’s Socrates is searching for knowledge and immortality through an application of the philosophical method, …

Effects Of Constructed Response Contingencies In Web-Based Programmed Instruction On Graphing Compared To Cued-Text Presentation Of The Same Information, Reinaldo L. Canton

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Web-based lessons teaching graph construction techniques (via the internet) were presented to 144 undergraduate and graduate college students. One group experienced program-controlled tutorials requiring them to construct answers in a defined sequence. A second group experienced identical lesson material in the form of typographically cued text presentations. The programmed instruction students performed significantly better than the cued-text group on an immediate computerbased posttest assessing comprehension of the graphing lesson material. The cuedtext group performed better on an applied graphing assignment. The experiment did not account for individual’s internet study habits or the metacognitive approaches to learning employed by the study …

The Articulate Remedies Of Dolores Lolita Rodriguez, Hyatt Kellim Brown

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

For eighty-six-year-old Tampa, Florida, native Dolores Lolita Rodriguez, yard decorating was more than just decoration; it was a form of therapy. Her yard was a massive assemblage of found objects arranged into a personalized visual vocabulary that involved honoring the deceased, her Spanish identity, and local spiritual practices. The yard also upheld a unique conception of beauty. Her creations were an articulation of, and remedy for, a life of tremendous loss. They were also the cause of her stroke and confinement to rehabilitation in November 2002.

Dolores property was visually cognate with a mode of yard decoration, called the African-American …

"I'Ve Got The Power!": Investigating Pre-Service Special Educators' Perceptions And Abilities To Teach Reading To Students With Disabilities", Tandria Milango Callins

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study, through a multiple case study approach, was designed to investigate how pre-service special educators were empowered to teach reading to students with disabilities during their final internship. A developmental-constructivism theoretical framework guided this study in order to examine how a teacher preparation program prepared a six-member cohort of pre-service special educators in the areas of efficacy, competency, and preparedness. Based on the principles of developmental-constructivism, the researcher investigated whether or not these pre-service special educators became more empowered in the areas of efficacy, competency, and preparedness through active-learning and hands-on opportunities.

The researcher employed a concurrent mixed-method design …

Fabrication Of Palladium Nanoparticles And Nanoporous Alumina Templates, Pavani Chennapragada

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Nanostructured materials have potential technological applications due to their characteristic dimensions. The material performance will depend on the atomic structure, and composition of these materials. This thesis focuses on proposing a reliable method for fabricating nanoporous alumina and palladium nanoparticles inside the templates. Palladium nanoparticles were synthesized in commercial porous alumina templates using electrodeposition. Pores within these nanoporous membranes act as templates for the synthesis of nanostructures of the desired material. Electrodeposition is achieved using a three-terminal set-up and a potentiostat. Different types of deposition techniques were investigated to improve the distribution of the deposit. The nanoparticles were characterized by …

Effects Of Hyperoxia In Alzheimer’S Transgenic Mice, April Cox

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

An association between major surgery in the elderly and precipitation of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) has been reported. Hyperoxia (100%) oxygen is commonly administered after surgery to increase the oxygen content of blood. However, hyperoxia is a potent cerebral vasoconstrictor and generator of free radicals, as is β-amyloid (Aβ). This study was aimed at examining behavioral, neuropathological, and neurochemical effects of hyperoxia treatments in APPsw transgenic mice (Tg+), which have elevated brain Aβ levels by 3-4 months of age but are not yet cognitively-impaired. At 3 months of age, Tg+ mice were pre-tested in the radial arm water maze (RAWM) task …

Dissecting Out The Contribution Of Cognitive, Social, And Physical Activities To Environmental Enrichment’S Ability To Protect Alzheimer’S Mice Against Cognitive Impairment, Jennifer R. Cracchiolo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Retrospective studies suggest that lifestyle activities may provide protection against Alzheimer s Disease (AD). However, such studies can be inaccurate and prospective longitudinal studies investigating lifestyle protection against AD are both impractical and impossible to control for. Transgenic (Tg+) AD mice offer a model in a well controlled environment for testing the potential for environmental factors to impact AD development. In an initial study, Tg+ and non-transgenic (Tg-) mice were housed in either environmentally enriched (EE) or standard housing (SH) from 2-6 months of age, with a behavioral battery given during the last 5 weeks of housing. In the Morris …

Development Of Interactive Web-Based Tutorials For Chemical Engineering Undergraduates, Stefan Cular

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents the design, creation, and testing of a web-based tool for generating interactive web-based problem set assignments. In prior research (Stetka, 2001) it was shown that students enjoyed interactive problems. In this research, multiple programming languages were used to provide a web-based, fully interactive, problem solving environment for the students. Sample problem sets were written by the author and a few chemical engineering students.

These web pages were then used as a basis to test the effectiveness of the webbased interactive problem sets for two engineering courses. Initial findings are presented illustrating the student’s results along with results …

Assessment Of The Community Healthcare Providers' Ability And Willingness To Respond To A Bioterrorist Attack In Florida, Jeffrey S. Crane

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Previous findings have demonstrated that the preparedness and infrastructure of the public health system are inadequately developed for a biological and/or chemical terrorism attack. (1-4) Chen et al. reported that those primary care providers that would have to respond to such an attack do not feel prepared to diagnose and manage such an event.(5)

This research was an observational study using e-mail/web based survey to assess the levels of preparedness (PL) and willingness to respond (WTR) to a bioterrorism attack, and identify factors that predict PL and WTR of Florida community healthcare providers. The conceptual framework and questionnaire was designed …

Communicating Collaboration And Empowerment: A Research Novel Of Relationships With Domestic Violence Workers, Elizabeth A. Curry

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is an experiment in thinking with the story, not about the story in order to erase the boundaries between analysis and narrative. CASA, Community Action Stops Abuse, is the context for this research on the lived realities and meaning of working with an empowerment philosophy. A University-Community Initiative (UCI) grant with CASA and the University of South Florida is the occasion to study the communicative aspects of individual and collective perceptions of empowerment. The dissertation focuses broadly on two UCI project goals: developing a collaborative relationship and producing a booklet of stories about the work of paid staff …